Return to Victory by James P. Duffy

Author:James P. Duffy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2021-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

KNOWN DERISIVELY as “Kaiser Coffins” after the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company that constructed them quickly—and as some said, shoddily—these small aircraft carriers (also called “jeep carriers” and “baby flattops”) were built on the unarmored hulls of cargo or tanker ships. Most had only one 5-inch gun for defense since their purpose was to escort troop ships by flying combat air cover over them. They were not intended to face an enemy battleship or cruiser line in a surface battle. To the sailors’ and pilots’ disbelief, that was exactly what they were about to do. The US Navy uses the hull designation for aircraft carriers of CV. For these specially manufactured small carriers they added the letter E, thus their designation became CVE. Sailors serving on them often referred to the official designation as “Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable” because of their lack of armament and armor.

At the time, there were sixteen escort carriers on duty in Leyte Gulf under the overall command of Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague, divided into three units using their radio call signs of Taffy 1, Taffy 2, and Taffy 3. Taffy 1 was operating at the southern end of the gulf near Surigao Strait; Taffy 2 was one hundred miles north near the entrance to the gulf; and Taffy 3 operated off the shore of Samar not far from the San Bernardino Strait. The Japanese lookouts had found the escort carriers of Taffy 3. Rear Admiral Clifton “Ziggy” Sprague (no relation to Thomas) commanded them.

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