Battle of Samar

25 OCT 1944 Part 3

Battle of Samar

While the Johnston was making its epic fight, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland’s Samuel B. Roberts got into the fight. The Sammy B was a Butler class destroyer escort. She was armed with 2 5 inch as opposed to the 5 5 inch guns on the destroyers. Instead of 10 she had 3 torpedoes. 

It was intended as an antisubmarine platform but it would sail into harm’s way like a battleship. Sizing up the situation he told his crew "This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can." With that announcement he turned to the attack. Dodging from smoke screen to smoke screen he launched his torpedoes at the cruiser Chokai at 4,000 yards. He turned away and headed back to cover the carriers. 

One torpedo hit and the Chokai rapidly lost speed and fell out of column.

At 0810- as he neared the carrier formation he observed the heavy cruiser Chikuma firing into the carriers. Roberts charged at the larger vessel, rapidly firing the 2 5 inch guns and all antiaircraft weapons. For 35 minutes the Roberts kept up an incredible rate of fire, pumping almost 600 rounds into the Chikuma’s superstructure. This caused massive destruction and the cruiser was out of the fight. However 3 Japanese battle ships soon took her under fire and she went down around 0900.

The destroyer Hoel also conducted a torpedo attack.

 She led the Heerman and the Roberts towards the enemy. As with the other destroyers her 5 inch shell fire had a telling effect thanks to the Mk 37 Fire Direction System. With large caliber shells landing around her she launched a torpedo attack with half her load. Turning away she started taking hits and slowed to 17 knots. Returning to the fight she launched a half salvo of torpedoes against the Yamato. Suffering damage she stayed in the fight. At one point a cruiser and 2 destroyers closed to within 2,000 yards. With all her remaining guns the Hoel pumped shell after shell into the superstructure of the cruiser and the destroyers. At 0855 the Hoel rolled over and sank, taking 253 men of her crew with her.

The Heerman was another destroyer which attacked aggressively. Dodging between squalls and smoke clouds she launched a half salvo of torpedoes against the lead battleship in the Japanese column. This forced the Japanese to take evasive maneuvers and halted the momentum of the Japanese assault. Like the other destroyers she became a target of multiple large vessels as she danced between squalls and smoke screens. Using her radar she continued to pump shells into any Japanese vessel within range. Returning to the carriers she joined the Roberts in pumping shells into the Chikuma. 

Aircraft from the Gambier Bay also joined the fight. The Chikuma withdrew but sank shortly thereafter.

While the Destroyers & destroyer escorts engaged the enemy the carriers turned into a squall to the east and launched every aircraft they could. At 0730 they turned to the SE then S and chased rain squalls to stay under cover. The Center Force closed to within ten miles and opened fire on the carrier force. Several of the carriers started to take shell fire. The Gambier Bay was hit the hardest, riddled with 8-inch shell fire, she caught fire and sank at 0910. 

The Kalinin Bay took a total of 17 8 inch and 16 inch shells. Heavily damaged she would have to be sent to the US for repair.  The Kitkun Bay & Fanshaw Bay both also received damage but stayed operational.

But the carriers gave as good as they got. Each carrier engaged their tormentors with their stern 5 inch guns mounted on their fantails. The 5 inch crew of the USS White Plains pumped several 5 inch rounds into the Chokai, setting off the 8 deck mounted torpedoes on the cruiser. Coupled with a bomb hit this severely damaged the cruiser. 

Their air groups continued to attack. The cruiser Suzuya was sunk when a near miss blew one of its screws off and another near miss set off several torpedoes. The damage caused raging fires which eventually set off the remaining torpedoes and then the main magazine.

The tenacious and savage defense of the TAFFY 3 escorts and aircraft convinced Kurita that he had come up against the main effort of Halsey’s fleet. 

With mounting losses and the prospect of continued air strikes and improving weather he decided to withdraw and gave the order to disengage at 0900. The Japanese forces turned away, reversed course and headed back to San Bernadino Straight. The Americans were incredulous but grateful. One gunner’s mate on a stern mounted 5 inch gun on the White Plains was heard to exclaim when seeing the Japanese retreat “The sonsabitches are getting away!”

The Japanese claimed last blood.  At 1030 the Japanese added a new weapon to the fight in the Pacific.  The very first kamikaze attack hit the TAFFY group, having lost 2 of their best antiaircraft vessels, the TAFFY 3 carriers all but 1 got hit.  The ST Lo was hit and in the ensuing explosion the fire mains were ruptured.  Soon she burned out of control and sank, the first ship sunk by kamikaze.

As can be imagined, Ziggy Sprague was burning up the air waves with request for assistance. The TAFFY 1 & 2 air groups got into the fight as rapidly as they could. TAFFY 3 aircraft lander on TAFFY 2 carriers, rearmed & refueled and got back into the fight. Kinkaid sent a series of messages begging for help.

Around 0800 he sent to Nimitz  & Halsey "My situation is critical. Fast battleships and support by airstrikes may be able to keep enemy from destroying CVEs and entering Leyte."

At 08:22, Kinkaid radioed, "Fast Battleships are Urgently Needed Immediately at Leyte Gulf".[81]

At 09:05, Kinkaid radioed, "Need Fast Battleships and Air Support".

At 09:07, Kinkaid broadcast: "4 Battleships, 8 Cruisers Attack Our Escort Carriers".

Nimitz radioed to Halsey “Where is TF 34?” The message was sent with a phrase before and after as a standard practice to make code breaking more difficult. They were usually throwaway phrases that were tripped out by the receiving radiomen on a routine basis. The message sent by Nimitz went out as “A turkey trots to water.

 Where is TF 34? The world wonders.” The 3rd Fleet radio staff did not remove the last phrase. Halsey was handed the message from his commander as “Where is TF 34? The world wonders.” Halsey took it as a dressing down and was infuriated. He sent TF 38.1 southward immediately and TF 34 an hour later.

For the brave actions of the airmen, carriermen and destroyermen of TAFFY a Presidential Unit Citation was awarded.

Presidential Unit Citation:

For extraordinary heroism in action against powerful units of the Japanese Fleet during the Battle off Samar, Philippines, October 25, 1944.... the gallant ships of the Task Unit waged battle fiercely against the superior speed and fire power of the advancing enemy... two of the Unit's valiant destroyers and one destroyer escort charged the battleships point-blank and, expending their last torpedoes in desperate defense of the entire group, went down under the enemy's heavy shells.... 

The courageous determination and the superb teamwork of the officers and men who fought the embarked planes and who manned the ships of Task Unit 77.4.3 were instrumental in effecting the retirement of a hostile force threatening our Leyte invasion operations and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.