The Battle of Surigao Strait

Halsey was right in one respect; the battleship would have her day – or, perhaps, her night. For sailing eastwards towards Surigao Strait on the night of the 24th was Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura, and the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro. Accompanying them would be the heavy cruiser Mogami, the destroyers Shigure, Michishio, Asagumo and Yamagumo. Following close behind would be a second force sailing from Japan under the command of Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima. This second force would consist of two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and four destroyers. Unfortunately for Nishimura and Shima, the Americans would be perfectly deployed and anxiously waiting for all of the Japanese ships to sail into their trap.

Surigao Strait (24-25 October 1944). The old U.S. battleships Mississippi, West Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, California and Pennsylvania (all but the first veterans of Pearl Harbor), supported by numerous smaller warships, ambushed a Japanese force including the old battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, which were annihilated in an action so one-sided that Pennsylvania never got to fire. This was the last time battleships ever fired on each other.

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