Battle of Luzon
Over 200,000 soldiers were landed in the Lingayen Gulf during this period. American naval forces suffered relatively heavy losses, particularly to their convoys, due to kamikaze attacks. During the first two weeks in January, a total of 24 ships were sunk and another 67 were damaged by kamikazes including the battleships , "New Mexico" and "Colorado", the Australian heavy cruiser "Australia", the light cruiser "Columbia", and the destroyers "Long" and "Hovey". Following the landings, the Lingayen Gulf became a vast supply depot to support the Battle of Luzon.