title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: A meeting between MacArthur, Nimitz, and President Roosevelt helped confirm the Philippines as a strategic target but did not reach a decision, and the debate continued for two months. Eventually Nimitz changed his mind and agreed to MacArthur's plan, and it was eventually decided that MacArthur's forces would invade the island of Leyte in the central Philippines. Amphibious forces and close naval support would be provided by Seventh Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The U.S. Seventh Fleet at this time contained units of the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. Before the major naval actions in Leyte Gulf had begun, and were severely damaged by air attacks; during the battle proper these two cruisers were retiring, escorted by , for repairs at the major Allied base at Manus Island, away.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: U.S. Third Fleet, commanded by Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., with Task Force 38 (TF 38, the Fast Carrier Task Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher), as its main component, would provide more distant cover and support for the invasion. A fundamental defect in this plan was there would be no single American naval admiral in overall command. Kinkaid fell under MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific, whereas Halsey's Third Fleet reported to Nimitz as C-in-C Pacific Ocean Areas. This lack of unity of command, along with failures in communication, was to produce a crisis and very nearly a strategic disaster for the American forces. By coincidence, the Japanese plan, using three separate fleets, also lacked an overall commander.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The American options were apparent to the IJN. Combined Fleet Chief Soemu Toyoda prepared four "victory" plans: "Shō-Gō" 1 (, "") was a major naval operation in the Philippines, while "Shō-Gō" 2, "Shō-Gō" 3 and "Shō-Gō" 4 were responses to attacks on Formosa, the Ryukyu Islands, and the Kurile Islands, respectively. The plans were for complex offensive operations committing nearly all available forces to a decisive battle, despite substantially depleting Japan's slender reserves of fuel oil.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: On 12 October 1944, Halsey began a series of carrier raids against Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands with a view to ensuring that the aircraft based there could not intervene in the Leyte landings. The Japanese command, therefore, put "Shō-Gō" 2 into action, launching waves of air attacks against Third Fleet's carriers. In what Admiral Halsey refers to as a "knock-down, drag-out fight between carrier-based and land-based air", the Japanese were routed, losing 600 aircraft in three days – almost their entire air strength in the region. Following the American invasion of the Philippines, the Japanese Navy made the transition to "Shō-Gō" 1.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: "Shō-Gō" 1 called for Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's ships—known as the "Northern Force"—to lure the main American covering forces away from Leyte. Northern Force would be built around several aircraft carriers, but these would have very few aircraft or trained aircrew. The carriers would serve as the main bait. As the U.S. covering forces were lured away, two other surface forces would advance on Leyte from the west. The "Southern Force" under Vice Admirals Shoji Nishimura and Kiyohide Shima would strike at the landing area via the Surigao Strait. The "Center Force" under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita—by far the most powerful of the attacking forces—would pass through the San Bernardino Strait into the Philippine Sea, turn southwards, and then also attack the landing area.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: As it sortied from its base in Brunei, Kurita's powerful "Center Force" consisted of five battleships (, , , , and ), ten heavy cruisers (, , , , , , , , and ), two light cruisers ( and ) and 15 destroyers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Kurita's ships passed Palawan Island around midnight on 22–23 October. The American submarines and were positioned together on the surface close by. At 01:16 on 23 October, "Darter"s radar detected the Japanese formation at a range of . Her captain promptly made visual contact. The two submarines quickly moved off in pursuit of the ships, while "Darter" made the first of three contact reports. At least one of these was picked up by a radio operator on "Yamato", but Kurita failed to take appropriate antisubmarine precautions.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: "Darter" and "Dace" traveled on the surface at full power for several hours and gained a position ahead of Kurita's formation, with the intention of making a submerged attack at first light. This attack was unusually successful. At 05:24, "Darter" fired a salvo of six torpedoes, at least four of which hit Kurita's flagship, the heavy cruiser "Atago". Ten minutes later, "Darter" made two hits on "Atago"s sister ship, "Takao", with another spread of torpedoes. At 05:56, "Dace" made four torpedo hits on the heavy cruiser "Maya" (sister to "Atago" and "Takao").


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: "Atago" and "Maya" quickly sank. "Atago" sank so rapidly that Kurita was forced to swim to survive. He was rescued by the Japanese destroyer , and then later transferred to the battleship "Yamato".


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: "Takao" turned back to Brunei, escorted by two destroyers, and was followed by the two submarines. On 24 October, as the submarines continued to shadow the damaged cruiser, "Darter" ran aground on the Bombay Shoal. All efforts to get her off failed, she was abandoned; and her entire crew was rescued by "Dace". Efforts to scuttle "Darter" failed over the course of the next week, including torpedoes from "Dace" and that hit the reef (and not "Darter") and deck-gun shelling from "Dace" and later, . After multiple hits from his 6-inch deck guns, the "Nautilus" commander determined on 31 October that the equipment on "Darter" was only good for scrap and left her there. The Japanese did not bother with the wreck.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: "Takao" retired to Singapore, being joined in January 1945 by "Myōkō", as the Japanese deemed both crippled cruisers irreparable and left them moored in the harbor as floating anti-aircraft batteries.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Despite its great strength, Third Fleet was not well-placed to deal with the threat. On 22 October, Halsey had detached two of his carrier groups to the fleet base at Ulithi to take on provisions and rearm. When "Darter"s contact report came in, Halsey recalled Davison's group, but allowed Vice Admiral John S. McCain, with the strongest of TF 38's carrier groups, to continue towards Ulithi. Halsey finally recalled McCain on 24 October—but the delay meant the most powerful American carrier group played little part in the coming battle and Third Fleet was therefore effectively deprived of nearly 40% of its air strength for most of the engagement. On the morning of 24 October, only three groups were available to strike Kurita's force, and the one best positioned to do so—Gerald F. Bogan's Task Group 38.2 (TG 38.2)—was by mischance the weakest of the groups, containing only one large carrier——and two light carriers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi directed three waves of aircraft from his First Air Fleet based on Luzon against the carriers of Rear Admiral Frederick Sherman's TG 38.3 (whose aircraft were also being used to strike airfields in Luzon to prevent Japanese land-based air attacks on Allied shipping in Leyte Gulf). Each of Ōnishi's strike waves consisted of some 50 to 60 aircraft.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Most of the attacking Japanese planes were intercepted and shot down or driven off by Hellcats of Sherman's combat air patrol, most notably by two fighter sections from led by Commander David McCampbell (who shot down a record nine of the attacking planes in this one action, after which he managed to return and land "in extremis" on because the "Essex"s deck was too busy to accommodate him although he had run short of fuel).


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: However, one Japanese aircraft (a Yokosuka D4Y3 "Judy") slipped through the defences, and at 09:38 hit the light carrier with a armor-piercing bomb. Just prior to the bomb hitting the carrier ten fighter planes had landed on the flight deck from a previous mission and in the hangar deck six fully loaded and fueled Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers were waiting for the next mission. One of the torpedo bombers was directly hit by this bomb as it pierced the ship and exploded, triggering the other five torpedo bombers to also explode. The bomb hit the area of the ship where not only most of the torpedoes were stored but also bombs that were not stored securely. The resulting explosion caused a severe fire in "Princeton"s hangar and her emergency sprinkler system failed to operate. As the fire spread rapidly, a series of secondary explosions followed. The fire was gradually brought under control, but at 15:23 there was an enormous explosion (probably in the carrier's bomb stowage aft), causing more casualties aboard "Princeton", and even heavier casualties—233 dead and 426 wounded—aboard the light cruiser which was coming back alongside to assist with the firefighting. "Birmingham" was so badly damaged, she was forced to retire. Another light cruiser and two destroyers were also damaged. All efforts to save "Princeton" failed, and after the remaining crew members were evacuated, she was finally scuttled—torpedoed by the light cruiser —at 17:50. Of "Princeton"s crew, 108 men were killed, while 1,361 survivors were rescued by nearby ships. USS "Princeton" was the largest American ship lost during the battles around Leyte Gulf, and the only fast carrier sunk in combat during the war. 17 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters and 12 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers went down with "Princeton".


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Planes from the carriers "Intrepid" and of Bogan's group attacked at about 10:30 scoring hits on the battleships "Nagato", "Yamato", and "Musashi", and badly damaging the heavy cruiser "Myōkō" which retired to Borneo via Coron Bay. A second wave from "Intrepid", "Essex" and later attacked, with VB-15 Helldivers and VF-15 Hellcats from "Essex", scoring another 10 hits on "Musashi". As she withdrew, listing to port, a third wave from "Enterprise" and hit her with an additional 11 bombs and eight torpedoes. After being struck by at least 17 bombs and 19 torpedoes, "Musashi" finally capsized and sank at about 19:35.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: In all, five fleet carriers and one light carrier of Third Fleet flew 259 sorties with bombs carried by Helldivers and torpedoes launched by TBF Avengers against Center Force on 24 October, but this weight of attack was not nearly sufficient to neutralize the threat from Kurita. The largest effort of the Sibuyan Sea attack was directed against just one battleship, "Musashi", which was sunk, and the cruiser "Myōkō" was also crippled by an aerial torpedo. Nevertheless, every other ship in Kurita's force remained battleworthy and able to advance. It would be the desperate action and great sacrifice of the much weaker force of six slow escort carriers, three destroyers, four destroyer escorts, and 400 aircraft at the Battle off Samar, utterly lacking in credible weapons to sink armored ships, to stop Kurita. It also contrasts with the 527 sorties flown by Third Fleet against Ozawa's much weaker carrier decoy Northern Force on the following day.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Kurita turned his fleet around to get out of range of the aircraft, passing the crippled "Musashi" as his force retreated. Halsey assumed that this retreat signified that his threat was dealt with for the time being. Kurita, however, waited until 17:15 before turning around again to head for the San Bernardino Strait. As a result of a momentous decision taken by Admiral Halsey and some unclear communication of his plans, Kurita was able to proceed through the San Bernardino Strait during the night to make an unexpected and dramatic appearance off the coast of Samar the following morning, directly threatening the Leyte landings.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: After the Japanese Southern and Center forces had been detected, but before it had been engaged or Ozawa's carriers had been located, Halsey and the staff of Third Fleet, aboard the battleship , prepared a contingency plan to deal with the threat from Kurita's Center Force. Their intention was to cover San Bernardino Strait with a powerful task force of fast battleships supported by two of Third Fleet's equally swift carrier groups. The battleship force was to be designated Task Force 34 (TF 34) and to consist of four battleships, five cruisers, and 14 destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee. Rear Admiral Ralph E. Davison of TG 38.4 was to be in overall command of the supporting carrier groups.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: At 15:12 on 24 October, Halsey sent an ambiguously worded telegraphic radio message to his subordinate task group commanders giving details of this contingency plan:


