- 2 months ago
Why Commander Ernest E. Evans charged Japan's largest battleship alone during WW2 — and what happened next changed naval warfare forever. This World War 2 story reveals how one destroyer's "suicidal" attack against impossible odds proved every expert wrong.
October 25, 1944. Commander Ernest E. Evans, commanding USS Johnston, a Fletcher-class destroyer off Samar Island. Japanese battleship Yamato—the largest ever built at 72,808 tons—was closing with 22 other warships toward American invasion beaches. Evans turned his 2,100-ton destroyer directly at the enemy fleet and charged. Alone. Every Navy manual said destroyers flee from battleships. His own task force commander hadn't ordered the attack. Tactical experts called it suicide.
They were all wrong.
What Evans discovered that morning wasn't about firepower. It was about aggression in a way that contradicted everything the Imperial Japanese Navy expected. By the end of the Battle off Samar—one of history's greatest last stands—every other destroyer in Taffy 3 started doing what Evans had done. The psychology of overwhelming force worked both ways.
This technique of aggressive close-range attacks against superior forces spread
October 25, 1944. Commander Ernest E. Evans, commanding USS Johnston, a Fletcher-class destroyer off Samar Island. Japanese battleship Yamato—the largest ever built at 72,808 tons—was closing with 22 other warships toward American invasion beaches. Evans turned his 2,100-ton destroyer directly at the enemy fleet and charged. Alone. Every Navy manual said destroyers flee from battleships. His own task force commander hadn't ordered the attack. Tactical experts called it suicide.
They were all wrong.
What Evans discovered that morning wasn't about firepower. It was about aggression in a way that contradicted everything the Imperial Japanese Navy expected. By the end of the Battle off Samar—one of history's greatest last stands—every other destroyer in Taffy 3 started doing what Evans had done. The psychology of overwhelming force worked both ways.
This technique of aggressive close-range attacks against superior forces spread
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LearningTranscript
00:00At 6.46 on the morning of October 25, 1944, Commander Ernest Evans stood on the bridge of USS Johnston
00:07off the coast of Samar Island,
00:10watching his radar operator track 23 Japanese warships closing at 20 knots from the northwest.
00:16Thirty-six years old, 11 months commanding Johnston, zero capital ships engaged.
00:22The Japanese fleet included four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers, led by Yamato, the largest
00:31battleship ever built at 72,808 tons.
00:35Evans was Cherokee, born poor in Pawnee, Oklahoma.
00:39He'd graduated from a nearly all-white high school in 1925, joined the National Guard, transferred to Navy enlisted service,
00:47one appointment to the Naval Academy without political connections, and graduated in 1931.
00:53The prejudice against Native Americans in that era made his achievement nearly impossible.
00:58But Evans didn't talk about barriers. He talked about fighting.
01:02On October 27, 1943, the day Johnston was commissioned in Seattle, Evans told his crew exactly what kind of ship
01:10this would be.
01:10This is going to be a fighting ship, he said. I intend to go in harm's way, and anyone who
01:16doesn't want to go along had better get off right now.
01:19Nobody left.
01:20Johnston was a Fletcher-class destroyer, 376 feet long, 39 feet wide, 2,100 tons, 5 5-inch guns, 10
01:30torpedoes, 327 men, fast, maneuverable, expendable.
01:36By October 1944, Johnston was assigned to Task Unit 77.4.3, radio call sign Taffy-3, 6 escort carriers,
01:473 destroyers, 4 destroyer escorts.
01:49Their job was simple. Provide air support for the American invasion of Leyte.
01:54Screen the carriers from submarines.
01:56Stay out of surface gun range because escort carriers weren't built to fight battleships.
02:01They were built to launch planes and run away.
02:03That morning, Taffy-3 was steaming in a loose formation about 50 miles east of Samar.
02:10The escort carriers were launching their first combat air patrol when the radar operator on Fanshawe Bay picked up surface
02:17contacts, big ones, closing fast.
02:20At 6.45, lookouts on the northern horizon spotted the distinctive pagoda masts of Japanese battleships.
02:27At 6.46, the first enemy shells began falling.
02:32Massive geysers of water erupted around the carriers as 14-inch and 18-inch shells started bracketing the formation.
02:40Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, commanding Taffy-3, realized immediately what had happened.
