Unrestrained offensive action, however, could have negative consequences as well as positive ones. The year after successfully clearing the Solomons, Halsey's aggressiveness was severely criticized after he pursued the then emasculated IJN carrier fleet far away from landings at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. The IJN fleet, with carriers virtually stripped of aircraft after Spruance's "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" in the Philippine Sea, was sent as a decoy to lure Halsey's powerful fleet away from other IJN forces so that the latter could successfully assault American landings at Leyte Gulf. Halsey took advantage of conflicting orders from Nimitz regarding his assigned priorities and took the bait, preferring to aggressively engage an enemy naval force and sink carriers rather than provide protection for an amphibious landing. He chased after the decoy fleet and succeeded in sinking four IJN carriers. In doing so, however, he left the Leyte landing dangerously exposed to IJN attack. Potential catastrophe for American forces at the Leyte landings was avoided in large part by the courage of a small, very much out-gunned USN fleet of escort carriers, destroyers,and destroyer escorts then under Gen. MacArthur's command off Samar. These CVEs and their escorts fought so aggressively that the Japanese commander thought he was facing Halsey's main fleet and retreated. Over 1,500 USN servicemen died and five American ships sank during this battle, including two escort carriers.