Japan Sent 2 Battleships Into Surigao Strait. 5 Pearl Harbor Survivors Were Waiting (1944)
Probable Cause
36 views
In the early hours of 25 October 1944, Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura led two old battleships, a heavy cruiser and four destroyers into Surigao Strait, the southern door to Leyte Gulf. Waiting at the top of the strait were six American battleships. Five of them had been hit at Pearl Harbor. Two had been sunk there, raised from the mud and rebuilt.
It is remembered as Pearl Harbor's revenge and as the last battleship-versus-battleship action in history. But by the time the first American battleship fired, the battle was already lost. This is the Battle of Surigao Strait: the PT boat tripwire, the destroyer torpedo crossfire that sank Fuso and crippled Yamashiro before a single 16-inch gun spoke, the crossing of the T, the friendly-fire hits on USS Albert W. Grant, Mississippi's final salvo, and the one Japanese destroyer that came out alive.
The night sequences in this video are 3D recreations. Ship positions and ranges are compressed for the camera and are not to scale.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Yamashiro, 03:50
0:51 Part 1: The Last Gamble
2:35 Part 2: The Man With No Way Back
4:44 Part 3: Back From the Mud
6:40 Part 4: Seven Against a Fleet
7:41 Part 5: The Funnel
9:15 Part 6: The Tripwire
10:49 Part 7: Crossfire
13:03 Part 8: Why He Didn't Turn Back
14:04 Part 9: The Last Broadside
15:37 Part 10: Friendly Fire
16:27 Part 11: The End of the Line
17:59 Part 12: The Lone Survivor
18:59 Part 13: The Cost
20:03 Legacy
SOURCES
Naval History and Heritage Command: H-Gram 038 (S. Cox), "The Battle of Surigao Strait: Last Battleship Versus Battleship Action"; DANFS entries for USS West Virginia, California, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Albert W. Grant, Melvin, Monssen, Killen, Newcomb and others.
US Strategic Bombing Survey interrogations: Cdr. Shigeru Nishino (CO, Shigure) and Cdr. Kokichi Mori (Shima's staff), 1945.
COMINCH Secret Information Bulletin No. 22, "Battle Experience: Battle for Leyte Gulf" (1945).
R. J. Bulkley, "At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy" (Naval History Division, 1962).
Tully and Lundgren, "Battleships at Surigao Strait: Revelations of the Wrecks and Records" (2024).
FOOTAGE AND IMAGES
Archival film: National Archives and Records Administration. "Brought to Action" (111-M-1185), "Battle for Leyte Gulf" (80-MN-9043A), 428-NPC-1689, 111-ADC-9879.
Photographs: U.S. Navy / National Archives and Naval History and Heritage Command (80-G, 19-N and NH series), including four photographs taken from USS Pennsylvania during the battle.
Maps built from Natural Earth (public domain). Ship tracks are approximate.
3D ship models and night sequences are digital reconstructions made for this video.
Narration is an AI voice. Script, research and edit are original.
#SurigaoStrait #BattleOfLeyteGulf #WW2 #NavalHistory
Japan Sent 2 Battleships Into Surigao Strait. 5 Pearl Harbor Survivors Were Waiting (1944)
Probable Cause
36 views
In the early hours of 25 October 1944, Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura led two old battleships, a heavy cruiser and four destroyers into Surigao Strait, the southern door to Leyte Gulf. Waiting at the top of the strait were six American battleships. Five of them had been hit at Pearl Harbor. Two had been sunk there, raised from the mud and rebuilt.
It is remembered as Pearl Harbor's revenge and as the last battleship-versus-battleship action in history. But by the time the first American battleship fired, the battle was already lost. This is the Battle of Surigao Strait: the PT boat tripwire, the destroyer torpedo crossfire that sank Fuso and crippled Yamashiro before a single 16-inch gun spoke, the crossing of the T, the friendly-fire hits on USS Albert W. Grant, Mississippi's final salvo, and the one Japanese destroyer that came out alive.
The night sequences in this video are 3D recreations. Ship positions and ranges are compressed for the camera and are not to scale.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Yamashiro, 03:50
0:51 Part 1: The Last Gamble
2:35 Part 2: The Man With No Way Back
4:44 Part 3: Back From the Mud
6:40 Part 4: Seven Against a Fleet
7:41 Part 5: The Funnel
9:15 Part 6: The Tripwire
10:49 Part 7: Crossfire
13:03 Part 8: Why He Didn't Turn Back
14:04 Part 9: The Last Broadside
15:37 Part 10: Friendly Fire
16:27 Part 11: The End of the Line
17:59 Part 12: The Lone Survivor
18:59 Part 13: The Cost
20:03 Legacy
SOURCES
Naval History and Heritage Command: H-Gram 038 (S. Cox), "The Battle of Surigao Strait: Last Battleship Versus Battleship Action"; DANFS entries for USS West Virginia, California, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Albert W. Grant, Melvin, Monssen, Killen, Newcomb and others.
US Strategic Bombing Survey interrogations: Cdr. Shigeru Nishino (CO, Shigure) and Cdr. Kokichi Mori (Shima's staff), 1945.
COMINCH Secret Information Bulletin No. 22, "Battle Experience: Battle for Leyte Gulf" (1945).
R. J. Bulkley, "At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy" (Naval History Division, 1962).
Tully and Lundgren, "Battleships at Surigao Strait: Revelations of the Wrecks and Records" (2024).
FOOTAGE AND IMAGES
Archival film: National Archives and Records Administration. "Brought to Action" (111-M-1185), "Battle for Leyte Gulf" (80-MN-9043A), 428-NPC-1689, 111-ADC-9879.
Photographs: U.S. Navy / National Archives and Naval History and Heritage Command (80-G, 19-N and NH series), including four photographs taken from USS Pennsylvania during the battle.
Maps built from Natural Earth (public domain). Ship tracks are approximate.
3D ship models and night sequences are digital reconstructions made for this video.
Narration is an AI voice. Script, research and edit are original.
#SurigaoStrait #BattleOfLeyteGulf #WW2 #NavalHistory