HISTORY

16

INFO Eduard

St. Lo sank 30 minutes later. From an 889-man

crew, 113 were killed or missing. Thirty survivors

later died of their wounds. The 434 survivors

were rescued from the water by Heermann and

the destroyer escorts John C. Butler, Raymond,

and Dennis. The U.S. Navy’s most deadly foe had

entered the battle.

Foto: Phi Willard Niet via NHHC

At 0940 hours, Johnston, which had come under

attack from several enemy destroyers, lost all

power from the hits and went dead in the water.

The enemy surrounded her and continued their

fire. Evans was finally forced to order “Abandon

Ship” at 0945 hours. At 1005 hours, Johnston

sank with 186 of her crew going down with her.

Evans managed to get into the water with other

crewmen but was never seen again. While he was

posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, it was

the Japanese themselves who first recognized

his courage. Seaman Robert Billie and several

other crewmen in a raft watched an enemy

destroyer cruise slowly past as her captain stood

on his bridge, saluting the sinking Johnston as an

honorable opponent.

Aboard Yamato, Admiral Kurita became

convinced by the renewed air attacks by the

Wildcats and Avengers that his fleet had stumbled

into contact with the U.S. Third Fleet. Expecting

American battleships to come over the horizon

at any moment and realizing that his ships were

so dispersed from their evasive maneuvers that

it was impossible for them to return to a fighting

formation to take on the expected enemy, he

signaled to his fleet to break off action and turn

back to San Bernardino Strait at 0945 hours.

American sailors struggling in the sea, and

those manning their battle stations aboard

the ships, were amazed as the gunfire faded

away and the enemy soon disappeared over the

horizon. Had Admiral Kurita continued on, there

was nothing stopping his fleet from sinking all

the escort carriers and moving into Leyte Gulf

to attack the invasion fleet. The reservists who

manned the carriers and destroyers and aircraft

squadrons – most of whom had never seen an

ocean before they went aboard the ships in which

they fought and died – had saved the invasion of

the Philippines.

After the sinking of Gambier Bay, VC-10

Wildcat pilot Ensign McGraw was among the

surviving aircrews who landed on Manila Bay.

That afternoon, he was launched with other pilots

from that ship to intercept a formation Val dive

bombers escorted by Zeke fighters attempting

to attack the escort carriers. McGraw shot down

one Val and one Zeke to become VC-10’s only ace.

A bit more than an hour after the Battle off

Samar concluded, the U.S. Navy was introduced

to the power of a new and deadly enemy when

the Shikishima Unit of the 201st Air Group found

the surviving carriers of Taffy-3 at 1047 hours. At

1052 hours, a Zeke believed flown by Lieutenant

Seki dived on the escort carrier St. Lo. The

airplane hit the center of the flight deck. The

250-kilogram bomb penetrated the flight deck

and exploded on the port side of the hangar deck

in the midst of several aircraft in the process

of being refueled and rearmed. A gasoline fire

quickly broke out, followed by six secondary

explosions that ended with the detonation of the

torpedo and bomb magazine. Engulfed in flame,

Exploze na USS St. Lo (CVE-63) poté, co byla zasažena 25. října 1944 útokem Kamikaze u Samaru.

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August 2023