Taffy 3—consisting of six escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts—was there to cover troops storming the Philippine beaches, not to duel a surface fleet that included the Yamato, the largest battleship ever built. But there was no one else between Kurita and the invasion fleet in Leyte Gulf.
The American Destroyer That Sacrificed Itself to Turn Back Japan’s Battleship Fleet at Leyte Gulf
