The Battle for Leyte
Gulf
The
Action in Surigao Strait
24-25 October 1944
Oldendorf's
Force
Oldendorf's
force comprised six elderly battleships,
four heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, and twenty-eight
destroyers.
These ships were disposed in three groups, as follows
-
Battle
Line
(Rear
Admiral Weyler in Mississippi)
Battleships Mississippi,California, Tennessee,Pennsylvania,
Maryland,
West Virginia
plus Destroyer Division "X-Ray" (Commander
Hubbard) consisting of the following six destroyers -
Claxton, Cony, Thorn, Aulick,
Sigourney, Welles
Left Flank
(Rear
Admiral Oldendorf in Louisville)
Heavy Cruisers:
Louisville,
Portland, Minneapolis
Light Cruisers: Denver, Columbia
Nine destroyers organised in three sections,
as follows -
Section 1 (Destroyer Division 111 - Captain Smoot)
Newcomb,
Richard P. Leary, Albert W. Grant
Section 2 (Destroyer Division 112 - Captain Conley)
Robinson,
Halford, Bryant
Section 3 (Commander Boulware)
Heywood L. Edwards, Bennion, Leutze
(Destroyer Divisions 111
and 112 were the two divisions of Destroyer Squadron 56 commanded by Captain
Smoot)
Right
Flank
(Rear
Admiral Berkey in Phoenix)
Heavy Cruiser: Shropshire (Australian
Navy)
Light Cruisers: Phoenix, Boise
Thirteen destroyers organised as follows -
Destroyer Squadron 24 (Captain McManes)
Hutchins, Daly, Bache, Arunta (Australian Navy),
Killen, Beale
Picket Patrol - Destroyer Squadron
54 (Captain Coward) -
Destroyer Division 107 (Captain Coward) Remey,
McGowan, Melvin, Mertz
Destroyer Division 108 (Commander Phillips) Mcdermut,
Monssen, McNair
Acknowledgments
Mainsource for the
above -
Samuel Eliot Morison "United States Naval Operations in World
War II" Volume XII "Leyte"
Thephotograph of USS
Tennessee is reproduced, with thanks, from
P.H. Silverstone "Warships of World War II" (Ian Allan, Shepperton,
Surrey)
