[WernherVonTrapp]

Armistead is right. The Jeep carriers of Taffy 3 were there for ground support and ASW duties only. They had no armor piercing (anti-ship) bombs, only HE fragmentation bombs and depth charges, which they did use against Kurita's force nonetheless but to little effect. Still, the confusion and havoc they caused on Kurita's force appears to have been significant. The biggest problem for the IJN was their inflexibility in maintaining radio silence. The left hand had no idea what the right hand was doing, or even if any success was gained by Nishimura's Southern Force. Kurita wasn't even sure if Halsey had taken the bait of Ozawa's Northern Force.

Regardless, Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's 7th Fleet was too far away (at Surigao Strait) to come rushing to the aid at Leyte. Though some historians still question/ponder Kurita's decision to withdraw, the general consensus is that, much confusion was caused by the smoke-screens and attacks by Taffy 3's DDs/DEs in addition to the bombing/strafing runs from her Escort Carriers. This coupled with a lack of communication and coordination between the IJN's Northern, Central and Southern forces lead Kurita to retire, fearing he was being drawn into a trap by the U.S. Navy. He had already lost a number of Heavy Cruisers either sunk or put out of the action and consistently mistook the ships of Taffy 3 for their larger counterparts. Aside from all that, he was not thrilled about using his fleet against meager transports and cargo ships rather than in a glorious battle with U.S. warships. Had he continued instead of turning about, he could've wiped out the entire invasion fleet and still have had time to escape.