The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-10-30
Foes Sea Defeat
 Worst In Late History
tcOntinued from PSgs ll

with rockets Nnd mNOhlne-gun hul- lets,
 Japanese shore based planes, seeking to case pressure against the naval forces, attacked HalseyS ear- rlers, More than lS0 Japanese Air- craft were shot down in the ensuing air battle, but the carrier Prince. ton was hit by Q bomb which caused Q bad fire, The prineetonS maga- 8lne later blew up damaging the vessel so badly she had to Do sunk, American air losses were described aS light"
 During the thrOe-way Alr-Sea batle, Q lNnd-htaSed American navy search plane discovered stll Q third enemy naval force bearing down on HNlSey'S fleet from the waters northeast of LuSon, consisting of Q large carrier believed of the 20,- 000-ton ZuikNku class, three light carriers of the ChltoSe and Nuiho classes, two hattleShipS of the ,Ss,. 9e0.ton lSe class, Q heavy cruiser of the MogNMi class, a light cruiser of the NoShiro class, three cruisers of the iKso class and six deStroyerS,
 Ha(Sey quickly concentrated seV. eral Of his task groups and headed north at high speed for dawn at- tack Oct a, The Maneuver so caught the Japanese by surprise that they offered no effective air opposition and not Q single AInert- can ship was damaged during the ensuing engagement,
 The 2uikaku class carried, two light carriers of the Chitose class and Q destroyer were sunk by our carried aircraft, A light carrier ot the Hulho class was crippled by carrier aircraft and later sunk by gunflre, and Q light cruiser or large destroyer was sunk by guntire, An- other cruiser, severely damaged by aircraft, was sent to the bottom dur tug tho night by Q submarine,
 Damaged in the battle were Q battleShip which was hit by two to four torpedoeS and many bombs, another hattleShip hit by bombs, and three cruisers and four deStroyerS hit by both bombs and shells,
 Ten American planes, eight pilots and 10 air erewmen were lost, all to anti-aircraft fire, Enemy ear- rier aircraft which had been res fueled ashore flew out to join their ships too late to get into the fight and q were shot down by Ameri- can combat patrols,
 Breaks of Engagement
 Before all tho damaged Japan csc ships could he tracked down, HalSey broke off the engagement to proceed to the assistance of car. Tier escort groups of Viee Admiral Thomas o, Kinkaid'S 7th fleet, then under attack off Samar Island,
 Ignoring their losses in tho Sl- buyan Sea, the Japanese force sNil- ing through the central Philippines had emerged through the San Aer- naraino Straits Into the Philip. pines Sea and attacked the 7th fleet off Samar on the morning ot Got, a.
 Kinkaids forces assisted by carrier planes from the Srd fleet, sank Q cruiser of the Mogami class left Q destroyer dead in the water and badly damaged all surviving Japanese heavy ships, Tho enemy force fled northwest and re-en' tered San Bernardino strait under cover of darkness, but a struggling cruiser was sunk by gunfire of the Srd fleet,
 The southern enemy naval force meantime, passed through tho Sulu Sea and entered Surigao Straits south of Leyte, there to como under the guns and earrier-plane attack of Kinkalds main forces the night of october 2a,
 Entire Force Sunk
 Gen, Douglas MaeArthur, supreme commander in the Leyte area, an- nouneed in Q communicate yester- day that the entire force was sunk by gunfire or carrier planes, in- eludlng two hattleShips, tho Yama- shiro and the SuSo; two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and ten destroyers,
 Nimits. however, listed the south. ern force as containing only seven or eight destroyerS, and 1t was pos- sible that his announcement was based on later information,
 The final phase of the battle found carrier aircraft of the Srd and 7th fleets and shore-hased American planes attacking crippled and damaged enemy units fleeing west thorugh the Sibuyan Sea co. tober 25,
 Tho Americans sank Q Mogami class cruiser and Q Noshiro class cruiser south Of Mindoro Island probably sank Q battleship and fur- ther damaged thre eother hattle- ships and three other cruisers,
 The titanic battle was grim re- venge for five participating Ameri- can hattleahips, the West Virginia Maryland, Tennessee, California and PennsyloAnia, all sunk or damaged in the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harhor, Dec. 2, loAl, and subsequently, SalvNged,
 The new carriers Lexington, Wasp and Hornet, named for those sunk in earlier engagements with the Jap