Battle of Leyte Gulf (II)

Shortly after Ozawa's fleet sailed out of the Bungo Waterway, at 17:54, a patrol aircraft of the Zober Aviation Corps reported that a suspected U.S. submarine had been found 170 degrees and 15 kilometers away from the "Mizuzuru". At the same time, the Mizuzuru and Chitose also detected radio communication between enemy submarines. Although Ozawa's fundamental task is to lure the enemy, if the fleet is discovered by the enemy prematurely, the main fleet of the US army can take the lead in going north, knock out the mobile unit and quickly go south, sniping the Kurida fleet that attacked in the middle of the road. Ozawa's task was extremely difficult, and he had to do his best to hide his whereabouts until Kurita's fleet approached the battlefield before being discovered by the enemy at the right time, a time that was undoubtedly extremely difficult to grasp.

In order to avoid reconnaissance by American submarines, at 18:48 Ozawa ordered the fleet to turn to the east and turn to 140 degrees at 19:50. Beginning at 00:00 on 21 October, the fleet began sailing south at 180 degrees as planned, at a speed of 18 knots, reaching 540 km south of Cape Foot Fold at dawn.

The above maneuver of the Ozawa fleet inadvertently averted a huge risk. On the 20th, the patrol task on the east side of the Bungo Waterway was carried out by the US submarine "Bull-nosed Ray", and on the west side was the "Goldfish" and "Deep Sea Fish". The captain of the Goldfish, Lt. Col. Thomas Wolgan, had received clear instructions from Lieutenant General Lockwood as early as the 18th that once the Japanese fleet was spotted, it could launch an attack on its own. However, Lockwood, fearing that the Japanese fleet might sail the Ishui Waterway, decided to transfer the Bull-nosed Ray there to seal it. The Goldfish and Deep SeaHead were ordered to head west, while the Bullnose Ray sailed east to the Kii Waterway. Due to the misjudgment and frequent movements of the US military, the eastern side of the Bungo Waterway was unattended, and the Ozawa Fleet sailed into the vast Pacific Ocean through the Bungo Waterway without any danger.

On the same day, the mobile unit began to dispatch carrier-based aircraft to conduct search and anti-submarine patrols. Even with such a simple mission, flight accidents are still frequent. The torpedo plane of Lieutenant Shōbane II landed on the East Sea on Amami Oshima Island, but fortunately the crew members were successfully rescued. Searches and patrols on the 22nd resulted in 2 planes missing, 2 crashes and 1 forced landing. I really don't know how these "rookies" will deal with future battles.

On the same day, Emperor Hirohito issued a decree to encourage the army and navy units participating in the war: "Only the war situation is becoming more and more urgent, and I hope that Ru and others will work together to live up to the trust of the emperor." General Toyota sent a telegram to the participating departments at 12:05 on the 22nd: "The 'Victory' operation has begun, and His Majesty Enwei has fought the first battle." His Majesty has now given him a special edict, favored and generous, and sincerely feared his duties, and is greatly grateful. The timing of the decisive battle of the "Jet" was imminent, and the duty worked closely with the Army to command the entire fleet. The generals will die. I hope that the generals will sacrifice their lives to fight and swear to annihilate the enemy in return for the holy grace. I am convinced that when the kingdom rises and falls, there will be gods to protect my people. ”

Ozawa's subsequent instructions are rare in the history of human naval warfare: "In order to coordinate operations with friendly ships, the purpose of the carrier fleet is to risk their lives and divert the attention of the enemy aircraft carrier fleet in eastern Luzon with a spirit of self-sacrifice, leading them to the north or northwest." This ensures that the First and Second Guerrilla Forces successfully break into the relevant seas of the enemy and launch an amphibious landing. ”

As the first main force of the "Jet One" operation, the Kurita Fleet attacked earlier than the Ozawa Mobile Force. Kurita was waiting for the tanker when he received an order from the Combined Fleet Command to quickly exit from the Linga anchorage to Brunei Bay at 9:28 a.m. on the 17th. In order to ensure the use of oil for combat, the first guerrilla force had to go to Borneo with the oil tanker, complete the oil supply and then rush to the final combat sea. According to the electric order issued by the combined fleet at 15:35 on the 16th, six tankers will be incorporated into the Kurita fleet. However, these ships usually mainly carry out the task of transporting fuel to the mainland, and they cannot complete the assembly for a while. Nevertheless, Kurita gave a categorical order at 11:25 a.m. that the two tankers that were returning to Singapore should be loaded with fuel and sailed to Borneo first, depending on the situation. At 12:03, Kurita ordered the fleet to set sail from Linga at 1 a.m. the next day, scheduled to arrive in Brunei at 10 a.m. on the 20th.

