Sibuyan Sea

Halsey related a fairly straightforward account of bombing the Japanese Center Force in the Sibuyan Sea on the 24th, then came to the tricky part: explaining why he left the San Bernardino Strait unguarded.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

They had heard rumors that the Japanese fleet was on the move, and news of the attacks on the Japanese in the Sibuyan Sea and the Surigao Strait quickly spread.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

Reality intruded, as he recalled the incessant bombing of the past day in the Sibuyan Sea.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

He had expected to die from enemy bombs the day before in the Sibuyan Sea.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

Kurita and his staff later claimed that they were completely without air cover throughout the slaughter in the Sibuyan Sea, and it may have seemed that way to them.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

After reaching the Philippine island of Mindoro on the morning of October 24, the fleet would pick up steam and snake eastward through the islands of the Sibuyan Sea at 24 knots.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

I believed the Center Force had been so heavily damaged in the Sibuyan Sea that it could no longer be a serious menace to the Seventh Fleet.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

At about sunset, the fleet would enter the San Bernardino Strait, a narrow, tide-ripped passage that connected the island-filled Sibuyan Sea on the west side of the island of Leyte to the open Philippine Sea on the east.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

At 2130, 9:30P.M ., as it passed through the strait back into the Sibuyan Sea, the Kurita fleet signaled headquarters: “We are of the opinion that the situation may offer excellent opportunity for the shore-based air force units to strike the first blow against the enemy and gain control of the air.”

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006

He was flying off Mindoro Island at the edge of the Sibuyan Sea, an inner sea in the Philippine archipelago—the likely passage a Japanese fleet would take to advance toward the American landing beaches on the other side of Leyte.

Sea of Thunder Evan Thomas 2006