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Raise a glass for them this evening! Brave men all!

October 25, 1944

A great example of America's finest!

Yes, a great example indeed.
I was just thinking the other day about those destroyer’s slugging it out with those Japanese cruisers and battleships. Amazing story!

Worth the watch:

Absolutely! My dad was a young Naval officer in the S Pacific, and as a young kid he told me about this battle and the heroism shown. He had been on Yorktown, Yorktown II, and was stationed on several islands as a communications officer; he de-coded messages to CINCPAC.

He tiered up when he told me some of the stories.

Pretty much ended the IJN that week. USN put on a serious mean tweet.

God bless those brave souls.

Every time I listen to that battle I get very proud of our ancestors that fought and died for America. Great men in great peril.

I don't think there was another occasion when the United States Navy acted with more elan and gallantry than when those destroyers charged battleships.

The world wonders

I see what you did there, Fleet Admiral Nimitz. The bravest of the brave, ploughing the foam that day.

The whole story is amazing. Internet is full of hyperbole but it would take a lot of words to be hyperbolic about the courage and sacrifice shown by the men of Taffy 3.

Local boy.

From Oxford Reference:
"God is usually on the side of the big squadrons against the small," Comte de Bussy-Rabutin (1618–93)
"God is on the side not of the heavy battalions but of the best shots," Voltaire (1694–1778)

25 Oct 1415 - Agincourt

25 Oct 1854 - Charge of the Light Brigade

25 Oct 1944 - Battle off Samar

Henry V, via Shakespeare, noted that the 25th was St. Crispin's Day, and coined the phrase "Band of Brothers".

Controversy surrounds all three battles.

My summer 1964 "History of England" course at Kansas State didn't spend much time on Agincourt. The instructor noted that the only undisputed fact about the battle was that the English won, perhaps helped by their skill at shooting the long bow.

The orders that started the Light Brigade's charge will likely never be known.

There are competing and confusing claims of which bugler(s) or bugle(s) sounded the charge.
Who Blew the Balaklava Bugle?
Balaclava’s Greatest Hits: Trumpeter Lanfried sounds the Charge …
Trumpeter Landfried's Charge -recorded 1890

The genuine action at Balaclava of big battalion vs fewer marksmen happened in the morning of the 25th when "The Thin Red Line" of the English 93rd Regiment of Foot turned back a charge of Russian heavy cavalry that was being supported by artillery.

At Samar, the reason why Kurita broke off the action against Taffy 3 can only be guessed at. The commander of Taffy 3 seemed to side with Voltaire, with his after-action report noting that "the definite partiality of Almighty God", as well as his own evasive and attacking maneuvers, were responsible.

Herman Wouk's note about the American destroyer attack is memorable:
"The vision of Sprague's three destroyers--the Johnson, the Hoel, and the Heermann--charging out of the smoke and the rain straight toward the main batteries of Kurita's battleships and cruisers, can endure as a picture of the way Americans fight when they don't have superiority. Our school-children should know about that incident, and our enemies should ponder it."

Why did Halsey allow himself to be decoyed away from San Bernadino Strait? Halsey's meltdown at reading the accidentally attached "The world wonders", a Tennyson line about the Light Brigade", sort of completes the 25 Oct circle.

--Bob

The genuine action at Balaclava of big battalion vs fewer marksmen happened in the morning of the 25th when "The Thin Red Line" of the English 93rd Regiment of Foot turned back a charge of Russian heavy cavalry that was being supported by artillery.


I finally got to see the original painting at Stirling Castle in ‘96.

How did the painter get them to hold still long enough to finish?

I think maybe the radioman inserted that particular padding.

Chester Nimitz was our best leader during WWII in my opinion.

My Dad served on the escort carrier Kalinin Bay that was part of The Battle off Samar. However, his time on the ship started right after that battle.

He did tell me the stories he had been told by his shipmates that had been though the battle.

Excellent stuff!