This was the most remarkable naval battle of World War II. Surprised by the presence of Taffy 3, the Japanese admiral, Kurita, was badly served by his staff. They told him that the U.S. forces were fleet carriers, cruisers, and destroyers, instead of the escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts that they actually were. Kurita then compounded this error by ordering a "general attack", where each ship would act on its own and attack piecemeal, instead of acting as a part of a cohesive battle line. Had he ordered the formation of a battle line, the outcome might have been very different, as the Japanese ships (four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and eleven destroyers) had twice the speed of the escort carriers and could have run them down and destroyed them systematically had they attacked in an organized manner.
Kurita was further distracted and befuddled by constant air attacks from the aircraft of Taffy 3 and from Taffys 1 and 2, also operating in the area. Since the Taffys were primarily tasked with providing close air support for the troops ashore, they did not have many anti-ship weapons available to them. Nevertheless, they attacked with whatever weapons they had, including 100 lb. anti-personnel bombs. Many planes ran out of ammo yet continued to make dry runs on the Japanese ships simply to distract them. Fortunately, the Taffys had enough torpedoes available that they were able to sink a couple of heavy cruisers. Four Avenger torpedo bombers from the Kitkun Bay sank the heavy cruiser Chokai. Despite the heavy Japanese losses, Kurita's ships were slowly overhauling Taffy 3 carriers. But vexed, perplexed, and completely out of control of his own fleet, Kurita at this point decided to withdraw his ships from the battle even though he still had a chance of a victory.
While nothing can ever detract from the incredible courage of the American sailors who participated in this battle, Admiral Kurita also deserves some "credit" for his contributions to a major U.S. victory.
