carrier, 3 light carriers, 9 battleships, 19 cruisers, 34 destroyers, and several hundred aircraft. The opposing fleets carried a combined total of about 200,000 personnel. Leyte Gulf consisted of four major subsidiary battles: the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Battle off Samar, and the Battle off Cape Engaño, along with other actions. They are counted together by virtue of all being a result of the Japanese operation Sho-Go, which was aimed at destroying the Allied amphibious forces involved in the invasion of Leyte. However, the individual battles were separated by distances as great as two hundred miles, as well as several days time, from the first submarine action to the Japanese withdrawal. References Notes Bibliography General Fuller, J.F.C. The Decisive Battles of the Western World and their Influence upon History, 3 vols. (Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1954-6) Volume 1: From the earliest times to the battle of Lepanto Volume 2: From the defeat of the Spanish Armada to the battle of Waterloo Volume 3: From the American Civil War to the end of the Second World War A source for entries on Salamis, Actium, Sluys, Lepanto, the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Trafalgar, Midway and Leyte Gulf. Naval warfare Naval battle Superlatives