02:45Admiral Halsey's 3rd fleet, the powerful fast carriers and battleships that were supposed to be guarding San Bernardino Strait, had
02:53been lured north by a Japanese decoy force.
02:56The strait was undefended.
02:58Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's center force, which American intelligence thought had been turned back the previous day,
03:04had steamed through the strait during the night, and was now between Taffy-3 and the American Invasion beaches at
03:11Leyte Gulf.
03:12Sprague ordered the carriers to turn east and run at maximum speed, 18 knots.
03:18The Japanese heavy cruisers could make 35.
03:21He ordered his destroyers and destroyer escorts to lay smoke.
03:25The wind was wrong.
03:26The smoke drifted north instead of east, offering minimal concealment.
03:30The range was closing.
03:33Yamato's 18.1-inch guns could reach out to 25 miles.
03:37The largest gun on any American ship in Taffy-3 was 5 inches.
03:42A cruiser's armor could shrug off 5-inch shells.
03:45A destroyer's thin hull couldn't stop anything the Japanese were firing.
03:49The math was absolutely clear.
03:51Taffy-3 had no chance in a gun duel.
03:54The carriers couldn't outrun the Japanese.
03:56The screen couldn't stop them.
03:58Behind Taffy-3, in Leyte Gulf, were hundreds of transport ships loaded with tens of thousands of American soldiers.
04:05If the Japanese broke through, the invasion would turn into a massacre.
04:09If you want to see how Evans' decision in the next 60 seconds changed the entire battle, please hit that
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04:21Back to Evans.
04:22At 6.54, Evans made his decision without orders, without waiting for Sprague's command.
04:28Johnston broke formation.
04:30She turned hard to port, directly toward Yamato, alone.
04:36Johnston's engines went to flank speed, 35 knots.
04:40Evans ordered his gun crews to open fire at maximum range.
04:44The 5-inch guns began hammering at the Japanese heavy cruiser column.
04:48At this range, the shells couldn't penetrate armor, but they could distract.
04:52They could force the Japanese gun directors to split their attention.
04:56They could buy seconds.
04:58Evans was charging straight at a fleet that outweighed his destroyer by a factor of 150 to 1.
05:03The Japanese formation stretched across the horizon.
05:07Yamato in the center.
05:08Battleships Nagato, Kongo, and Haruna in support.
05:12Heavy cruisers Kumano, Suzuya, Chikuma, Tone, Chokai, and Haguro flanking the battleships.
05:19Destroyers screening the formation.
05:21Every ship firing.
05:24The ocean erupted in geysers of colored water.
05:27The Japanese used dye in their shells for spotting.
05:29Red from one ship, yellow from another, green, purple, a rainbow of death walking toward Johnston.
05:37The destroyer's 5-inch guns kept firing.
05:39Over 200 rounds in 5 minutes.
05:42Evans wasn't aiming at Yamato.
05:44He was heading for the heavy cruiser Kumano, leading the right flank of the Japanese formation.
05:50Kumano displaced 13,800 tons.
05:53Eight 8-inch guns.
05:55Four torpedo tubes.
05:57Speed, 35 knots.
05:58She'd been built to hunt destroyers exactly like Johnston.
06:02At 7.20, Johnston closed to within 10,000 yards of Kumano.
06:07Torpedo range.
06:08Evans ordered the torpedo officer to launch all 10 Mark 15 torpedoes.
06:13The fish ran hot, straight, and normal.
06:16White wakes streaked across the dark water toward the Japanese column.
06:20Kumano's lookouts spotted the torpedo tracks.
06:23The cruiser began an emergency turn.
06:26Too late.
06:26At least one torpedo struck home.
06:29The explosion tore away Kumano's bow.
06:31The heavy cruiser's speed dropped to 14 knots.
06:34She fell out of formation, trailing oil and debris.
06:37Her sister ship, Suzuya, broke off to escort the crippled cruiser back toward San Bernardino
06:43Strait, two Japanese heavy cruisers out of the fight.
06:46But Johnston had no time to celebrate.
06:48The battleships had found their range.
06:50At 7.30, three 14-inch shells from Congo slammed into Johnston's hull.
06:56The first hit destroyed the after-fire room and after-engine room.
07:01The second severed all power to the steering engine.
07:04The third knocked out the three after-five-inch guns.
07:08Three six-inch shells from other Japanese ships followed immediately.
07:12One crashed into the bridge, killing or wounding most of the command staff.
