October 2004
October November December 2004 "Rest well, yet sleep lightly and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide firepower for freedom…” THE JERSEYMAN The Battle of Leyte Gulf... Sixty years ago, naval forces of the United States and Australia dealt a deadly and final blow to the Japanese Navy at Leyte Gulf. Over a four day period ranging from 23 - 26 October 1944, and in four separate engagements, the Japanese Navy lost 26 ships and the US Navy lost 6. With this issue of The Jerseyman, we present another look back at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, record some new stories, and present a few 60 year old, but “new” photos sent in by the men that were there. Our sincere thanks to all WW2 veterans, and Battle of Leyte Gulf veterans for their contributions to this issue. History also records that the Battle of Leyte Gulf was the one time in the Pacific war that Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, flying his flag aboard battleship USS NEW JERSEY, had a chance to take on the giant Japanese battleships IJN Musashi, and IJN Yamato. But in a controversial decision that is studied and discussed to this day, Admiral Halsey took the bait of a Japanese carrier decoy fleet, split his forces, and headed USS NEW JERSEY and the Third Fleet North. Admiral Halsey lost his chance. The greatest sea-battle victory in history fell instead to the older ships of the United States Seventh Fleet. We can only speculate on what it would have meant if Halsey’s Third Fleet had been there with the old Seventh Fleet battleships of WEST VIRGINIA, CALIFORNIA, TENNESSEE, MARYLAND, PENNSYLVANIA, and- MISSISSIPPI, and had added the firepower from fast battleships NEW JERSEY, IOWA, MASSACHUSETTS, SOUTH DAKOTA, WASHINGTON and ALABAMA… The flag shown is on display in the museum area of the ship.
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