Battle of Surigao Strait: HMAS Shropshire on the firing line

The Battle of Surigao Strait was the largest clash of warships of World War II. Japanese, American and Australian forces engaged at night in the last great naval battle between big gun "dreadnaughts". Among the lineup was the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Shropshire and the destroyer HMAS Arunta. Here veterans describe the lead-up to the historic battle and the roles they played in history's final clash of battleship titans. Part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Surigao was fought on the night of October 24 and 25. Except for the USS Mississippi, all the battleships that took part were damaged during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
The Allied force, consisting of six American battleships, eight cruisers, and numerous destroyers, was under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf. The Japanese force, comprising of two battleships, one cruiser, and four destroyers, was under the command of Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura.
The battle began late at night on October 24, with the Allied forces ambushing the Japanese fleet. The first phase of the battle was fought by the American destroyers, which fired torpedoes at the Japanese fleet, causing significant damage. The second phase of the battle saw the American battleships engage the Japanese force, firing salvos of shells that inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese ships. HMAS Shropshire was part of the third phase of the battle, in which the Allied cruisers engaged the Japanese force.
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VIDEO CONTENT
0:00 Introduction
2:11 CHAPTER 1 - Mobilisation
7:59 CHAPTER 2 - The Ship
17:10 CHAPTER 3 - Invasion Fleet
24:17 CHAPTER 4 - Counterstroke
28:10 CHAPTER 5 - The Battles of Leyte
32:19 CHAPTER 6 - Surigao Strait
47:08 CHAPTER 7 - Aftermath
56:23 End Titles
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Пікірлер: 40

  • @johnheigis83
    @johnheigis83 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, Aussies. For, kicking ass, in WWI, and WWII........! (From MT, USA.) I hope you know, we latter generation, were always taught - pride, honor, brother/sisterhood, and deep respect - for Australians, and what - like us - you stand and die for. ... From Britain's prisons... Gallipoli... Africa... France... France... Kokoda.........!!!!! Those who matter, know the truth. Just keep talking... Telling...! Make sure it all gets heard....Please. With, respect! Semper Fidelis...!

  • @guaporeturns9472

    @guaporeturns9472

    Жыл бұрын

    cringe 🤦‍♂️

  • @_____Z_____

    @_____Z_____

    10 ай бұрын

    Cringe 🥶

  • @jollyjohnthepirate3168
    @jollyjohnthepirate3168 Жыл бұрын

    My dad was in the invasion of Leyte. He was in the army. These battles were fought in support of this invasion. He told me he saw MacArthur on Leyte. He said he was pretty far inland from the beach when he saw him drive by. I love how you use bits of Victory at Sea in your production.

  • @ArmouredCarriers
    @ArmouredCarriers Жыл бұрын

    I have uploaded this video again in an updated form as I hadn't noticed I'd somehow knocked the text and graphics overlays out of alignment in the second half of the first version.

  • @leong108

    @leong108

    Жыл бұрын

    48:23 still says that Musashi participated in Battle off Samar.. It might be they thought that at the time, well not sure, surely they all knew the Musashi had been sunk already ? .. I know, the video does tell of the fate of Musashi elsewhere, but at 48:23 he says "Musashi and Yamato " at Battle off Samar...

  • @ArmouredCarriers

    @ArmouredCarriers

    Жыл бұрын

    @@leong108 It's probably just a muddled memory that Musashi was initially part of Kurita's force that ended up at Samar - even though she (and a bunch of cruisers) had already been sunk.

  • @leong108

    @leong108

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ArmouredCarriers And then he says that the carriers fought off the attack, but there was another factor that turned Kurita back... It is said that Kurita received a message from Luzon HQ saying that the american capital ships were about to join the battle at Samar. Where this false info came from, its not well documented.. Maybe someone on Yamato made that info up to save themselves. Maybe it was faked by USA .. as they could decode messages, they could send fakes too !. Or maybe the Luzon HQ accidentally confused Kurita, by telling him about the USN capital ships near Cape Engano ....

