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Shortly after dawn on 25 October 1944,
Samuel B. Roberts
was protecting American
escort carriers off Samar, when a Japanese task force suddenly appeared
on the horizon and opened fire.
After joining in a daring
torpedo attack on the Japanese cruisers and
scoring a torpedo hit on one and at
least 40 gunfire hits on a
second, Samuel B. Roberts was hit by a salvo
of 14-inch shells which tore a hole 40
feet long and 10 feet wide in the port side of her number 2 engine
room. The ship was abandoned and soon
sank. The 120 survivors clung to
3 life rafts for 50 hours before being
rescued.
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