07:16Shrapnel shredded Evans' shirt.
07:19Two fingers were torn from his left hand.
07:21The radar antenna snapped off the mast and crashed onto the bridge deck.
07:26Johnston's speed dropped from 35 knots to 17.
07:30Power to the bridge was gone.
07:32Communications were severed.
07:34The gyrocompass was useless.
07:36Blood covered the decks.
07:38Men were screaming.
07:39The ship was listing.
07:41But the forward engine room still answered.
07:44One boiler still had steam.
07:46The forward gun director still functioned.
07:48Two five-inch guns could still fire.
07:51Evans climbed down from the wrecked bridge.
07:53He made his way aft through smoke and fire to the steering station at the fantail.
07:58The manual steering mechanism still worked.
08:01He took control of the ship from there,
08:03conning Johnston by shouting orders through speaking tubes to the engine room and to the gun crews.
08:09Blood ran down his arm from his mangled hand.
08:12He didn't stop.
08:13A rain squall passed over Johnston at 7.35, giving the crew ten minutes of concealment.
08:19Damage control teams worked frantically.
08:22They couldn't restore full power.
08:24They couldn't fix the rudder controls.
08:26They couldn't repair the guns.
08:28But they could keep Johnston moving.
08:30They could keep two guns firing.
08:32That was enough for Evans.
08:34At 7.45, Johnston emerged from the rain squall.
08:38Dead in the water, she would have been an easy kill.
08:41But Evans had her making 17 knots, zigzagging on manual steering, with two guns still hammering at the Japanese formation.
08:49The crew could see three more American destroyers charging toward the enemy.
08:55Hole, Heerman, and the tiny destroyer escort, Samuel B. Roberts.
09:02The three destroyers had watched Johnston charge alone.
09:06Now they followed.
09:07USS Hole, under Commander Leon Kintberger, turned toward the Japanese battleship column at 7.35.
09:14USS Heerman, under Commander Amos Hathaway, followed 30 seconds later.
09:20Both were Fletcher-class destroyers, identical to Johnston.
09:24Same guns, same torpedoes, same odds against survival.
09:28The destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts turned at 7.40.
09:32She was smaller than the destroyers, John C. Butler-class, 1,745 tons, two 5-inch guns, three torpedoes, maximum
09:43speed 24 knots.
09:45Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland commanded her.
09:48His orders from the Navy had been simple.
09:51Protect convoys from submarines.
09:53Screen carriers from torpedo attacks.
09:56Never, under any circumstances, engage capital ships in a gun duel.
10:00Destroyer escorts weren't built for that.
10:03Their hulls were too thin.
10:05Their guns too small.
10:07Copeland ignored his orders.
10:09He pointed Samuel B. Roberts straight at the Japanese heavy cruiser Chokai
10:13and opened the throttles beyond their designed maximum.
10:17The chief engineer diverted every available pound of steam to the twin turbines.
10:22Samuel B. Roberts accelerated past her rated speed.
10:2625 knots, 26, 27.
10:30The hull vibrated.
10:32The engine room temperature climbed past safe limits.
10:35The crew didn't care.
10:36They hit 28.7 knots, four knots faster than the ship was ever designed to go.
10:42By 800 hours, all four American destroyers and destroyer escorts were charging directly at 23 Japanese warships.
10:50The carriers continued running east, launching every aircraft they could get airborne.
10:56Wildcat fighters.
10:57Avenger torpedo bombers.
10:59Some carried bombs.
11:01Some carried torpedoes.
11:02Some carried nothing but their machine guns and the willingness to dive at Japanese warships just to force them to
11:09maneuver.
11:10The Japanese formation began to break apart.
11:13Kumano was gone, trailing smoke toward the strait.
11:16Sezuya was escorting her.
11:17The remaining cruisers began independent maneuvers to avoid the American torpedo attacks.
11:23Chokai, leading the cruiser column, came under fire from Samuel B. Roberts at 8.10.
11:29The little destroyer escort closed to 4,000 yards, so close that Chokai's 8-inch guns couldn't depress low enough
11:36to hit her.
11:37The Japanese shells passed overhead and slammed into the escort carrier Gambier Bay instead.
11:43Samuel B. Roberts launched her three torpedoes at Chokai.
11:47All three ran true.
11:49At least one hit.
11:51The heavy cruiser began losing speed, thick black smoke pouring from her engine room.
11:56She fell to the rear of the formation.
