Ah yes, glad to see videos on the Johnston. She along with the Samuel B Roberts are two of my favorite ships and stories. Johnston’s Last Stand and the Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship.
It's said that their bravery was so impressive that the Japanese made a point of not shooting the survivors like they usually did. One survivor stated that they saluted them, then sailed away, leaving them to be rescued.
Yep the crew went out and stood at attention while the captain saluted them from the bridge. It's these guys that make us Marines proud to be a part of the Navy
Most of the weight of the Johnston was the crews balls. Captain Evans had the heaviest and made of solid brass. The Johnston actually deepened the trench it's in because of said balls. Before the Johnston hit bottom, the trench was only about 15,000 feet deep.
Another good place for additional reading on Johnston and, well, the sheer massive balls that all of the Taffies displayed that day is the book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfischer. The title derives from the fact that destroyers (and destroyer escorts), being so small and lightweight, had no armor at all, and were thus called "tin cans" by the rest of the Navy. Drachinifel also has an excellent, excellent video recapping the battle in question, which includes an explanation of why the direct hits from battleship-caliber guns that Johnston suffered didn't just blow her completely out of the water. (Also, more recent reanalysis indicates that the size of the shells that directly hit Johnston during that first attack were *larger* than initially estimated; instead of being 14" shells from Kongou, they were apparently 18.1" shells from Yamato.) And for anyone wondering why it's the "Battle *off* Samar" instead of the "Battle *of* Samar," the liberation of the Philippines that Leyte Gulf was part of included a major land battle on the island of Samar, which got the "of Samar" name.
The exhaustion of the last several days clearly took a toll on Kurita and all the ships. Not being able to tell the difference between an escort carrier and a fleet carrier? Apparently mistaking destroyers for CRUISERS? thus they were firing AP shells instead of HE which would have ended the ships right away.
As much as I love the Yamato, I disagree, the Iowa class were superior technologically, much better targeting systems. The Yamato class were differently the biggest but in a battle between the two, the Iowa would be able to hit the Yamato more accurately at long range and the Yamato would not be able to close the range to make her guns more accurate because the Iowa class can do 33 knots vs 27 knots
@@philvanderlaan5942 LOL If it is that Yamato than the wave motion gun just destroys everything. Would probably lose to Harlock's Arcadia though. Also still in the realm of anime I think Captain Tylor's Soyokaze would probably beat it with his devil's luck.
The Samuel b Roberts also gets over looked being a destroyer escort even though she took on a cruiser face to face you should do a video on Samuel b Roberts
A shame that no wasp class assault ship was named Samuel b Roberts, Johnston ,Evans, Samar or Taffy3. The Marinecorps always joke about the Navy but honour dearly those who fight/bleed with and for them!
@@obelic71 Multiple destroyers and frigates were named for SBR, Johnston, Hoel, and Heerman, and others were named for Evans and several other of the Taffy 3 skippers. (USN tradition is that destroyers and destroyer escorts/frigates are named for Navy and Marine Corps heroes. Ironically, Sammy was named for a *Coast Guardsman* who had been a hero at Guadalcanal.) The most recent USS Samuel B. Roberts was a Perry-class frigate commissioned in the 80s and retired about ten years ago; the name is likely to be reused on one of the new Constellation-class frigates.
The Johnston was one of the few ships built on the west coast and also the Fletcher class was a design culmination of many factors and which included splinter protection throughout the ship
"A large Japanese fleet has been contacted. They are fifteen miles away and headed in our direction. They are believed to have four battleships, eight cruisers, and a number of destroyers. This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can." Ernest Edwin Evans, speaking to his crew on the morning of 24th of October, 1944 upon learning about the Japanese fleet bearing down upon them.
On Nov. 15, 2023, the United States Navy had announced that one of the newest members of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers will be named after Ernest E. Evans. Thus she will be known as USS Ernest E. Evans, DDG-151.
