The Defenders of Taffy 3: Analysis and Retelling of the Battle of Leyte Gulf

271 pages

Dr James Bosbotinis

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in history, with as Mark Stille arguing, that it marked “the last gasp of a dying navy, and an empire unable to defend itself.”[1] However, the Imperial Japanese Navy was still capable of inflicting death and destruction, and of the six US Navy ships lost in the battle, five were from the Taffy 3 task unit.[2] In the Defenders of Taffy 3, the author seeks to provide an account and analysis of the battle off Samar which saw Admiral Kurita’s Centre Force, including the battleship Yamato, attack Taffy 3, a task unit comprising escort carriers, destroyers and destroyer escorts. The author, Byron Como, is a historian and illustrator with a particular interest in the Pacific War and has written several books on the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

In Defenders of Taffy 3, Como draws on US action reports declassified in 2012 as well as translations of Japanese action reports. Moreover, the author utilised the course plots of the various ships in the battle to “build a simple computerized simulation of the battle using a modern day engineering tool, the Geographic Information System, or GIS”, in order to “play the battle forward and back, minute to minute in great detail…to interpret the voluminous amount of information in a way not done by previous authors.” While the first three chapters provide an overview of the wider strategic and operational context ahead of the battle off Samar, the substantive part of the book focuses on a richly detailed tactical account of the ships and aircraft of Taffy 3 as they fight off the Japanese force. The chapters follow a broadly chronological approach, charting the progression of the battle, although the latter chapters focusing on the carrier air operations cover that aspect of the battle from start to finish. The book’s Epilogue summarises the fate of the various ships that fought off Samar.

Como writes in a highly engaging manner, providing much detail and a flowing tactical narrative. The author also eloquently describes the traumatic destructive effects of naval combat in the Second World War, and its human cost. Alongside the text, there are maps, photos and illustrations which add to the quality of the book. There only a few very minor typos. Having read Stille’s Leyte Gulf which provides a valuable study across the levels of war – the interplay between strategic planning, operational decisions, and tactical action, The Defenders of Taffy 3 provides an excellent complementary text. For those with an interest in the Pacific War, or US naval history, this book will certainly appeal. The Defenders of Taffy 3 provides a well-written, highly readable and engaging account of a notable naval battle, and is certainly recommended.

[1] Mark E Stille, Leyte Gulf: A New History of the World’s Largest Sea Battle (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2023).

[2] Ibid., p250.