Leyte Gulf - USS Natoma Bay CVE-62

The following are extracts from an Associated Press
article which appeared in the Honolulu papers:
GALLANT FIGHT OF EXCORT CARRIERS WON SAN BERNARDINO
STRAIT BATTLE
Pacific Fleet Headquarters, Pearl Harbor, Nov. 20 (AP) - The
battle of San Bernardino Strait 25 October in which a
Japanese force of four battleships, eight heavy cruisers and
at least 10 destroyers trapped 16 American escort carriers
protected only by their own planes and an unreported number
of destroyers was one of the strangest in naval history.
The American victors fled before the vanquished
Japanese, who had heavy odds in their favor, far superior
range, very heavy armor, far greater speed and the
assistance of land-based airplanes.
The Japanese were fast overtaking the little CVE's
(escort carriers) - but just when the American vessels
seemed doomed the enemy turned and fled under attack by U.S.
carrier planes.
The Gambier Bay took a shell that knocked out one
engine. The resultant sudden slowing, plus the enemy's
speed, allowed the Gambier Bay to be overtaken by the entire
Japanese force.
The enemy deliberately riddled her at point blank range
and sent the ship to the bottom, but a great number of her
crew were saved.
The story was related today by a naval observer who
witnessed much of the action from the escort carrier Natoma
Bay, but whose name was withheld by censorship.
Another CVE, the St. Lo, was hit heavily, set afire and
sunk a few miles away. The crew went overside when "abandon
ship" was ordered and an escorting destroyer dared Japanese
fire to pick up survivors.
At this time, about 9 am., the naval officer reported,
the CVE's were fleeing the scene as fast as possible in a
line extending many miles over the Philippine sea even while
their own planes were bombing and torpedoing the enemy
attackers. The little carriers, capable of only about 20
knots, were being overhauled rapidly by the Japanese ships,
all believed capable of more than 30 knots.