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey sent information copies of this message to Admiral Nimitz at Pacific Fleet headquarters and Admiral King in Washington, but he did not include Admiral Kinkaid (Seventh Fleet) as an information addressee. The message was picked up by Seventh Fleet anyway as it was common for admirals to direct radio operators to copy all message traffic they detected whether intended for them or not. Because Halsey intended TF 34 as a contingency to be formed and detached "when" he ordered it, by writing "will be formed," he meant the future tense, but he neglected to say when TF 34 "would" be formed or under what circumstances. This omission led Admiral Kinkaid of Seventh Fleet to believe Halsey was speaking in the present tense, so he concluded TF 34 "had been formed" and would take station off the San Bernardino Strait. Kinkaid's light escort carrier group, lacking battleships for naval action and set up to attack ground troops and submarines, not capital ships, positioned itself south of the strait to support the invasion force. Admiral Nimitz, in Pearl Harbor, reached exactly the same conclusion.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Unfortunately, Halsey sent this second message by voice radio, so Seventh Fleet did not intercept it (due to the range limitations of the ship-to-ship voice radio networks in use at the time) and Halsey did not follow up with a telegraphic message to Nimitz or King, or vitally, Kinkaid. The serious misunderstanding caused by Halsey's imperfect wording of his first message and his failure to notify Nimitz, King, or Kinkaid of his second clarifying message had a profound influence on the subsequent course of the battle as Kurita's major force almost overwhelmed Kinkaid's unprepared lighter force on the doorstep of the Leyte landings.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Third Fleet's aircraft failed to locate Ozawa's Northern Force until 16:40 on 24 October. This was largely because Third Fleet had been preoccupied with attacking Kurita's sizable Center Force and defending itself against the Japanese air strikes from Luzon. Thus the one Japanese force that wanted to be discovered – Ozawa's tempting decoy of a large carrier group, which actually had only 108 aircraft – was the only force the Americans had not been able to find. On the evening of 24 October, Ozawa intercepted a (mistaken) American communication describing Kurita's withdrawal; he therefore began to withdraw, too. However, at 20:00, Toyoda ordered all his forces to attack "counting on divine assistance." Trying to draw Third Fleet's attention to his decoy force, Ozawa reversed course again and headed southward towards Leyte.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey fell for the Japanese decoy, convinced the Northern Force constituted the main Japanese threat, and he was determined to seize what he saw as a golden opportunity to destroy Japan's last remaining carrier strength. Believing Center Force had been neutralized by Third Fleet's air strikes earlier in the day in the Sibuyan Sea, and its remnants were retiring, Halsey radioed (to Nimitz and Kinkaid):


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The words "with three groups" proved dangerously misleading. In the light of the intercepted 15:12 24 October "…will be formed as Task Force 34" message from Halsey, Admiral Kinkaid and his staff assumed, as did Admiral Nimitz at Pacific Fleet headquarters, that TF 34—commanded by Vice Admiral Lee—had now been formed as a separate entity. They assumed that Halsey was leaving this powerful surface force guarding the San Bernardino Strait (and covering Seventh Fleet's northern flank), while he took his three available carrier groups northwards in pursuit of the Japanese carriers. But Task Force 34 had not been detached from his other forces, and Lee's battleships were on their way northwards with Third Fleet's carriers. As Woodward wrote: "Everything was pulled out from San Bernardino Strait. Not so much as a picket destroyer was left".


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey and his staff officers ignored information from a night reconnaissance aircraft operating from the light carrier that Kurita's powerful surface force had turned back towards the San Bernardino Strait and that, after a long blackout, the navigation lights in the strait had been turned on. When Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan—commanding TG 38.2—radioed this information to Halsey's flagship, he was rebuffed by a staff officer, who tersely replied "Yes, yes, we have that information." Vice Admiral Lee, who had correctly deduced that Ozawa's force was on a decoy mission and indicated this in a blinker message to Halsey's flagship, was similarly rebuffed.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Commodore Arleigh Burke and Commander James H. Flatley of Mitscher's staff had come to the same conclusion. They were sufficiently worried about the situation to wake Mitscher, who asked, "Does Admiral Halsey have that report?" On being told that Halsey did, Mitscher—knowing Halsey's temperament—commented, "If he wants my advice he'll ask for it" and went back to sleep.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The entire available strength of Third Fleet continued to steam northwards towards Ozawa's decoy force, leaving the San Bernardino Strait completely unguarded. Nothing lay between the battleships of Kurita's Center Force and the American landing vessels, except for Kinkaid's vulnerable escort carrier group off the coast of Samar.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The Battle of Surigao Strait is significant as the last battleship-to-battleship action in history. The Battle of Surigao Strait was one of only two battleship-versus-battleship naval battles in the entire Pacific campaign of World War II (the other being the naval battle during the Guadalcanal Campaign, where sank the ). It is also the most recent battle in which one force (in this case, the U.S. Navy) was able to "cross the T" of its opponent. However, by the time that the battleship action was joined, the Japanese line was very ragged and consisted of only one battleship ("Yamashiro"), one heavy cruiser, and one destroyer, so that the "crossing of the T" was notional and had little effect on the outcome of the battle.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Nishimura's "Southern Force" consisted of the old battleships (flag) and , the heavy cruiser , and four destroyers, , , and . This task force left Brunei after Kurita at 15:00 on 22 October, turning eastward into the Sulu Sea and then northeasterly past the southern tip of Negros Island into the Mindanao Sea. Nishimura then proceeded northeastward with Mindanao Island to starboard and into the south entrance to the Surigao Strait, intending to exit the north entrance of the Strait into Leyte Gulf, where he would add his firepower to that of Kurita's force.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The Japanese Second Striking Force was commanded by Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima and comprised heavy cruisers (flag) and , the light cruiser , and the destroyers , , , and .


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The Japanese Southern Force was attacked by U.S. Navy bombers on 24 October but sustained only minor damage. The destroyer was the only ship sunk during this action.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Nishimura was unable to synchronize his movements with Shima and Kurita because of the strict radio silence imposed on the Center and Southern Forces. When he entered the Surigao Strait at 02:00, Shima was behind him, and Kurita was still in the Sibuyan Sea, several hours from the beaches at Leyte.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: As the Japanese Southern Force approached the Surigao Strait, it ran into a deadly trap set by Seventh Fleet. Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf had a substantial force comprising


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Five of the six battleships had been sunk or damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequently repaired or, in the cases of "Tennessee", "California", and "West Virginia", rebuilt. The sole exception was "Mississippi", which had been in Iceland on convoy-escort duty at that time. To pass through the narrows and reach the invasion shipping, Nishimura would have to run the gauntlet of torpedoes from the PT boats and destroyers before advancing into the concentrated fire of 14 battleships and cruisers deployed across the far mouth of the strait.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: At 22:36, "PT-131" (Ensign Peter Gadd) was operating off Bohol when it made contact with the approaching Japanese ships. The PT boats made repeated attacks for more than three and a half hours as Nishimura's force streamed northward. No torpedo hits were scored, but the PT boats did send contact reports which were of use to Oldendorf and his force.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Nishimura's ships passed unscathed through the gauntlet of PT boats. However, their luck ran out a short time later, as they were subjected to devastating torpedo attacks from the American destroyers deployed on both sides of their axis of advance. At about 03:00, both Japanese battleships were hit by torpedoes. "Yamashiro" was able to steam on, but "Fusō" was torpedoed by and fell out of formation, sinking forty minutes later. Two of Nishimura's four destroyers were sunk; the destroyer "Asagumo" was hit and forced to retire, but later sank.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The traditional account of the sinking of "Fusō" was that she exploded into two halves that remained floating for some time. However, "Fusō" survivor Hideo Ogawa, interrogated in 1945, in an article on the battleship's last voyage, stated: "Shortly after 0400 the ship capsized slowly to starboard and Ogawa and others were washed away," without specifically mentioning the bisection. "Fusō" was hit on the starboard side by two or possibly three torpedoes. One of these started an oil fire, and as the fuel used by IJN ships was poorly refined and easily ignited, burning patches of fuel could have led to the description from Allied observers of "Fusō" "blowing up". However, battleships were known sometimes to be cut into two or even three sections which could remain afloat independently, and Samuel Morison states that the bow half of "Fusō" was sunk by gunfire from , and the stern half sank off Kanihaan Island.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: At 03:16, "West Virginia"s radar picked up the surviving ships of Nishimura's force at a range of . "West Virginia" tracked them as they approached in the pitch black night. At 03:53, she fired the eight guns of her main battery at a range of , striking "Yamashiro" with her first salvo. She went on to fire a total of 93 shells. At 03:55, "California" and "Tennessee" joined in, firing 63 and 69 shells, respectively, from their guns. Radar fire control allowed these American battleships to hit targets from a distance at which the Japanese battleships, with their inferior fire control systems, could not return fire.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The other three U.S. battleships also had difficulty as they were equipped with less advanced gunnery radar. "Pennsylvania" was unable to find a target and her guns remained silent. "Maryland" eventually succeeded in visually ranging on the splashes of the other battleships' shells, and then fired a total of forty-eight projectiles. only fired once in the battle-line action, a full salvo of twelve 14-inch shells. This was the last salvo ever fired by a battleship against another battleship in history, closing a significant chapter in naval warfare.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: "Yamashiro" and "Mogami" were crippled by a combination of 16-inch and 14-inch armor-piercing shells, as well as the fire of Oldendorf's flanking cruisers. The cruisers that had the latest radar equipment fired well over 2,000 rounds of armor-piercing 6-inch and 8-inch shells. "Louisville" (Oldendorf's flagship) fired 37 salvos—333 rounds of 8-inch shells. The Japanese command had apparently lost grasp of the tactical picture, with all ships firing all batteries in several directions, "frantically showering steel through 360°." "Shigure" turned and fled but lost steering and stopped dead. At 04:05 "Yamashiro" was struck by a torpedo fired by the destroyer , and suddenly sank at about 04:20, with Nishimura on board. "Mogami" and "Shigure" retreated southwards down the Strait. The destroyer was hit by friendly fire during the night battle, but did not sink.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The rear of the Japanese Southern Force—the "Second Striking Force" commanded by Vice Admiral Shima—had departed from Mako and approached Surigao Strait about astern of Nishimura. Shima's run was initially thrown into confusion by his force nearly running aground on Panaon Island after failing to factor the outgoing tide into their approach. Japanese radar was almost useless due to excessive reflections from the many islands. The American radar was equally unable to detect ships in these conditions, especially PT boats, but "PT-137" hit the light cruiser "Abukuma" with a torpedo that crippled her and caused her to fall out of formation. Shima's two heavy cruisers, "Nachi" and "Ashigara", and four destroyers next encountered remnants of Nishimura's force. Shima saw what he thought were the wrecks of both Nishimura's battleships and ordered a retreat. His flagship "Nachi" collided with "Mogami", flooding "Mogami"s steering room and causing her to fall behind in the retreat; she was further damaged by American carrier aircraft the next morning, abandoned and scuttled by a torpedo from "Akebono".


