TheIronDiaries
Airman
- 12
- Oct 23, 2026
October 25th, 1944, off Samar in the Philippines. Just after dawn, a small American task unit, Taffy 3, six escort carriers screened by three destroyers and four destroyer escorts, found itself face to face with the main Japanese battle fleet: four battleships including the Yamato, the biggest battleship ever built, with six heavy cruisers and eleven destroyers.
I put together a short documentary on that morning. The destroyer Johnston, under Commander Ernest Evans, turned around alone and charged the Japanese line without orders. Her torpedoes crippled the heavy cruiser Kumano. The destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts fought like a battleship. The carriers launched everything they had and then ran, and the little ships kept charging until the Japanese turned away. Five ships of Taffy 3 never came home.
What stayed with me is the decision at the end. Kurita was winning the gunfight, his ships were breaking through, and then he ordered a withdrawal. Historians still argue about why.
Video here:
View: https://youtu.be/tb5cX1XpBnk
Happy to be corrected on any detail. Sources are in the description.
One small request, if you watch it on YouTube: the channel is small, and YouTube lets viewers Hype videos from channels under 500,000 subscribers in the first seven days. If the video is worth it, a Hype would help it reach people who never see it otherwise.
I put together a short documentary on that morning. The destroyer Johnston, under Commander Ernest Evans, turned around alone and charged the Japanese line without orders. Her torpedoes crippled the heavy cruiser Kumano. The destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts fought like a battleship. The carriers launched everything they had and then ran, and the little ships kept charging until the Japanese turned away. Five ships of Taffy 3 never came home.
What stayed with me is the decision at the end. Kurita was winning the gunfight, his ships were breaking through, and then he ordered a withdrawal. Historians still argue about why.
Video here:
View: https://youtu.be/tb5cX1XpBnk
Happy to be corrected on any detail. Sources are in the description.
One small request, if you watch it on YouTube: the channel is small, and YouTube lets viewers Hype videos from channels under 500,000 subscribers in the first seven days. If the video is worth it, a Hype would help it reach people who never see it otherwise.