11:59American aircraft spotted her and dove.
12:02500-pound bombs struck amid ships.
12:05Chokai went dead in the water at 8.51.
12:08Her crew would abandon ship two hours later.
12:12The destroyer Fujinami would finish her with torpedoes to prevent capture.
12:17Johnston, still making 17 knots on one working engine, engaged the heavy cruiser Chikuma at 8.15.
12:25The Japanese cruiser was firing at the escort carriers.
12:28Her 8-inch shells were hitting Kalinan Bay and White Plains.
12:32Johnston's two remaining 5-inch guns opened fire at 14,000 yards.
12:37The shells were too small to sink a cruiser, but they hit Chikuma's superstructure.
12:42They damaged fire control systems.
12:44They killed men on the bridge.
12:47Chikuma turned to engage Johnston.
12:49That gave the American carriers 30 seconds to open the range.
12:5430 seconds was enough for three more Avenger torpedo bombers to get airborne.
12:59Hole engaged Battleship Congo at 8.20.
13:02The battleship's 14-inch guns replied immediately.
13:06Hole took over 40 hits in 15 minutes.
13:09Her bridge was destroyed.
13:10Her engine rooms flooded.
13:12She went dead in the water at 8.30.
13:15Her captain ordered abandoned ship at 8.40.
13:18She rolled over and sank at 8.55.
13:22253 men went into the water.
13:2586 survived.
13:27Hirman engaged the heavy cruisers Chikuma and Haguro simultaneously.
13:30She fired seven torpedoes at Chikuma.
13:33All missed.
13:34But the torpedo wakes forced both cruisers to turn away from the carriers.
13:39Hirman took multiple hits, but remained operational.
13:42Her captain maneuvered so aggressively that he nearly collided with Johnston at 800 hours.
13:48The two destroyers passed within 200 yards of each other.
13:51Johnston turned south at 8.30.
13:53Evans had spotted seven Japanese destroyers attempting to flank the American carriers.
14:00The Japanese destroyer squadron was attempting a torpedo run on the American carriers.
14:05Seven destroyers.
14:07Comparable in size and firepower to Johnston.
14:10They were maneuvering into position to launch their Type 93 Long Lance torpedoes.
14:15If those torpedoes reached the carriers, Taffy 3 would cease to exist.
14:21The invasion fleet in Leyte Gulf would be defenseless.
14:25Johnston was crippled.
14:27One engine.
14:28No radar.
14:29No bridge communications.
14:31Manual steering from the fantail.
14:33Two guns.
14:35Evans didn't hesitate.
14:36He turned Johnston toward the seven destroyers and opened fire.
14:40One American destroyer.
14:42Seven Japanese.
14:43The odds didn't matter.
14:45The carriers had to be protected.
14:48Johnston's two forward guns began firing at the destroyer formation at 8.40.
14:53The Japanese destroyers scattered.
14:55They returned fire, but their formation was disrupted.
14:58The torpedo attack was aborted.
15:00The destroyers turned to engage Johnston instead.
15:04That decision saved the carriers.
15:06It killed Johnston.
15:07While Johnston fought the destroyer squadron, Samuel B. Roberts continued her duel with Chikuma.
15:14The little destroyer escort's forward 5-inch gun was firing non-stop.
15:19The gun captain was Gunner's Mate 3rd Class Paul Henry Carr, 24 years old, from Chikota, Oklahoma.
15:26His gun crew had fired over 300 rounds.
15:30The barrel was glowing red.
15:31The mount had lost electrical power.
15:34The crew was cranking the gun into position manually.
15:37They were loading shells by hand.
15:39The breach was so hot that powder charges were beginning to cook off prematurely.
15:44At 8.51, a 14-inch shell from Battleship Congo struck Samuel B. Roberts' hull.
15:50The explosion destroyed one of her two boilers.
15:53Her speed dropped from 28 knots to 17.
15:57Two minutes later, three 8-inch shells from Chikuma hit in rapid succession.
16:02One shell penetrated the engine room.
16:04The second struck amidships.
16:06The third hit near the stern.
16:08Samuel B. Roberts went dead in the water at 900 hours.
16:12Carr's gun crew kept firing.
16:14The mount was operated entirely by hand now.
16:17No power.
16:18No hydraulics.
16:20Ten men cranking the gun into position, loading shells manually, and firing as fast as the overheated
16:26breach would allow.
