(See images of these vessels in "The Ships of TG 77.4.3") The Battleįollowing its San Bernardino Strait passage, the Japanese Center Force was still in its nighttime search disposition. Taffy 3 was comprised of the following ships: Sprague’s TG 77.4.3-call sign “Taffy 3”-the northwesterly-most task unit, made up of six small escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts, was stunned to confront four Japanese battleships (among them Yamato with her 18-inch main guns), six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. Just after sunrise on 25 October, Rear Admiral Clifton A. This left only three Seventh Fleet escort carrier (CVE) task units on the northern flank of the Leyte operational area, where they had been providing close air support and an ASW screen for the amphibious landings. Seventh Fleet were engaged to the south of Leyte Gulf. The heavy forces of Vice Admiral Thomas C. The Japanese Northern Force, a carrier task force, had drawn Admiral William F. However, the task force ultimately resumed its eastward passage, broke out of the San Bernardino Strait north of Samar early the following day, and headed southward toward Leyte Gulf. Following the 24 October Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the powerful Japanese First Diversion Attack Force (“Center Force”) appeared to be retiring westward. On 15 October 1944, the Japanese Imperial Navy’s First Mobile Fleet launched Operation Shō, a last-ditch attempt to engage Allied naval forces off Leyte in the central Philippines decisively.
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