FRI 20 OCT 1944 Pacific
Naval Operating Base, Guam, is established.
Under the overall command of General Douglas MacArthur, who makes good on his promise to "return"
to the Philippines, and Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, Commander Seventh Fleet, TF 78 (Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey) and TF 79 (Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson) land four divisions of the U.S. Sixth Army (Lieutenant General Walter Krueger) on Leyte. Fast carriers and battleships of the Third Fleet provide support, as do the older battleships and escort carriers of the Seventh Fleet.
Japanese aerial counterattacks (horizontal bombers) result in damage to escort carrier Sangamon (CVE-26), 10°46'N, 126°23'E, and salvage vessel Preserver (ARS-8), 10°50'N, 125°25'E, and (aerial torpedo) to light cruiser Honolulu (CL-48), 11°01'N, 125°07'E. Japanese shore batteries damage destroyer Bennion
(DD-662), 10°50'N, 125°25'E, and tank landing ship LST-452, 11°01'N, 125°01'E.
Submarine Hammerhead (SS-364) sinks Japanese transport Oyo Maru, 04°41'N, 113°22'E, and army cargo ship Ugo Maru, 04°52'N, 113°24'E, off Borneo.
Special Air Task Force (STAG 1) operations continue: three TDRs are launched against Japanese gun positions west of Ballale: one is lost, one makes a hit with its bomb but crashes before it can be directed into its ultimate target (the beached Japanese freighter serving as an antiaircraft gun site off the Kahili airstrip and christened the "Kahili Maru"), the last achieves a bomb hit and crashes into "Kahili Maru" as planned.
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