USS St. Lo (CVE-63)

USS St. Lo (CVE-63)
Ship name	USS St. Lo (CVE-63)
Ship class	Casablanca-class escort carrier
Operator	United States Navy
Laid down	26 January 1943
Launched	14 June 1943
Commissioned	10 August 1943
Decommissioned	25 October 1944
Fate	Sunk 25 October 1944

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy that served in the World War II Pacific Theater and became the first major warship sunk by a kamikaze attack during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Built to provide close air support for amphibious assault operations and convoy protection, she participated in escort duties, Marianas campaign support, and the Leyte landings before her loss at Leyte Gulf.

Construction and commissioning

St. Lo was laid down as Allegany County-class hull MC hull 1103 by Kaiser Shipbuilding Company at Richmond, California, within the Maritime Commission shipbuilding program, launched on 14 June 1943 and commissioned on 10 August 1943 under Commander Irving W. Raymond. The ship was named after Saint-Lô, a town heavily damaged during the Normandy campaign, reflecting the Navy practice of naming escort carriers for United States counties and cities; her shakedown and initial training involved coordination with carrier air groups, Composite Squadron detachments, and escort vessels assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

Design and capabilities

As a Casablanca-class escort carrier, St. Lo featured an armored flight deck, a complement of roughly 860 officers and enlisted personnel, and an aviation contingent typically composed of TBF Avengers, F4F Wildcats, and later F6F Hellcats and SB2C Helldivers. The design emphasized mass production under Henry J. Kaiser's yard techniques, using a length of about 512 feet, a beam of roughly 65 feet, and an aircraft capacity of some 27 fighters and bombers, plus provisions for ammunition storage, aviation fuel handling, and a small island superstructure with radar sets tied to Combat Information Center operations. Her engineering plant consisted of steam turbines and boilers producing adequate cruising speed to keep station with convoy formations and task groups during operations such as escorting troop transports and providing close air support for amphibious landings.

Service history

During 1943–1944, St. Lo conducted escort missions across the South Pacific and supported carrier task groups during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, the Marianas campaign, and pre-invasion strikes against Truk Lagoon and Palau Islands. Her squadrons flew sorties in support of Operation Flintlock and Operation Galvanic style operations, conducting anti-submarine warfare patrols against Imperial Japanese Navy submarines and combat air patrols to defend fleet replenishment groups. St. Lo also operated as part of Task Force 77 and in coordination with escort carriers like USS White Plains (CVE-66), USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70), and USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71), integrating with fast carrier task force elements under admirals such as William F. Halsey Jr. and Thomas C. Kinkaid when strategic priorities required close air support for Leyte operations.

Battle of Leyte Gulf and sinking

In October 1944, as Allied forces executed the Invasion of Leyte to fulfill General Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines campaign (1944–45), St. Lo operated in Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3"), screening escort carriers while providing air cover for troops ashore and convoys. On 25 October 1944 she was attacked by coordinated kamikaze strikes during the larger Battle off Samar, a phase of the Battle of Leyte Gulf that also involved surface engagements between Imperial Japanese Navy Center Force units under Takeo Kurita and small US escort groups commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague. Multiple Zeke and Ohka types and other suicide aircraft targeted the escort carriers; one kamikaze penetrated St. Lo's deck and caused gasoline and ordnance fires that detonated a secondary explosion, rapidly crippling the ship. Efforts by crew, including damage control parties and nearby escorts such as USS Heermann (DD-532) and USS Johnston (DD-557), were unable to save her; St. Lo sank approximately two hours after the initial impact.

Casualties and aftermath

The sinking of St. Lo resulted in significant loss of life and injuries among her crew and embarked aircrews; survivors were rescued by escorting destroyers and escort carriers, with many taken aboard ships including USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) survivors receiving medical treatment on hospital ships and tenders in the area. The action around Taffy 3 earned unit citations and individual awards, and the battle became notable for the heroic defense by outnumbered American escorts against -class and cruiser forces, contributing to later analyses of carrier vulnerability, anti-aircraft doctrine, and the strategic impact of kamikaze tactics on Navy operations.

Wreck and legacy

The wreck of St. Lo remained for decades in the Sulu Sea region near Leyte Gulf, giving rise to memorials, historical studies, and underwater surveys by marine archaeologists and dive teams documenting damage consistent with kamikaze strikes and internal explosions. St. Lo's loss influenced post-war carrier design and anti-aircraft systems, and she is commemorated alongside other escort carriers in museums, naval memorials, and in accounts by historians such as Samuel Eliot Morison and Samuel Loring Morison-era naval analysts. The story of Taffy 3 and St. Lo entered popular history, cinema, and scholarship on Pacific War naval operations, symbolizing both the lethality of suicide tactics and the resilience of small-ship crews in the face of overwhelming force.

Category:Casablanca-class escort carriers Category:World War II escort carriers of the United States Category:Ships sunk by kamikaze attack