WE ARE OUTGUNNED OUTMANNED OUTNUMBERED, OUTPLANNED WE GOTTA MAKE AN ALL OUT STAND AYO I'M GONNA NEED A....really tough ship and crew....dang it, I ruined it!
I thought about commenting something along those lines. I recently watched _Hamilton_ live for the first time (ironically, while overseas in the UK) and I thought of that when seeing the title. Darkness seems like the type of guy who would see _Hamilton_ once and make lots of references to it afterwards. Wouldn’t blame him honestly good musical
Evans had lots of John Paul Jones in him. If he had been born in the 1700s he’d be captaining a frigate, trading broadsides and leading men over the rails in boarding parties.
Destroyer captains during WW2 were built different, I swear. All of them were as brave as they were aggressive 😂 For more tales of naval bravery on destroyers, I definitely recommend looking into the story of HMS Glowworm and Captain Gerard Broadmead Roope. One of the only engagements of the war where the enemy recommended that the captain deserved a medal!
What i find hilarious is the Johnston survived a hit from yamato and that the japanese fleet misidentified them as heavy cruisers just because they knew either way they where going to die so might as well go out fighting
It should be noted that contrary to what is often memed, Johnston didn’t actually win the battle by herself: the single greatest contribution that day was made by the CVEs launching air attacks. Also, the Leyte landings had already been successful by the time the Japanese showed up, so the outcome of this battle wouldn’t actually have mattered. The Japanese were too late.
@@kennethlarocque2605 Depends on if they realized there were significant American forces already ashore; even if they did and started bombarding the American shore positions, they just don’t have enough time to destroy the beachhead before Third Fleet shows up.
@@kennethlarocque2605 They would have been RETURNING from chasing the decoy by the time Kurita got to the landing beaches: in another few hours they’d be on him.
@@bkjeong4302 The problem with that is that they would have been able to bombard the invasion forces for an hour or 2 before they would have had to worry about the returning fleet if they hadn't turned around.
Sailor: “Sir, we are outgunned, and outnumbered! 10 to 1!!”
Capt. Evans: “then it is an even match!”
Sailor: the Germans have two destroyers and a heavy cruiser
LtCmr Gerard Broadmead Roope (Hms Glowworm) Then we have them outnumbered!
Wasn't expecting a Halo reference lmao
Ah yes, glad to see videos on the Johnston. She along with the Samuel B Roberts are two of my favorite ships and stories. Johnston’s Last Stand and the Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship.
It's said that their bravery was so impressive that the Japanese made a point of not shooting the survivors like they usually did. One survivor stated that they saluted them, then sailed away, leaving them to be rescued.
Yep the crew went out and stood at attention while the captain saluted them from the bridge. It's these guys that make us Marines proud to be a part of the Navy
Interesting to note that each one of the 3 main turrets on the Yamato weighed MORE then the Johnston!
Yamato outweighed all of taffy 3 combined
It's surprising that Johnston was even able to make it on station, surprised it didn't sink under the weight of it's crew's "courage"
Most of the weight of the Johnston was the crews balls. Captain Evans had the heaviest and made of solid brass.
The Johnston actually deepened the trench it's in because of said balls. Before the Johnston hit bottom, the trench was only about 15,000 feet deep.
@@sergeantpeppers8858 rumor says that when Captain Evans would walk a clinking sound could be heard
It always fun to see my grandfather battle being talked about it was the Johnston that helped protect him he was on the gambier bay
My Father Kenneth McLaughlin WT/3 served on Gambier Bay
Another good place for additional reading on Johnston and, well, the sheer massive balls that all of the Taffies displayed that day is the book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfischer. The title derives from the fact that destroyers (and destroyer escorts), being so small and lightweight, had no armor at all, and were thus called "tin cans" by the rest of the Navy.
