the action is sometimes compared to the battle off samar (1944), in which a us navy force of six small escort carriers, three destroyers and four destroyer escorts encountered an ostensibly more powerful group of four battleships and eight cruisers belonging to the imperial japanese navy, including the largest battleship ever built, "yamato". a us antisubmarine patrol spotted the japanese force and the carriers had hundreds of aircraft ready to launch. aggressive attacks by us aircraft and destroyer escorts sank three japanese heavy cruisers and persuaded the remainder to retreat, for the loss of two us escort carriers, two destroyers and a destroyer escort.