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: While the Battle off Samar was raging between the Japanese surface fleet and Taffy 3, Taffy 1's escort carriers were supporting the American surface ships after the Battle of Surigao Strait when daylight broke (the nighttime Surigao Strait action meant no carrier aircraft could participate until after dawn, during which the defeated Japanese southern fleet was in full retreat). As a result of Taffy 1 being so far south of Samar not many Taffy 1 airplanes participated in the Battle off Samar. While in the air southwest of Leyte Gulf the aircraft and ships of Taffy 1 were immediately ordered to assist Taffy 3 off of Samar but they had to return to the escort carriers to refuel and rearm. After the carrier aircraft returned from aerial attacks on the retreating Japanese naval forces from Surigao Strait the Japanese launched the first pre-planned "kamikaze" (suicide "special attack" planes) attacks of World War II against Taffy 1 from Davao. The escort carrier was hit by a "kamikaze" first, killing 16 crewmen. A Japanese submarine also successfully launched a torpedo at "Santee", striking her starboard side. 4 Avenger torpedo bombers and 2 Wildcat fighters on "Santee" were destroyed in this attack. Emergency repairs saved "Santee" from sinking. The escort carrier was shortly afterwards hit by a "kamikaze", killing 71 sailors. "Suwannee" was hit by another "kamikaze" around noon on 26 October that caused even more damage and killed 36 more crewmen. This second "kamikaze" strike caused a large fire that was not extinguished until nine hours later. A total of 107 sailors were killed and over 150 were wounded on "Suwannee" in the "kamikaze" attacks on 25–26 October. 5 Avenger torpedo bombers and 9 Hellcat fighters on "Suwannee" were destroyed.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Of Nishimura's seven ships, only "Shigure" survived long enough to escape the debacle, but eventually succumbed to the American submarine on 24 January 1945, which sank her off Kota Bharu, Malaya, with 37 dead. Shima's ships did survive the Battle of Surigao Strait, but they were sunk in further engagements around Leyte. The Southern Force provided no further threat to the Leyte landings.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey's decision to take all the available strength of Third Fleet northwards to attack the carriers of the Japanese Northern Force had left San Bernardino Strait completely unguarded.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Senior officers in Seventh Fleet (including Kinkaid and his staff) generally assumed Halsey was taking his three available carrier groups northwards (McCain's group, the strongest in Third Fleet, was still returning from the direction of Ulithi), but leaving the battleships of TF 34 covering the San Bernardino Strait against the Japanese Center Force. In fact, Halsey had not yet formed TF 34, and all six of Willis Lee's battleships were on their way northwards with the carriers, as well as every available cruiser and destroyer of Third Fleet.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Kurita's Center Force therefore emerged unopposed from San Bernardino Strait at 03:00 on 25 October and steamed southward along the coast of the island of Samar. In its path stood only Seventh Fleet's three escort carrier units (call signs 'Taffy' 1, 2, and 3), with a total of sixteen small, very slow, and unarmored escort carriers, which carried up to 28 airplanes each, protected by a screen of lightly armed and unarmored destroyers and smaller destroyer escorts (DEs). Despite the losses in the Palawan Passage and Sibuyan Sea actions, the Japanese Center Force was still very powerful, consisting of four battleships (including the giant "Yamato", six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and eleven destroyers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Kurita's force caught Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.3 ('Taffy 3') by surprise. Sprague directed his carriers to launch their planes, then ran for the cover of a rain squall to the east. He ordered the destroyers and DEs to make a smoke screen to conceal the retreating carriers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Kurita, unaware that Ozawa's decoy plan had succeeded, assumed he had found a carrier group from Halsey's Third Fleet. Having just redeployed his ships into anti-aircraft formation, he further complicated matters by ordering a "General Attack", which called for his fleet to split into divisions and attack independently.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The destroyer was the closest to the enemy. On his own initiative, Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans steered his hopelessly outclassed ship into the Japanese fleet at flank speed. "Johnston" fired its torpedoes at the heavy cruiser "Kumano", damaging her and forcing her out of line. Seeing this, Sprague gave the order "small boys attack", sending the rest of Taffy 3's screening ships into the fray. Taffy 3's two other destroyers, and , and the destroyer escort , attacked with suicidal determination, drawing fire and disrupting the Japanese formation as ships turned to avoid their torpedoes. As the ships approached the enemy columns, Lt. Cdr. Copeland of "Samuel B. Roberts" told all hands via bull horn that this would be "a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival could not be expected." As the Japanese fleet continued to approach, "Hoel" and "Roberts" were hit multiple times, and quickly sank. After expending all of its torpedoes, "Johnston" continued to fight with its 5-inch guns, until it was sunk by a group of Japanese destroyers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: As they were preparing their aircraft for attack, the escort carriers returned the Japanese fire with all the firepower they had – one 5 in. gun per carrier. The officer in tactical command had instructed the carriers to "open with pea shooters," and each ship took an enemy vessel under fire as soon as it came within range. fired on a cruiser, and is believed to have registered five hits, one amid the superstructure that caused smoke. targeted a heavy cruiser, claiming a hit on the cruiser's No. 2 turret, with a second just below the first. sighted a cruiser, and claimed at least three hits. reported hits on multiple targets, two between the superstructure and forward stack and another on the No. 1 turret of a heavy cruiser.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Meanwhile, Rear Admiral Thomas Sprague (no relation to Clifton) ordered the sixteen escort carriers in his three task units to immediately launch all their aircraft – totaling 450 planes – equipped with whatever weapons they had available, even if these were only machine guns or depth charges. The escort carriers had planes more suited for patrol and anti-submarine duties, including older models such as the FM-2 Wildcat, although they also had the TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, in contrast to Halsey's fleet carriers which had the newest aircraft with ample anti-shipping ordnance. However, the fact that the Japanese force had no air cover meant that Sprague's planes could attack unopposed by Japanese fighter aircraft. Consequently, the air counterattacks were almost unceasing, and some, especially several of the strikes launched from Felix Stump's Task Unit 77.4.2 (Taffy 2), were heavy.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The carriers of Taffy 3 turned south and retreated through the shellfire. "Gambier Bay", at the rear of the American formation, became the focus of the battleship "Yamato" and sustained multiple hits before capsizing at 09:07. 4 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers went down with "Gambier Bay". Several other carriers were damaged but were able to escape.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The ferocity of the American defense seemingly confirmed the Japanese assumption that they were engaging major fleet units rather than merely escort carriers and destroyers. The confusion of the "General Attack" order was compounded by the air and torpedo attacks, when Kurita's flagship "Yamato" turned north to evade torpedoes and lost contact with the battle.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Kurita abruptly broke off the fight and gave the order 'all ships, my course north, speed 20', apparently to regroup his disorganized fleet. Kurita's battle report stated he had received a message indicating a group of American carriers was steaming north of him. Preferring to expend his fleet against capital ships rather than transports, Kurita set out in pursuit and thereby lost his opportunity to destroy the shipping fleet in Leyte Gulf, and disrupt the vital landings at Leyte. After failing to intercept the non-existent carriers, which were much farther north, Kurita finally retreated towards San Bernardino Strait. Three of his heavy cruisers had been sunk, and the determined resistance had convinced him that persisting with his attack would only cause further Japanese losses.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Poor communication between the separate Japanese forces and a lack of air reconnaissance meant that Kurita was never informed that the deception had been successful, and that only a small and outgunned force stood between his battleships and the vulnerable transports of the invasion fleet. Thus, Kurita remained convinced that he had been engaging elements of Third Fleet, and it would only be a matter of time before Halsey surrounded and annihilated him. Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague wrote to his colleague Aubrey Fitch after the war, "I ... stated [to Admiral Nimitz] that the main reason they turned north was that they were receiving too much damage to continue and I am still of that opinion and cold analysis will eventually confirm it."


