11-3-14
By the middle of October, the Combined Imperial Japanese Imperial Navy began heading for the Philippines to try to thwart American amphibious landings up and down the archipelago. The landings on Leyte were the final straw for them. The series of battles lasted three days (Oct. 23 – Oct. 28).
The Japanese were, by then, ill-equipped to wage a naval battle against Task Force 38. Their ships had been pummeled by carrier planes in mid-June’s Battle of the Philippine Sea, during which they lost some 450 seasoned carrier pilots as their planes were shot down during the infamous Marianas Turkey Shoot. In addition, American attacks (both from submarines and from the air) had systematically decimated Japanese shipping. They had effectively lost access to refined diesel oil, and had modified their ship engines to burn crude oil. Each gallon of crude was priceless by then, and the fleet was limited to only absolutely necessary sorties. The battles for Leyte Gulf qualified as an absolute necessity.
Over the course of those three days, there were three distinct “battles” There were heavy losses on both sides. Task group 38.1, which had been ordered by Halsey to turn around and head at full speed back to the Philippines on the 23rd, was redirected on the 25th to give chase to the Japanese “decoy fleet” travelling at full speed north and east of Leyte. So the Boston steamed at 33 knots chasing the enemy task group of carriers and cruisers. Once again, Halsey wanted to catch up to them and have a ship-to-ship battle. Eventually, the distance was too great, and he had to settle for a very risky late-afternoon sortie of carrier bombers to the job. The Japanese Navy was decimated, and was never the same again.
By October 28, the Boston made it back to Ulithi, one day after the Crippled Cruisers limped into the anchorage.