Note 22 — Chapter VI · The Japanese Reaction

In the early morning hours, Admiral Oldendorf’s warships destroyed the Nishimura force as it sailed into Surigao Strait. Of two battleships, one heavy cruiser, and four destroyers, only the cruiser and one destroyer escaped from the strait, and the cruiser, which had been damaged, was sunk by aircraft from the U. S. carriers the next morning.22 Admiral Shima’s 2d Diversion Attack Force, entering the same strait thirty minutes after Nishimura’s force, suffered damage to a light cruiser that was hit by American torpedo boats. Shima’s force then made an abortive attack, during which its flagship was damaged by collision, and withdrew without having engaged. The Third Fleet far to the north fell upon the decoy forces, sank all four carriers of the Main Body and thus “wrote an end to the Japanese carrier air force.”23