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Almost all of Kurita's surviving force escaped. Halsey and Third Fleet's battleships returned too late to cut him off. "Nagato" and "Kongō" had been moderately damaged by air attack from Taffy 3's escort carriers. Kurita had begun the battle with five battleships. On their return to their bases, only "Yamato" and "Haruna" remained battleworthy.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: As the desperate surface action was coming to an end, Vice Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi put his Japanese Special Attack Units into operation from bases on Luzon, launching "kamikaze" attacks against the Allied ships in Leyte Gulf and the escort carrier units off Samar. This was the second ever organized "kamikaze" attack by the Japanese in World War II after the "kamikaze" attack on Taffy 1 a few hours earlier off of Surigao Strait. The escort carrier of Taffy 3 was hit by a "kamikaze" aircraft and sank after a series of internal explosions. 6 Grumman FM-2 Wildcat fighters and 5 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers went down with "St. Lo". Three other Taffy 3 escort carriers, , and "White Plains", were also damaged in the same "kamikaze" attack.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa's "Northern Force", built around the four aircraft carriers of the 3rd Carrier Division (—the last survivor of the six carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941—and the light carriers , , and ), included two World War I battleships partially converted to carriers ( and —the two aft turrets had been replaced by a hangar, aircraft handling deck and catapult, but neither ship carried any aircraft in this battle), three light cruisers (, , and ), and nine destroyers. Ozawa's carrier group was a decoy force, divested of all but 108 aircraft, intended to lure the American fleet away from protecting the transports at the landing beaches on Leyte island.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Ozawa's force was not located until 16:40 on 24 October, largely because Sherman's TG 38.3—which was the northernmost of Halsey's groups—was responsible for searches in this sector. The force that Halsey was taking north with him—three groups of Mitscher's TF 38—was overwhelmingly stronger than the Japanese Northern Force. Between them, these groups had five large fleet carriers ("Intrepid", "Franklin", "Lexington", and "Essex"), five light carriers ("Independence", , "Langley", "Cabot" and ), six modern battleships (, , , "New Jersey", and "Washington"), eight cruisers (two heavy and six light), and 41 destroyers. The air groups of the ten U.S. carriers present contained 600–1,000 aircraft.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: At 02:40 on 25 October, Halsey detached TF 34, built around Third Fleet's six battleships and commanded by Vice Admiral Lee. As dawn approached, the ships of Task Force 34 drew ahead of the carrier groups. Halsey intended Mitscher to make air strikes followed by the heavy gunfire of Lee's battleships.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Around dawn on 25 October, Ozawa launched 75 aircraft, the bulk of his few aircraft, to attack Third Fleet. Most were shot down by American combat air patrols, and no damage was done to the U.S. ships. A few Japanese planes survived and made their way to land bases on Luzon.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: During the night, Halsey had passed tactical command of TF 38 to Admiral Mitscher, who ordered the American carrier groups to launch their first strike wave, of 180 aircraft, at dawn—before the Northern Force had been located. When the search aircraft made contact at 07:10, this strike wave was orbiting ahead of the task force. At 08:00, as the attack went in, its escorting fighters destroyed Ozawa's combat air patrol of about 30 planes. The U.S. air strikes continued until the evening, by which time TF 38 had flown 527 sorties against the Northern Force, sinking "Zuikaku", the light carriers "Chitose" and "Zuihō", and the destroyer "Akizuki", all with heavy loss of life. The light carrier "Chiyoda" and the cruiser "Tama" were crippled. Ozawa transferred his flag to the light cruiser "Ōyodo".


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Shortly after 08:00 on 25 October, desperate messages calling for assistance began to come in from Seventh Fleet, which had been engaging Nishimura's "Southern Force" in battle in Surigao Strait since 02:00. One message from Kinkaid, sent in plain language, read: "My situation is critical. Fast battleships and support by air strikes may be able to keep enemy from destroying CVEs and entering Leyte." Halsey recalled in his memoirs that he was shocked at this message, recounting that the radio signals from Seventh Fleet had come in at random and out of order because of a backlog in the signals office. It seems that he did not receive this vital message from Kinkaid until around 10:00. Halsey later claimed he knew Kinkaid was in trouble, but he had not dreamed of the seriousness of this crisis.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: One of the most alarming signals from Kinkaid reported, after their action in Surigao Strait, Seventh Fleet's own battleships were critically low on ammunition. Even this failed to persuade Halsey to send any immediate assistance to Seventh Fleet. In fact, Seventh Fleet's battleships were not as short of ammunition as Kinkaid's signal implied, but Halsey did not know that.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: From away in Pearl Harbor, Admiral Nimitz had been monitoring the desperate calls from Taffy 3, and sent Halsey a terse message: "TURKEY TROTS TO WATER GG FROM CINCPAC ACTION COM THIRD FLEET INFO COMINCH CTF SEVENTY-SEVEN X WHERE IS RPT WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY FOUR RR THE WORLD WONDERS." The first four words and the last three were "padding" used to confuse enemy cryptanalysis (the beginning and end of the true message were marked by double consonants). The communications staff on Halsey's flagship correctly deleted the first section of padding but mistakenly retained the last three words in the message finally handed to Halsey. The last three words—probably selected by a communications officer at Nimitz's headquarters—may have been meant as a loose quote from Tennyson's poem on "The Charge of the Light Brigade", suggested by the coincidence that this day, 25 October, was the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Balaclava—and was not intended as a commentary on the current crisis off Leyte. Halsey, however, when reading the message, thought that the last words—"THE WORLD WONDERS"—were a biting piece of criticism from Nimitz, threw his cap to the deck and broke into "sobs of rage". Rear Admiral Robert Carney, his chief of staff, confronted him, telling Halsey "Stop it! What the hell's the matter with you? Pull yourself together."


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Eventually, at 11:15, more than three hours after the first distress messages from Seventh Fleet had been received by his flagship, Halsey ordered TF 34 to turn around and head southwards towards Samar. At this point, Lee's battleships were almost within gun range of Ozawa's force. Two and a half hours were then spent refuelling TF 34's accompanying destroyers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: After this succession of delays it was too late for TF 34 to give any practical help to Seventh Fleet, other than to assist in picking up survivors from Taffy 3, and too late even to intercept Kurita's force before it made its escape through San Bernardino Strait.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Nevertheless, at 16:22, in a desperate and even more belated attempt to intervene in the events off Samar, Halsey formed a new task group—TG 34.5—under Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger II, built around Third Fleet's two fastest battleships—"Iowa" and "New Jersey", both capable of a speed of more than —and TF 34's three cruisers and eight destroyers, and sped southwards, leaving Lee and the other four battleships to follow. As Morison observes, if Badger's group had succeeded in intercepting the Japanese Center Force it may have been outgunned by Kurita's battleships.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Cruisers and destroyers of TG 34.5, however, caught the —the last straggler from Center Force—off San Bernardino Strait, and sank her with all hands, including the survivors from "Chikuma".


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: When Halsey turned TF 34 southwards at 11:15, he detached a task group of four of its cruisers and nine of its destroyers under Rear Admiral DuBose, and reassigned this group to TF 38. At 14:15, Mitscher ordered DuBose to pursue the remnants of the Japanese Northern Force. His cruisers finished off the light carrier "Chiyoda" at around 17:00, and at 20:59 his ships sank the destroyer "Hatsuzuki" after a very stubborn fight.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: When Ozawa learned of the deployment of DuBose's relatively weak task group, he ordered battleships "Ise" and "Hyūga" to turn southwards and attack it, but they failed to locate DuBose's group, which they heavily outgunned. Halsey's withdrawal of all six of Lee's battleships in his attempt to assist Seventh Fleet had now rendered TF 38 vulnerable to a surface counterattack by the decoy Northern Force.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: At about 23:10, the American submarine torpedoed and sank the light cruiser "Tama" of Ozawa's force. This was the last act of the Battle off Cape Engaño, and—apart from some final air strikes on the retreating Japanese forces on 26 October—the conclusion of the Battle for Leyte Gulf.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey was questioned for his decision to take TF 34 north in pursuit of Ozawa, and for failing to detach it when Kinkaid first appealed for help. A piece of U.S. Navy slang for Halsey's actions is "Bull's Run", a phrase combining Halsey's newspaper nickname "Bull" (he was known as "Bill" Halsey) with an allusion to the Battle of Bull Run in the American Civil War, where Union troops lost the battle due to poor organization and lack of decisive action.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Clifton Sprague—commander of Task Unit 77.4.3 in the Battle off Samar—was later bitterly critical of Halsey's decision, and of his failure to clearly inform Kinkaid and Seventh Fleet that their northern flank was no longer protected: "In the absence of any information ... it was logical to assume that our northern flank could not be exposed without ample warning." Regarding Halsey's failure to turn TF 34 southwards when Seventh Fleet's first calls for assistance off Samar were received, Morison writes:


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Vice Admiral Lee said in his action report as Commander of TF 34: "No battle damage was incurred nor inflicted on the enemy by vessels while operating as Task Force Thirty-Four."


