Battle of Surigao Strait: How the U.S. Navy Trapped Japan’s Battleships

This documentary reconstructs the October 24–25, 1944 Battle of Surigao Strait, a decisive action within the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura led the battleships Yamashiro and Fuso, the heavy cruiser Mogami, and four destroyers north toward Leyte Gulf while Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf prepared a layered U.S. defense. From PT boat contacts and devastating destroyer torpedo attacks to radar-directed battleship gunfire and the classic “crossing the T,” the video examines how geography, tactics, and fire-control technology dismantled the Japanese Southern Force before it could reach the vulnerable invasion shipping in Leyte Gulf. It also explores why Surigao Strait became the last battleship-versus-battleship action in history and how the tactical reality differed from the popular story of Pearl Harbor veterans returning for revenge. Sources: https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/lead... https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-top... https://www.history.navy.mil/content/histo... https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/lead... https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collectio... #BattleOfSurigaoStrait #BattleOfLeyteGulf #WorldWarII #WWIIHistory #NavalHistory #USNavy #PacificWar #LeyteGulf #Yamashiro #Fuso #JesseOldendorf #ShojiNishimura