ABSTRACT
Howorth's late October escort duties to Hollandia, Kossol Roads, and Guam removed her crew from what historian Samuel Eliot Morison characterized as the "greatest naval battle of all time." 1 Despite their setbacks at Midway (June 1942) and in the Philippine Sea (June 1944), the leaders of the Imperial Japanese Navy believed that a decisive naval victory could still be won and that the concentration of the U.S. 3rd and 7th fleets' efforts at Leyte provided an opportunity to smash the U.S. invasion force and inflict a signal defeat on the U.S. Navy.
