WWII: Battle of Leyte Gulf U.S. and Japanese navy strength 1944

The Battle of Leyte Gulf was a series of four separate major engagements, as well as some lesser skirmishes, around the Philippines in October 1944. When these are combined, the battle was the largest naval engagement of the Second World War, and is considered the largest naval battle of all time in terms of geographical size, the displacement of ships ordered into combat, and the displacement of ships sunk (the largest naval battle in terms of displacement of ships actually engaged was the Battle of Jutland in WWI). In this battle, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent the bulk of its remaining fleet to try and repel the Allied landing in Leyte, the Philippines, although it was outnumbered by the U.S. Navy in all areas, particularly aircraft carriers. Despite the discrepancy in carrier numbers, the Japanese had approximately 1,400 combat aircraft stationed on the ground in the Philippines, therefore this numerical difference was not as strongly reflected in the air. Ultimately, the battle was a victory for the combined U.S. and Australian forces, who de facto neutralized whatever threat the Imperial Japanese Navy posed for the remainder of the war, and they would use this position to eventually take the Philippines' largest island, Luzon, although fierce fighting in the region would continue until the war's end and at great cost to the civilian population.