 |
|
|
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Color Guard from Little Creek, Virginia
The USS Gambier Bay, one of the dozens of escort carriers or CVE’s created by Kaiser Shipbuilding from 1942-1945, was built for the reason that during World War II carrier aviation was eclipsing naval gunfire as the most effective mode of prosecuting naval warfare. At the beginning of World War II most professional navy men believed that big gun ships were the core of any navy’s fleet. The effects of carrier aviation seen at Pearl Harbor and the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, however, changed that mode of thinking in the United States. Aircraft carriers and not big gun ships became the core of the fleet. Naval warfare during World War II was most often conducted with opposing fleets never even seeing each other. It is ironic, therefore, that during the battle of Leyte Gulf the Gambier Bay was sunk by the very naval gunfire it was supposed to be replacing.
The Gambier Bay was one of fifty Casablanca class escort carriers created during World War II. After Pearl Harbor the United States Navy sent most of its carriers to the Pacific Theater. This left only one carrier, USS Ranger, to operate in the Atlantic. One carrier was not enough to protect the large number of convoys expected to cross the Atlantic during the war. Understanding the Navy’s predicament, ship builder Henry Kaiser proposed to the U.S. Government that he build a number of "baby flattops" that could be used to escort fleets in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In June 1942 a contract was signed for the production of fifty "baby flattops," or escort carriers. The first one was christened Casablanca and launched on 5 April 1943 by President Roosevelt. On 10 July 1943 the keel for hull No. 319 was laid in Vancouver, WA. Five days later hull No. 319 was designated CVE-73 USS Gambier Bay.
The escort carriers built by Kaiser in World War II were a new breed and no one really knew how they would perform until the invasion of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943. That was when the escort carrier CVE-56 Liscome Bay was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank in fifteen minutes and escort carriers then became known as "Kaiser Coffins." They had a foreboding nickname, but the escort carriers proved to be invaluable during the war. The service of some, like the Gambier Bay, became legendary.
Following its launching on 22 November 1943 the Gambier Bay underwent the necessary sea trials and then on 7 February 1944 left San Diego for its first mission. In the short eight months of its existence it won battle stars for its service during the invasion of the Marinas Islands, the battle of the Philippine Sea, and the invasion of Peleliu. On 25 October 1944, however, the Gambier Bay sailed into history and met its destiny off the Philippine island of Samar during the greatest naval engagement of the modern era; the battle of Leyte Gulf.
After the Peleliu invasion, eighteen escort carriers were assigned to MacArthur’s Seventh Fleet, under the command of Vice Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, for the purpose of covering MacArthur’s invasion of Leyte on 20 October 1944. Gathering in the harbor of Manus, Admiralty Islands, they were divided into three task forces known as TAFFY 1, TAFFY 2, and the ill- fated TAFFY 3. Gambier Bay along with five other CVE’s was assigned to TAFFY 3 under the command of Rear Admiral Clifton A.F. Sprague. Unknown to everyone was the fact that TAFFY 3 and the Gambier Bay were about to write one of the greatest chapters in the history of the United States Navy during World War II.
Following the successful invasion of Leyte on 20 October 1944 and four succeeding days of duty covering the infantry operations on the island, major naval combat broke loose on the 24th and 25th. In late 1944 the Japanese were expecting the American forces to make a move in one of four areas; the Philippines, the Formosa - Ryukyus area, the southern islands of Japan, or the northern islands of Japan. The Japanese Navy created four plans to deal with each scenario and named the plans SHO 1 through 4. The intelligence information obtained by the Japanese Ambassador in Moscow indicated that the Philippines would be the target. This information was substantiated following the discovery by Japanese scout planes that minesweepers were in Leyte Gulf. Based upon this information, Admiral Toyoda, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet initiated SHO-1, the plan of attack in the Philippines, into motion. His plan while risking their remaining surface forces, offered the possibility of destroying the United States Navy’s invasion fleet and isolating the Allied ground forces on Leyte. The plan called for Vice Admiral Ozawa, with four aircraft carriers, attacking from the North with the mission of drawing away the American covering force. A battleship force commanded by Rear Admiral Nishimura, was to move through the Surigao Strait, south of Leyte. The battleships of the Central Force, commanded by Vice Admiral Kurita, were to penetrate through San Bernardino Strait and attack the American invasion fleet.
On October 24 the Third United States Fleet located the Center Force, sank the battleship Musashi, and damaged the heavy cruiser Myoko and several other Japanese ships. The Japanese Southern force was discovered and Vice Admiral Kinkaid prepared to meet it in the Surigao Strait. Late in the afternoon, Admiral Halsey located Ozawa’s force and began preparations to concentrate his attacks on this force. In his rush to annihilate Ozawa’s ships, Admiral Halsey pulled everything from San Bernardino Strait, and didn’t advise Admiral Kinkaid that he was moving the Third Fleet north. This decision set the stage for the battle off Samar when at dawn on October 25 the Seventh Fleet’s escort carriers were attacked by Vice Admiral Kurita’s force of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and numerous destroyers. The battle and the actions of TAFFY 3 are best described in the citation accompanying the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to them. The citation reads as follows:
"For extraordinary heroism in action against powerful units of the Japanese Fleet during the Battle off Samar, Philippines, October 25, 1944. Silhouetted against the dawn as the Central Japanese Force steamed through San Bernardino Strait towards Leyte Gulf, Task Unit 77.4.3 was suddenly taken under attack by hostile cruisers on its port hand, destroyers on the starboard and battleships from the rear. Quickly laying down a heavy smoke screen, the gallant ships of the Task Unit waged battle fiercely against the superior speed and fire power of the advancing enemy, swiftly launching and rearming aircraft and violently zigzagging in protection of vessels stricken by hostile armor-piercing shells, anti-personnel projectiles and suicide bombers. With one carrier of the group sunk, others badly damaged and squadron aircraft courageously coordinating in the attacks by making dry runs over the enemy fleet as the Japanese relentlessly closed in for the kill, two of the Unit’s valiant destroyers and one destroyer escort charged the battleships point-blank and, expending their last torpedoes in desperate defense of the entire group, went down under the enemy’s heavy shells as a climax to two and one half hours of sustained and furious combat. The courageous determination and the superb teamwork of the officers and men who fought the embarked planes and who manned the ships of Task Unit 77.4.3 were instrumental in effecting the retirement of a hostile force threatening our Leyte invasion operations and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
The battle was won, but the USS Gambier Bay would suffer a terminal wound that ended her life and service in the United States Navy. Dead in the water and burning, with Japanese warships advancing at point blank range and under constant bombardment, Captain Walter Vieweg was forced to give the order to abandon ship at 8:50 on that October day. She would capsize and sink at 9:11 on October 25, 1944. Of the 800 men who abandon ship, 700 were rescued. This valiant ship and her heroic crew will always be remembered and the MacArthur Memorial is honored to display a model of the ship in our World War II galleries. The model was crafted by Lt. Col. Forrest R. Lindsey, USMC (Retired) of Dumfries, Virginia, and presented by Ralph Davis, a radioman on the USS Saginaw Bay; Hank Pyzdrowski, a TBM Pilot on the USS Gambier Bay; and Royce Hull, a TBM gunner on the USS Fanshaw Bay on behalf of all the members of the Escort Carrier Association.
|
The MacArthur Report |
|
MacArthur Memorial Home Page |
