Action in the Palawan Passage
23 October 1944, Palawan Passage, west of Palawan
American victory
The opening blow of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. When the Americans landed on Leyte, Japan sent everything it had left against them. Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Centre Force of five battleships and ten heavy cruisers left Brunei and steamed north-east up the narrow Palawan Passage without a destroyer out ahead. Two American submarines, Darter and Dace, were waiting on the surface, reported them and attacked at dawn. Darter put four torpedoes into Kurita's flagship Atago, which sank in eighteen minutes, and two into Takao, which turned back crippled; Kurita had to swim for it. Dace hit Maya, which blew up and sank in four minutes. The next night Darter ran aground on a reef while chasing Takao, and was abandoned.
United States Navy
2 ships, none lost
Imperial Japanese Navy
32 ships, 2 lost