Post by oscsusnret on Jan 18, 2019 0:57:26 GMT
The Battle off Samar, sometimes known as the Battle of Taffy 3, was fought between a US task force of three destroyers, four destroyer escorts, and several small "jeep" carriers, and a huge Japanese surface fleet that included the largest battleship afloat. The date was October 25, 1944.
I don't think there has ever been such a lopsided engagement with such an unexpected outcome. I rank this with the three hundred Spartans who stood against the Persian Army at Thermopylae.
The Battle of Taffy Three
By Tom Ligon
Sung to the tune of Johnny Horton’s “Sink the Bismark”
The year was 1944, the war was at its worst.
An Admiral made a big mistake, but he was not the first.
Bill Halsey chased a phantom fleet across the bloody sea,
He left behind a landing task force known as Taffy Three.
Three destroyers stood their guard off Samar on that day.
Four destroyer escorts stood beside them in harm’s way.
They screened six little carriers, with call sign Taffy Three,
These tin can sailors who were bound for naval history.
Thru the San Bernardino Strait the Japs they sent their best,
Four mighty battleships, eight cruisers and the rest,
The biggest, the Yamato, none larger left a slip,
Had the nine biggest cannon ever put upon a ship.
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
Commander Evans stood upon the Johnston’s tiny bridge
He scanned the fleet attacking him, his brow a furrowed ridge,
What do you do against a fleet so mighty and so large?
You turn your bow into them and begin a daring charge!
The Japanese outweighed them by twenty four to one,
Heavy armor, heavy numbers, seven times the gun,
Twice the range, more torpedoes, shells the mass of cars,
Versus barely more than pop guns, and wishes to the stars.
The baby flattops launched their planes, but hardly with a prayer
No armor piercing bombs aboard, but still they took the dare.
When their bombs were spent they still kept diving to the fight,
Making cruisers dodge and weave with bluff and out of spite.
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
The Johnston started firing from ten miles away,
And struck the cruiser Kumano forty times that day,
Then fired off her torpedoes, Kumano took a hit
And lost her bow to a foe one fifth as big as it.
The Johnston fought with battleships and cruisers ‘til the swarm
Of the enemy warships focused all their harm
On this tiny tin destroyer, that lived up to the name.
Evans widow got the medal, and history knows his fame.
Destroyer Escort Roberts, we don’t believe our eyes,
Mauled the ship Chikuma, about ten times her size.
She fought just like a battleship, the history books do say,
Two hundred fifteen heroes we remember to this day.
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
The mighty ship Yamato, terror of the sea,
Hardly figured in the fight, and earned ignominy,
She turned so hard to dodge the danger that she left the fray,
The only chance for battle, and she missed her finest day.
Taffy Three was bloodied, a thousand men had died.
Johnston, Roberts, Hoel were lost, but on the other side,
Three cruisers on the bottom, the rest a dreadful sight,
They turned around and headed home and slipped into the night.
The enemy had turned and run, convinced they’d met their peers,
Those seven little fighting ships that dared to box their ears.
Who are we to even sing the praises of these men,
Who’d say it was their duty, then do it all again?
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
I don't think there has ever been such a lopsided engagement with such an unexpected outcome. I rank this with the three hundred Spartans who stood against the Persian Army at Thermopylae.
The Battle of Taffy Three
By Tom Ligon
Sung to the tune of Johnny Horton’s “Sink the Bismark”
The year was 1944, the war was at its worst.
An Admiral made a big mistake, but he was not the first.
Bill Halsey chased a phantom fleet across the bloody sea,
He left behind a landing task force known as Taffy Three.
Three destroyers stood their guard off Samar on that day.
Four destroyer escorts stood beside them in harm’s way.
They screened six little carriers, with call sign Taffy Three,
These tin can sailors who were bound for naval history.
Thru the San Bernardino Strait the Japs they sent their best,
Four mighty battleships, eight cruisers and the rest,
The biggest, the Yamato, none larger left a slip,
Had the nine biggest cannon ever put upon a ship.
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
Commander Evans stood upon the Johnston’s tiny bridge
He scanned the fleet attacking him, his brow a furrowed ridge,
What do you do against a fleet so mighty and so large?
You turn your bow into them and begin a daring charge!
The Japanese outweighed them by twenty four to one,
Heavy armor, heavy numbers, seven times the gun,
Twice the range, more torpedoes, shells the mass of cars,
Versus barely more than pop guns, and wishes to the stars.
The baby flattops launched their planes, but hardly with a prayer
No armor piercing bombs aboard, but still they took the dare.
When their bombs were spent they still kept diving to the fight,
Making cruisers dodge and weave with bluff and out of spite.
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
The Johnston started firing from ten miles away,
And struck the cruiser Kumano forty times that day,
Then fired off her torpedoes, Kumano took a hit
And lost her bow to a foe one fifth as big as it.
The Johnston fought with battleships and cruisers ‘til the swarm
Of the enemy warships focused all their harm
On this tiny tin destroyer, that lived up to the name.
Evans widow got the medal, and history knows his fame.
Destroyer Escort Roberts, we don’t believe our eyes,
Mauled the ship Chikuma, about ten times her size.
She fought just like a battleship, the history books do say,
Two hundred fifteen heroes we remember to this day.
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
The mighty ship Yamato, terror of the sea,
Hardly figured in the fight, and earned ignominy,
She turned so hard to dodge the danger that she left the fray,
The only chance for battle, and she missed her finest day.
Taffy Three was bloodied, a thousand men had died.
Johnston, Roberts, Hoel were lost, but on the other side,
Three cruisers on the bottom, the rest a dreadful sight,
They turned around and headed home and slipped into the night.
The enemy had turned and run, convinced they’d met their peers,
Those seven little fighting ships that dared to box their ears.
Who are we to even sing the praises of these men,
Who’d say it was their duty, then do it all again?
Refrain
They turned into the enemy and showed them who was boss.
They had to stop the battleships and cruisers at all cost.
They had no hope to win the fight, the odds were all agley,
But courage turned the battle, and daring won the day.
