Halsey was right in one respect; the battleship would have her day – or, perhaps, her night. For sailing eastwards towards Surigao Strait on the night of the 24^th was Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura, and the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro. Accompanying them would be the heavy cruiser Mogami, the destroyers Shigure, Michishio, Asagumo and Yamagumo. Following close behind would be a second force sailing from Japan under the command of Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima. This second force would consist of two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and four destroyers. Unfortunately for Nishimura and Shima, the Americans would be perfectly deployed and anxiously waiting for all of the Japanese ships to sail into their trap.

Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid had a pretty good idea where the Japanese were headed and what they planned to do when they got there. And, although the carrier attacks throughout the day had been unable to sink the Japanese force, Kinkaid had with him Rear Admiral Jesse B. Olendorf, and a collection of old battleships. Among them were the West Virgina and California – both of which had been officially "sunk" at Pearl Harbor nearly three years earlier. But they had been recovered, rebuilt, and redeployed to exact a measure of revenge from the Japanese. Armed with the latest radar and fire control systems, they waited. Along with these two were the Maryland, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania, also veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack (these three were all damaged but not sunk) and the Mississippi which had managed to avoid damage during the Pearl Harbor attack only because she had not been there at the time. The battleships and cruisers of the Seventh Fleet formed the final immovable wall in a layered defense deployed by the Americans. In order for them to come into play, the Japanese would first have to run a gauntlet of PT boats and destroyers.

As the Nishimura’s force transitioned from the Sulu Sea to the Mindanao Sea on the way to Surigao Strait, they came under attack from squadrons of PT boats hidden among the Philippine Islands. The PT boats, less than 100 feet long and made largely of wood, made valiant runs at the Japanese force. These little boats would speed towards the Japanese warships in a desperate attempt to launch their torpedoes in the hopes of sinking several Japanese ships, or at least slowing down the Japanese force. In the end, they accomplished neither. As the PT boats approached, they were illuminated by Japanese searchlights, and riddled with concentrated fire from the much larger opposing destroyers. In one attack, PT-152 made a run at the Japanese and was hit by gunfire from the destroyer Shigure. One man on board was killed, and three were wounded, as the forward part of the boat erupted in flame. Just when it appeared that PT-152 was doomed, a near miss sent a huge column of water into the air which fortunately rained down on the boat extinguishing the flames of the prior hit. And so PT-152 ran a slalom between the columns of splashes in an attempt to evade the Japanese shells and searchlights. Although none of the torpedoes launched by the heroic little boats found their mark, the PT boats reported Nishimura’s progress through the Mindanao Sea as they headed straight for the trap that the Americans had laid.

As the Japanese entered the waters of Surigao Strait itself, Nishimura ordered his ships into a single column to navigate the narrow waterway. On both sides of the strait the American destroyers lay in wait. Dashing out from the darkness, they launched a total of forty-seven torpedoes at the Japanese column from both flanks. Six torpedoes found targets and detonated, and this was only the first wave. By the time the Japanese had completed running the gauntlet posed by the American destroyers, the Yamashiro was broken in two, and the destroyers Asagumo, Yamagumo, and Mishishio were either adrift on their way to sinking or already sunk. Nishimura’s force was down to the lone destroyer Shigure, the cruiser Mogami, and the battleship Fuso.

Admiral Olendorf called off the American destroyer attacks, for he did not want friendly ships fouling the range being calculated by his "heavies" – the cruisers and battleships of the Seventh fleet. And so the destroyers moved away, and this final phase of the battle was fought using tactics centuries old, with Olendorf "capping the T" of Nishimura. At 3:51AM, Olendorf ordered the cruisers Louisville, Portland, Minneapolis, Denver, Columbus, Phoenix, Boise and HMAS Shropshire to commence firing, followed by the battleships two minutes later. The Japanese suffered a terrible beating. The West Virginia fired 93 rounds of 16" armor piercing (AP) ammunition, while the Tennessee and California added another 132 rounds of 14" AP. The other three battleships did not have as sophisticated fire control radar, and were therefore slower to join in the mauling being delivered. The Maryland picked up the splashes from West Virginia’s rounds on radar, and soon added 43 rounds of her own to the mix. The Mississippi fired a single salvo, and the Pennsylvania never had a chance to fire at all.

But it didn’t matter. The Fuso was burning red-hot. The Mogami was a shambles. And the little Shigure was running away as fast as she could manage with no working instruments at all. When the helmsman of the Shigure cried out that he no longer had control of the rudder, she too came to a full stop dead in the water. Into this confusion, a new column of ships was steaming from the south. It was the second wave of the attack – two cruisers and four destroyers under Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima, following about an hour behind what had once been Nishimura’s proud force.

Shima’s lookouts sensed disaster as they sailed northwards, as they passed the silhouettes of two adrift and burning Japanese battleships. In reality, they were seeing two separate halves of what used to be the Yamashiro. The Fuso was being mauled further ahead. Finally, the lookouts spotted a friendly ship that was not aflame, and Shima signaled "I am Nachi" to which the friendly destroyer gave the less than complete report of what had just happened "I am Shigure – having rudder difficulties." With the Shigure being all that appeared to remain of Nishimura’s column, Shima ordered his force to reverse course to avoid a similar fate. All would have gone flawlessly if not for Shima’s flagship, the cruiser Nachi, colliding with what remained of the Mogami. Shima was able to escape, along with the now all alone Shigure. The Mogami would be sunk the next day by American aircraft as she tried to make good her own escape.

And thus ended the Battle of Surigao Strait. Two Japanese battleships, one cruiser, and three destroyers became the final victims in history of classic battle line tactics. It is perhaps fitting that this fight would take place among ships a quarter of a century old, given one final curtain call to fight in the manner of centuries of naval engagements.

(Follow the links to each phase of the battle.)