USS White Plains (CVE-66) / USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73)

**The photo may actually have been taken from White Plains and could show Gambier Bay under attack. Sorry for the confusion. I've found differing accounts on different websites about this photo.

The Casablanca class escort carrier USS White Plains (CVE-66) under attack from the IJN battleships Yamato and Nagato during the Battle off Samar, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf. The photo was taken on 25 October 1944 from fellow escort carrier USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) -- it shows what appears to be a 6-gun salvo which has missed the carrier. Nagato's twin turrets are unlikely to have fired this salvo so it appears it must've come from Yamato. At least one of these shells apparently dove deep under the carrier and exploded, causing serious damage and cutting power to the entire ship. The sudden loss of power caused huge plumes of black smoke to billow out of her stacks due to a lack of boiler intake feed water since the pumps suddenly went off. In fact there was so much smoke that the Japanese thought they had sunk her and moved on to the many other juicy targets. After all, post-war interviews revealed the IJN officers thought the carriers of Taffy 3 were easy targets and hoped to dispatch all of them quickly, allowing them to fulfil their mission to destroy the invasion force.

But the USN thwarted their plans and the White Plains managed to hit the heavy cruiser Chokai with her one 5-inch gun. These hits set off the cruiser's deck mounted Type 93 torpedoes, severely damaging it. The White Plains would live to fight another day. Not so for the Chokai.

Photo from World War Photos