At 12:00 noon, Kurita received an urgent telegram from the Combined Fleet Command: "The First Guerrilla Force must advance to the east sea of the Philippines before dawn on the 22nd." After urgent consultations with the chief of staff, Major General Koyanagi, Kurita replied at 21:03 that night: "The above tasks cannot be completed. The reason given by Kurita was that the first guerrilla force would arrive in Brunei at 10 o'clock on the 20th, while the supply fleet would not arrive until the early morning of the 21st, and the refueling work would not be completed at least in the afternoon of the 22nd. If the fleet takes the Strait of San Bernardino, it will need to sail 2600 kilometers from Brunei to Leyte Gulf. Battleships and heavy cruisers maintain enough fuel to cope with highly mobile combat operations while maintaining economic speeds for long periods of time. But light cruisers and destroyers don't have that ability. The Japanese Yuyun-class destroyers were capable of traveling 5,000 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots, and ostensibly the distance from Brunei to Leyte Gulf was still within its effective range. But from reality, considering the need to maneuver as fast as possible when fighting with U.S. ships, Samar and Leyte are the limits of fleet range. If the fleet were to arrive at Leyte Gulf before nightfall 24 October, at least 16 knots, the destroyer would arrive on the battlefield with only three-fifths of the fuel left, which would seriously constrain the maneuverability of the fleet. But if it was to reach Leyte Gulf in the early morning of the 24th, the fleet would have to keep its speed above 20 knots, leaving less than half of the fuel left when it arrived. On the way back, then, the fleet had to make a replenishment in The Bay of Coron or Ulugan Bay, located in the middle of Palawan. As can be seen from the last sentence, Kurita did not use Leyte Gulf as a final cemetery, and he also hoped to return with most of the ships.

It is an indisputable fact that the lack of fuel replenishment capacity and the shortage of tankers are constantly exacerbating the decline of the Japanese Navy. In fact, as early as the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the aircraft carrier fleet led by Nanyun already had the ability to refuel at sea, but it did not reach all troops. By the autumn of 1944, the Imperial Navy had more or less lost this capability. The result is that the war is intertwined with four different states at this stage. First, Japan is always short of oil tankers, and the number of existing oil tankers is far from being able to meet the dual needs of military operations and maintaining normal economic operations at home. Second, with the increasingly rampant submarines of the US military and the increasing number of tanker losses, the Navy has had to use a large number of civilian tankers. These tankers, built before 1941, simply could not adapt to the environment of mobile replenishment at sea. Third, even if the Navy's capital ships continue to lose, the number of destroyers is still far from enough to provide sufficient sea escort for tankers. Fourth, with the continuous enhancement of the US air power, whether it is a land-based aviation or an aircraft carrier-based aircraft, the increase in its strength has made the Japanese Navy dare not deploy valuable tankers to the front of the battle, resulting in the refueling of ships generally in port.

Since May 1944, rampant activity by U.S. submarines has led to a sharp decline in the number of Japanese tankers. In the month of May, the Japanese lost 2 large tankers. In June, 2 large tankers and 4 small tankers were lost. In July, 1 large and 1 small tanker was lost. The loss of two tankers in August was the largest of all tankers, and two more were lost in September. That is to say, in 5 months, the Japanese army lost 18 large and small oil tankers, a total of 167976 tons, to know that when the war began in 1941, Japan's oil tankers totaled only 49. This huge loss was absolutely unbearable for the Japanese army.

