Assigned to Rear Admiral R. A. Ofstie's COMCARDIV 26, GAMBIER BAY and
division mate KITKUN BAY (CVE 71) escorted transports and
amphibious landings ships to Leyte Gulf. They were escorted to Leyte by four BUTLER class
destroyer escorts....JOHN C. BUTLER, DENNIS, RAYMOND, and SAMUEL B. ROBERTS. Upon arrival
on October 17, COMCARDIV 26 was merged with RADM C.A.F. Sprague's COMCARDIV 25 and
assigned as Seventh Fleet Task Unit 77.4.3, radio call sign
Taffy 3.
GAMBIER BAY's performance off Samar was almost non-eventful until the
morning of October 25. Shortly before 0700, the Imperial Japanese Navy Centre Force placed Taffy III under fire. The immediate actions by
her crew are best explained by Composite Squadron VC-10 FM-2 Wildcat fighter pilot Dick
Roby, "...after General Quarters was sounded Gene Seitz and I were the
"ready" VF (fighter) pilots; there were no VT (torpedo) pilots in that status at
approximately 0655. Elmo Waring alerted us that the Japanese fleet was 24 miles away and
to man all aircraft. I took time to get him on the intercom and told him to get the pilots
out of the wardroom. By this time I got to the flight deck. I discovered Dugan was in #2,
I was #3, Rocky Phillips was in #4. We took off as the ship was getting into the wind and
were vectored NW of the Task Unit to intercept two destroyers. We made two sets of
strafing runs on them, going down through a thin cloud cover. They apparently had no radar
fire controlled AA as their fire was very poor. After the second run they turned around
and retreated on a course of about 350 degrees...."
GAMBIER BAY launched the aircraft of Composite Squadron VC-10 from within the safety of
a driving rain squall. Unable to top 18 knots, the fleeing escort carriers should have
been easy game for the much faster Japanese warships. This mis-match in speed soon became
evident when the task unit exited the rain squall at about 0730.
From the period when GAMBIER BAY exited the rain squall and when she
was first hit....about thirty minutes....she had to maneuver violently to avoid the heavy
caliber shells being thrown at her. Captain W. V. R. Vieweg, USN, her Commanding Officer,
explains, "...one could observe that the salvos would hit some distance away and
gradually creep up closer and from the spacing on the water I could tell that the next one
would be on if we did nothing. We would invariably turn into the direction from which the
salvoes were creeping and sure enough the next salvo would land right in the water where
we would have been if we hadn't turned. The next few salvoes would creep across to the
other side and gradually creep back and would repeat the operation. The process lasted
for, believe it or not, a half hour during which the enemy was closing
constantly...."
USS JOHNSTON's gallant attempt to save GAMBIER
BAY was outlined in her Action Report, "...This ship attempted to draw fire away
from the GAMBIER BAY by taking the cruiser under fire at this time. The range was closed
to 6000 yards and maximum fire was brought to bear on this heavy cruiser. This attempt, as
was to be expected, was unsuccessful, despite numerous hits being observed...."
Radioman Louis Vilmer Jr., of GAMBIER BAY's Composite Squadron VC-10, "...Ensign
Shroyer, John Britt, and myself were among the first to be launched when the order was
given to clear the flight deck. When Ensign Shroyer made his first pass at a Japanese
ship, he fired rockets and 50 caliber machine guns. Gunner Britt also fired his 50 caliber
gun, from the ball turret. When we broke through the clouds we were extremely low and did
not have enough power to pull up and away...we were finally able to pull away and gain
altitude. Ensign Shroyer told me over the intercom that he had been unable to open the
bomb bay doors with the control in the cockpit and instructed me to try the one in the
radioman's compartment. It worked. Shroyer chose the TONE Class cruiser and began his run
firing his 50 calibers. I opened the bomb bay doors when instructed. When the bombs
cleared the bay, Shroyer was able to close the doors with his control. Britt began firing
his turret gun as we pulled up and away. I immediately turned to the notch window under
the planes tail to observe the hits. The bombs DID NOT hit the cruiser. They hit the water
just a few feet behind it and went off as depth charges. Planes following us reported that
the ship stopped dead in the water...."
Captain Vieweg
continues, "...During the period from the first
hit, which was around 0820 in the morning, until we sank, which was about 0910 in the
morning, we were being hit probably every other minute. At about 0850 with the ship
helpless in the water and with this division of cruisers passing close by and other ships
of the main formation passing close by on the other side (destroyers), and being fired at
from all sides, I ordered the ship abandoned. As we were abandoning ship the enemy ships
in various directions were still firing...."
Norman Loats of GAMBIER BAY's "S" Division had this story to
tell, "...just before we left the ship we released a life raft. The GAMBIER BAY
had already began listing to starboard when we jumped, so the jump from the catwalk to the
water seemed mighty long, and as we hit the water, I though I would never surface for I
went down - down - down. But eventually I did come up; thank God I had loosened our straps
on our helmets or we would have surely snapped our necks. As I surfaced, I swam to the
life raft we had released as did the Chief Engineer. The two of us only sightly wounded
began attempting to tow the raft away from CVE-73 before the undertow would get us.
However our progress was nil, for after what seemed minutes of attempting to get away from
the sinking ship, we noticed the raft was still secured to the sinking ship. It didn't
take long to cut the line and be on our way...."
Although her seasoned crew did "everything right", the odds
were not in their favor that day. Placed in the tail end position of the task unit, she
was hit repeatedly by battleship and heavy cruiser shells. Overwhelmed by the superior
Japanese force, she was eventually shot to pieces and sank beneath the waves at 0907, with
the U.S. ensign still flying from her mast. The TU 77.4.3 Action Report stated, "...This
ship was hit by gunfire and lost the use of one engine. Six Japanese heavy cruisers
finally closed to 2000 yards, and the ship was sunk about 0900/25 October 1944 in Latitude
12 degrees 30'N - 126 degrees 30'E as the result of about twenty hits from 8 inch
guns...."
USS GAMBIER BAY (CVE 73) received four Battle Stars for her service in
World War II. She also received the Presidential Unit Citation
as a member of Task Unit 77.4.3.
Source: Dictionary of American
Fighting Ships, Vol. III, 1968, Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval
Operations, Naval History Division, Washington, D.C.; and
The Battle Off Samar - The Tragedy of Taffy III, by Robert
Jon Cox, 1996
