Scholars of sea power have long believed that whoever rules the seas will rule the world. This is by no means alarmist, and the importance of sea supremacy in warfare has been repeatedly demonstrated during World War II.
At that time, the British Royal Navy had gradually declined, and it had long since lost its splendor across the seas, replaced by a growing US Navy. At this time, the biggest threat to the U.S. Navy was the Imperial Japanese Navy.
This seems to surprise many people, who always think that it is not the United Kingdom or France that can compete with the US Navy, but also the Red Navy of the Soviet Union, but this is not the case. Imagine how Japan would dare to sneak up on Pearl Harbor if it didn't have the ability to fight one of them.
The United States never allowed the power of any country to override it, so it became their top priority to strangle the Imperial Japanese Navy. Everyone thought that this might take a long and vicious battle, but in fact, after the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Japan's naval strength was completely abolished by the United States.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf has been a classic battle studied by many military scientists until now, and it has been hailed as the largest naval battle in human history. The Imperial Japanese Navy almost poured out of the nest and once occupied the initiative in naval battles, but in the end it was beaten by the United States. It is precisely because after the Battle of Leyte Gulf that Japan officially lost its sea supremacy and had almost no ability to fight back on the battlefield of World War II.
What happened at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and how could the Imperial Japanese Navy lose so completely?
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="10" >, well-planned, two armies fighting</h1>
Let's first look at the background of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which took place in October 1944, the end of World War II, and the end of the Western Pacific Theater. Japan lost the Mariana Islands and was seriously threatened in its homeland. American bombers hovered over Japan every day, and the industrial areas of the Kanto region became their primary targets.
At this time, Japan only had the southern route to connect with Southeast Asia's shipping, and once Japan's connection with Southeast Asia was completely severed, Japan's shipping would no longer find any way out. The United States saw this, so the Pacific Fleet sailed into Southeast Asia, and the battlefield was set at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, where they decided to completely surround little Japan.
The Japanese mainland is close to falling, and the Navy has suffered a lot of losses in the US Navy, so it always wants to find the United States to duel and take revenge. This time, they formulated the so-called "Operation Jet" plan, which put the entire fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy on the line to fight the United States to the death.
The plan was simple to say, dividing the Japanese Navy into three routes, one aircraft carrier fleet, led by Jizaburo Ozawa, responsible for luring the U.S. Third Fleet away from Leyte Gulf, which was considered to be a decoy. The Second Central Fleet, led by Keno Kurita, five battleships including Yamato, Musashi, Nagato, Kongo, and Haruna directly entered Leyte Gulf and won the victory in one fell swoop. The three-way guerrilla fleet, led by Shoji Nishimura, was mainly responsible for campaigning on the outskirts of Leyte Gulf, finding the right time to attack, or blocking the fish that the U.S. army had slipped through.
The plan was simple and efficient, looked like it was likely to win, and won at the first step. The carrier fleet led by Jizaburo Ozawa easily led the light enemy U.S. Navy away, and U.S. Commander Halsey led 17 aircraft carriers out of Leyte Gulf to pursue Ozawa. However, Japan soon failed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="8" > two, a fierce operation, retreat drum early</h1>
The defeat of the Japanese Navy began with Keno Kurita, who led the Second Central Fleet, who first led the two warships Yamato and Musashi into the Philippines, and as a result, Kurita Keno's ship was torpedoed by the American submarine, and he could only directly transfer to the Yamato for command.
Subsequently, the U.S. army attacked Kurita Keno's central fleet, the Musashi was directly sunk by torpedoes, and the Yamato was also penetrated, and it has been inward, more than 2,000 tons of sea water into the Yamato, and the Japanese military soul was directly submerged by the sea.
By this time, Jisaburo Ozawa had successfully drawn away the main fleet of Leyte Gulf, and if Keno Kurita insisted on attacking Leyte Gulf, Japan's number carrying battle plan was likely to succeed. But God made a joke to Keno Kurita at this time, and the news of Ozawa's successful seduction of Halsey did not reach Keno Kurita's central fleet, that is, Kurita Had no idea that the first battle plan had been successful.
At this time, Kurita Keno did not understand the battle situation at all, he thought that if he rushed into Leyte Gulf at this time, he would be besieged by the American army, and the situation of "dumplings" was waiting for him, and once he encountered Halsey's fleet, he would be dead.
Moreover, at this time, Keno Kurita was also suffering from dengue fever, and his brain burned for three days and three nights, and he could not make a correct judgment. He was not the fanatical militarist of Japan, nor did he want to let the entire Imperial Japanese Navy die here in Leyte Gulf, so he gave the order to retreat.
Although Kurita withdrew in time, all five battleships he brought with him were severely damaged, and when he returned to Japan, only the Yamato was still able to fight. As soon as Keno Kurita retreated, the entire number-carrying operation was completely scrapped. Although Ozawa Jizaburo chose to take the initiative, under the siege of the US Third Fleet, it was also completely destroyed, and the four aircraft carriers he brought with him were all sunk in the sea, and the Japanese aircraft carrier era had not yet begun, and it was over.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf officially ended with the defeat of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which suffered heavy losses, 13 heavy warships were sunk, and the strength of the Japanese authorities suffered a serious blow. Moreover, after the U.S. army captured Leyte Gulf, it also laid a very good foundation for them to lay the Philippine Archipelago and Okinawa islands later.
<h1 class="pgc-h-center-line" data-track="6" > third, lose air supremacy, rely on kamikaze special forces to save respect</h1>
The reason for the defeat in the Battle of Leyte Gulf was actually not that Kurita Keno had fought so simply, the basic victory in modern warfare was systematic and coordinated operations, and there was nothing wrong with the Japanese Navy's three-way approach, but there was almost no unified command and cooperation between the three participating units, and basically each of them fought separately.
That is, the site of the Battle of Leyte Gulf is large enough for them to toss and turn like this. The lack of coordinated operations should be the main reason for the defeat in the Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf, after all, the money earned on the battlefield is also poor information.
In addition, Japan's loss of air supremacy was also one of the reasons for the defeat. Modern warfare is all coordinated operations between land, sea and air, but the quality of Japanese pilots is obviously lower than that of American pilots, and on the battlefield, there have even been cases where 8 US fighters have directly shot down 80 Japanese fighters, which is enough to see that Japan has been far away from the United States in terms of air supremacy.
Later, Japan tried to save the situation, so the "kamikaze special attack team" came into being. This is really a very stinky practice, directly sending death squads to fly planes to the American fleet, young soldiers have no return, which is also a major feature of Japan in World War II.
After the Japanese navy was completely useless, they had nothing to do on the battlefield of World War II. Then the vigorous "one hundred million jade fragments" plan began, but this was just a useless resistance at the end of the road.
Text/Lamb
Reference: Battle of the Sleepy Beasts: Battle of Leyte Gulf, Li Xiang