16:27At 9.05, a powder charge exploded prematurely inside the breach.
16:32The blast killed most of the gun crew instantly.
16:35Carr was torn open from neck to groin.
16:38He was still conscious.
16:39He was holding the final shell, begging someone to load it so the gun could fire one more time.
16:45He died holding that shell.
16:48His gun had fired 324 rounds in 35 minutes of continuous fire.
16:54Samuel B. Roberts began to sink.
16:56Lieutenant Commander Copeland ordered abandoned ship at 9.10.
17:00The destroyer escort rolled over and went under at 9.35.
17:04Of her 224 crew, 89 were killed in action.
17:0825 more would die in the water from wounds, exposure, or shark attacks over the next 50 hours
17:14before rescue arrived.
17:16120 survived.
17:21120 survived.
17:22She was on the exposed port flank of the carrier formation, closest to the Japanese heavy cruisers.
17:28Shells from Chikuma and Congo had started fires on her flight deck at 8.10.
17:33At 8.20, a 14-inch shell from Congo penetrated her engine room.
17:38Gambier Bay lost power.
17:40She went dead in the water at 8.45.
17:42The Japanese cruisers closed in.
17:46They poured 8-inch shells into her hull at point-blank range.
17:50Gambier Bay capsized at 9.07.
17:53800 men went into the water.
17:56147 died.
17:58Johnston was still fighting the Japanese destroyer squadron,
18:01but the cumulative damage was too much.
18:04Her remaining engine was failing.
18:06Her forward gun mounts were jammed.
18:08She was taking water through dozens of shell holes.
18:10At 9.30, Japanese destroyers closed to within 5,000 yards and opened concentrated fire.
18:18Shells smashed into Johnston's hull.
18:20The bridge was destroyed again.
18:22The last engine failed.
18:24The final gun went silent.
18:26At 9.45, Evans gave the order to abandon ship.
18:32The crew began going over the side.
18:34Johnston was listing heavily to port.
18:37Her decks were awash.
18:38Fires burned amid ships.
18:40The hull was splitting apart near the stern,
18:42where an 18.1-inch shell from Yamato had struck earlier in the battle.
18:47That shell had torn completely through the destroyer.
18:51The hull was big enough to drive a truck through.
18:53Evans was last seen climbing into a life raft.
18:56He was badly wounded.
18:58Blood covered his uniform.
19:00His left hand was wrapped in bandages.
19:03Witnesses saw him in the water, helping other men into rafts.
19:06Then he vanished.
19:07Of the 327 men aboard Johnston, 141 would survive.
19:14186 died.
19:16Evans was never found.
19:17His body was never recovered.
19:20At 10.10, Johnston rolled to port and sank.
19:23As she went under, something happened that had never occurred before in the Pacific War.
19:28The Japanese destroyer Yuki Kaze, which had been firing on Johnston minutes earlier,
19:34sailed past the sinking American destroyer at point-blank range.
19:37Her crew lined the rails.
19:39They came to attention.
19:40They saluted.
19:42A formal military salute to an enemy they had just destroyed.
19:46Japanese sailors honoring American sailors for courage in battle.
19:50The men from Johnston went into the water.
19:53So did the survivors from Hole, Samuel B. Roberts, and Gambier Bay.
19:58Over a thousand men floating in the Philippine Sea.
20:01No rescue ships in sight.
20:03The battle continued around them.
20:05Japanese destroyers passed within yards.
20:08The men played dead, floating motionless to avoid being shot.
20:12Sharks began circling within the first hour.
20:15But something strange was happening to the Japanese fleet.
20:18At 9.11, Vice Admiral Kurita ordered his force to break off the attack and regroup.
20:24The American destroyers had been destroyed.
20:26The carriers were running.
20:29Leyte Gulf was 40 miles to the south, filled with defenseless transport ships.
20:34Kurita's battleships and cruisers could have reached the invasion fleet in two hours.
20:38They could have massacred the transports.
20:40But Kurita turned his fleet north instead.
20:43He believed he was fighting major American fleet units.
20:46The ferocity of the destroyer attacks had convinced him that he was facing heavy cruisers or light cruisers, not destroyers.
20:54The continuous air attacks from Taffy-3's carriers, joined by aircraft from Taffy-1 and Taffy-2 to the south,
21:01had damaged every battleship except Yamato.
