OT: The Last Salvo, October 24, 1944

The last battleship engagement in world history occurred as part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf 74 years ago, October 24, 1944.

The doomed Japanese force steaming up the Surigao Strait failed to detect Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's battle line of old WWI battleships, and, as a result, Oldendorf achieved the holy grail of naval surface engagements, crossing the T of the enemy. By crossing the T, Oldendorf's ships could fire full broadsides upon the enemy while the Japanese, even if they had detected the US ships, could fire only with their forward facing guns. Nishimura's force had no chance and ceased to exist within minutes.

Well back in Oldendorf's battle line, the USS Mississippi, equipped with older fire control radar, needed more time to compute a firing solution than other ships in the line. As a result, she fired a single, 12 gun salvo of her 14" guns moments after the cease fire had been issued because there were no more targets on the radar. Her salvo probably landed in the water where a Japanese ship had once been.

Though no one realized it at the time, the Mississippi's salvo proved to be the last salvo fired in action by one battleship upon another.

Dean

Interesting fact , thanks for sharing it.

I can only imagine what the sounds would have been like that day. Something you would never forget .

Really interesting period of Naval history.


Rick

My dad was on that ship later on, and in some of the things I read about that action, it said the Mississippis radar was masked by a cruiser as the ships were maneuvering back and forth in a line at a 90 degree angle to the enemy. That combined with the older radar caused the longer firing solution time.

Dean, I am pretty sure that the Japanese would have been firing all of their guns as they steamed towards the American fleet because they were all mounted on turrets. The side mounted, run-out-through-gunport-style of guns went out with the age of sail. On 21 October 1805 Lord Horatio Nelson led his 27 ships of the line in two columns straight at the combined French and Spanish forces of 33 Ships of the line, in a maneuver that caused them to cross his Tee. The British of course lost Nelson but won the battle losing no ships while the combined French and Spanish lost 22. The lopsidedness of the battle was mainly due to the guillotine taking so many of the French naval captains, and the French being blockaded in port for a number of years, so they had few men who could sail the ships let alone fight them.

The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1815).[3]

Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the line under French Admiral Villeneuve. The battle took place in the Atlantic Ocean off the southwest coast of Spain, just west of Cape Trafalgar, near the town of Los Caños de Meca. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships and the British lost none.

The victory confirmed the naval supremacy Britain had established during the course of the eighteenth century and it was achieved in part through Nelson's departure from the prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy of the day.[4] Conventional practice at the time was for opposing fleets to engage each other in single parallel lines, in order to facilitate signalling and disengagement, and to maximise fields of fire and target areas. Nelson instead arranged his ships into two columns to sail perpendicularly into the enemy fleet's line.

Dean, I am pretty sure that the Japanese would have been firing all of their guns as they steamed towards the American fleet because they were all mounted on turrets. The side mounted, run-out-through-gunport-style of guns went out with the age of sail. On 21 October 1805 Lord Horatio Nelson led his 27 ships of the line in two columns straight at the combined French and Spanish forces of 33 Ships of the line, in a maneuver that caused them to cross his Tee. The British of course lost Nelson but won the battle losing no ships while the combined French and Spanish lost 22. The lopsidedness of the battle was mainly due to the guillotine taking so many of the French naval captains, and the French being blockaded in port for a number of years, so they had few men who could sail the ships let alone fight them.

The Japanese were steaming in line ahead in the narrow strait. Moreover, their primitive radar failed to detect the US ships and their T was crossed. Correspondingly, they could reply only with their forward facing guns to targets identified only by nighttime gun flashes. Rear facing turrets cannot fire forward for obvious reasons.

Dean
USS Mississippi

Agreed, regarding Trafalgar.

Dean

(quoted from post at 10:21:40 10/24/18) The Japanese were steaming in line ahead in the narrow strait. Moreover, their primitive radar failed to detect the US ships and their T was crossed. Correspondingly, they could reply only with their forward facing guns to targets identified only by nighttime gun flashes. Rear facing turrets cannot fire forward for obvious reasons.

Dean
USS Mississippi

Click to expand...

Yes, the radar made a huge difference, Though the Japanese could have fired at ships at one end or the other of Oldendorf's line with their rear guns, the ends of the line were out of their radar range. and over the horizon.

The Mississippi was not the only ship in the line that had difficulty finding a firing solution. Indeed, the Pennsylvania never fired.

Fortunately, the primitive radar on the Japanese ships was inferior to the radar on any of the US ships, though the outcome would have been similar regardless of radar.

The Japanese force was doomed from the moment that they entered the strait, indeed, before.

Dean

They wouldn't fire the rear guns very far forward of the beam for reasons this picture makes obvious.

Great post Dean.

Thanks, UD.

Knowing that you are a Navy veteran and a student of history, I expected you to respond.

Thanks for your service.

Dean

Agreed, and great photo, Tom.

The old Japanese battleships steaming up the Surigao Strait, Yashishiro and Fuso, were of earlier and unorthodox 2-1-1-2 design.

Though heavily gunned, the rear turrets as well as the midships turrets could not fire ahead (or astern). As a result, the Japanese force could respond only with 4, 2 gun turrets, though it would not have made much difference it they could have replied with all turrets.

Dean

It was noisy enough on that tin can when they would cut loose with all six 5"-38s at once. Not sure they ever fired 4 3"-50s with the 6 5"-38s but they could have.