I’m adding a non-Friday edition of #FridayNightNavyKnowledge, @FarvaPrice, for a topic of special significance to me – the events of 25 October 1944. What I deem to be just about the holiest day in Navy Surface Warfare. /1

I would be remiss to not talk today about the events of 25 October 1944, as a former Surface Warfare Officer and having served on a ship named SAMUEL B ROBERTS. Today is the anniversary of the Battle off Samar, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf. /2

Leyte Gulf involved the US Navy’s Third and Seventh Fleets. It was to support the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines. It is notable for many things, including the last battleship on battleship action, the Battle of Surigao Strait/3

Vice Admiral Halsey, commander of Third Fleet, would have many of his forces lured away to the North. He failed to form his Battleships and other heavy cruisers and destroyers into Task Force 34. /4

Task Force 34 would guard the San Bernardino Strait against the Japanese Center Force of battleships and heavy cruisers. /5

Surigao Strait is where Rear Admiral Oldendorf, commander of Task Group 77.2, sank part of the Japanese force by “crossing the T,” with the broadsides of his 6 battleships on the Japanese ships perpendicular to them. Five of those battleships had been damaged at Pearl Harbor. /6

Samar is where Task Group 77.4, under Rear Admiral Thomas Sprague, lay to support the invasion. They did not have the Fleet Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers needed to take on other capital ships. /7

Further subdivided into units, including Task Unit 77.4.3, “Taffy 3,” as it was called, was an escort carrier group. As such, it did not have cruisers (CA/CL) escorting them, but destroyers (DD) or escort destroyers (DE). /8

The DDs and DEs were affectionally called Tin Cans, because opposed to Cruisers and Battleships, they had no armor. /9

Taffy 3, under Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague (no relation to Thomas), was composed of 6 escort carriers (CVEs) and 7 escorts (3 FLETCHER class DDs and 4 JOHN C. BUTLER class DEs). /10

The FLETCHERs were, IMO, among the most powerful ships – ton-for-ton – that the Navy ever built. 5 × 5 in (130 mm)/38 caliber guns, 10 × 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors AA guns, 7 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon AA cannons, 10 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 × K-gun depth charge throwers. /11

A lot of firepower in a 2200-ton ship. It was the same class that the then-CAPT Arleigh Burke had commanded a squadron of DESRON 23, famous at Cape Saint George. /12

These ships could steam at 35 knots. More infamously, Commodore Burke’s flagship could only make 31 knots due to an engineering issue, which is where he got a nickname as “31-Knot Burke.” /13

Cross-section of a FLETCHER: /14

The BUTLER DEs were more lightly armed, with 2 × single 5 in (127 mm) guns, 2 × twin 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns, 10 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) AA guns, 1 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 8 × depth charge throwers, 1 × Hedgehog ASW mortar, 2 × depth charge racks /15

Max speed, about 24 knots. Cross-section of a BUTLER: /16

As such, they could not keep up with the “Fast” Carriers. Those Fleet CVs (ESSEX class) and Light CVLs (INDEPENDENCE) were in Third Fleet, in Task Force 38, which was made of 9 Fleet CVs and 8 CVLs, more carriers than we have now! /17

Task Group 38.1 was notably commanded by Vice Admiral John McCain, Sr. – Senator McCain’s grandfather. Included in Task Force 38 were many Cruisers of various classes and FLETCHERs, which *could* all keep up with the Carriers. /18

The DEs could not, and they usually escorted the escort carriers (and also the Navy’s oilers and other service ships, and merchant convoys). But as you can see from the armament, torpedoes were common to both DDs and DEs. Important for later. /19

The Japanese Center Force, under Vice Admiral Kurita, was composed of 4 battleships, 8 cruisers, and 11 destroyers. The flagship was YAMATO, which carried nine 18-inch guns, the largest ever put on a ship. /20

The Center Force sailed through the San Bernardino Strait overnight of the 24th/25th of October, unopposed. /21

