The Battle off Samar, fought on the morning of October 25, 1944, during the climactic Battle of Leyte Gulf, pitted 23 Japanese warships against 13 U.S. To call it a mismatch scarcely described it. The Japanese fleet consisted of four battleships, six heavy cruisers and thirteen destroyers. The American force was built around six small, slow aircraft carriers, escorted by five small destroyers. The single largest of the Japanese combatants, the super-battleship Yamato, outweighed the entire American force combined. Yet somehow, in the chaotic and bloody two-hour daylight fight that followed, the undersized American side prevailed, routing the most powerful force that Tokyo's naval command had ever sent into battle. No American performed more bravely that day than Captain Ernest Evans, commander of the USS Johnston, a tincan armed with unimposing naval guns. For the first time, Evans's astonishing grit and determination are explored in full, offering readers an unforgettable story of wartime heroism at sea.
