TheIronDiaries
Airman
- 13
- 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 one man that morning. Commander Ernest Evans of the destroyer Johnston turned his ship around alone and charged the Japanese line without orders. His torpedoes crippled the heavy cruiser Kumano. With one engine left and three guns without power, he went back in again, and kept fighting until the Johnston went down under him. He was never found.
This one is built a little differently from my usual episodes. It ranks his three decisions that morning, from third to first, and asks which one mattered most. I tried to keep every claim to the record, and the description carries the sources.
Video here:
View: https://youtu.be/EONO8k3yZO8
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 one man that morning. Commander Ernest Evans of the destroyer Johnston turned his ship around alone and charged the Japanese line without orders. His torpedoes crippled the heavy cruiser Kumano. With one engine left and three guns without power, he went back in again, and kept fighting until the Johnston went down under him. He was never found.
This one is built a little differently from my usual episodes. It ranks his three decisions that morning, from third to first, and asks which one mattered most. I tried to keep every claim to the record, and the description carries the sources.
Video here:
View: https://youtu.be/EONO8k3yZO8
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.