Drachinifel also has an excellent, excellent video recapping the battle in question, which includes an explanation of why the direct hits from battleship-caliber guns that Johnston suffered didn't just blow her completely out of the water. (Also, more recent reanalysis indicates that the size of the shells that directly hit Johnston during that first attack were *larger* than initially estimated; instead of being 14" shells from Kongou, they were apparently 18.1" shells from Yamato.)
And for anyone wondering why it's the "Battle *off* Samar" instead of the "Battle *of* Samar," the liberation of the Philippines that Leyte Gulf was part of included a major land battle on the island of Samar, which got the "of Samar" name.
The exhaustion of the last several days clearly took a toll on Kurita and all the ships. Not being able to tell the difference between an escort carrier and a fleet carrier?
Apparently mistaking destroyers for CRUISERS? thus they were firing AP shells instead of HE which would have ended the ships right away.
@@rdfox76 kinda metaphor that off also means battle was also fought off of samar island
Epic story. Definitely the stuff of legend ... 🤘 ^v^
No matter how many times I hear this story its alway good
If you can find the time, you should definitely do a video on the USS Laffey (both destroyers). Other than that, great video!
I always feel a chill watching these American heroes.
Saw their duty and done it . Rest well heroes and Thank You .
Lest we ever forget!
Johnston: WITNESS ME!!!!!!!!
The rest of the fleet : wtf
Dark : It included the Yamato (screech) it included the WHAT!!!?
Me : the Best spaceship ever!!!
As much as I love the Yamato, I disagree, the Iowa class were superior technologically, much better targeting systems.
The Yamato class were differently the biggest but in a battle between the two, the Iowa would be able to hit the Yamato more accurately at long range and the Yamato would not be able to close the range to make her guns more accurate because the Iowa class can do 33 knots vs 27 knots
@@White-Wolf1969 yeah but nobody ever made a spaceship out of the Iowa .
@@philvanderlaan5942 LOL If it is that Yamato than the wave motion gun just destroys everything. Would probably lose to Harlock's Arcadia though. Also still in the realm of anime I think Captain Tylor's Soyokaze would probably beat it with his devil's luck.
@@White-Wolf1969 the Iowa ships are all meseum ships. The Yamato is currently a coral reef. That says all you need to know about which is better.
Yamato sank to some planes
The Samuel b Roberts also gets over looked being a destroyer escort even though she took on a cruiser face to face you should do a video on Samuel b Roberts
A shame that no wasp class assault ship was named Samuel b Roberts, Johnston ,Evans, Samar or Taffy3.
The Marinecorps always joke about the Navy but honour dearly those who fight/bleed with and for them!
@@obelic71 Multiple destroyers and frigates were named for SBR, Johnston, Hoel, and Heerman, and others were named for Evans and several other of the Taffy 3 skippers. (USN tradition is that destroyers and destroyer escorts/frigates are named for Navy and Marine Corps heroes. Ironically, Sammy was named for a *Coast Guardsman* who had been a hero at Guadalcanal.) The most recent USS Samuel B. Roberts was a Perry-class frigate commissioned in the 80s and retired about ten years ago; the name is likely to be reused on one of the new Constellation-class frigates.
And in a few years, there will be an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that will bear Ernest Evans' name.
The Johnston was one of the few ships built on the west coast and also the Fletcher class was a design culmination of many factors and which included splinter protection throughout the ship
Men brave men who have the guts to stand up to the night and spit in its eye.
(Japan builds up navy.) Taffy 3 "How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man?!"
(Imperial Japanese Navy): "Ahh, I love the young people"
@santafewarbonnetproductions so you like kicking butts do ya? Well we'll show you old man!! (There he is get'em!)
The USS Johnston was a great little ship but I love the Sammie B just a little more.
Sammy B was Cerberus of taffy 3
The Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship.
Johnston engaged so many enemies during the fight in Samar. Sammy only engaged Choukai.
I can relate to this story. My Johnson only goes down after it’s taken a beating.
Do a video on the USS Samuel B. Roberts.
