There were several things noteworthy about this battle. In one segment, the American fleet consisting of old battleships (as the press said, "seven of the two battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor are with the fleet"), the American fleet "crossed the T" of the Japanese force, the same maneuver used by the Japanese in their victory over the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in 1905.
Another was the sinking of the super battleship Musashi by American planes, proving once again (if the Japanese sinking of Repulse and Prince of Wales off Malaya early in the war needed more corroborating evidence) that battleships were obsolete.
But the most interesting was that the Japanese used decoys--carriers almost devoid of planes due to huge losses at places like the Battle of the Philippine Sea (commonly called the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot")--to lure almost ALL the capital ships of Admiral "Bull" Halsey's fleet north in pursuit, leaving the landing ships at Leyte without much naval cover (a few small escort carriers and some destroyer escorts) as the third prong of the Japanese battle fleet approached. The escorts launched what planes they had, and the destroyer escorts were order to "charge". They were all sunk, and the Cherokee Indian captain of the USS Johnston, Commander Ernest Evans, went down in history for his persistence and courage, as well as going down with the ship, at one point standing on deck with a bull horn, bleeding from his wounds, directing the engine room crew with all the ship's communications knocked out. The five-inch shells of the destroyers bounced off the Japanese armor, but the Johnston at least was able to damage a cruiser with a torpedo. When the Johnston finally went down, it is said that a Japanese officer stood and saluted. But the Japanese commander was spooked by the attacking ships and planes, unaware that the battle fleet was speeding north away from the action, and withdrew before hitting the transports. "Damn, they're getting away" one sailor is quoted as saying (that's the lore, anyway).
“This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to go in harm’s way, and anyone who doesn’t want to go along had better get off right now.” Those were the words of Commander Ernest. E. Evans on the day USS Johnston (DD-557) was commissioned, 27 October 1943, at Seattle, Washington. Just three...
www.history.navy.mil
Pearl Harbor sent a message to Halsey. "Where is task force 59. The world wonders." The last sentence was fill to make code breaking more difficult, but given the circumstances Halsey took it rather personally. (One book I have says that "the war was getting too complicated for Halsey", though it must be noted that his leadership and risk-taking played a major role in the victory at Guadalcanal, at a time when the Americans had NO carriers left in the Pacific).
People do matter.