Taffey Three. ( I just finished the book and thought I share"

[Will Carry]

"The vision of admiral Spragues three destroyers - the Johnston, the Hoel and the Heerman- charging out of the smoke and rain striaght towards the batteries of Kurita's battleships and cruisers, can endure as a picture of the way Americans fight. Our school children should know about that incident. Our enemies should ponder it."

One of the boldest charges in history. The turrets of the Yamato's 18.1 inch guns weighted as much as a US Navy destroyer. The only thing between the US landing ships at Leyte, our the escort carriers and a Japanese fleet of battleships, cruisers and destroyers were three small ships. Comander Evans of the USS Johnston did not even wait for orders. He attacked! He fired all of his torpedoes then went in with his 5 inch guns.

Comander Evans went down with his ship. The Japs turn around and went home.

Edited August 28, 2010 by Will Carry

[Will Carry]

The battleship Yamoto had 9, 18.1 inch guns. The total weight of a broadside was 29,000lbs at a muzzle velocity of 2290fps. Every time she fired her broadside it would knock out her primitive radar. She weighted in at 70,000+ tons, 25,000 tons bigger that our largest battleships (Iowa class) which were 45,000 tons and 16" main batteries.

Edited August 28, 2010 by Will Carry