Takeo Kurita
On October 25, 1944, Lt. Seki's squadron of five kamikaze A6M2 Model 21 Zeros, each carrying a 250 kg (550-pound) bomb, took off with an escort of 4 A6M5's flown by legendary ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Misao Sugawa, Shingo Honda and Ryoji Baba. Their target was Vice Admiral Clifton Sprague's "Taffy 3" task force during their desperate defense of the landings in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, having only a short while earlier survived an attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy Center Force led by Admiral Takeo Kurita that included the IJN flagship in the Battle off Samar before Kurita ordered the Center Force to return home after expending much of their ammunition meant for the Leyte landings against Taffy 3, only succeeding in sinking the destroyers USS "Johnston" and USS "Hoel" and destroyer escort USS "Samuel B. Roberts" before withdrawing. At 1050, Seki's squadron made their attack on four escort carriers of Taffy 3: