During the night of 25 Oct 1944, Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's fleet of surface vessels lay in ambush. When Admiral Shoji Nishimura's fleet swung around Panaon Island, it suddenly found itself first assaulted by torpedoes fired from nimble PT boats and destroyers, then shells from six American battleships and nine cruisers. It was a classic "crossing the T", and Nishimura had no chance; he could not even close to a range where his ships could fire effectively. Nishimura died in the battle, too.
The Battle of Surigao Strait was to become the last engagement where battleships faced each other in combat.
For more info:
WW2DB: Philippines Campaign, Phase 1, the Leyte Campaign
Sadly, at the conclusion of this battle, the battleship Fuso was broken in half and sunk. Though rather old by WW2, Fuso's distinct superstructure made her one of the most uniquely designed battleships in the history of naval warfare. I have a couple of pictures of Fuso here:
WW2DB: Fuso
October 14th, 2006, 11:38 PM