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey also argued that he had feared leaving TF 34 to defend the strait without carrier support as that would have left it vulnerable to attack from land-based aircraft, while leaving one of the fast carrier groups behind to cover the battleships would have significantly reduced the concentration of air power going north to strike Ozawa.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: However, Morison states that Admiral Lee said after the battle that he would have been fully prepared for the battleships to cover the San Bernardino Strait without air cover, as each of the escort carriers of TF 77 had up to 28 planes on them, but little surface ship protection, from Kurita's traditional naval force, which lacked air support.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The fact that Halsey was aboard one of the two fast battleships ("New Jersey"), and "would have had to remain behind" with TF 34 while the bulk of his fleet charged northwards, may have influenced his decision, but it would have been perfectly feasible to have taken one or both of Third Fleet's two fastest battleships with some or all of the large carriers in the pursuit of Ozawa, while leaving the rest of the battle line off the San Bernardino Strait. Halsey's original plan for TF 34 was for four, not all six, of Third Fleet's battleships.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey was certainly philosophically against dividing his forces. He believed strongly in the current naval doctrine of concentration, as indicated by his writings both before World War II and in his subsequent articles and interviews defending his actions. In addition, Halsey may well have been influenced by the recent criticisms of Admiral Raymond Spruance, who was criticized for excessive caution in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, allowing the bulk of the Japanese fleet to escape. Halsey's chief of staff, Rear Admiral Robert "Mick" Carney, was also wholeheartedly in favor of taking all of Third Fleet's available forces northwards to attack the Japanese carriers.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey also did not believe reports of just how badly compromised Japan's naval air power was, and had no idea that Ozawa's decoy force only had 100 aircraft. Although in a letter to Nimitz just three days before the Battle off Samar, Halsey wrote that Mitscher believed "Jap naval air was wiped out", which Spruance and Mitscher concluded from shooting down over 433 carrier based planes at the "Marianas Turkey Shoot]', Halsey ignored Mitscher's insights, and later stated that he did not want to be "shuttle bombed" by Ozawa's force (a technique whereby planes can land and rearm at bases on either side of a foe, allowing them to attack on both the outbound flight and the return), or to give them a "free shot" at the U.S. forces in Leyte Gulf.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Halsey may have considered Kurita's damaged battleships and cruisers, lacking carrier support, as little threat, but ironically, through his own failures to adequately communicate his intentions, he managed to demonstrate that unsupported battleships could still be dangerous.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: In his master's thesis submitted at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Lieutenant Commander Kent Coleman, argues that the division of command hierarchies of Third Fleet, under Halsey reporting to Nimitz, and Seventh Fleet, under Kinkaid reporting to General MacArthur, was the primary contributor to the near-success of Kurita's attack. Coleman concludes that "the divided U.S. naval chain of command amplified problems in communication and coordination between Halsey and Kinkaid. This divided command was more important in determining the course of the battle than the tactical decision made by Halsey and led to an American disunity of effort that nearly allowed Kurita's mission to succeed."


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Due to the long duration and size of the battle, accounts vary as to the losses that occurred as a part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf and losses that occurred shortly before and shortly after. One account of the losses, by Samuel E. Morison, lists the following vessels:


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: More than 1,600 sailors and aircrewmen of the Allied escort carrier units were killed. The losses in the Battle of Leyte Gulf were not evenly distributed throughout all forces. Very minimal Allied casualties occurred at the overwhelming Allied victories at the Battle of Surigao Strait and the Battle off Cape Engaño. At the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea the Japanese attack on the light aircraft carrier "USS Princeton" led to the loss of 108 killed on "Princeton" and 233 killed and 426 wounded on the light cruiser "USS Birmingham" due to secondary explosions on "Princeton" that caused severe damage on "Birmingham". 123 troops were killed and over 150 were wounded in the first pre-planned "kamikaze" attacks of World War II on Taffy 1's aircraft carriers near Surigao Strait. At the mismatched Battle off Samar alone 5 of the 7 ships of the combined actions were lost along with 23 aircraft lost and 1,161 killed and missing and 913 wounded, comparable to the combined losses at the Battle of Midway and Battle of Coral Sea. The destroyer "Heermann", despite her unequal fight with the enemy, finished the battle with only six of her crew dead. As a result of communication errors and other failures, a large number of survivors from Taffy 3 were unable to be rescued for several days, and died unnecessarily as a consequence. HMAS "Australia" suffered 30 officers and sailors dead, and another 62 servicemen wounded in a kamikaze-like attack 21 October 1944 at the start of the battle. At the Battle of Surigao Strait 39 U.S. troops were killed, 114 were wounded and one PT boat (USS "PT-493") was sunk.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: On 24–25 October, in two American submarine battles that were related to Japanese naval convoys involved in the Battle of Leyte Gulf two U.S. submarines were lost in actions that led to the deaths of 1,938 U.S. troops. sank numerous ships in a large Japanese convoy that was on the way to reinforce Japanese troops in Leyte and Leyte Gulf. "Tang" then accidentally sank herself in a circular run on the very last torpedo that she had in her arsenal. 78 men were killed while 9 survived and were captured by the Japanese. sank the unmarked hell ship "Arisan Maru", which was transporting American POWs from the Philippines to Formosa as a response to the Formosa Air Battle and the imminent invasion of the Philippines. 1,773 POWs died due to the rest of the Japanese convoy refusing to rescue them. This was the largest loss of life of U.S. troops at sea in history. "Shark" was sunk immediately by Japanese escort ships. All 87 crewmen on "Shark" died.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: Listed Japanese losses include only those ships sunk in the battle. After the nominal end of the battle, several damaged ships were faced with the option of either making their way to Singapore, close to Japan's oil supplies but where comprehensive repairs could not be undertaken, or making their way back to Japan, where there were better repair facilities but scant oil. The "Nachi" was lost to aerial attack while under repair at Manila Bay The cruiser "Kumano" and battleship "Kongō" were sunk retreating to Japan. Cruisers "Takao" and "Myōkō" were stranded, unrepairable, in Singapore. Many of the other survivors of the battle were bombed and sunk at anchor in Japan, unable to move without fuel.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The Battle of Leyte Gulf secured the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against attack from the sea. However, much hard fighting would be required before the island was completely in Allied hands at the end of December 1944: the Battle of Leyte on land was fought in parallel with an air and sea campaign in which the Japanese reinforced and resupplied their troops on Leyte while the Allies attempted to interdict them and establish air-sea superiority for a series of amphibious landings in Ormoc Bay—engagements collectively referred to as the Battle of Ormoc Bay.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The Imperial Japanese Navy had suffered its greatest loss of ships and crew ever. Its failure to dislodge the Allied invaders from Leyte meant the inevitable loss of the Philippines, which in turn meant Japan would be all but cut off from its occupied territories in Southeast Asia. These territories provided resources that were vital to Japan, in particular the oil needed for her ships and aircraft. This problem was compounded because the shipyards and sources of manufactured goods, such as ammunition, were in Japan itself. Finally, the loss of Leyte opened the way for the invasion of the Ryukyu Islands in 1945.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The major IJN surface ships returned to their bases to languish, entirely or almost entirely inactive, for the remainder of the war. The only major operation by these surface ships between the Battle for Leyte Gulf and the Japanese surrender was the suicidal sortie in April 1945 (part of Operation Ten-Go), in which the battleship "Yamato" and her escorts were destroyed by American carrier aircraft.


title: Battle of Leyte Gulf

text: The first use of "kamikaze" aircraft took place following the Leyte landings. A "kamikaze" hit the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS "Australia" on 21 October. Organized suicide attacks by the "Special Attack Force" (Japanese Special Attack Units) began on 25 October during the closing phase of the Battle off Samar, causing the destruction of the escort carrier "St. Lo".


title: Summer Phoenix

text: Summer Joy Phoenix (née Bottom) is an American actress. She is the youngest sibling of actors River Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, and Liberty Phoenix.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: Phoenix was born in Winter Park, Florida. Her mother, Arlyn Sharon (née Dunetz), was born in New York, to Jewish parents of Hungarian-Jewish and Russian-Jewish descent. Her father, John Lee Bottom, was from California and has English, German, and French ancestry. In 1968, Phoenix's mother moved to California, meeting Phoenix's father while hitchhiking. They married in 1969 and years later joined the religious cult the Children of God, working as missionaries in South America. Phoenix has four siblings: two brothers, actors Joaquin (Leaf) and River, and two sisters, Rain and Liberty.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: She attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, but left before graduating to pursue a career in film.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: Phoenix was a child actor, working with agent Iris Burton along with her brothers and sister at the age of two, and went on to have guest roles in "Murder, She Wrote", "Growing Pains", , and "Airwolf". She appeared in the TV movie "Kate's Secret" and in "Russkies", playing the younger sister of real-life brother Joaquin.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: Phoenix later appeared in "Wasted", "The Laramie Project", "SLC Punk!", "Dinner Rush", "The Believer", and "The Faculty". She played leads in "Esther Kahn" (2000) and "Suzie Gold" (2004).


title: Summer Phoenix

text: In 2002, Phoenix starred in a three-month run of "This is Our Youth" at the Garrick Theatre alongside Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: She was a member of the rock band The Causey Way with her sister Rain. She later made guest appearances on albums by Rain's band, the Papercranes.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: She became engaged to Casey Affleck on December 25, 2003, and gave birth to a son, Indiana August, in Amsterdam. Phoenix and Affleck married on June 3, 2006, in Savannah, Georgia and had a second son Atticus. In March 2016, Affleck and Phoenix publicly announced they were separating, though it has been acknowledged that they separated in November 2015. Phoenix filed a petition of divorce with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles on August 1, 2017, citing "irreconcilable differences", and it was finalized that year.


title: Summer Phoenix

text: In 2003, she and friends Odessa Whitmire and Ruby Canner opened the vintage clothing boutique Some Odd Rubies on Manhattan's Lower East Side. It closed in 2012.


title: Bronchitis

text: Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. Symptoms include coughing up sputum, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest pain. Bronchitis can be acute or chronic.


title: Bronchitis

text: Acute bronchitis usually has a cough that lasts around three weeks, and is also known as a chest cold. In more than 90% of cases the cause is a viral infection. These viruses may be spread through the air when people cough or by direct contact. A small number of cases are caused by a bacterial infection such as "Mycoplasma pneumoniae" or "Bordetella pertussis". Risk factors include exposure to tobacco smoke, dust, and other air pollution. Treatment of acute bronchitis typically involves rest, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to help with the fever.


