| Screened by four destroyer
escorts, Gambier Bay and Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) escorted
transports and amphibious landing ships safely to Leyte Gulf before joining
Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague's escort carrier task unit 19 September
off Leyte. The task unit comprised six escort carriers, screened by three
destroyers and four destroyer escorts, and was known by its voice radio call
as "Taffy 3." While "Taffy 1" and "Taffy 2" were respectively stationed off
northern Mindanao and off the entrance to Leyte Gulf, "Taffy 3" steamed off
Samar. Meanwhile,
powerful enemy forces, comprised of carriers, battleships, cruisers, and
destroyers, converged on the Philippines. Swift moving events left the
escort carriers of "Taffy 3" as lone sentinels off Samar. Shortly after
sunrise 25 October, enemy battleships and cruisers slipped undetected
through San Bernardino Strait and down the fog-shrouded coast of Samar,
bound for Leyte Gulf.
"Taffy 3" turned to do
battle against the enemy. Gambier Bay was soon dead in the water as three
cruisers closed to point blank range. Fires raged through the riddled escort
carrier. She capsized and sank at 0907, 25 October 1944 with the majority of
her nearly 800 survivors rescued by landing and patrol craft dispatched from
Leyte Gulf. Three other ships went down: Hoel (DD-533) ; Samuel B.
Roberts (DE-413) ; and Johnston (DD-557).
But Gambier Bay and
other ships of "Taffy 3," aided by planes of "Taffy 2," had stopped the
powerful Japanese Center Force and inflicted a great loss.
|
