page_title: Leyte Gulf order of battle
section_title: Japanese Forces
hierarchical_section_title: Leyte Gulf order of battle / 25 Oct – Battle off Samar / Japanese Forces
context_page_description: The Battle of Leyte Gulf, generally considered to be the largest naval combat in history, was fought 24–25 October 1944 in the waters of the Philippine Islands by elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet and the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet. Of the five separate engagements that made up the battle as a whole, the forces involved in the three principal ones are listed here.
  Since the Japanese assumed the tactical initiative in all three actions, their forces are listed first in each section.
  Losses in these three actions
  IJN: 1 fleet carrier, 3 light carriers, 2 old battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, 1 oiler
  USN: 2 escort carriers, 3 destroyers
context_section_description: Centre Force ('Force A') (sortied from Brunei Bay 22 Oct)
  1st Section
  Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita
  Battleship Division 1 (Vice Adm. Matome Ugaki)
  1 super battleship
  Yamato (9 x 18-in. main battery)
  1 old battleship
  Nagato (8 x 16-in. main battery)
  Cruiser Division 4 (Vice Adm. Kurita)
  2 heavy cruisers
  Takao (10 x 8-in. main battery)
  Chokai  (10 x 8-in. main battery) (scuttled 25 Oct)
  Cruiser Division 5 (Vice Adm. Shintaro Hashimoto)
  2 heavy cruisers
  Myoko (10 x 8-in. main battery)
  Haguro (10 x 8-in. main battery)
  Destroyer Squadron 2 (Rear Adm. Mikio Hayakawa)
  1 light cruiser
  Noshiro (6 x 6.1-in. main battery) (sunk by air attack 26 Oct)
  9 destroyers
  8 Yugumo-class (6 x 5-in. main battery): Akishimo, Asashimo, Fujinami (sunk by air attack 27 Oct), Hamanami, Hayashimo (sunk by air attack 26 Oct), Kishinami, Okinami, Naganami
  1 Shimakaze (6 x 5-in. main battery)
  2nd Section
  Vice Admiral Yoshio Suzuki
  Battleship Division 3 (Vice Adm. Suzuki)
  2 battlecruisers
  Kongo (8 x 14-in. main battery)
  Haruna (8 x 14-in. main battery)
  Cruiser Division 7 (Vice Adm. Kazutaka Shiraishi)
  4 heavy cruisers
  Kumano (10 x 8-in. main battery)
  Suzuya (10 x 8-in. main battery) (sunk by air attack 25 Oct)
  Chikuma (8 x 8-in. main battery) (sunk/scuttled 25 Oct)
  Tone (8 x 8-in. main battery)
  Destroyer Squadron 10 (Rear Adm. Susumu Kimura)
  1 light cruiser
  Yahagi (6 x 6.1-in. main battery)
  6 destroyers
  5 Kagero-class (6 x 5-in. main battery): Hamakaze, Isokaze, Nowaki (sunk by air attack 26 Oct), Urakaze, Yukikaze
  1 Yugumo-class (6 x 5-in. main battery): Kiyoshimo
caption: Heavy cruiser Chikuma
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