USS St. Lo (CVE-63)

USS "St. Lo" (CVE–63) was a sclass|Casablanca|escort carrier of the United States Navy during World War II. On October 25, 1944 "St. Lo" became the first major warship to sink as the result of a kamikaze attack. The attack occurred during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

"St. Lo" was laid down as "Chapin Bay" 23 January 1943; renamed "Midway" 3 April 1943; launched 17 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Howard Nixon Coulter; and commissioned 23 October 1943, Capt. F. J. McKenna in command. She was renamed "St. Lo" on 10 October 1944.

After shakedown on the west coast and two voyages to Pearl Harbor and one to Australia carrying replacement aircraft, "Midway" with Composite Squadron 65 (VC-65) embarked and joined Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan's Carrier Support Group 1 in June for the conquest of the Marianas. She furnished air coverage for transports and participated in strikes on Saipan 15 June. She fought off several air attacks but suffered no damage during her support of the Saipan campaign. VC-65 FM-2 Wildcats shot down four and damaged one other Japanese plane during combat air patrol operations there.

On 13 July, she sailed for Eniwetok for replenishment before joining the attack on Tinian 23 July. Furnishing air support for ground forces on the island and maintaining an antisubmarine patrol, "Midway" operated off Tinian until she again headed out for supplies 28 July.

"Midway" remained at anchor in Eniwetok Atoll until she got under way 9 August for Seeadler Harbor at Manus, Admiralty Islands, arriving 13 August.

On 10 September, she sortied with TF 77 for the invasion of Morotai. Catapulting her first plane to support the landings 15 September, she continued to assist American troops ashore and to provide cover for the transports through the 22nd.

After stopping for fuel and ammunition at Mios Woendi, "Midway" resumed air operations off Morotai. On 3 October, the Japanese submarine "RO-41" launched two torpedoes at the "Midway". Capt. McKenna eluded them, but one struck the stern of the escort USS|Shelton|DE-407|6. Shelton was later taken under tow but foundered. "Midway" returned to Seeadler Harbor on 7 October. There, word arrived that the escort carrier had been renamed "St. Lo" on 10 October to free the name "Midway" for a new, giant attack carrier and to commemorate an important victory of American troops in France who had captured the strongly defended town of Saint-Lô on 18 July 1944.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

"St. Lo" departed Seeadler Harbor on 12 October to participate in the liberation of Leyte. Ordered to provide air coverage and close air support during the bombardment and amphibious landings, she arrived off Leyte 18 October. She launched air strikes in support of invasion operations at Tacloban on the northeast coast of Leyte. Operating with Rear Adm. Clifton Sprague's escort carrier unit, "Taffy 3" (TU 77.4.3), which consisted of six escort carriers and a screen of three destroyers and four destroyer escorts, "St. Lo" steamed off the east coasts of Leyte and Samar as her planes sortied from 18 October to 24 October, destroying enemy installations and airfields on Leyte and Samar islands.

Steaming about 60 miles east of Samar before dawn 25 October, "St. Lo" launched a four-plane antisubmarine patrol while the remaining carriers of Taffy 3 prepared for the day's initial air strikes against the landing beaches. The Battle off Samar began at 0647 when Ens. Bill Brooks, piloting one of the ASW planes from "St. Lo", reported sighting a large Japanese force comprising four battleships, six heavy and light cruisers, and ten or twelve destroyers approaching from the westnorthwest, only 17 miles away. At the same time, lookouts on "St. Lo" spotted the characteristic pagoda-like superstructures of Japanese battleships on the horizon. Rear Admiral Sprague ordered "Taffy 3" to turn south at flank speed. Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's force steadily closed and by about 0658 opened fire on the slow, outnumbered, and outgunned ships of Taffy 3.

"St. Lo" and the other five CVEs dodged in and out of rain squalls and managed to launch all available fighter and torpedo planes with whatever armament they had handy (general purpose bombs and even depth charges.) The carriers chased salvos from enemy cruisers and battleships and ordered the pilots "to attack the Japanese task force and proceed to Tacloban airstrip, Leyte, to rearm and refuel". As salvos fell "with disconcerting rapidity" increasingly nearer "St. Lo", her planes, striking the enemy force with bombs, rockets, and gunfire, continued to harass the closing ships.

By 0738 the enemy cruisers, approaching from "St. Lo"'s port quarter, had closed to within 14,000 yards. "St. Lo" responded to their salvos with rapid fire from her single 5-inch gun, claiming three hits on a "Tone" class cruiser.

For the next hour and a half, Admiral Kurita's ships closed in on Taffy 3, with his nearest destroyers and cruisers firing from as close as 10,000 yards on the port and starboard quarters of the "St. Lo". Many salvos straddled the ship, landed close aboard, or passed directly overhead. Throughout the running gun battle, the carriers and their escorts were laying a particularly effective smoke screen that Admiral Sprague credited with greatly degrading Japanese gunfire accuracy. Even more effective were the courageous attacks by the destroyers and destroyer escorts at point-blank range against the Japanese destroyers and cruisers. All the while, Kurita's force was under incessant attack by Taffy 3 aircraft and planes from the two other U.S. carrier units to the south.

Under heavy attack from the air and harassed by incessant fire from American destroyers and destroyer escorts, the enemy cruisers broke off action and turned northward at 0920. At 0915 the enemy destroyers which had been kept at bay by the daring and almost singlehanded exploits of the USS|Johnston|DD-557|6 launched a premature torpedo attack from 10,500 yards. The torpedoes were reaching end-of-run as they approached the escort carriers, broaching the surface. A "St. Lo" Avenger torpedo bomber, piloted by Lieutenant (j.g.) Waldrop, strafed and exploded two torpedoes in the wake of sister ship USS|Kalinin Bay|CVE-68|6.

During the surface engagement, Taffy 3 lost the USS|Gambier Bay|CVE-73|6, destroyers USS|Johnston|DD-557|6 and USS|Hoel|DD-533|6, and destroyer escort USS|Samuel B. Roberts|DE-413|6, all to enemy gunfire.

At 1047, the task unit came under a concentrated air attack by the Shikishima Special Attack Unit. During the 40–minute engagement with enemy suicide planes, all escort carriers except USS|Fanshaw Bay|CVE-70|6 were damaged. One plane, likely flown by Lt. Yukio Seki, crashed onto the flight deck of "St. Lo" at 1051. Its bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded on the port side of the hangar deck, where aircraft were in the process of being refueled and rearmed. A gasoline fire erupted, followed by six secondary explosions, including detonations of the ship's torpedo and bomb magazine. "St. Lo" was engulfed in flame and sank half an hour later.

Of the 889 men aboard, 113 were killed or missing and approximately 30 others died of their wounds. The survivors were rescued from the water by the USS|Heermann|DD-532|6, USS|John C. Butler|DE-339|6, USS|Raymond|DE-341|6, and USS|Dennis|DE-405|6 (which picked up 434 survivors.)

"St. Lo" received the Presidential Unit Citation for the heroism of her crew in the Battle off Samar and four battle stars for World War II service.

ee also

* List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II

External links

* [http://www.bosamar.com/ The Battle Off Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf] by Robert Jon Cox
* [http://www.dondennisfamily.com/USS_St_Lo/index.html USS Saint Lo CVE-63 history site]