title: Bronchitis

text: Chronic bronchitis is defined as a productive cough – one that produces sputum – that lasts for three months or more per year for at least two years. Many people with chronic bronchitis also have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Tobacco smoking is the most common cause, with a number of other factors such as air pollution and genetics playing a smaller role. Treatments include quitting smoking, vaccinations, rehabilitation, and often inhaled bronchodilators and steroids. Some people may benefit from long-term oxygen therapy.


title: Bronchitis

text: Acute bronchitis is one of the more common diseases. About 5% of adults and 6% of children have at least one episode a year. Acute bronchitis is the most common type of bronchitis. By contrast in the United States, in 2018, 9.3 million people were diagnosed with the less common chronic bronchitis.


title: Bronchitis

text: Acute bronchitis, also known as a chest cold, is short term inflammation of the bronchi of the lungs. The most common symptom is a cough, that may or may not produce sputum. Other symptoms may include coughing up mucus, wheezing, shortness of breath, fever, and chest discomfort. Fever when present is mild. The infection may last from a few to ten days. The cough may persist for several weeks afterwards, with the total duration of symptoms usually around three weeks. Symptoms may last for up to six weeks.


title: Bronchitis

text: In more than 90% of cases, the cause is a viral infection. These viruses may spread through the air when people cough or by direct contact. Risk factors include exposure to tobacco smoke, dust, and other air pollutants. A small number of cases are due to bacteria such as "Mycoplasma pneumoniae" or "Bordetella pertussis".


title: Bronchitis

text: Diagnosis is typically based on a person's signs and symptoms. The color of the sputum does not indicate if the infection is viral or bacterial. Determining the underlying organism is usually not required. Other causes of similar symptoms include asthma, pneumonia, bronchiolitis, bronchiectasis, and COPD. A chest X-ray may be useful to detect pneumonia.


title: Bronchitis

text: Another common sign of bronchitis is a cough which lasts ten days to three weeks. If the cough lasts for longer than a month, it may become chronic bronchitis. In addition, a fever may be present. Acute bronchitis is normally caused by a viral infection. Typically, these infections are rhinovirus, parainfluenza, or influenza. No specific testing is normally needed in order to diagnose acute bronchitis.


title: Bronchitis

text: One form of prevention is to avoid smoking and other lung irritants. Frequent hand washing may also be protective. Treatment for acute bronchitis usually involves rest, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and NSAIDs to help with the fever. Cough medicine has little support for its use, and is not recommended in children under the age of six. There is tentative evidence that salbutamol may be useful in treating wheezing; however, it may result in nervousness and tremors. Antibiotics should generally not be used. An exception is when acute bronchitis is due to pertussis. Tentative evidence supports honey and pelargonium to help with symptoms. Getting plenty of rest and drinking enough fluids are often recommended as well. Chinese medicinal herbs are of unclear effect.


title: Bronchitis

text: Acute bronchitis is one of the most common diseases. About 5% of adults are affected, and about 6% of children have at least one episode a year. It occurs more often in the winter. More than 10 million people in the US visit a doctor each year for this condition, with about 70% receiving antibiotics which are mostly not needed. There are efforts to decrease the use of antibiotics in acute bronchitis. Acute bronchitis is the most common type of bronchitis.


title: Bronchitis

text: Chronic bronchitis is a lower respiratory tract disease, defined by a productive cough that lasts for three months or more per year for at least two years. The cough is sometimes referred to as a "smoker's cough" since it often results from smoking. When chronic bronchitis occurs together with decreased airflow it is known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Many people with chronic bronchitis have COPD however, most people with COPD do not also have chronic bronchitis. Estimates of the number of people with COPD who have chronic bronchitis are 7 to 40%. Estimates of the number of people who smoke and have chronic bronchitis who also have COPD is 60%.


title: Bronchitis

text: The term "chronic bronchitis" was used in previous definitions of COPD but is no longer included in the definition. The term is still used clinically. While both chronic bronchitis and emphysema are often associated with COPD, neither is needed to make the diagnosis. A Chinese consensus commented on symptomatic types of COPD that include chronic bronchitis with frequent exacerbations.


title: Bronchitis

text: Chronic bronchitis is marked by mucus hypersecretion and mucins. The excess mucus is produced by an increased number of goblet cells, and enlarged submucosal glands in response to long-term irritation. The mucous glands in the submucosa secrete more than the goblet cells. Mucins thicken mucus, and their concentration has been found to be high in cases of chronic bronchitis, and also to correlate with the severity of the disease. Excess mucus can narrow the airways, thereby limiting airflow and accelerating the decline in lung function, and result in COPD. Excess mucus shows itself as a chronic productive cough and its severity and volume of sputum can fluctuate in periods of acute exacerbations. In COPD, those with the chronic bronchitic phenotype with associated chronic excess mucus, experience a worse quality of life than those without.


title: Bronchitis

text: The increased secretions are initially cleared by coughing. The cough is often worse soon after awakening, and the sputum produced may have a yellow or green color and may be streaked with specks of blood. In the early stages, a cough can maintain mucus clearance. However, with continued excessive secretion mucus clearance is impaired, and when the airways become obstructed a cough becomes ineffective. Effective mucociliary clearance depends on airway hydration, ciliary beating, and the rates of mucin secretion. Each of these factors is impaired in chronic bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis can lead to a higher number of exacerbations and a faster decline in lung function. The ICD-11 lists chronic bronchitis with emphysema (emphysematous bronchitis) as a "certain specified COPD".


title: Bronchitis

text: Most cases of chronic bronchitis are caused by tobacco smoking. Chronic bronchitis in young adults who smoke is associated with a greater chance of developing COPD. There is an association between smoking cannabis and chronic bronchitis. In addition, chronic inhalation of air pollution, or irritating fumes or dust from hazardous exposures in occupations such as coal mining, grain handling, textile manufacturing, livestock farming, and metal moulding may also be a risk factor for the development of chronic bronchitis. Bronchitis caused in this way is often referred to as industrial bronchitis, or occupational bronchitis. Rarely genetic factors also play a role.


title: Bronchitis

text: Air quality can also affect the respiratory system with higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide contributing to bronchial symptoms. Sulfur dioxide can cause inflammation which can aggravate chronic bronchitis and make infections more likely.


title: Bronchitis

text: Air pollution in the workplace is the cause of several non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including chronic bronchitis.


title: Bronchitis

text: Decline in lung function in chronic bronchitis may be slowed by stopping smoking. Chronic bronchitis may be treated with a number of medications and occasionally oxygen therapy. Pulmonary rehabilitation may also be used.


title: Bronchitis

text: A distinction has been made between exacerbations (sudden worsenings) of chronic bronchitis, and otherwise stable chronic bronchitis. Stable chronic bronchitis can be defined as the normal definition of chronic bronchitis, plus the absence of an acute exacerbation in the previous four weeks. A Cochrane review found that mucolytics in chronic bronchitis may slightly decrease the chance of developing an exacerbation. The mucolytic guaifenesin is a safe and effective treatment for stable chronic bronchitis. This has an advantage in that it is available as an extended use tablet which lasts for twelve hours. Erdosteine is a mucolytic recommended by NICE. GOLD also supports the use of some mucolytics that are advised against when inhaled corticosteroids are being used, and singles out erdosteine as having good effects regardless of corticosteroid use. Erdosteine also has antioxidant properties. Erdosteine has been shown to significantly reduce the risk of exacerbations, shorten their duration, and hospital stays. In those with the chronic bronchitic phenotype of COPD, the phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor roflumilast may decrease significant exacerbations.


title: Bronchitis

text: Chronic bronchitis affects about 3.4% to 22% of the general population. Individuals over 45 years of age, smokers, those that live or work in areas with high air pollution, and anybody with asthma all have a higher risk of developing chronic bronchitis. This wide range is due to the different definitions of chronic bronchitis that can be diagnosed based on signs and symptoms or the clinical diagnosis of the disorder. Chronic bronchitis tends to affect men more often than women. While the primary risk factor for chronic bronchitis is smoking, there is still a 4%-22% chance that non smokers can get chronic bronchitis. This might suggest other risk factors such as the inhalation of fuels, dusts, fumes and genetic factor. In the United States, in 2016, 8.6 million people were diagnosed with chronic bronchitis, and there were 518 reported deaths. Per 100,000 of population the death rate of chronic bronchitis was 0.2.


title: Bronchitis

text: The condition of bronchitis has been recognised for many centuries, in several different cultures including the Ancient Greek, Chinese, and Indian, with the presence of excess phlegm and cough noted in recognition of the same condition. Early treatments of chronic bronchitis included garlic, cinnamon and ipecac, among others. Modern treatments were developed during the second half of the 20th century.


title: Bronchitis

text: In Britain in 1808, a physician Charles Badham was the first person to describe the condition and name the acute form as "acute bronchitis". This was written of in a book entitled "Inflammatory conditions of the bronchia". In this book Badham distinguished three forms of bronchitis including acute and chronic. A second edition of this book was renamed "An Essay on Bronchitis" and published in 1814. Bradham used the term catarrh to refer to the cardinal symptoms of chronic cough and mucus hypersecretion of chronic bronchitis, and described chronic bronchitis as a disabling disorder.


title: Bronchitis

text: In 1901 an article was published on the treatment of chronic bronchitis in the elderly. The symptoms described have remained unchanged. The cause was thought to be brought on by dampness, cold weather, and foggy conditions, and treatments were aimed towards various cough mixtures, respiratory stimulants, and tonics. It was noted that something other than the weather was thought to be at play. Exacerbations of the condition were also described at this time. Another physician Harry Campbell was referred to who had written in the "British Medical Journal" a week before. Campbell had suggested that the cause of chronic bronchitis was due to toxic substances, and recommended pure air, simple food, and exercise to remove them from the body.


