Word: straits
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...black-browed Tom Kinkaid had received divisions of escort carriers and at least five battleships to fill out the contours of his normally skinny fleet, the Japs knew he would be hard pressed to stave off this assault. To make doubly sure, their southernmost force would charge through Surigao Strait. Either or both of these forces would strive for a chance to pot sitting ducks - the helpless transports off Leyte...
Ambush. The Japs' southernmost fleet suffered least from U.S. aerial pounding during its approach, and reached the scene of battle first. The first-quarter moon had set early, and the morning darkness was deep in Surigao Strait. At the southern end, squadrons of PT boats lay in ambush. As the Huso and Yamasiro entered the narrows with their screen, the PTs attacked. The tiny, bucking craft had made their reputation for dash and expendability in the Philippines, and they lived up to it. They scored some hits, lost several of their number...
Rear Admiral Jesse Barrett Oldendorf, commanding a powerful, balanced task force, put into effect his policy of "never give a sucker an even break." If the Japs were suckers enough to try to drive through the Strait, he meant to let them come. They came, into the twelve-mile-wide pass between Hingatungan and well-named Desolation Point...
...battle, he got a desperate call for help from Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet. Had Halsey stayed too long at his appointment in the north? Kinkaid's jeep carriers had already caught it hot & heavy from the Japs' central force, which whipped through San Bernardino Strait before dawn-before the jeeps' aircraft could get off. The CVEs were at no pains to hide their plight: they shrilled for help in uncoded voice radio...
From the northwestern tip of Samar, only 15 miles across San Bernardino Strait, lies Luzon, largest of the Philippine Islands, site of Manila, Bataan and Corregidor. When and if MacArthur chose to cross over to Luzon, he was not likely to find the Japanese the pushovers they were on Leyte. But the reconquest of the Philippines last week seemed much less of a problem than it had the day before his troops poured ashore at Leyte...