The Battle for Leyte Gulf Author:C. Vann Woodward The Battle for Leyte Gulf was the greatest naval battle of the Second World War and the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas. The the Japanese the battle represented the supreme naval effort of the war. The committed to action virtually every operational fighting ship on the lists of the Imperial navy, including two new battleships of... more » the Yamato class which were designed as the most powerful war ships of the world. Rarely in all naval history has a power staked so much on one operation as the Japanese did at Leyte Gulf and rarely has any power suffered such an overwhelming defeat.« less