During the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944, the USS St. Lo and other escort carriers of Taskforce 74.4 faced an unexpected attack by a superior Japanese fleet, including the largest battleship ever built, the Yamato. Despite being outgunned, the American task force, through a combination of brave destroyer charges and relentless air attacks, managed to repel the
Nearly 80 years ago, the fighters flying here belonged to imperial Japan, and some were on a one-way attempt to turn back an Allied fleet moving to expel the Japanese from the Philippines.
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The Navy was caught off guard, but it still managed to win.
Key point: Nothing about this fight went as planned, with the Americans falling into a trap. However, America had six escort carriers in this battle and Imperial Japan had none.
In the pre-dawn glow of October 25, 1944, four tubby TBF Avenger torpedo bombers took off on a routine patrol from the
USS St. Lo. She was one of sixteen small escorts carriers in Taskforce 74.4 steaming sixty miles east of Samar island in the Leyte Gulf protecting the invasion fleet which had landed the 6th Army on Leyte Island to liberate the Philippines after three brutal years of Japanese occupation.