Word: surigao
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...Battle of Surigao Strait was the last time the historic battle line formation was to be used in naval warfare, and Naval Historian Samuel Eliot Morison writes its epitaph: "One can imagine the ghosts of all great admirals from Raleigh to Jellicoe standing at attention as Battle Line went into oblivion...
...Leyte Gulf. The strongest Japanese force, under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, was to steam through the Sibuyan Sea, debouch through San Bernardino Strait (see maps) and head south to Leyte Gulf. Two smaller forces, operating independently under Vice Admirals Shoï Nishimura and Kiyohide Shima, were to come through Surigao Strait, move north and close the pincers with Kurita. Meanwhile, a fleet under canny old Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, with carriers for bait, was charged with decoy duty to "advance into Philippine Sea east of Luzon" and "lure the enemy to the north...
Battle of Surigao Strait...
Despite the upset of the Japanese timetable, the southern forces under Nishimura and Shima sailed right on. Nishimura had two battleships, a heavy cruiser and four destroyers; Shima, behind him, had two heavy cruisers, a light cruiser and four destroyers. Awaiting them at the far end of Surigao Strait was a much stronger Seventh Fleet force under Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. Alerted by PT-boat reports, Oldendorf was ready...
...fringes of the vast Leyte engagement after other Japanese naval forces had set out, and the necessity for radio silence, he explains, meant that he could not coordinate his strategy or tactics with theirs. Faced with bad luck, disorganized communications and the blazing evidence that another Japanese force in Surigao Strait had been shattered, all Shima could do was withdraw. The admiral's account: "At that time, things flashed in my head were thus: ... If we continued dashing further north, it was quite clear that we should only fall into a ready trap...