Yamato Had the Perfect Battle - So Why Did Japan Retreat at Samar?

On October 25, 1944, Japan's battleship Yamato and Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's powerful Center Force broke through to Samar and found exactly the kind of target the Imperial Japanese Navy had spent decades preparing to destroy: six lightly armored American escort carriers defended by a handful of destroyers and destroyer escorts. Yet at the Battle off Samar, the hopelessly outgunned sailors of Taffy 3 attacked through smoke, torpedoes, and relentless air strikes, throwing the Japanese formation into chaos until Kurita ordered his fleet to withdraw. This World War II documentary explores Yamato, Taffy 3, USS Johnston, USS Samuel B. Roberts, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Japan's decisive battle doctrine, and how America's distributed naval power made the ultimate battleship increasingly obsolete. Sources: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-top... https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-top... https://www.history.navy.mil/content/histo... https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/lead... #WW2 #WorldWar2 #Yamato #BattleOfSamar #Taffy3 #LeyteGulf #USNavy #NavalHistory #PacificWar #MilitaryHistory