21:04The heavy cruiser Chikuma had been hit by torpedoes from aircraft at 8.54.
21:09She was dead in the water, sinking.
21:12Sezuya had been bombed repeatedly.
21:14Her long-lance torpedoes had exploded from the fires.
21:18She would sink at 13.22.
21:21Kurita had lost three heavy cruisers sunk.
21:23Chokai, Chikuma, Sezuya.
21:26Kumano was crippled, barely making 10 knots back toward San Bernardino Strait.
21:32Every other cruiser had sustained damage.
21:34His destroyer screen was scattered.
21:36His flagship Yamato had been forced to turn north to evade torpedo attacks,
21:41causing Kurita to lose contact with much of his task force.
21:45He'd lost tactical control of the battle.
21:47At 12.30, Kurita made his final decision.
21:51He ordered the entire center force to withdraw through San Bernardino Strait.
21:56The most powerful surface fleet Japan had assembled since Midway
21:59turned around and retreated from six escort carriers and seven destroyer escorts.
22:05Four of those escorts were already sinking.
22:07The men in the water watched the Japanese ships disappear over the horizon.
22:12Then they waited.
22:14Fifty hours.
22:15Two days and two nights floating in the Pacific.
22:18The oil-covered sailors clung to life rafts and debris.
22:22Men died from wounds.
22:24From exposure.
22:25From drinking seawater.
22:27Sharks took others.
22:28The survivors formed tight groups, holding onto each other, trying to stay awake.
22:33If you fell asleep, you might slip away and drown.
22:37Rescue ships finally arrived on October 27th.
22:40Patrol craft and landing craft from Lady Gulf picked up survivors scattered across 20 miles of ocean.
22:47From Johnston, 141 men were pulled from the water.
22:51From Samuel B. Roberts, 120.
22:54From Hull, 86.
22:56From Gambier Bay, 800.
22:59Commander Ernest Evans was not among them.
23:04On November 27th, 1944, USS Johnston was struck from the Naval Register.
23:10The official designation was Sunk in Action.
23:13No survivors reported from the commanding officer.
23:17Commander Ernest Evans was listed as missing, presumed dead.
23:21His wife received the telegram in early December.
23:23She would never know where her husband died or where his body rested.
23:27On February 19th, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the citation awarding Ernest Evans the Medal of Honor.
23:36Posthumous.
23:37For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.
23:42The citation described Johnston's solo charge against the Japanese center force.
23:47It described the torpedo attack on Kumano.
23:50It described Evans commanding his ship from the fantail after the bridge was destroyed.
23:55It described the fight against seven Japanese destroyers.
23:58The citation concluded that Evans had upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
24:04He gave his life for his country.
24:05Ernest Evans became the first Native American in United States Navy history to receive the Medal of Honor.
24:12He remains one of only two destroyer captains in World War II to receive the decoration.
24:17The other was Commander Howard Gilmore of USS Growler, a submarine.
24:22Both died in action.
24:24Task Unit 77.4.3 received the Presidential Unit Citation.
24:28The entire unit.
24:30All six escort carriers.
24:32All three destroyers.
24:34All four destroyer escorts.
24:36The citation called Taffy 3's defense one of the greatest last stands in naval history.
24:42Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, who commanded Taffy 3, would later write that the outcome was the result of special dispensation
24:48from the Lord Almighty.
24:50Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz agreed.
24:52In his official report on the Battle of Samar, Nimitz stated that no other action in American naval history involved
24:59such a disparity of force.
25:00Six escort carriers and seven screening vessels against four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers.
25:09The American ships won.
25:11They prevented the Japanese from reaching Leyte Gulf.
25:14They saved the invasion.
25:16The Battle of Samar was part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf, which took place over four days from
25:22October 23rd to October 26th, 1944.
25:27Four separate engagements.
25:29Over 360 ships from the United States, Australia, and Japan.
25:34More than 200,000 men.
25:36The largest naval battle in history.
25:38The Japanese Imperial Navy deployed every operational warship they possessed.
25:43They lost 26 ships, totaling 306,000 tons.
25:48The Americans lost six ships, totaling 37,000 tons.
25:53Five of those six American ships came from Taffy 3.
25:56After Leyte Gulf, the Japanese Navy was finished as an effective fighting force.
26:01They still had ships.
26:03They still had men.
26:04But they lacked the fuel, the pilots, and the industrial capacity to replace their losses.
