https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNlFeEcNlPs&t=19s
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Stand-Tin-Sailors-Extraordinary/dp/0553381482
Indeed, sir. Back when I was advising one of the designers on a WWII naval miniatures line, I started working up a game scenario based on Taffy 3, and the US victory condition was basically “Do Not Let the Japanese exit the West Side of The Map”–Taffy 3 was the only thing between Takeo Kurita’s battleships and heavy cruisers and the transports at the beachhead, and the mission was “hold the line at all cost.” I wrote it as after a certain number of turns you get oldendorf’s battleships as reinforcements, just keeping Kurita stuck in place and engaged a certain amount of time later and it became Automatic US Player win through Halsey’s airstrikes arriving.
Truly one of the great Last Stand actions in military history.
Like The 300 at Thermopylae, if they had held…
Those guys had balls as big as Jupiter.
God Bless them and RIP.
When in doubt…attack.
The Japanese literally baited Halsey into a trap but he fought with such ferocity that it put them off guard and they eventually bailed rather than risk what remained of their battleship group.
Taffy Three wasn’t Halsey, though, it was Kinkaid–Ozawa’s suicidal run with the remaining Japanese carriers was meant to draw Halsey off so Kurita could sneak through the back door via Palawan Passage and San Bernardino Strait.
https://jackrichardsleytegulf.weebly.com/san-bernardino-strait-oct-24.html
Similarly, Oldendorff’s battlewagons were drawn off by Nishimura’s antiques trying to come up through Surigao… lots of moving parts in the Japanese plan, and it’s frightening how close it almost came to working perfectly. Between the men of Taffy Three (and Taffy Two late in the game), and Kurita withdrawing to try to conserve his ships and men (a VERY un-Japanese move)… well, just like Midway I’m convinced that sometimes the Big Guy reaches down and moves a few pieces on the chessboard for us.
It must have been maddening to the Japanese that they Fletchers could duck into the squalls or behind the smoke banks and plink at them with radar directed 5 inch salvos. That and the planes that would do attack runs with out any ordnance, but they’d still have to counter it.
The Fletchers were just beasts, especially for their time. Anti-air, ASW, surface; just apex predators.
USS Johnston uncovered after nearly 80 years
Indeed–there’s a reason they were chosen as a basis to evolve for later designs like the Sumner/Gearing classes, and the prewar designs that culminated in Benson/Gleaves swiftly phased out.