title: Bronchitis

text: A joint research programme was undertaken in Chicago and London from 1951 to 1953 in which the clinical features of one thousand cases of chronic bronchitis were detailed. The findings were published in the Lancet in 1953. It was stated that since its introduction by Badham, chronic bronchitis had become an increasingly popular diagnosis. The study had looked at various associations such as the weather, conditions at home, and at work, age of onset, childhood illnesses, smoking habits, and breathlessness. It was concluded that chronic bronchitis invariably led to emphysema, particularly when the bronchitis had persisted for a long time.


title: Bronchitis

text: In 1957 it was noted that at the time there were many investigations being carried out into chronic bronchitis and emphysema in general, and among industrial workers exposed to dust. Excerpts were published dating from 1864 in which Charles Parsons had noted the occurring consequence of the development of emphysema from bronchitis. This was seen to be not always applicable. His findings were in association with his studies on chronic bronchitis among pottery workers.


title: Bronchitis

text: A CIBA (now Novartis) meeting in 1959, and a meeting of the American Thoracic Society in 1962, defined chronic bronchitis as a component of COPD, in the terms that have not changed.


title: Bronchitis

text: Eosinophilic bronchitis is a chronic dry cough, defined by the presence of an increased number of a type of white blood cell known as eosinophils. It has a normal finding on X-ray and has no airflow limitation.


title: Bronchitis

text: Protracted bacterial bronchitis in children, is defined as a chronic productive cough with a positive bronchoalveolar lavage that resolves with antibiotics. Protracted bacterial bronchitis is usually caused by "Streptococcus pneumoniae", non-typable "Haemophilus influenzae", or "Moraxella catarrhalis". Protracted bacterial bronchitis (lasting more than 4 weeks) in children may be helped by antibiotics.


title: Bronchitis

text: Plastic bronchitis is a rarely found condition in which thickened secretions plug the bronchi. The plugs are rubbery or plastic-feeling (thus the name). The light-colored plugs take the branching shape of the bronchi that they fill, and are known as "bronchial casts". When these casts are coughed up, they are firmer in texture from typical phlegm or the short, softer mucus plugs seen in some people with asthma. However, some people with asthma have larger, firmer, and more complex plugs. These differ from the casts seen in people whose plastic bronchitis is associated with congenital heart disease or lymphatic vessel abnormalities mainly because eosinophils and Charcot–Leyden crystals are present in the asthma-associated casts but not in the others.


title: Bronchitis

text: Casts obstruct the airflow, and can result in the overinflation of the opposite lung. Plastic bronchitis usually occurs in children. Some cases may result from abnormalities in the lymphatic vessels. Advanced cases may show imaging similarities to bronchiectasis.


title: Bronchitis

text: Aspergillus bronchitis is one of the "Aspergillosis" spectrum of diseases, in which the bronchi are specifically subject to a fungal infection. This differs from the other pulmonary aspergillosis conditions, in that it need not affect just the immunocompromised.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Tracy Lamar McGrady Jr. (born May 24, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player, best known for his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). McGrady is a seven-time NBA All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, two-time NBA scoring champion, and winner of the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 2001. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2017. McGrady is regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in NBA history.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady entered the NBA straight out of high school and was selected as the ninth overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 NBA draft. Beginning his career as a low-minute player, he gradually improved his role with the team, eventually forming a duo with his cousin Vince Carter. In 2000, he left the Raptors for the Orlando Magic, where he became one of the league's most prolific scorers and a candidate for the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. In 2004, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he paired with center Yao Ming to help the Rockets become a perennial playoff team. His final seasons in the NBA were plagued by injuries, and he retired in 2013 following a brief stint with the Qingdao DoubleStar Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the San Antonio Spurs.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Since retiring, McGrady has worked as a basketball analyst for ESPN. From April to July 2014, he realized his dream of playing professional baseball, pitching for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady was born on May 24, 1979, in Bartow, Florida, to Melanise Williford. Because his father was not a part of their everyday lives, Melanise raised McGrady with the help of her mother, Roberta, in Auburndale. As a youth, McGrady played high school basketball and baseball at Auburndale High School for three years before transferring to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina for his senior season. During his final year at Auburndale, McGrady posted averages of 23.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4.9 blocks per game.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: A relatively unknown player coming out of Florida, McGrady made a name for himself after a strong performance at the Adidas ABCD Camp, an experience that helped him recognize his true talent. He later reflected, "Nobody had a clue who Tracy McGrady was. Sonny Vaccaro gave me that platform, and I played against the best players in the world at that time. I left that camp the No. 1 player in the nation, 175 to No. 1." Behind his leadership, Mt. Zion emerged as the number two-ranked team in the country, and McGrady was named a McDonald’s All-American, "USA Today" High School Basketball Player of the Year, and North Carolina's Mr. Basketball by the Associated Press. He also played at the 1997 Roundball Classic, scoring 13 points. His senior year averages were 27.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 2.8 steals, and 2 blocks per game. Initially, McGrady considered playing college basketball at the University of Kentucky, but he ultimately decided to enter the NBA draft as he was a projected lottery pick.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady was selected as the ninth overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1997 NBA draft. For most of the 1997–98 season, he received little playing time, averaging only 13 minutes per game under head coach Darrell Walker. McGrady has described his rookie year as "hell", feeling lonely in Toronto and sleeping for up to 20 hours a day. Late in the season, Walker resigned, and McGrady began playing more under new coach Butch Carter, who agreed to increase McGrady's minutes on the condition that McGrady would improve his work ethic.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Before the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season, the Raptors drafted McGrady's distant cousin Vince Carter. The two became inseparable; teammate Dee Brown once said, "They say they're cousins ... . But Siamese twins is more like it."


title: Tracy McGrady

text: By the 1999–2000 season, the duo had developed a reputation for their athleticism, giving memorable performances at the All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk Contest. McGrady, now playing significant minutes, was a contender for the Sixth Man of the Year Award before being elevated to Toronto's starting backcourt in late March. On April 4, in what would be one of his last regular season games in Toronto, McGrady scored a tenure-high 28 points in a loss against the Pistons. Behind McGrady and Carter's play, the Raptors finished the season with a 45–37 record, qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. McGrady's final averages were 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and a career-high 1.9 blocks per game. In the first round of the postseason, the Raptors were swept by the New York Knicks.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Following Toronto's first-round exit, McGrady became a free agent and signed with the Orlando Magic on August 3, 2000 through a sign-and-trade deal that sent a future 2005 1st round draft pick (Fran Vázquez was later selected) to the Raptors. He signed a seven-year, $92.8 million contract with the Magic. He elected to join the Magic in part because he disliked his secondary role playing behind Vince Carter, in part so that he could return home to Florida, and in part to play with their other newly acquired free agent, Grant Hill. Hill would go on to play in only 47 games total throughout his tenure with the team, forcing McGrady into a more significant leadership and scoring role than anticipated.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: During the 2000–01 season, McGrady defied the expectations of many, emerging as one of the best players in the NBA, with Milwaukee Bucks General Manager Ernie Grunfeld going so far as to call him "one of the top five talents in the league". McGrady's play earned him his first All-Star Game appearance and, behind averages of 26.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game, he was selected to his first All-NBA Team, being named to the All-NBA Second Team. He was also voted the league's Most Improved Player. With a 43–39 record, the Magic entered the playoffs as the East's seventh seed, drawing a matchup with the Bucks. In Game 3 of the series, McGrady notched 42 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists in a performance that Bill Simmons later called McGrady's "superstar audition tape". Orlando was eventually eliminated by Milwaukee in four games.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: For the 2001–02 season, McGrady averaged 25.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game, earning his second All-NBA Team selection, this time to the All-NBA First Team. During that year's All-Star Game, he completed one of the most memorable highlights of his career, throwing the ball off the backboard to himself and completing an alley-oop in traffic. Reflecting on the play, McGrady later recounted, "There was only one guy back there ... and he bit on the lob ... I guess he thought I was throwing it to one of my teammates, and I just threw it down." At season's end, the Magic were again ousted in the first round of the playoffs, losing in four games to the Charlotte Hornets. On March 8, 2002, in one of the best games of his career, McGrady scored a season high 50 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 99–96 win over the Washington Wizards.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: In 2002–03, McGrady won his first scoring title and, behind averages of 32.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game, finished a career-best fourth in NBA Most Valuable Player Award voting. ESPN later ranked his season one of the best ever for a perimeter player. In Game 1 of the playoffs, he scored a team playoff record 43 points to help Orlando take an early series lead against the top-seeded Detroit Pistons. The Magic would go on to take a commanding 3–1 lead, and McGrady made headlines when he prematurely assumed that Orlando were guaranteed to advance, replying in an interview, "It feels good to get in the second round." Despite holding the series lead, the Magic were eliminated in seven games.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: The 2003–04 season was a tumultuous one for McGrady; Magic coach Doc Rivers was fired after a 1–10 start to the year and there were reports of friction between McGrady and Orlando General Manager John Weisbrod. Throughout the season, Orlando struggled because of a series of injuries, finishing the year with the worst record in the East despite McGrady winning his second consecutive scoring title. Late in the season, McGrady scored a career-high 62 points in a winning effort versus the Washington Wizards. His final averages were 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: On June 29, 2004, McGrady, Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue, and Reece Gaines were traded to the Houston Rockets as part of a seven-player deal that sent Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley, and Kelvin Cato to the Magic. In response to the trade, McGrady stated that he was happy with the situation and expressed excitement over the prospect of playing alongside Rocket All-Star center Yao Ming. Shortly after arriving in Houston, McGrady signed a three-year, $63 million contract extension with the team.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: The Rockets struggled to begin the 2004–05 season, posting a losing record of 16–17 through their first 33 games. On December 9, McGrady had one of the most memorable performances of his career, scoring 13 points in the final 35 seconds against the San Antonio Spurs to secure a comeback victory. The sequence included four consecutive three-pointers, one of which was part of a four-point play and the last of which was a game-winner in the final two seconds. After the All-Star break, Houston rebounded from their slow start, finishing the season with 51 wins and the third-best record in the West. McGrady's final averages were 25.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game. In Game 2 of the first round of the postseason, he had another signature performance, completing a "thunderous" dunk over 7'6" Dallas Mavericks center Shawn Bradley and hitting a game-winner for a 113–111 victory. The series would go to a decisive Game 7, where McGrady came out cold, missing his first seven shots en route to a 40-point loss.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: The 2005–06 season was a disappointing one for the Rockets, as McGrady appeared in only 47 games due to injury. At various points during the year, he missed time due to back spasms, including a moment in January where he had to be carried off the court in a stretcher due to a severe flare up. Despite his health concerns, McGrady was able to play in that year's All-Star Game in front of his home crowd in Houston, exploding for 36 points in just 27 minutes. For the season, he averaged 24.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Due in part to his frequent absences, the Rockets failed to qualify for the playoffs.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Early in the 2006–07 season, McGrady missed seven games, again because of back spasms, eventually deciding to visit a doctor and receive treatment for the injury as he felt that it was affecting his speed and explosiveness. His health issues and the ascension of Yao Ming, who was having a breakout season, resulted in McGrady temporarily becoming the team's second scoring option. His final averages were 24.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game. To open the playoffs, the Rockets were matched up the Utah Jazz. By this time, pressure had started to mount on McGrady to lead the team deep into the postseason, to which he responded, "If we don’t get out of the first round, it’s on me!" Houston would eventually lose the series in seven games, and at his postgame press conference following the Game 7 defeat, McGrady, still visibly emotional from the loss, said "I tried, man, I tried."