26:10The battle marked the first organized use of kamikaze tactics, suicide aircraft, Japan's last desperate strategy.
26:18It wasn't enough.
26:20Yamato survived the battle off Samar with minor damage.
26:24She would sail one more time.
26:25On April 7th, 1945, Yamato sortied from Japan on a suicide mission to Okinawa.
26:32American aircraft from Task Force 58 intercepted her.
26:36Over 300 planes attacked.
26:39Yamato took at least 11 torpedoes and 6 bombs.
26:42She exploded and sank with nearly all hands.
26:462,400 men died.
26:48The largest battleship ever built lasted three hours against American carrier aviation.
26:53For 75 years, no one knew exactly where Johnston rested.
26:58The battle had taken place over the Philippine Trench, one of the deepest parts of the world's oceans.
27:03The seafloor drops to over 6,000 meters in some places.
27:07Finding a single destroyer in that depth was considered impossible.
27:11The water pressure at 6,000 meters is over 600 times atmospheric pressure at sea level.
27:17No salvage.
27:18No recovery.
27:20No memorial.
27:21Except the ocean itself.
27:22In October 2019, the research vessel Petrel located what appeared to be a Fletcher-class destroyer on the edge of
27:30an underwater cliff off Samar Island.
27:33The depth reading was over 20,000 feet.
27:356,000 meters.
27:38The Petrel Team deployed remotely operated vehicles to survey the wreck.
27:43They found gun turrets, propeller shafts, debris consistent with a Fletcher-class destroyer.
27:49But they couldn't reach the deepest sections of the wreck.
27:52The remotely operated vehicles had depth limitations.
27:56More importantly, they couldn't confirm the ship's identity.
27:59Two Fletcher-class destroyers had been sunk at Samar.
28:02Johnston and Hole.
28:04Both were virtually identical.
28:06Without seeing the hull number or other identifying features, positive identification was impossible.
28:12The wreck remained unconfirmed for 16 months.
28:16Then, in March 2021, a private exploration company called Caledon Oceanic arrived at the site.
28:23The company was led by Victor Vescovo, retired United States Navy officer.
28:28Explorer.
28:29The first person in history to reach the deepest point in all five oceans.
28:33He held the record for the deepest ocean dive ever made.
28:3710,925 meters in the Mariana Trench.
28:40If anyone could reach Johnston, it was Vescovo.
28:44Vescovo piloted a submersible called Limiting Factor, designed for extreme depth.
28:50Titanium pressure hull, nine centimeters thick.
28:52Capable of carrying two people to full ocean depth.
28:56On March 31, 2021, Limiting Factor descended to the wreck site.
29:01The dive took four hours, down through complete darkness.
29:05The water pressure at 20,000 feet exceeds 600 atmospheres.
29:10Every square inch of the hull experiences over 8,000 pounds of force.
29:14At 21,180 feet, Limiting Factor reached the seafloor, 6,460 meters, four miles straight down.
29:24Vescovo switched on the external lights.
29:27The wreck appeared out of the darkness.
29:29A destroyer.
29:30Broken but intact.
29:32Resting on a slope on the edge of the Philippine Trench.
29:35The bow was visible.
29:37The stern had separated from the main hull.
29:39Vescovo maneuvered closer.
29:41He could see the hull number painted on the bow, 557, USS Johnston.
29:46The wreck was remarkably preserved.
29:49The cold water and extreme depth had prevented decay.
29:53Johnston looked like she'd sunk yesterday, not 77 years ago.
29:57The 5-inch gun turrets were still in place.
29:59The torpedo racks were empty.
30:01The guns were pointed to starboard, still aimed at the Japanese ships she'd been firing on when she went down.
30:07The bridge was destroyed.
30:09The hull showed massive damage amid ships where the 14-inch shells had struck.
30:14The rear third of the ship was missing, torn away by the 18.1-inch shell from Yamato.
30:20Vescovo spent eight hours surveying the wreck.
30:23He photographed every section.
30:25He documented the damage.
30:26He mapped the debris field.
30:28No human remains were visible.
30:30The bodies were gone, dissolved into the ocean decades ago.
30:34But the ship remained.
30:35A steel monument to 327 men and their Cherokee commander.
30:40At 21,180 feet, Johnston was the deepest shipwreck ever discovered, 62% deeper than Titanic.
30:48The discovery made international news.
