Description:

Hardcover (Casewrap) edition. A detailed account of the heroic naval battle between Rear Admiral Clifton A.F. Sprague’s Task Unit 77.4.3 and Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s Imperial Japanese Navy Centre Force on Wednesday, 25 October 1944. Task Unit 77.4.3 consisted of six escort carriers (CVEs) FANSHAW BAY, ST LO, WHITE PLAINS, KALININ BAY, KITKUN BAY, & GAMBIER BAY, three destroyers (DDs) HOEL, HEERMANN, & JOHNSTON, and four smaller destroyer escorts (DEs) JOHN C. BUTLER, DENNIS, RAYMOND, & SAMUEL B. ROBERTS. They fought the vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy Centre Force at Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944, sustaining losses of five warships sunk and nearly all remaining warships heavily damaged; with the high cost of nearly 900 American lives.