Suggestion for another ship story BB-38 USS Pennsylvania
A toast to the warriors of taffy 3 who went way above and beyond duty to protect their fellow warriors on shore.
"A large Japanese fleet has been contacted. They are fifteen miles away and headed in our direction. They are believed to have four battleships, eight cruisers, and a number of destroyers. This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can." Ernest Edwin Evans, speaking to his crew on the morning of 24th of October, 1944 upon learning about the Japanese fleet bearing down upon them.
Great grandpa was on USS Petrof bay which was and escort carrier at the battle of Leyte gulf.
How can this ship float with the crews massive balls?
Johnston and Samuel B Roberts did not sink they engaged submarine mode.
My favorite ship
i think Capt Evans and his crew were Klingons. I can just hear him screaming "TODAY IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!"
Very brave heroes!
Ahh, the battle of Taffy 3 and friends :P
Are you going to cover Samuel b roberts
Evans: Certenty of death. Small chance of sucsess....what are we waiting fore?
They should make a movie about USS Johnston to honor the bravery of the crew of the Destroyer.
On Nov. 15, 2023, the United States Navy had announced that one of the newest members of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers will be named after Ernest E. Evans. Thus she will be known as USS Ernest E. Evans, DDG-151.
Well, this was one way to cover the last stand of the tin can sailors. Neat to hear it again either way.
Fight to the very end.
Can you please do one on the Sammy B.
WE ARE OUTGUNNED
OUTMANNED
OUTNUMBERED, OUTPLANNED
WE GOTTA MAKE AN ALL OUT STAND
AYO I'M GONNA NEED A....really tough ship and crew....dang it, I ruined it!
I thought about commenting something along those lines. I recently watched _Hamilton_ live for the first time (ironically, while overseas in the UK) and I thought of that when seeing the title.
Darkness seems like the type of guy who would see _Hamilton_ once and make lots of references to it afterwards. Wouldn’t blame him honestly good musical
Evans had lots of John Paul Jones in him. If he had been born in the 1700s he’d be captaining a frigate, trading broadsides and leading men over the rails in boarding parties.
My Father Kenneth McLaughlin served on Gambier Bay
Seriously why is not a movie by now?
He wasn’t kidding
Please do Rio grande😊
A Japanese rear admiral stepped out of his flag bridge to salute the brave destroyer and her vialant crew.
Destroyer captains during WW2 were built different, I swear. All of them were as brave as they were aggressive 😂
For more tales of naval bravery on destroyers, I definitely recommend looking into the story of HMS Glowworm and Captain Gerard Broadmead Roope. One of the only engagements of the war where the enemy recommended that the captain deserved a medal!
What i find hilarious is the Johnston survived a hit from yamato and that the japanese fleet misidentified them as heavy cruisers just because they knew either way they where going to die so might as well go out fighting
Captain Earnest Evans had to walk down the middle of his ship; if he went to either rail the weight of his cojones would capsize the ship
F in the chat for all the crew
It should be noted that contrary to what is often memed, Johnston didn’t actually win the battle by herself: the single greatest contribution that day was made by the CVEs launching air attacks.
Also, the Leyte landings had already been successful by the time the Japanese showed up, so the outcome of this battle wouldn’t actually have mattered. The Japanese were too late.
You don't think they would have bombarded the US shore positions?
@@kennethlarocque2605
Depends on if they realized there were significant American forces already ashore; even if they did and started bombarding the American shore positions, they just don’t have enough time to destroy the beachhead before Third Fleet shows up.
@@bkjeong4302 The fleet was off chasing a decoy. They were surprised to find a fleet there.
@@kennethlarocque2605
They would have been RETURNING from chasing the decoy by the time Kurita got to the landing beaches: in another few hours they’d be on him.
@@bkjeong4302 The problem with that is that they would have been able to bombard the invasion forces for an hour or 2 before they would have had to worry about the returning fleet if they hadn't turned around.
Yankee kamikaze
Do a video on the USS Samuel B. Roberts.