21. The Little Known Admiral Who Saved America From a Disaster
The Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 was history’s biggest naval engagement. It came about as a result of a complex Japanese plan that featured many moving parts and attacks from various directions. The aim was to draw off the main American fleet guarding the American landings at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines and send it on wild goose chase. Then, a powerful Japanese naval contingent would fall upon the unprotected Leyte Gulf and devastate the Americans there.
Accordingly, Japanese aircraft carriers were dangled as bait for Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, tasked with protecting Leyte from the north. He steamed off with his powerful 3rd Fleet to sink them, telling nobody. The plan almost worked, until the Americans were miraculously saved at the last minute by a tiny scratch force, let by a Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague. He miraculously turned back a vastly more powerful Japanese fleet at what came to be known as the Battle Off Samar.
