Battle of Surigao Strait

12. “You are to proceed independently and attack all ships!”

12 “You are to proceed independently and attack all ships!” While Fuso was reaching a crisis and Nishimura was attempting to re-form his force after the second torpedo attack, to the south Shima’s 2YB had entered the strait. He was closing the gap between the two Japanese forces rapidly. However , the 2YB had suffered its own set of problems, and was also contending with torpedo attacks. The first misfortune had come at 0235 when the fleet had “entered a severe squall. Visibility extremely limited.” Even so, Nachi increased speed to 26 knots for the transit of Surigao Strait as planned. Combat alert was ordered and preparations made for maximum battle speed on-notice. Meanwhile the voice-radio was alive with Japanese voices, bursting out with warnings of enemy ships sighted and torpedo tracks approaching. It was all very unnerving, and at 0308 Shima grabbed the phone and anxiously called Nishimura to “Notify situation!” Ominous silence was the only answer. Shima looked outside the windows, trying to pierce the darkness and rain with his mind.1 Because of intermittent squalls that constantly interrupted visibility, their position was not entirely certain. “The rainsqualls were so severe it was impossible to confirm the entrance of the strait.” Still, navigator Kenichi Kondo judged they had arrived at the southern entrance of Surigao Strait. So at 0311 course was altered to 20 degrees to turn up into the strait. Normally this would involve an increase in speed, but Shima did the opposite. He slowed to 22 knots. He and Kondo were very uneasy about the mist and poor visibility and the way Nachi’s radar was giving confusing returns. 2YB plunged on through the gloom, nerves raw, knowing the enemy’s torpedo craft were definitely lurking out there somewhere.2 165 166 · BattleofSurigaoStrait Torpedo boats are not the only dangers at sea. Off Nachi’s port bow officers on DD Ushio’s bridge were peering anxiously into the night-dark haze when suddenly at 0318 Commander Masami Araki and his officers stiffened in dismay—a break in the mist was forming ahead revealing . . . mountains looming , and just below, the crash of waves on shore! Ushio and the cruisers behind it were headed right for Panaon island! “Hard a’ Port! Omakaji! Maximum turn, maximum turn!”3 It was already too late to attempt to evade to the right. Its masts and stacks heeling hard to starboard, Ushio skidded around in its turn until the bow pointed toward open sea and the men on the bridge could breathe a sigh of relief . But the danger was not over yet. Ushio was clear but the other ships were still heading toward shore. Worse, Ushio’s TBS radio was out of order! Araki could not warn them in time. What happened is 2YB’s dead reckoning was off. Assistant navigator Seiji Suzuki was the first to realize what had occurred. They had not taken into account the strong flood current flowing out of Surigao into the Mindanao Sea, which had the effect of setting Shima’s whole fleet more to the west than assumed . 2YB had made the turn northward too early, and was some five miles short of the turning point. Instead they were headed straight for the Panaon island shore (Suzuki thought it was Leyte at the time), and since Ushio was on the western wing, it had been the first to spot the error.4 By now Nachi too saw the danger. At 0319 Shima’s flag cruiser shot out of the haze to find Mount Nelangcapan looming above the clouds and a dark cliff only two miles away on its port bow, where Ushio was spiraling around in obvious evasion. “All ships simultaneous turn. Hard to starboard, forty-five degrees !” Shima shouted. The order was relayed at once to the other ships. Heeling to port at high speed, Nachi began to swerve steeply to the right, its sharp prow swinging until the crashing surf was left behind and open water lay ahead. Nachi and the others were just steadying on the new course of 65 degrees (T) when the other feared menace appeared without warning and with cruel timing. “Torpedo trace bearing 130 degrees port!”5 For real this time, and only 500 meters away from Abukuma’s port side. Having just steadied on the new course to avoid shore seven kilometers away, the flagship of Desron 1 was ill-prepared for sudden evasion. Captain Takuo Hanada put his helm hard over to...