30:51Naval historians called it one of the most significant wreck findings in decades.
30:55The Naval History and Heritage Command officially confirmed the identification.
31:00The wreck site was designated a protected war grave under the Sunken Military Craft Act.
31:06Unauthorized disturbance carries penalties up to $100,000 per day.
31:10Vescovo gave all his data to the United States Navy.
31:13Sonar maps, high-definition video, photographs, field notes, everything.
31:19He took nothing from the wreck.
31:21Before and after the expedition, his team laid wreaths on the ocean surface above Johnston to honor the crew.
31:28As a former Navy officer, Vescovo considered it a privilege to locate the ship
31:33and bring closure to the families of those who fell.
31:35Retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, released a statement.
31:42This brings clarity to the loss of the ship and helps close a chapter on one of the greatest last
31:47stands in all naval history,
31:50which ended in a completely unpredictable American victory against enormous odds.
31:57Johnston held the record as the world's deepest shipwreck for 14 months.
32:01Then, in June 2022, Vescovo returned to the waters off Samar.
32:06He was searching for another ship, the destroyer escort that had fought beside Johnston,
32:11the little ship that fired 324 rounds from a single gun,
32:16the ship whose gunner died holding a final shell, begging to fire one more time.
32:21He was searching for USS Samuel B. Roberts.
32:27On June 22, 2022, Vescovo Submersible Limiting Factor descended into the Philippine Trench again.
32:35The search area was based on Japanese battle reports, American survivor accounts,
32:40and mathematical modeling of where a sinking destroyer escort would drift before hitting bottom.
32:46The team deployed cutting-edge sonar technology, never before used at such extreme depths.
32:51The search took days.
32:53The ocean floor at this location is a maze of ridges, cliffs, and slopes.
32:58Finding a single small ship in terrain like that is like finding a specific grain of sand on a beach.
33:04Then, the sonar detected something.
33:06A contact on a steep slope.
33:08The right size.
33:09The right shape.
33:10Limiting Factor descended to investigate.
33:13At 22,621 feet, the lights illuminated twisted metal.
33:18A ship.
33:19Smaller than Johnston.
33:20The bow had hit the seafloor first, causing buckling.
33:24The stern had separated on impact, resting about five meters from the main hull.
33:29But the wreck was together.
33:30Recognizable.
33:32Vescovo maneuvered closer.
33:33He could see the three-tube torpedo launcher.
33:36The five-inch gun mounts.
33:38The fallen mast.
33:39A gap in the hull amid ships where a battleship shell had struck.
33:43And there, on the aft gun mount, evidence of the final moments.
33:47The breach was blown apart.
33:49The gun that had fired 324 rounds.
33:52The gun where gunner's mate Paul Carr had died holding a final shell.
33:57USS Samuel B. Roberts.
33:596,895 meters deep.
34:0222,621 feet.
34:04The deepest shipwreck ever discovered.
34:07426 meters deeper than Johnston.
34:10The destroyer escort that fought like a battleship now holds the world record for deepest known shipwreck.
34:16Guinness World Records certified it.
34:18The record stands today.
34:20Two ships from the same battle.
34:21Both now world records.
34:23Johnston at 6,460 meters.
34:26Samuel B. Roberts at 6,895.
34:29Both resting in darkness four miles below the surface of the Philippine Sea.
34:34Both protected war graves.
34:36Both monuments to men who charged battleships and destroyers.
34:40And won.
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34:58Stories about destroyer crews who stopped battleship fleets with 5-inch guns and courage.
35:04Real people.
35:05Real heroism.
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35:27The battle off Samar lasted two and a half hours.
35:32Seven American ships faced 23 Japanese warships.
35:35The Americans lost four ships and over a thousand men.
35:39The Japanese lost three heavy cruisers and retreated.
35:42The invasion of Leyte succeeded.
35:45The Philippines were liberated.
35:47The war in the Pacific turned irreversibly in America's favor.
35:51All because a Cherokee commander from Oklahoma pointed his tiny destroyer at the largest battleship ever built and charged.
36:00Ernest Evans never saw his Medal of Honor.
36:02He never knew his ship would be found.
36:05He never knew that 77 years after his death, people would still tell his story.
36:10He died in the water off Samar on October 25, 1944, 36 years old.
36:17He gave everything.
36:40He left the monuments to the day seven tiny ships charged the Yamato and Japan's entire fleet retreated.