  • @NesconProductions
    @NesconProductions Жыл бұрын

    The importance of having the best radar sets on the Shropshire cannot be underestimated. Especially from the Battle of Leyte Gulf onward, when the first organized Kamikaze raids were conducted (& warning time against such attacks was vital). Interesting the radar set show at 9:33 has looks reminiscent of the modern S1850 unit carried aboard new Type 45 class destroyers of the Royal Navy. The Shropshire firing off 32 full broadsides in 12 minutes was very impressive, considering the American battleship Mississippi only fired one salvo & the Pennsylvania never even fired in the battle due to their inferior radar sets. Kudos to the HMAS Arunta bold torpedo run as well. Though a small fraction of the ships in the engagement the Australian contribution in the Battle of Surigao Strait deserves to be highlighted & remembered! Thanks for this..

  • @MartinMcAvoy

    @MartinMcAvoy

    Жыл бұрын

    Great comment! I think the people who wrote the wikipedia article on the battle must be Yanks, because the Shropshire is hardly mentioned!

  • @raywhitehead730

    @raywhitehead730

    3 ай бұрын

    The American Mark 8 radar was The premier radar in the world by 1944. In fact British ships were incorporating American radar in their ships for nearly a year by the time of this battle.

  • @Johnnycdrums
    @Johnnycdrums19 күн бұрын

    We have certainly heard of The Battle Of Surigao Straight. The Pacfic War has a big fanbase in America.

  • @annsmith8000
    @annsmith8000Ай бұрын

    Good on you Australia The lucky country cos Aussies make it lucky, from an old Pom that loves you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. My old Dad was a signalman aboard a destroyer on several Russian convoys one of those ships was sunk as a non swimmer in those freezing waters and survived to father me and my little sister. God save New Zealand and Australia......Rob the Pom ❤️

  • @Johnnycdrums
    @Johnnycdrums19 күн бұрын

    175 n.m. air aquisition radar is damn good for those days. I assumed it was much less. This guy speaking is the precursor to Air Intercept Controller (AIC) in the U.S. Navy. Don't know what they call it nowadays, but in my day it was almost exclusively an enlisted billet, Naval Enlistment Code (NEC), of the Operations Specialist rating.

  • @model-man7802
    @model-man7802 Жыл бұрын

    Dad was on the Battleship California that night,he told me they fired 63 rounds in 16 min.Tennesee fired first he said the everyone just a moment later.

  • @johnsaunders7749
    @johnsaunders7749 Жыл бұрын

    My Father served on this ship in 1939 to 1940 around South Africa.

  • @JamesLaserpimpWalsh
    @JamesLaserpimpWalsh Жыл бұрын

    Thanks Uploader.

  • @chloehennessey6813
    @chloehennessey6813 Жыл бұрын

    My moms grandpa was on the destroyer USS Johnston DD557. The yanks fired to much? Wasted ammo? Kind of a bold claim.

  • @Persian-Immortal

    @Persian-Immortal

    Жыл бұрын

    your Grandpa was a brave soul amongst brace souls! he fought with a great leader, Cmd Evans. (hope i got his name right)

  • @MartinMcAvoy

    @MartinMcAvoy

    Жыл бұрын

    The yanks love explosions! My uncle was with the British infantry in Afghan and they used to take a few sniper shots from a hill about a mile a way. It was not very accurate fire, usually the hill was left alone and it could be days between shots, so what could they do? Later the Yanks took over and when the sniper fired a single round the Yanks called in airstrikes until the hill was a smoking ruin. They must have spent a million dollars but no more sniping happened! haha!

  • @raywhitehead730
    @raywhitehead7303 ай бұрын

    This battle occurred almost entirely at night. Radar controlled fire by the battleships put an end to the Japanese coming through the straight. But the Japanese suffered losses by American subs and destroyers before the Japanese even got to the Battleships. The radar was the Mark 8 unit, it could even show its own ships shells splashes at many miles.

  • @Johnnycdrums

    @Johnnycdrums

    19 күн бұрын

    Did the U.S. Navy have the SPA-25 repeater at that time? Or was it still like the old timey oscilliscope type contraption?

