Oct. 25th, 1944. My dad at the Battle off Samar

Today is the anniversary of the Battle off Samar. My dad was on the Fanshaw Bay, CVE-70.

To all the sailors of Taffy 3, I salute and honor you.

tom

 

And won ("God damn it boys, they're getting away"--signalman on the Fanshaw Bay upon seeing the Jap fleet turn away).

tom

 

I second that! Another good one was Cutler's Battle of Leyte Gulf, and while old, I thought Woodward's Battle for Leyte Gulf, has withstood the test of time well.

 

My Uncle Joe was a sailor aboard the Escort Carrier
USS Suwannee (CVE-27) in Taffy 1, which was struck
by Kamikazes on both 25 and 26 October 1944 at Leyte Gulf.

The skill and courage of the crew saved the ship. But casualties
were high - 107 dead and 160 wounded over the two days.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/0302711a.jpg

http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/027.htm

USS Suwannee (CVE-27) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Dave

 

For those that might not know but would find it of interest, model manufacturer Hasegawa has just released a 1/350th kit of the Gambier Bay. It should be good for any of the other Taffy 3 CVEs.

 

Greetings all,
I am sitting here waiting for the Seahawk-Panther football game to start with my dad, who was aboard the Johnston. Dad's grandfather was captured at Cold Harbor and spent 11 months at Andersonville prison in the Civil War. Dad's father was an officer on the USS Maryland, then was the hull superintendent on a group of destroyers built in the '30's at the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, where dad was born on 1/26/26. Dad's father died during the war which necessitated dad to join up at age 17. The Johnston was built in Seattle - in the famous picture of Capt. Evans at the commissioning I can see dad in the front row. During the action, when Evans was injured on the bridge, he came back to aft steering to personally take charge of steering, giving orders down to my dad and another sailor who turned the rudder. Following the abandon ship order dad ended up in the water where he spend the next couple of days. He relates stories of sailors who became delusional thinking they saw land and swimming away never to be seen. Dad gave his float jacket to another sailor who was attacked by a shark. Finally dad found a raft, which eventually saved eight of the crew.
I'm thankful to sites like this one and bosomar.com as well as Mr. Hornfischer and Mr. Cutler's books, so the the memory of what happened in this battle are not forgotten.

 

You and your dad are fortunate to have this time with each other. My dad was born 10 days after yours. He told me shortly before he passed that he remembered that day like it was yesterday. He also said he saw the DDs and DEs turn and charge Kurita's fleet. He knew they wouldn't likely survive. Thankfully, your dad did.

Cheers and shake you dad's hand for me.

tom

 

I believe I mentioned this elsewhere recently, but recent research indicates that Johnston was not hit by a Kongo, but by Yamato herself. Three 18.1in shells and three 6.1in shells in the space of one minute. And it didn't knock her out of the fight.

 

I'll try to see if I have that in my notes.

 

Unfortunately, I have nothing in my notes on SBR except for the possibility that a distant ship in a popular battle photo may be her rather than a Japanese cruiser, as usually captioned.

 

Perhaps this one?

http://www.bosamar.com/images/cappix/cap32.jpeg

If that's the pic you speak of, I have my doubts that it is the Sammy B. With the Gambier Bay below the horizon and the ship it question ON it, it seems that ship is far too big to be a DE. Plus the sailors on deck of the photographing carrier certainly would have Id'd the ship either way.

tom

 

How close did Chikuma get? That ship is awfully close.