In the face of the upcoming battle, the Combined Fleet assigned Kurita six tankers: Itsukushima Maru, Hiei Maru, Mimuroyama Maru, Ryōei Maru, Manei Maru, and Yuho Maru. After many negotiations with the Army, the "Hachiho-maru" and the "Nihbang Maru" that originally belonged to the Army were also temporarily under the command of the Navy, which was previously impossible. At this stage of the war, the Japanese army and navy finally learned to cooperate rather than tear each other apart. With the exception of the Riei Maru on Hainan Island and the Liangrong Maru in Magong, the other tankers were all in Singapore before Kurita was commissioned to leave. At 17:11:25 on October, Kurita ordered the Hachiho-maru and the Yuho-maru, escorted by the destroyers Manshio and Nobu, to Brunei to refuel the main fleet that was about to arrive there. The remaining four tankers, divided into two teams, departed for Brunei on the 19th and 20th respectively, and they were only able to guarantee refueling of the Kurita fleet after the battle. In fact, by the time they reached Brunei Bay on the 22nd, kurita's fleet had already set out that morning.

At 1 a.m. on 18 October, seven battleships, 15 cruisers and 20 destroyers belonging to the First Guerrilla Force prepared to anchor. The clicking sound of chains in the anchor holes reverberated in the Silent Harbor of the Linga Islands. In the stomachs of these steel monsters, young sailors burn boilers and turn huge valves to control the flow of fuel. The observation posts at the highest point spied closely on everything in the darkness—they were all specially trained to make their eyes more adaptable to the darkness. The first to leave the port were Lieutenant General Yoshio Suzuki's second unit, followed by The third force of Lieutenant General Shoji Nishimura, and the last to appear was the first force led by Kurita himself, and the battleship's tower-like mast shone with an eerie cold light in the darkness. At the beginning of the war, the combined fleet had a total of 12 battleships. With the exception of the Hiei and Kirishima, which were sunk on Guadalcanal, the Mutsu, which sank in accidents the previous year, and the Hyuga and Ise, which had been converted into an air battleship, the remaining seven were all here.

On the heavy cruiser Maya, there was a lieutenant officer who graduated from the 72nd class of the Navy called Ryoichi Togo. When he was studying at the military academy, he was almost expelled for drinking and playing with women, and later the principal, Lieutenant General Inoue Naomi, only gave him the punishment of probation for his grandfather's sake. Before the expedition, the captain of the "Maya" ship, Eda Akira Daisa, suddenly remembered this man and prepared to transfer him off the warship as a left-behind person. I don't want this person to be angry: "Baga, where did you get so bold?" I don't know who I am? I am the grandson of Marshal Heihachiro Togo, do you dare to drive me off the ship? Dajiang had no choice but to let him travel with the ship.

Also sailing with the fleet were the Sixteenth Marine Corps, part of the Southwestern Fleet, including the heavy cruiser Aoba, the light cruiser Oni fury, and the destroyer Urabo. This fleet, led by Rear Admiral Yoshinori Yoshinori, was on a mission to escort the Army's transport ships and did not take part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

A group of sailors had endured harsh training in the unbearably warm and humid equatorial waters, and now the Americans were coming to the door, and they were about to go out to sea to fight the enemy to the death, and the morale of the fleet was quite high. Fleets on the voyage strictly enforce light control. In the cabin of the commander of the Yamato, Lieutenant General Ugaki wrote this passage in the "War Algae" with the faint light of a flashlight: "Even if the enemy has 1 million troops and 1,000 aircraft carriers, we will not be afraid at all." Because our entire fleet has done it single-mindedly! Come on, Americans, we're going to fight you to the end!" ”

The next morning, the Kurita Fleet, which was heading to the South China Sea, encountered a "good thing." A young eagle spread its wings and flew low, circling around the Yamato against the tropical currents, and finally perched on a low-hanging flag of the giant ship. Ugaki stared at it from the bridge. Several sailors approached carefully and grabbed the eaglet, putting it in a cage, hoping it would bring good luck to the fleet.

Ugaki, who saw this scene from afar, smiled rarely. He turned his gaze to the calm water, and there seemed to be a mysterious color floating in the sea. In The War Algae, he describes it as "a layer of peaceful glimmer." The auspicious eagles came, and the beautiful colors appeared, and Ugaki believed that this was all auspicious omens, and that future victories must belong to the Japanese.