The fire-eating and impetuous Admiral William "Bull" Halsey - Commander of the hard-htting fast carrier Task Force 38 - reportedly once remarked that "if there was a Japanese ship he could feel sorry for at all, it would be the KUMANO". There was a good reason. Despite his well-documented loathing of his Japanese enemies, the heavy cruiser KUMANO had sought to cheat death with a tenacity that was truly admirable, indeed almost miraculous. That it was ultimately in vain - as it would be for virtually all IJN heavy ships - was more a testimony of United States logistical might and persistence than any failure of design or effort.