The Story
Turn Toward The Enemy
At dawn on October 25, 1944, the small escort carrier group known as Taffy 3 found itself staring at the Japanese Center Force. The larger U.S. fleet was elsewhere. The carriers were not fleet carriers; they were escort carriers supporting the Leyte invasion, with thin decks and limited speed.
Commander Ernest E. Evans did not wait for perfect orders. Johnston turned out of formation and attacked. The destroyer laid smoke, opened fire, and drove toward ships that outclassed her in armor, range, and shell weight. Her torpedoes helped force the Japanese line to maneuver. Her 5-inch guns kept firing into cruisers where they could hurt sensors, topside crews, and exposed equipment.
Other destroyers and destroyer escorts joined the attack. Aircraft from the escort carriers launched with whatever they had: bombs, depth charges, machine guns, or sometimes empty runs meant to distract. The fight became confusion: smoke screens, rain squalls, torpedo warnings, splashes, burning ships, and small American vessels closing where they had no right to survive.
Johnston was hit again and again. Evans was wounded. The ship lost speed, power, and eventually the ability to escape. Yet Johnston continued to fight until she was disabled and sinking. Survivors remembered Japanese sailors saluting as the destroyer went down.
The sacrifice helped buy Taffy 3 the one thing it needed: time. The Japanese force withdrew. Johnston did not win by destroying the enemy fleet. She helped disorder it, delay it, and convince it that the cost of pressing on was higher than it looked.
