page_title: Leyte Gulf order of battle
section_title: American Forces
hierarchical_section_title: Leyte Gulf order of battle / 25 Oct – Battle off Samar / American Forces
caption_attribution_description: Gambier Bay (CVE-73) underway, US Navy photo img url: http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/0307302.jpg
context_page_description: The Battle of Leyte Gulf, generally considered to be the largest naval combat in history, was fought 24–25 October 1944 in the waters of the Philippine Islands by elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet and the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet. Of the five separate engagements that made up the battle as a whole, the forces involved in the three principal ones are listed here.
  Since the Japanese assumed the tactical initiative in all three actions, their forces are listed first in each section.
  Losses in these three actions
  IJN: 1 fleet carrier, 3 light carriers, 2 old battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, 1 oiler
  USN: 2 escort carriers, 3 destroyers
context_section_description: Seventh Fleet
  
  Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid in amphibious command ship Wasatch
  Task Group 77.4 (Escort Carrier Group)
  Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague
  Task Group 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3")
  Rear Admiral Clifton A.F. Sprague
  6 escort carriers
  Fanshaw Bay (Capt. D.P. Johnson)
  Composite Squadron 68 (Lt. Cmdr. R.S. Rogers):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  St. Lo (Capt. F.J. McKenna) (sunk 1125 hrs.)
  Composite Squadron 65 (Lt. Cmdr. R.M. Jones):
  17 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  White Plains (Capt. D.J. Sullivan)
  Composite Squadron 4 (Lt. E.R. Fickenscher):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Kalinin Bay (Capt. T.B. Williamson)
  Composite Squadron 3 (Lt. W.H. Keighley):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
    1 TBF, 11 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Carrier Division 26 (Rear Adm. Ralph A. Ofstie)
  Kitkun Bay (Capt. J.P. Whitney)
  Composite Squadron 5 (Cmdr. R.L. Fowler):
  14 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Gambier Bay (Capt. W.V.R. Vieweg) (sunk 0907 hrs.)
  Composite Squadron 10 (Lt. Cmdr. E.J. Huxtable):
  18 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Screen
  3 Fletcher-class destroyers (5 x 5-in. main battery): Hoel (sunk 0855 hrs.), Heermann, Johnston (sunk 1010 hrs.)
  4 John C. Butler-class destroyer escorts (2 x 5-in. main battery): Dennis, John C. Butler, Raymond, Samuel B. Roberts (sunk 1005 hrs.)
  Task Group 77.4.2 ("Taffy 2")
  Rear Adm. Felix B. Stump
  6 escort carriers
  Natoma Bay (Capt. A.K. Morehouse)
  Composite Squadron 81 (Lt. Cmdr. R.C. Barnes):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Manila Bay (Capt. Fitzhugh Lee, III)
  Composite Squadron 80 (Lt. Cmdr. H.K. Stubbs):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Carrier Division 27 (Rear Adm. William D. Sample)
  Marcus Island (Capt. C.F. Greber)
  Composite Squadron 21 (Lt. Cmdr T.O. Murray):
  12 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  11 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Kadashan Bay (Capt. R.N. Hunter)
  Composite Squadron 20 (Lt. Cmdr. J.R. Dale):
  15 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  11 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Savo Island (Capt. C.E. Ekstrom)
  Composite Squadron 27 (Lt. Cmdr. P.W. Jackson):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  12 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Ommaney Bay (Capt. H.L. Young)
  Composite Squadron 75 (Lt. Cmdr. A.W. Smith):
  16 FM-2 Wildcat fighters
  11 TBM Avenger torpedo bombers
  Screen
  3 Fletcher-class destroyers (5 x 5-in. main battery): Haggard, Franks, Hailey
  5 John C. Butler-class destroyer escorts (2 x 5-in. main battery): Richard W. Suesens, Abercrombie, Oberrender, LeRay Wilson, Walter C. Wann
caption: Escort carrier Gambier Bay
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