1944-10-24
Battle of the Sibuyan Sea
The Sibuyan Sea, west of Leyte
On 24 October 1944 aircraft from Task Force 38 attacked Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's center force in the Sibuyan Sea. The day before, in Palawan Passage, the submarine Darter had sunk Atago and damaged Takao, and the submarine Dace had sunk Maya. Kurita's flag was in Yamato. Musashi was sunk. Her own record counts 19 torpedo hits and 17 bomb hits. Another account of the fight says about twenty torpedoes. The loss is not credited to one carrier. She capsized at 1936. Yamato, Nagato, and Tone were hit and were not sunk. Kongo and Haruna were in the battle line. Kiyoshimo was damaged and, with Hamakaze, took off Musashi's survivors. A decrypted message also counts men taken by Isokaze. The rest of the force went on and was off Samar the next morning. Musashi was not there.
Sunk in this fight
One ship.
Plate 60, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in Reports of General MacArthur, Volume I, prepared by his general staff. Public domain. This is the whole of Leyte Gulf on one sheet, not a chart of the Sibuyan Sea alone. Kurita's Central Force is the red line through the Sibuyan Sea, marked 1200 on 24 October, then 0001 and 2200 on the 25th. The Third Fleet groups, Ozawa's Northern Force, and Nishimura's and Shima's tracks are on the same sheet. The sinkings are not credited to one ship.
