What was NEW JERSEY Doing During The Largest Naval Battle in History?

In this episode we're talking about what USS NEW JERSEY was doing during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

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The views and opinions expressed in this video are those of the content creator only and may not reflect the views and opinions of the Battleship New Jersey Museum & Memorial, the Home Port Alliance for the USS New Jersey, Inc., its staff, crew, or others. The research presented herein represents the most up-to-date scholarship available to us at the time of filming, but our understanding of the past is constantly evolving. This video is made for entertainment purposes only.

[thelefthandedshooter]

What an amazing historical document. Those young men were asked to do so much, truly the Greatest Generation.

[henry]

Wow...the combination of the diary and the videos of the Sailors that lived it, they really are the Greatest Generation. Very interesting to hear a reference of Taffy 3 in those interviews, and that they knew Halsey was suckered by the Japanese. Massive respect.

[Detect-Oregon]

Uh that sailors diary is a National treasure, and should be touched/handled with extreme care. What a privilege it’s been to have seen this and shared a few moments of my life to honor him and his shipmates. Truly fabulous

[crazyguy]

I think there is a grain of truth to helping the effort by being a deterrence. One of the reasons why Kurita broke off chasing Taffy 3 and ran was he realized that he wasn't fighting 3rd fleet, and it was still out there somewhere. Had he sailed into TF 34, (which was meant to be four battleships, five cruisers and 14 destroyers while the rest chased off north) with his own center force (4 battleships, 8 cruisers and 11 destroyers) then we would have witnessed a bigger battle, with greater losses on both sides. I think that by NOT being in the way New Jersey actually made a greater contibution. The later final actions of the Japanese surface vessels involved, and the price the aircrews and submarines paid to finish them, spilled less blood than attempting to stop the center force at this time. The 1, 161 American lives lost in Taffy 3 is a hard price to pay, but the losses could have been far worse if the full battle was realized.

[KATBIRD]

Dad was serving on BB48 West Virginia during Leyte Gulf.. Pointer on twin 5 inch...

[DevonRomero-sb]

This was a very impressive documentary video! I loved how you laid everything out, the videos from the veterans who served in that battle, and the diary! And Ryan I must say, you’re better at reading other people‘s handwriting than I am! lol

[Ehrandil]

Fantastic video. Hearing the words out of that diary really helped bring the entire series together.

[yellowleaderwheeler]

I recently came across my Grandfather's WW2 diary during is his time a assigned to the USS Preble mine layer during the battle of Guadelcanal. It was a hell of a read.

[dutchman]

This was a wonderful episode Ryan. Thank you

[gregrees]

They may have done more if the decoy wasn't followed, but it is easy to judge action now with 80 years to think about it. Halsey did what he thought best at the time.

[barrysheridan]

I was surprised to hear that Halsey’s staff lacked a Japanese speaker. Interesting revelation.

[keithrosenberg]

The major problem 3rd and 7th fleets had with coordinating was that they could only communicate with each other through MacArthur's HQ.

[steeltrap]

Message from the captain sounds like wise morale management over anything else.
The Iowa class BBs are the USN's most powerful. Their crews very possibly would have been feeling bad hearing of 'jeep carriers' and escorts fighting heavy cruisers and battleships when it's the Iowas and other fast BBs that ought to be there.

[garywagner]

Very interesting video, Ryan. Thanks for posting.

[charlestuozzolo]

So many great comments! Love the first hand accounts. As Navy retiree always great when the CO would inform the crew as to status of ops. Saw it both ways. Yes the engineering, the cooks all felt part of the op even if the OPs department was running it. Without updates you lose adrenalin Great leadership. Also you can see the guys were ready for a fight! We salute them!

[stevehofer]

It seems like just the 33 knot Iowas and fastest cruisers should have raced to meet Kurita’s fleeing force. The 28-knot battleships really couldn’t do that speed, but they could have continued north to finish off Ozawa’s stragglers. Also, I think some of Halley’s Avengers could have made a long distance strike with the intent to land on escort carriers.

[aalhard]

What a wonderful look at paper that lived through it!😊

[utbs]

This video in one word: Amazing. Awesome. Extremely interesting and informative.
Okay, so that's six words.

[slvr]

I am always amazed at the bravery and sacrifice of the young American sailors and marines who tell their stories of these fierce battles. We were blessed by them all!

[klsc]

Ryan, you should transcribe the diary and have it in book form to sell. I am sure it would be a good seller. This would be like Charles Linberg's War Time Journals. I have a copy at about a 1, 000 pages. You have the book Pacific War Diary a story about the USS Montpelier. I have this too. Books like this are a treasure as the people that wrote these are long gone. These are gold for those that love history from the Sailors that lived it.