  • @raywhitehead730

    @raywhitehead730

    18 күн бұрын

    Robert Morris Page, was most instrumental in Naval Radar, for many years. I highly recommend his book on the development about the earliest radars. "The Origin Of Radar." Available from abebooks. Its now out of print but invaluable as a source. You can't have my copy. Well worth reading.

  • @thomaslinton5765
    @thomaslinton5765 Жыл бұрын

    Fourunate that this ship had radar superior to all others. Shame super superior radar was not supplied to other RN and RAN ships. They had 282 sets with a range of up to 6000 yards, rather than the 308,000 yards this operators 282 set could achieve, acording to him. "175 miles" - welll over the horizon. "The first 50-cm set was Type 282. With 25-kW output and a pair of Yagi antennas incorporating lobe switching, it was trialed in June 1939. This set detected low-flying aircraft at 2.5 miles . . . ."

  • @ArmouredCarriers

    @ArmouredCarriers

    Жыл бұрын

    It sometimes came down to individual radar operators. HMS Illustrious, for example, in 1940 was detecting aircraft at 90 miles because the operator realised how these echoes were different to the direct returns he had been trained to watch for.

  • @thomaslinton5765

    @thomaslinton5765

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ArmouredCarriers "175 miles"

  • @raywhitehead730
    @raywhitehead7303 ай бұрын

    March, 2034. The Brits now can get only about 20 warships actually to the sea.

  • @sontungle2641
    @sontungle264111 ай бұрын

    Anyone know the HMAS Shorpshire (D73) radar set please.

  • @ArmouredCarriers

    @ArmouredCarriers

    11 ай бұрын

    The two diagrams (starting 15:31) have the sets named. You should be able to catch them if you can pause a full resolution playback.

  • @johnheigis83
    @johnheigis83 Жыл бұрын

    Watch.... PBS.... "Half the Sky": "FET"... ( In Part II). And, "Meet John Doe" (Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwick...)... A system that mixes those possibilities, as our secondary manual backup system.

  • @matthewmoore5698
    @matthewmoore5698 Жыл бұрын

    Shropshire ! I wondered where all those sheep came from !

  • @rickjohnson6559
    @rickjohnson655910 ай бұрын

    I am a total Leyte historian buff. For the Australians. To even knock any the yanks did is sad considering they would a been just like the Philippines considering the British were blown completely out of the Pacific had the yanks not took a stalemate at coral sea and a mighty victory at midway. They would have been in Japanese hands. Your welcome Australia just like France so ungrateful

  • @ArmouredCarriers

    @ArmouredCarriers

    10 ай бұрын

    What did these veterans say that upset you so much?

  • @jp18449

    @jp18449

    10 ай бұрын

    Another nasty murican that refuses to believe anything other than "we won the war alone". Sad...

  • @goodshipkaraboudjan

    @goodshipkaraboudjan

    8 ай бұрын

    Japan had abandoned plans to invade Australia after Kokoda and Milne Bay. Learn the facts and stop getting so easily upset. We appreciate your help, it would be nice for it to be a two way street. As far as France is concerned - wouldn't the US never become to be without them?

  • @jimmywrangles

    @jimmywrangles

    Ай бұрын

    HMAS Canberra being torpedoed and sunk by an American destroyer not that long beforehand may have had a bit to do with that. Maybe I'm wrong but to loose one of our biggest warship to friendly fire was a bit rough on the Australian navy at the time.

  • @rickjohnson6559

    @rickjohnson6559

    Ай бұрын

    @@jimmywrangles your confusing the Japanese passenger ship monte video. With the canbera. The HAMS canbera was involved in action in battle of savo island. It was struck 24 times in less than two minutes. The us submarine sturgeon was ordered to Torpedo it the next morning after the ship was cleared of all hands. The montevideo was built in Nagasaki and was a Japanese passenger ship. She was transporting prisoners from rabul. Many of them Aussies. Brave men. This pains me. I'm sorry. The submarine had no way of knowing all hands were lost. No survivors. Australia. I am a historian. I love the stuff. And some of your efforts went unheralded. But this gentleman.saying the canbera was deliberately attacked is wrong. Yes it was attacked but by the Japanese. It was sank empty by the US Navy.