Quote:
Originally Posted by Admiral Halsey
I was reading the book "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" and it got me thinking about a couple of things. Like what if the Musashi hadn't been sunk or if Kurita pushed through Taffy 3
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Kurita was not on a suicide mission, so retreating seems to me to have been a very good move given what he knew about the circumstances.
Imagine how it plays out if he stays and pushes through. An hour to regain command and control of his force, four hours to do a thorough job busting up command, control and cohesion of the Leyte invasion fleet. In that time, he winds up trapped between Halsey's CVs and BBs, Turner's BBs and CVEs, and can't sink enough of the invasion TF to substantially change the outcome. So he loses everything. Sinks maybe a dozen light vessels of the invasion task force, or else sinks maybe a dozen vessels in Taffy 2 and 3.
Doesn't change the outcome of the war much. If anything Nimitz and company have less heavy Japanese surface units to hunt or worry about in 1945.