title: Tracy McGrady

text: In 2007–08, the Rockets went on a 22-game winning streak, which was the then-second longest in NBA history, despite missing Yao Ming during that stretch. During their run, McGrady expressed optimism over the team's roster, admitting, "I haven't had this kind of trust in my teammates before." Houston finished the season as the West's fifth seed, earning them a rematch with the Jazz in the first round. By the time the playoffs arrived, McGrady was nursing shoulder and knee injuries, at times requiring him to receive pain-killing injections and have fluid drained from both his shoulder and knee in order for him to be able to play. The Jazz again eliminated the Rockets, this time in six games, despite a strong 40-point and 10-rebound performance from McGrady in the decisive Game 6.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Following Houston's loss to Utah, McGrady underwent arthroscopic surgery on both his left shoulder and left knee. Early in the 2008–09 season, he missed 18 games, including a two-week stretch in January as his knee was not fully healed from his offseason surgery. On February 24, he had microfracture surgery in Chicago, forcing him to miss the remainder of the year. By then, his averages had declined to 15.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. In a surprise turn of events, the Rockets qualified for the playoffs without McGrady and advanced to the second round, pushing the eventual-champion Los Angeles Lakers to seven games.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady was still recovering from surgery to begin the 2009–10 campaign. On December 15, he returned to action but was limited to only seven minutes off the bench. After six games, the Rockets decided to shut him down again so that they could focus on trading him to another team.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: On February 18, 2010, McGrady was dealt to the New York Knicks as part of a three-team trade involving Houston, New York, and Sacramento. Two days later, he made his team debut, scoring 26 points in an overtime loss against the Thunder. He would finish the season with averages of 9.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 26.1 minutes per game.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: In 2010–11, McGrady signed with the Detroit Pistons and averaged 8 points per game. On January 14, 2011, McGrady scored a season high 22 points and recorded 5 assists in a 101-95 victory over the Raptors. Two weeks later, on January 28, McGrady scored 14 points, recorded 10 assists, grabbed 8 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots in an 88-87 loss to the Heat.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: On October 9, 2012, McGrady signed a one-year deal with the Qingdao DoubleStar Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association. Qingdao finished the season in last place, with McGrady averaging 25 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: On April 16, 2013, shortly after the conclusion of the CBA campaign, McGrady signed with the San Antonio Spurs in time for him to qualify for their playoff roster. The Spurs eventually advanced to the 2013 NBA Finals, losing in seven games to the Miami Heat, which provided McGrady with the opportunity to play his first career postseason minutes outside of the first round.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady was selected to the United States men's national basketball team for the FIBA Americas Championship 2003 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On August 22, McGrady led the Americans with 16 points in a 98–69 victory over Venezuela. McGrady sat out the August 26 game due to a back injury. The U.S. qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games on August 30 with an 87–71 win over Puerto Rico; in the game, McGrady and Puerto Rico's Eddie Casiano were involved in an altercation which resulted in fans throwing drinks and debris on the court. Ultimately, the U.S. advanced to the gold medal game, defeating Argentina to finish a perfect 10–0. For the tournament, McGrady averaged 12.6 points and 2.9 rebounds a game on 54.4 percent from the field and 42.1 percent three-point shooting.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: On February 4, 2014, McGrady confirmed that he was officially pursuing his dream of becoming a professional baseball player, working with Roger Clemens to become a pitcher for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. On April 23, McGrady made the Skeeters' Opening Day roster. In his debut, he pitched innings, receiving the loss. In July, he started the Atlantic League All-Star Game, where he recorded his first strikeout. After the game, McGrady announced his retirement from baseball.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: Standing 6 feet 8 inches tall (2.03 m) and weighing 210 pounds (95 kg), McGrady played as a shooting guard and small forward. His career averages were 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game. McGrady earned seven All-NBA honors (2001–05, 2007–08), seven All-Star selections (2001–07), two NBA scoring titles (2003–04), and won the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 2001. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2017.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady was known for his laid-back demeanor and scoring prowess; he once scored 41 points in a game despite being asleep right until tip-off, a performance that inspired the nickname "The Big Sleep". Many of his contemporaries, including Paul Pierce, have called him one of the most difficult players that they ever had to guard. McGrady's playing style has been compared to George Gervin's because both players made scoring appear easy with their "smooth" approach to the game. At his peak, McGrady was an explosive player capable of finishing at the rim over the defense; in a piece for ESPN, Zach Lowe reminisced, "He glided through the lane, crouched into traffic, and accelerated suddenly -- almost violently -- through a forest of slower-moving forms, and to the rim." McGrady was also a threat from outside, and would frequently pull up for deep three-pointers over unsuspecting defenders. Some analysts have remarked that McGrady's length, playmaking, and shooting abilities would have made him more effective in the modern era of basketball, and that he was ahead of his time. On the defensive side of the ball, McGrady's effort was less consistent, but he demonstrated the ability to raise his level in meaningful games, such as during the playoffs against the Mavericks, where he often drew the assignment of guarding Dirk Nowitzki.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: During his time as an All-Star, McGrady was frequently criticized for not having led any team beyond the first round of the playoffs. Some analysts have defended McGrady, feeling that he was the victim of bad rosters and unfortunate circumstances. His effort level, leadership, and toughness were also questioned at times. In response to these criticisms, former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy described McGrady as a poor practice player but praised his coachability, unselfishness, and ability to perform well in big games.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady is often ranked as one of the greatest basketball players of all-time; "The Book of Basketball" ranked him 77th, ESPN ranked him 63rd, and "SLAM Magazine" ranked him 97th. In 2016, "Sports Illustrated" listed McGrady as one of the 20 best basketball players since the announcement of the original 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady has three children with his wife, CleRenda Harris. Their first son, Laymen Lamar, was born on December 27, 2005, during a home game in Houston, which McGrady left at halftime. Tracy's younger brother, Chancellor "Chance" McGrady, played for the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament runner-up Memphis Tigers.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: McGrady is also the second cousin of Vince Carter, who is a basketball player, through Carter's step-great-grandfather. They were teammates with the Raptors in 1998–2000. Both players were unaware of the relation until a family reunion in 1997. After McGrady left the Raptors, they had a feud, but it was resolved in a short period of time.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: In 2002, McGrady signed a longterm partnership with Adidas, agreeing to an endorsement deal that lasted through his playing career and beyond. Adidas produced a signature line of shoes for McGrady that "Complex" remembered as "all the buzz in the early-mid 2000s". Upon retiring, McGrady shifted his focus to his business investments, including Dasdak, a Washington, D.C.-based technology company, and Blue-04, a bottled water company in Florida. He was also an initial investor in a Minor League Baseball team which would become the Biloxi Shuckers. Since 2016, he has worked as an NBA analyst for ESPN.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: In 2007, McGrady traveled to the Darfurian refugee camps in Chad with John Prendergast and Omer Ismail of the Enough Project. McGrady recruited NBA players to support an initiative linking schools in Darfurian refugee camps to American middle schools, high schools, and universities. Prior to the start of the 2010 season with the Rockets, he changed his jersey number to No. 3 in order to promote his humanitarian efforts in the region and a documentary on his summer visit called "3 Points". In 2008, McGrady was criticized for his comments on the All-Star Game being held in New Orleans, which was only three years removed from the destruction surrounding Hurricane Katrina. McGrady publicly questioned the quality of public safety and protection of NBA players.


title: Tracy McGrady

text: In August 2021, McGrady launched an app, SOLEcial, designed to sell autographed shoes, trading cards, and other memorabilia directly to buyers.


title: How Do You Live? (film)

text: The film centers around how the real-world novel "How Do You Live?" features prominently in the protagonist's life.


title: How Do You Live? (film)

text: Miyazaki commenced animation work in July 2016, later confirmed by studio executive Toshio Suzuki. With Miyazaki coming out of retirement, Studio Ghibli re-opened with many of its past collaborators working on the project. In October 2017, Studio Ghibli announced the film would be titled "How Do You Live?". Toshio Suzuki said that Miyazaki is working on the film for his grandson as his way of saying "Grandpa is moving onto the next world soon but he is leaving behind this film". The film was at one point considered to be released around the time of the 2020 Summer Olympics.