She was laid down on 11 February 1943 at Vancouver, Washington, by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, Inc., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1103) as Elbour Bay (ACV-66); renamed White Plains on 3 April 1943; redesignated CVE-66 on 15 July 1943; launched on 27 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Marc A. Mitscher; delivered to the Navy on 15 November 1943 at Astoria, Oregon; and commissioned that same day, Captain Oscar A. Weller in command.
Service history
World War II
The USS White Plains completed her outfitting at Astoria, Oregon, on 4 December 1943, and then she began shakedown training on 8 December. At the conclusion of her initial cruise, the warship entered San Diego on 21 December. On 30 December, she returned to sea, bound for the Gilbert Islands. She arrived at Tarawa Atoll on 11 January 1944 and unloaded the aircraft she had transported. On 17 January, the ship headed back to Oahu, arriving in Pearl Harbor six days later. Following a four-day turnaround period, the White Plains again set course for the Central Pacific to provide aircraft logistics support for the Marshall Islands operation. By the time she reached Tarawa on 3 February, the undefended Majuro Atoll had been occupied, and the Japanese garrison at Kwajalein Atoll had been all but subdued. On the next day, she got underway for Majuro where she arrived on 5 February. From there, the escort carrier moved on to Kwajalein for a brief visit before heading back to Hawaii. The White Plains stopped briefly at Oahu before continuing on toward the West Coast on 23 February. She arrived at Alameda, California, on San Francisco Bay on 3 March.
While off the West Coast, the White Plains conducted operational training for her own ship's company and carrier qualifications for three air squadrons. In April, she embarked her own permanently assigned air unit, Composite Squadron 4 (VC-4), composed of 16 Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters and 12 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo planes. She departed the West Coast from the San Diego Naval Base on 24 April, and she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 May. During the next month, the White Plains conducted air operations and amphibious support training out of Pearl Harbor.
At the end of May, the White Plains steamed out of port in company with units of the Task Forces assembled to invade the Mariana Islands. The portion of the Fleet containing the White Plainssortied from Eniwetok Atoll, and during the voyage from there to the Marianas, her aircraft provided antisubmarine warfare patrols and part of the combat air patrol. During the assault on Saipan, her planes continued to cover the Fleet against submarine and air attack, strafed the beaches, and spotted shellfire for gunfire support ships. They helped repulse at least three major enemy air attacks. On 17 June, while helping to fight off those raids, her antiaircraft gunners earned their first definite kill. Later, VC-4 Avengers successfully torpedoed an enemy transport during a sweep of the island of Rota.
The USS White Plains departed the combat zone on 2 July but, after a week at Eniwetok, returned to the Marianas with her air squadron upgraded to a total of 28 aircraft. During her second tour of duty in the Marianas, the escort carrier supported the Tinian assault late in July. Her planes carried out sortie after sortie in support of the troops ashore and over the ships assembled, but the White Plains herself suffered no enemy attacks. Her heavy flight schedule proved grueling to air squadron and ship's company alike.
She completed her participation during the first week in August and departed the Marianas and headed for Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. She arrived in Segond Channel on 16 August and began preparations for the invasion of the Palau Islands. Those preparations included amphibious support training in the Solomon Islands. The White Plains and ten other aircraft carriers moved into the vicinity of the Palaus during the second week of September. Their planes provided a portion of the prelanding bombardment and support for the troops after the assault on 15 September. In contrast to the Marianas campaign and later operations, the Palaus, though extremely difficult on the troops ashore, brought little opposition to the ships in the waters surrounding the islands. No enemy air attacks developed because the Japanese were husbanding their aircraft for the defense of the Philippines, and as a result of Japan's new strategic concept of defense in depth at some distance from the beaches, few shore batteries were sited near enough to the coast to fire upon ships. On 21 September, the White Plains joined the forces detached from the Palau operation for the occupation of Ulithi Atoll, which to everyone's relief, was undefended.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
White Plains under attack by Tokkotai unit 25 October 1944. The aircraft in the photograph missed the carrier and struck the water.
