The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval engagement in history, a sprawling affair that lasted from Oct. 23 to 26, 1944, involving four major engagements. In spite of hopeless odds, Japanese Adm. Soemu Toyoda’s complex plan for the much-depleted Imperial Japanese Navy to strike a blow against the U.S. forces landing on the Philippine island of Leyte came tantalizingly close to achieving at least some of its sacrificial goal.
In the Sibuyan Sea on Oct. 23, the Japanese First Strike Force lost heavy cruisers Atago and Maya to U.S. submarines Darter and Dace. The following day, Japanese forces lost one of the world’s two biggest battleships, Musashi, to carrier planes of the U.S. Third Fleet, which in turn lost its light carrier Princeton. That night, Japanese forces ran into the U.S. 7th Fleet in Surigao Strait, losing two battleships, a heavy cruiser and several destroyers.
Adm. William Halsey, learning of four Japanese carriers approaching from the northeast, then set out with his entire 3rd Fleet to intercept them off Cape Engano — unaware that they had few aircraft and were serving solely to decoy his fleet away from the beachhead — a success that cost Japan all four flattops.
With both fleets diverted, the First Striking Force under Vice Adm. Takeo Kurita was able to steam past San Bernardino Strait and make for the American beachhead at Leyte. As he approached the isle of Samar on the morning of Oct. 25, Kurita found his way barred by “Taffy 3,” an antisubmarine force from the 7th Fleet, consisting of escort carriers Fanshaw Bay, St. Lo, White Plains, Kalinin Bay, Kitkun Bay and Gambier Bay; destroyers Hoel, Heermann and Johnston; and destroyer escorts Dennis, John C. Butler, Raymond and Samuel B. Roberts.
Kurita’s force, which included Musashi’s colossal sister, Yamato, and three battleships, had the potential to pulverize Taffy 3, but the escort carriers’ presence misled him into thinking he was encountering an element of Halsey’s 3rd Fleet.
To close with them as quickly as possible, Kurita ordered a “general attack,” which committed his ships piecemeal rather than in a line of battle. This made the Americans’ situation a little less dire, but, as Capt. Dennis Sullivan of escort carrier White Plains put it, “We could only go in the direction the [Japanese] wanted to go themselves, to Leyte Gulf.”
Ordering his escort carriers to accelerate to flank speed, Taffy 3 commander, Rear Adm. Clifton “Ziggy” Sprague, made a fighting retreat of it, sending all available aircraft to bomb and strafe Japanese forces, plus all three of his destroyers to slow down enemy forces with torpedoes and 5-inch guns.
Many acts of heroism followed, including a remarkable fight by the destroyer escort Roberts.
Roberts was meant to escort convoys and fight submarines, not engage enemy warships. Compared to the Fletcher class destroyer with its five 5-inch dual-purpose guns and 10 Mark 15 19-inch torpedoes in two rows of torpedo tubes, Roberts had only two 5-inch gun turrets and a single rack for three torpedoes.
Sprague had given no orders for the slow, under-armed destroyer escorts to take on the Japanese warships, but Roberts’ skipper, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Witcher Copeland, rose to the occasion. Joining destroyers Hoel and Heermann in an attack on the leading four Japanese heavy cruisers, Copeland informed his crew: “We’re making a torpedo run. The outcome is doubtful, but we will do our duty.”
Using smoke to conceal its movements, Roberts closed the range on heavy cruiser Chokai to 4,000 yards — too close for it to depress its 8-inch main guns — then launched all three torpedoes.
All missed, but at least one 5-inch shell hit Chokai’s torpedo battery, the resultant secondary explosion disabling its propulsion system and rudder. Chokai, in turn, scored at least one hit on Roberts, but subsequent strikes from escort carrier Kitkun Bay led to the crippled cruiser being abandoned and sunk.
Roberts fought on with what it had, firing 608 5-inch shells in an hour while its 40mm and 20mm antiaircraft guns pelted targets of opportunity, including heavy cruiser Chikuma’s bridge.
The escort may have taken a hit or two from a Japanese battleship, but its main event was a one-on-one duel with the battleship Kongo until 9 a.m., when the latter struck it with two or three 14-inch shells that opened up a 40-foot-long, 10-foot-wide hole and devastated the left aft engine room.
By 09:07 a.m., Roberts had taken roughly 20 shell hits of various caliber and was dead in the water. Thirty minutes later, Copeland reluctantly acceded to the inevitable and ordered his crew to abandon ship.
Still, the crew of No. 2 aft gun turret fired off six more shells at the enemy before leaving their post. As noted by one of the surviving officers, Lt. William S. Burton, “That gun in less than an hour expended something in excess of 300 rounds of 5-inch ammunition, including star shells when all Common and AA projectiles were gone. … The rapid and continuous fire from Gun 2 was an inspiration to every man on the ship. … Carr was able to obtain a great many hits on a Japanese cruiser.”
The individual Burton mentioned, Paul Henry Carr, born in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, on Feb. 1924, had joined the Navy on May 27, 1942, and was assigned to Roberts in April 1944. A Gunner’s Mate Third Class, Carr was in command of Mount 52 throughout the battle and, as it turned out, somewhat beyond it, as Burton’s report continued:
“While attempting to fire the seventh round, the powder charge cooked off before the breech closed, wrecking the gun and killing or wounding all but three crew members who were critically injured and two of whom were blown clear of the mount and the ship as a result of the explosion.
“The first man to enter the mount after the explosion found the captain, Carr, on the deck of the mount holding in his hand the last projectile available to his gun. He was completely torn open and his intestines were splattered throughout the inside of the mount. Nevertheless, he held in his hand the 54-pound projectile, held it up above his head and begged the petty officer who had entered the mount to help him get that last round out.
“The petty officer, who entered the mount, took the projectile from Carr and removed one of the other men, who were wounded or unconscious, to the main deck in order to render him first aid. When he returned to the mount, there was Gunner’s Mate Carr again with the projectile in his hand, still attempting, although horribly wounded, to place the projectile on the loading tray.”
At 10:05 a.m., Roberts sank, taking with it 89 men, including Carr, who died after being dragged from his turret. Copeland and Burton were among the 120 survivors rescued after spending two days on three life rafts.
Ultimately, Kurita regrouped his battered First Strike Force and withdrew from Samar, leaving behind the sunken hulks of destroyers Hoel and Johnston, escort carrier Gambier Bay and Roberts, known ever after as the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship. Its memorable seaborne stand was acknowledged with a battle star and a Presidential Unit Citation.
Carr’s widow received his posthumous Silver Star. Copeland and Sprague were each awarded a Navy Cross for their actions during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Besides lending its name to succeeding warships, Roberts’ exploits were commemorated on two frigates, Copeland and Carr. The original namesake acquired a new claim to fame on June 22, 2022, when deep divers discovered its remains 22,621 feet below Philippine waters, making it the deepest shipwreck yet found.
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