The morning of the 25th found Taffy 3 finding the Center Force and Sprauge rapidly ordered smoke screens to be set and all preparations to be made. He radioed for help from 7th Fleet, knowing that Oldendorf’s group was too far away. /22

In the hours between 7 and 10 that morning, Taffy 3 put up some of the most ferocious fighting ever conducted by the United States Navy. Prime among those were USS JOHNSTON (DD 557), under CDR Ernest Evans and USS SAMUEL B ROBERTS (DE 413), under LCDR Robert Copeland. /23

The DDs and DEs made torpedo runs at the Japanese heavy cruisers, zig and zagging and rapidly changing speeds to avoid getting gunned down in the process. They had some success. /24

On the ROBERTS, Copeland ordered his Engineer to remove safeties from the boiler, which was rated at 450 psi, to gain more speed. It reportedly built up to 670 psi and gave the ROBERTS a speed of 28 knots. /25

But soon the JOHNSTON, ROBERTS, and two other DDs, HOEL and HEERMANN were heavily damaged. Only HEERMANN would survive the battle. HEERMANN’s torpedos, while missing YAMATO, would give Admiral Kurita pause to press the attack. /26

JOHNSTON would have most of the ship above water blown away. The last people saw of CDR Evans, he was yelling down to aft steering to steer the ship from the stern, still fighting and taking hits. /27

ROBERTS was named after Samuel B. Roberts, a Coxswain (Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class) who had earned the Navy cross using his landing craft as a decoy while others were used to rescue Marines from a beachhead at Guadalcanal. This ship had been commissioned in April of 1944. /28

Included on the muster was Jack Roberts, Sammy’s younger brother! The ROBERTS suffered heavy damage while firing all its torpedos and nearly every round of ammunition. The aft 5 inch barrel exploded from overheating. /29

The gun captain of the aft 5 inch mount, Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Carr, was found grasping the 325th (last) shell in his magazine, begging for help to load his destroyed gun. /30

Vice Admiral Kinkaid, commander of 7th Fleet, and responsible for Task Force 77 and Taffy 3, radioed back to Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor – “Where is, repeat, where is Task Force Thirty Four?” /31

Nimitz sent the following message back to Halsey: TURKEY TROTS TO WATER GG FROM CINCPAC ACTION COM THIRD FLEET INFO COMINCH CTF SEVENTY-SEVEN X WHERE IS RPT WHERE IS TASK FORCE THIRTY FOUR RR THE WORLD WONDERS /32

The world wonders was padding to encrypt the message, but wasn’t removed from the message when it was delivered to Halsey. It was included because it happened to be the 90th anniversary of the Charge of the Light Brigade, though…/33

…unlike at Balaclava, the Americans were not deliberately going in against the Japanese, but the sentiment remained that “Charging an army, while/⁠All the world wonder'd” /34

Halsey dithered and stormed about on his flagship (Battleship NEW JERSEY). He ordered McCain to rally to Sprague’s defense, but it was too late – mostly because the Japanese had turned away, thinking they were up against a heavier force. /35

McCain had heard the messages and had turned already. /36

This last stand against overwhelming force would echo another battle fought 529 years earlier, Agincourt.
/37

Sadly, when I asked my Ensigns about Leyte Gulf, they did not know about it. It’s not that I wish to glorify war, but I do think it’s worth remembering the sacrifice and heritage of this day and other great moments in the US Navy’s history. /38

LCDR Copeland would write of his crew: "In the face of this knowledge, the men zealously manned their stations wherever they might be, and fought and worked with such calmness, courage, and efficiency that no higher honor could be conceived than to command such a group of men."

No Higher Honor would be the motto of the third ship named SAMUEL B ROBERTS (FFG 58), which would hit a mine in the Persian Gulf in 1988 and not sink though it had nearly destroyed the engine room. /40

As FFG 58 raced to save their ship, they would touch the plaque with the names of the Sailors who went down with DE 413 off Samar. /41

This learning of heritage was part of my becoming of a part of the crew on FFG 58 when I joined her in 2009. /42