In October 1944, after repairs at the naval base at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands, USS White Plains headed for the invasion of the Philippines at Leyte. The initial assault went forward on 20 October. Aircraft from White Plains provided air support for the troops and ASW and combat air patrols for the ships assembled in Leyte Gulf. However, because of the strategic importance of the Philippines which lay athwart their lines of communication with the East Indies, the Japanese chose to oppose the landings with their surface fleet. They launched their surface counterattack in three distinct phases. While a decoy force of carriers under Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa moved south from Japan in an attempt to draw off Halsey's Third Fleet and the large carriers, the forces under Vice AdmiralsShōji Nishimura and Kiyohide Shima attempted to force the Surigao Strait from the south, and Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force tried to sneak through the Central Philippines and transit the hopefully unguarded San Bernardino Strait. The Center Force, by far the strongest of the enemy fleets involved, consisted of five battleships - including the huge superbattleshipsYamato and Musashi - 11 heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 19 destroyers. By the time Kurita's Center Force cleared the San Bernardino Strait on 25 October, it had been reduced by four heavy cruisers and the battleship Musashi. Three heavy cruisers had fallen prey to American submarine attacks in the Palawan Passage on 23 October, and Musashi and Myōkō succumbed to Task Force 38's air attacks in the Sibuyan Sea on the following day. Musashi sank there, and Myōkō headed back to Brunei Bay, heavily damaged. In addition, on the night of 24 October and 25 October, Vice Admiral Oldendorf's old battleships in Leyte Gulf obliterated Nishimura's force and sent Shima's packing.
In the meantime, after Admiral Halsey received information indicating that a battered Center Force had begun retirement, Ozawa's decoy force finally managed to draw the American carriers off to the north. However, Kurita's retrograde movement proved to be only temporary, and he once again reversed course and headed back toward San Bernardino Strait. With Oldendorf regrouping his warships in Leyte Gulf and Halsey off chasing the Japanese Navy'saircraft carriers, only three Task Groups—composed of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts—remained off Samar island between Kurita and Leyte Gulf. USS White Plains was an element of "Taffy 3," the northmost of the three Task Groups, and the one which bore the brunt of Kurita's surface onslaught. "Taffy 3", commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, first learned of Kurita's presence when, at 0637, a pilot on routine air patrol spotted Kurita's task force and attacked it with depth charges. Rear Admiral Sprague was incredulous about the presence of the Japanese Navy, and he demanded identification verification—which came, disconcertingly enough, when the enemy battleships' pagoda-style masts loomed over the horizon.
Yamato opened fire at 0659 at an estimated range of 34,500 yards (17 nautical miles), targeting White Plains with her first four salvoes. Yamato's third salvo was a close straddle landing at 07:04. One shell from this salvo exploded beneath the turn of White Plains port bilge near frame 142, near her aft (starboard) engine room. While the ship was not struck directly, the mining effect of the under-keel explosion severely damaged her hull, deranged her starboard machinery and tripped most of the circuit breakers in her electrical network. Prompt and effective damage control restored power and communications within three minutes and she was able to remain in formation by overspeeding her port engine to compensate. The black smoke resulting from the sudden loss of boiler intake air pressure convinced Yamato and Nagato (which was also firing her main battery at White Plains at the time) that they had scored a direct hit and they shifted fire to other targets.[1] For the next two and one-half hours, the Japanese force chased "Taffy 3" southward and subjected the escort carriers and their counterattacking screen to a heavy-caliber cannonade. The aircraft carriers' warplanes fought back, even making dummy runs on the Japanese ships to slow the ships' speed of advance after expending all their bombs, torpedoes, and ammunition. During their counterattacks, USSJohnston, Hoel, and Samuel B. Roberts were sunk by gunfire. Later, USSGambier Bay was sunk by gunfire as well, while USSFanshaw Bay, USSKalinin Bay, Dennis, and Heermann suffered heavy damage.
During the surface phase of the action White Plains's 5-inch gun crew claimed six hits on heavy cruiserChōkai.[2] It was initially believed that one of these hits caused the Chokai's Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes to explode, crippling Chōkai and making it vulnerable to air attack. However, the 2019 discovery by the RV Petrel of the wreck of the Chōkai with her torpedoes intact disproved this theory.[3]Chōkai was later sunk by planes from Ommaney Bay(CVE-79), an escort carrier of Taffy 2. Haguro's detailed action report states that Chokai's immobilizing damage resulted from a bomb hit at 0851.[4]
The Japanese surface force broke off its pursuit from 0912–0917 hours, and after milling around in apparent confusion for a time, retired northward to San Bernardino Strait. The retreat by Kurita's surface force, however, did not end the ordeal for White Plains and her fellow warships. After a 90-minute respite, they suffered harassment from a different quarter. At 1050 hours, a formation of nine Japanese Navy Zeke fighters appeared and began simultaneous kamikaze attacks. Two of them singled out White Plains as their victim. Her antiaircraft gunners responded, hitting one of the intruders, which immediately changed course and crashed into USSSt. Lo, which eventually sank. The other aircraft continued on toward White Plains, but her antiaircraft guns finally brought him down yards astern, scattering debris all over the ship's deck and sides, but causing only 11 relatively minor casualties.[5] In the meantime, USSKitkun Bay and USS Kalinin Bay also suffered from kamikaze crashes, but neither of these proved to be fatal to the carriers. That attack proved to be the final combat action of USS White Plains. She steamed to the naval base at Manus with the other surviving carriers, arriving on 31 October. After an inspection of the damage, it was decided that the battered escort carrier should return to the United States for complete repairs. Accordingly, she departed from Manus on 6 November and headed to the West Coast, arriving at San Diego Harbor on 27 November; repairs began immediately.
