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, andMISSISSIPPI, 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. It is the flag flown from the mast of USS NEW JERSEY at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
THE JERSEYMAN
The Battle Of Leyte Gulf, and Surigao Straits…
Admiral James L. Holloway III, USN (Ret.,) served as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO,) from 29 June 1974 to 1 July 1978, and is currently Chairman of the Naval Historical Foundation. At the time of Leyte Gulf in 1944 however, he was then Lieutenant Holloway, and the Gunnery Officer aboard USS BENNION (DD-662.) As he reflected back… "BENNION was a 2,100-ton Fletcher Class destroyer with five 5-inch 38's, eight 40mm guns, a dozen 20mm's, ten torpedoes, and a full complement of depth charges. She gave the taxpayers a lot of bang for the buck." Admiral Holloway is a reader of The Jerseyman, and we thank him for sending the address he made at the Naval Historical Foundation Symposium 5 years ago. It was then the 55th battle anniversary of The Battle Of Leyte Gulf, and of Surigao Straits…

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