the 7th fleet's CVEs were slow and vulnerable to any surface combat ship. they go slower than 25kts. even the yamato can catch them. the battle of samar was interesting to me in that it best exemplifies homer simpson's "DOH!" in warfare. there you were: you've slipped past halsey's trap, you lost one big ship to carrier planes but that's not important now. here are you intended targets and no capital ships to face you. so what do you do? you conduct the crucial battle in fear and trepidation while your enemy fights with the savagery typical of one ready to fight to the finish. so you lose big ships while sinking only a handful of destroyer escorts.