Ready for action once more, USS White Plains steamed out of San Diego on 19 January 1945. However, concern about the lingering effects of the hull and machinery damage suffered at Samar kept her off the front lines and she was assigned to ferrying replacement aircraft from their factories in the United States to bases in the western Pacific for the remainder of the war. During the last months of the war, White Plains visited Kwajalein, Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura), Ulithi, Saipan, Guam, Leyte, and Pearl Harbor. All had been scenes of major combat actions in the past, but by this time they had become rear areas. The closest approach to the fighting by White Plains after the Battle off Samar came just after the amphibious landings on Okinawa in April 1945, when she steamed to within 100 miles of the island to launch two squadrons of Marine Corps F4U Corsair fighter planes for duty from air bases on that large island.
Post-War
The end of hostilities in mid-August found the USS White Plains en route from Pearl Harbor to the West Coast. She arrived at San Pedro, California, on 22 August but soon moved to San Diego. From there, she headed back to the Western Pacific on 6 September to begin Operation Magic Carpet duty bringing American fighting men home from the Pacific Theater. Twenty days later, she arrived in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, where she embarked more than 800 passengers for the voyage to the United States. On 28 September, she pointed her bow eastward and set a course, via Pearl Harbor, for San Diego. The White Plains entered San Diego Harbor on 16 October and disembarked her passengers. After nine days in port, she got underway for Pearl Harbor and stopped there only briefly on 1 November before setting out on the return voyage to the West Coast. The warship visited San Francisco for five days from 7 to 12 November and then headed across the Pacific once more. She entered port at Guam in the Marianas on 27 November, embarked passengers, and then began the return voyage on 30 November. White Plains arrived in Seattle, Washington, on 14 December 1945. She remained there until 30 January 1946, when she embarked upon the voyage, via the Panama Canal and Norfolk, Virginia, to Boston, Massachusetts. The White Plains entered Boston Harbor on 17 February 1946, and then began preparations for decommissioning.
The USS White Plains was decommissioned on 10 July 1946 and was berthed with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Boston. She remained with the reserve fleet for 12 years. On 12 June 1955, she was redesignated a utility aircraft carrier (CVU-66). Finally, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1958. She was sold on 29 July to the Hyman Michaels Company, of Chicago for scrapping.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved.
USS Suwannee (CVE-27), was built as the civilian oiler Markay, in 1939, before being acquired by the US Navy, in 1941, and renamed Suwannee (AO-33), after the tradition of naming fleet oilers after rivers. In 1942, she was converted to a Sangamon-class escort carrier. Originally classified as an "Aircraft Escort Vessel", AVG-27, on 14 February 1942, she was reclassified an "Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier", ACV-27, 20 August 1942, before finally being classified as an "Escort Carrier", CVE-27, 15 July 1943. After the war, she was later classified an "Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier" and again redesignated, CVHE-27, 12 June 1955.
The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on October 25, 1944. It was the only major action in the larger battle in which the Americans were largely unprepared. After the previous day's fighting, the Imperial Japanese Navy's First Mobile Striking Force, under the command of Takeo Kurita, had suffered significant damage and appeared to be retreating westward. However, by the next morning, the Japanese force had turned around and resumed its advance toward Leyte Gulf. With Admiral William Halsey Jr. lured into taking his powerful Third Fleet north after a decoy fleet and the Seventh Fleet engaged to the south, the recently-landed 130,000 men of the Sixth Army were left vulnerable to Japanese attack on Leyte.
USS St. Lo (AVG/ACV/CVE–63) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy during World War II. On 25 October 1944, St. Lo became the first major warship to sink as the result of a kamikaze attack. The attack occurred during the Battle off Samar, part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf.
USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) was the seventeenth of fifty Casablanca-class escort carrier built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was launched in November 1943, and transferred to the Navy and commissioned in December. She served in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Battle off Samar, in which she was the first ship to undergo kamikaze attack, and the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, during which she was damaged by another kamikaze and forced to withdraw. Post-war, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from around the Pacific. She was decommissioned in April 1946, and sold for scrapping in November. Ultimately, she was broken up in early 1947.
