20. Tiny T-a-f-f-y Three
When Bull Halsey hared off after the Japanese decoy carriers, he abandoned his post as protector of the Leyte invasion forces against a Japanese attack from the north. Left behind was a small fleet of escort carriers and destroyer escorts that had been repurposed for ground attack and support duties, and that had little in the way of anti-ship weapons. While Halsey was away, a powerful fleet of 23 Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers, including the world’s most powerful battleship, the 18.1-inch gun Yamato, showed up north of Leyte Gulf. It steamed towards the landing site under the command of an admiral Kurita.
The Americans were caught by surprise. All that stood between Kurita’s mighty armada and a massacre of the Americans at Leyte Gulf was a small force of escort carriers and destroyer escorts. The northernmost contingent which first came in contact with the Japanese, known as “T-a-f-f-y 3” and commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, consisted of 7 destroyers and destroyer escorts, nicknamed “tin cans” for their lack of protection.
