When the Japanese fleet discovered the U.S. aircraft carrier formation, Kurita Ordered the whole army to pursue, the flagship Yamato battleship took the lead in firing, and the third salvo "hit" the U.S. "White Plain" aircraft carrier about 20 miles away. Six salvo shells landed very close together, one of which burrowed into the water and exploded on the left side of the keel under the carrier, the blast wave of the explosion tore through the steel plates of the hull under the waterline, broke the rudder shaft, shook the carrier violently, twisted the deck and bulkhead, and some were shaken to the ground.
The "Yamato" fired an armor-piercing shell, which was specially designed to explode under the target in the water near the enemy ship, and although the shell that "hit" did not directly hit the enemy ship, its explosion wave could impact the weak parts of the hull above the explosion point, the effect was similar to a mine or a magnetic fuze torpedo, all of which were to make the warhead explode directly below the enemy ship. Some scholars believe that the Yamato hit, but this view is not recognized, otherwise the Yamato would have achieved the world record for the longest distance (about 20 miles) of the ship's gun fire.
In 1944, the largest naval battle in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, broke out, with nearly 300 warships participating in the battle, with a total tonnage of about 3 million tons. The main force of the Japanese combined fleet was exhausted, of which The fleet led by Keno Kurita was the absolute main force, including five battleships (including Yamato and Musashi), 10 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 15 destroyers. The "Jet" battle plan formulated by the Combined Fleet Command requires Ozawa Toru saburo to lead the aircraft carrier fleet to act as bait on the north road, Kurita's middle road fleet to cross the San Bernardino Strait to raid the US transport fleet and landing forces, and Shoji Nishimura's South Road Fleet and Shima Kiyoei's fleet to cross the Surigao Strait and cooperate with Kurita to eliminate the US landing fleet.
On the morning of October 24, 1944, Kurita's fleet was attacked by two U.S. submarines as it crossed the Palawan waterway northward, and Kurita's flagship heavy cruiser Atago was sunk and Maya was sunk; The heavy cruiser USS Kaohsiung was severely damaged and returned to Brunei accompanied by two destroyers. Kurita's fleet was unfavorable, 31 warships lost 5 at once, the flagship was sunk, Kurita jumped into the sea, and changed the Yamato to the flagship, but his doom was not over. U.S. reconnaissance planes also spotted the Japanese fleet, and the U.S. Third Fleet took off 260 aircraft and began to attack the fleet. The two super battleships Musashi and Yamato became the main targets of U.S. aircraft, and the Japanese had no air cover and had to rely on about 150 anti-aircraft guns each equipped with the Yamato and Musashi to deal with the U.S. aircraft.
The Musashi was hit in the upper part by more than 20 bombs, and about 20 torpedoes hit the battleship below the waterline, and the giant ship ignited a fire throughout and gradually sank. The heavy cruiser Myoko was severely damaged, the destroyers Hamakaze and Kiyosei were injured and had to return to Brunei Bay, and several battleships, including the Yamato, were shot but were able to continue to fight.
Kurita sent several urgent telegrams requesting air cover, but received no positive response, and in order to avoid The American air raids, Kurita, with a curse to the Japanese air force, ordered the fleet to turn to 180° at 3:30 p.m. and temporarily retreat westward. At 5:15 p.m., Kurita, not forgetting his mission, re-ordered the fleet to make two right-angle turns, and the course resumed to the east.
After a massive air raid on the Japanese fleet, American pilots exaggerated the results of the battle, believing that they had destroyed two Yamato-class battleships, two Nagato-class or Kongo-class battleships, and claimed to have eliminated two or three heavy cruisers. American reconnaissance planes detected the retreat of Kurida's fleet to the west, believing that the Japanese had fled the battlefield; Halsey, commander of the U.S. Third Fleet, also believed that the Japanese fleet had been completely attacked, and even if it returned, there was no serious threat, and the U.S. army found the Ozawa aircraft carrier fleet that used as bait on the north road, and in his eyes, the aircraft carrier was definitely an important target for priority attack. At 8 o'clock in the evening, Halsey ordered all 65 ships to go north to attack the Japanese carrier formation.
The 3rd Fleet did not leave any part of its warships to defend the San Bernardino Strait, and kurita's fleet could not believe its good luck and made the way to Samar Island at six o'clock in the morning on October 25. The only thing that could stop him was the U.S. 7th Fleet Escort Carrier Battle Group, which had 16 small aircraft carriers and 22 destroyers, which had a displacement of about 10,000 tons, could only carry 25 to 30 aircraft, most of them not exceeding 18 knots, and the defense was extremely fragile.
At 6 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese army found the Us fleet 20 miles away, and the Japanese surface fleet seized the US aircraft carrier force, which was a godsend. At 6:59 a.m., Kurita ordered preparations for surface warfare, and the Battleship Yamato finally had a chance to demonstrate the power of its 18-inch gun, with the long barrel of the Yamato gun reaching forward and raising to a 23° elevation angle. Propelled by six large clusters of fireworks, six armor-piercing shells weighing 3,200 pounds rushed out of the muzzle, and after 25 seconds of flight, the shells reached the ballistic apex at a height of 20,000 feet above the sea surface, and then began to dive downward at an ultimate speed of about 1,500 feet per second, much slower than the initial speed of the muzzle, but still far faster than the speed of sound, so that the American army did not hear the scream when the shell group attacked.
It was not until the "White Plain" aircraft carrier suddenly exploded next to the six white water columns that the US military knew that it was going to be beaten, each of which was 20 stories high, and they would not fall violently, but slowly dissipated into a mist of water in the downwind area, until half a minute after the shell fell into the sea, six monster-like huge water vapors still floated in the water where the huge bomb fell.
Less than a minute after the first salvo, the second salvo ensued, and the huge wall of water once engulfed the "White Plain" aircraft carrier, but the aircraft carrier continued to advance, seemingly intact, and the devastating shock wave of the Japanese near-missing bombs severely injured the aircraft carrier, its rivets were loosened, the welds were torn open, the power was interrupted, the lights inside the ship were extinguished, the radio transceivers were broken, and the radar screen was extinguished.
None of the U.S. ships in the U.S. formation were equipped with guns of more than 5 inches, so they could not counterattack at this distance and had to flee for their lives. But they also couldn't run too fast, the aircraft carrier could only drive to 17 knots, and the desperate commander thought it wouldn't last more than 15 minutes....