USS Kadashan Bay (CVE-76) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. It was named after Kadashan Bay, located within Chichagof Island. The bay in turn was named after Paul K. Kadashan, an Alaskan Indian who established a homestead incorporating the bay in 1915. Launched in December 1943, and commissioned in January 1944, she served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Battle off Samar, and the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in June 1946, when she was mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in February 1960.
USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy.
USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. She was named after Fanshaw Bay, located within Cape Fanshaw, of the Alexander Archipelago in the Territory of Alaska. The cape was given its name by Charles Mitchell Thomas, who was mapping the area, in 1887. Built for service during World War II, the ship was launched in November 1943, and commissioned in December, and served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Battle off Samar, and the Battle of Okinawa. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in August 1946, when she was mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in September 1959.
USS Marcus Island (CVE-77) was the twenty-third of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after an engagement on 31 August 1943 over Minami-Tori-shima, known on American maps as Marcus Island. She was launched in December 1943, commissioned in January 1944, and she served in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Philippines campaign, as well as the Battle of Okinawa. She spent the majority of her World War II as a flagship for various escort carrier formations, serving as the headquarters for Rear Admiral William D. Sample and Felix Stump. During the Philippines campaign, she participated in the Battle off Samar, the largest naval engagement in history, and during the Battle of Mindoro, she had multiple near-brushes with Japanese kamikazes. Post-war, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating U.S. servicemen from throughout the Pacific. She was decommissioned in December 1946, being mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was broken up in 1960.
USS Manila Bay (CVE-61) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy.
USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) was the twenty-sixth of fifty Casablanca-class escort carriers built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Petrof Bay, which in turn was named in 1928 after Ivan Petroff, a Russian Alaskan who served as a special census agent for the 1880 United States census. The bay is located within Kuiu Island, which at the time was a part of the Territory of Alaska. The ship was launched in January 1944, commissioned in February, and served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Philippines campaign, including the Battle off Samar, the Battle of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa. She was decommissioned in July 1946, when she was mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. Ultimately, she was broken up in September 1959.
USS Natoma Bay (CVE–62) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy that served in the Pacific War during World War II. The carrier entered service in 1943 and participated in a series of operations in the South Pacific including the Philippines campaign, the Battle off Samar and the Battle of Okinawa. During the Okinawa battle, Natoma Bay was struck by a Japanese aircraft and heavily damaged, ending the ship's participation in the war. Once repaired, Natoma Bay was assigned to Operation Magic Carpet, the return of American soldiers from the Pacific theatre. Following the completion of the operation the escort carrier was decommissioned in 1946 and placed in reserve. In 1959, Natoma Bay was sold for scrap.
USS Saginaw Bay (CVE-82) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy. It was named after Saginaw Bay, located within Kuiu Island. The bay was in turn named after USS Saginaw, a U.S. Navy sloop-of-war that spent 1868 and 1869 charting and exploring the Alaskan coast. Launched in January 1944, and commissioned in March, she served in support of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, the Philippines campaign, the Invasion of Iwo Jima, and the Battle of Okinawa. Postwar, she participated in Operation Magic Carpet. She was decommissioned in April 1946, when she was mothballed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Ultimately, she was sold for scrapping in November 1959.
USS Heermann (DD-532) was a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy. The ship entered service in 1943 and took part in several battles during World War II in the Pacific theatre of operations, including the Philippines campaign, Battle off Samar and the Battle of Iwo Jima among others. Heermann gained fame during the "last stand of the Tin Can Sailors" in which she and several other destroyers of Task Unit 77.4.3 engaged a far superior Japanese task force during the Battle off Samar in October 1944. Heermann was the only American destroyer of "Taffy 3" to survive the engagement. Following the end of the war in 1945, the ship was placed in reserve from 1946 to 1951, when the destroyer was reactivated. Heermann remained in active service until 1957, when the ship was returned to the reserve. In 1961, Heerman was loaned to Argentina and was renamed ARA Almirante Brown (D-20) while in service with the Argentinian Navy. Almirante Brown remained in Argentinian service until 1982, when the ship was decommissioned.
USS Hoel (DD-533) was a Fletcher-class destroyer built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Lieutenant Commander William R. Hoel. Commissioned in 1943, she was sunk in the Battle off Samar during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944.
USS John C. Butler (DE-339) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer escorts in the service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was recommissioned between 1950 and 1957 and finally sunk as a target in 1971.
USS Helm (DD-388) was a Bagley-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Rear Admiral James Meredith Helm. Helm received 11 battle stars for her World War II service in the Pacific.
USS Haggard (DD-555) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy named for Captain Haggard of the Louisa, who fought in the Quasi-War.
USS Hailey (DD-556) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy.
USS Richard S. Bull (DE-402) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was finally sunk as a target in 1969.
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