Battle of Samar - What if TF34 was there?

This video would not have been possible without the contribution and efforts of the team at Drydock Dreams Games, who kindly provided the renders of the ships of the two fleets involved, you can see the ships in more detail in their upcoming game Task Force Admiral, link above.

'Live Action' footage was made possible by the efforts of the clan Vae Tyrannis (who organised it) with participants from [VT] Vae Tyrannis, [-WHO-] Identity Crisis, [-AP-] Armed Potatoes, [BFS] Barely Functional Scandinavians, [TAW] The Art of Warfare and [H-O-E] Horde of Eccentrics in World of Warships :)

Today we look at one possible scenario for the Battle of Samar, what if Admiral Lee an TF34 had been present as everyone thought they would be?

[glenn]

What if this actually happened and 77 years later someone ran a battle simulation on the alternate scenario of "what if TF34 was not there?" What if Taffy3 alone was attacked by Yamato and the entire center force. How would the battle have played out? I guarantee no human or computer would have predicted the actual outcome as it really happened.

[andrewdesire]

As a bit of a side note, as with all alternate histories,
" Captain E.E Evans USN retired from the Navy in 1952 after 21 years and returned to Oklahoma. He worked as a manager for a local oil company for 28 years and had three children. Ernest E Evans died in 1994 at 86, having led a full and happy life".

[bryant]

"No time to do a full wargame".... proceeds to give detailed accounting of tactics and individual hits in a realistic manner.

[tankdriverm]

And this would have started DECADES of claims that Yamato's crew scuttled her.

[bamafan-in-OZ]

I’m sure Ryan Szimanski will be proud to hear his ship took on the mighty Yamato and effectively won.

[winghungyuen]

Nice of Admiral Lee to have the USS The Sullivans to give the coup de grace on the Yamato. Ultimate message of revenge for Guadalcanal.

[nicholas]

"Shimakaze somehow has come out of it relatively intact."

The power of SPEED

[rackstraw]

"Stand aside. I am coming through. This is 'Ching' Lee."

[terryhiggins]

The Washington is the MVP of this scenario, more or less single handedly having rendered the entire Kongo Class extinct, and killing the largest battleship ever constructed.

[mattwoodard]

Washington vs Haruna, basically any battlecruiser, is really just a gunner exercise for the Washington. sm

[MisterWlfe]

And somehow the USS Johnston STILL managed to get there first.
STILL managed to be the ship that did the most damage, took the most damage and sank heroically only due to the weight of Cdr E. Evans' MASSIVE steel balls.

[mrbeefhbw]

Me: Oh boy, I wonder what my home state's battleship pulled off..

Drach: USS Massachusetts still wouldn't have been there

Me:

[kireta]

Drach: "USS New Jersey is matching up against Yamato, She's gonna have one hell of a fight"
Me: Might be an understatement
Drach: "And in Nagato's case, her partner is USS Iowa"
Me: Oh...

[wesleyjohnson]

I’ve always felt that while a great slugging match between the (arguably) best battleships of all time would be a neat thing to see, the story of Taffy 3 would have (and has had) a significantly larger impact on US Navy lore.

[MagnusVictor]

44:17 I see that "Battleship X" was so desperate to get into a serious surface engagement, that she's dressed up as her sister to try to sneak in as "Alabama" :D

[EngineTruck]

Damn. I keep forgetting that, historically, the entire Takao class is put out of action in less than 48 hours.

[Shutterbug]

I also feel the need to point out that USS JOHNSTON HAS BEEN FOUND mostly intact with the hull number clearly visible.

[jamesharding]

Admiral Kurita: Can't I Kessen?
Admiral Lee: No.

[timber_wulf]

20:38 someone who was apart of the WoWs battle visualization brought an actual Tone, so Drach has supertester friends it seems

[bakomusha]

And you get a Medal of Honor, and you get a Medal of Honor, and everyone gets Presidential Unit Citation woow!