Ambush in the Palawan Passage 23 October 1944

[Jordi Comas]

Hi all!

Glad to enter in this forum!

Is there any source saying the disposition of the Japanese ships when submarines Dace and Darter ambushed the Japanese Fleet on 23 October 1944?

As far as I know:

In the port side of the formation there were the following ships from the head to the rear:

2nd Section (Suzuki) 1st Section (Kurita)

DD ?, DD ? DD Naganami, DD Okinami, CL Noshiro
BB Haruna, CA Suzuya, CA Kumano BB Nagato, CA Chokai, CA Takao, CA Atago

In the center:
DD ? DD ?, DD ?

In the starboard side there were the following ones:

BB Kongo, CA Chikuma, CA Tone BB Musashi, Yamato, CA Maya, CA Haguro, CA Myoko
DD ?, DD ?, CL Yahagi DD ?, DD ?, DD ?

Thank you very much
Regards

[fontessa]

Hi all!

Glad to enter in this forum!

Is there any source saying the disposition of the Japanese ships when submarines Dace and Darter ambushed the Japanese Fleet on 23 October 1944?

As far as I know:

In the port side of the formation there were the following ships from the head to the rear:

2nd Section (Suzuki) 1st Section (Kurita)

DD ?, DD ? DD Naganami, DD Okinami, CL Noshiro
BB Haruna, CA Suzuya, CA Kumano BB Nagato, CA Chokai, CA Takao, CA Atago

In the center:
DD ? DD ?, DD ?

In the starboard side there were the following ones:

BB Kongo, CA Chikuma, CA Tone BB Musashi, Yamato, CA Maya, CA Haguro, CA Myoko
DD ?, DD ?, CL Yahagi DD ?, DD ?, DD ?

Thank you very much
Regards

See the chart below.

fontessa

[Jordi Comas]

Thank you very much!!!

I guess that between CA Atago and CA Myoko there was DD Kishinami

Regards

[fontessa]

Thank you very much!!!

I guess that between CA Atago and CA Myoko there was DD Kishinami

Regards

Yes, I dropped Kishinami's name, Flag Ship of 31st Destroyer Division.
I revised the chart.

fontessa

[Jordi Comas]

Thank you one more time!

Regards

[Catnip]

The Center Force action reports from the battle are available at the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, https://www.jacar.go.jp/english/. The reports are by ship name. For example, search on "Warship Yamato" and in the results you should find the action report from the Sho operation. The reports have not been translated into English but there are charts that show things like fleet dispostions, including what was going on at Palawan Passage. Use Google Translate to help decipher the headings and labels on the charts.

I published a book of translated Japanese action reports from the October 25th battle, The Battle Off Samar, but it does not cover what happened on the 23rd at Palawan. My book is on Amazon.com, "The Raiders of Taffy 3." I published an accompanying volume, "Taffy 3 Raider Glossary" which would be helpful in translating the documents you want. This could be a good opportunity to learn some Japanese.

[OpanaPointer]

I'm currently cleaning up Monograph 84. I'll put a note here went it's done.

[Jordi Comas]

Ok