page_title: USS Biloxi
section_title: Philippines, October 1944–January 1945
hierarchical_section_title: USS Biloxi / Service history / Philippines, October 1944–January 1945
caption_attribution_description: 40 mm quad-mounted guns firing during battle practice aboard the U.S. Navy light cruiser USS Biloxi (CL-80) while the ship was shaking down in October 1943. The view looks forward along the ship's port side, with a 5"/38 twin gun mount beyond the 40 mm guns.
context_page_description: USS Biloxi was a United States Navy Cleveland-class light cruiser, the first ship named after the city of Biloxi, Mississippi.
  The ship was laid down on 9 July 1941 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. and launched on 23 February 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Katharine G. Braun, wife of the Mayor of Biloxi. She was commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 31 August 1943, with Captain Daniel M. McGurl in command.
context_section_description: Between 14 and 19 October, the light cruiser covered the carriers as they struck airfields on Luzon in preparation for the Leyte landings on 20th. Numerous small enemy raids plagued the task group but they inflicted no damage. On the 19th, Biloxi's remaining OS2U, accompanied by a seaplane from New Orleans, successfully picked up the crew of a crashed dive bomber and returned them to Franklin.
  After covering Leyte strikes between 20 and 22 October, Biloxi detached and joined TG 38.2 built around Intrepid (CV-11), Bunker Hill, Cabot, and Independence (CV-22). Upon word that three groups of Japanese warships were closing the Philippines, this force concentrated east of Samar. On 24 October, during the second day of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, aircraft from Intrepid and Cabot took part in attacks that sank the Japanese battleship Musashi south of Luzon. Other air attacks damage two other battleships.
  That night, the task group steamed north off Cape Engano to hunt for fleeing enemy carriers, five of which are disposed of by air strikes the following day. Later that evening the American warships turned south in an attempt to catch a second group of retiring Japanese warships. Just after midnight on the 26th, Biloxi and four other cruisers and destroyers picked up a surface contact near San Bernardino Strait. The three cruisers quickly opened fire, destroying the Japanese destroyer Nowaki in a blinding explosion shortly thereafter. Nowaki had aboard her all of the survivors from the Tone-class heavy cruiser Chikuma, which had been sunk at the end of the Battle off Samar. As a result, a total of approximately 1,400 officers and men went down with her in this one action
  On 28 October, TG 38.2 returned to launching air strikes against Luzon airfields and Japanese shipping in Manila Bay. Poor weather hampered aircraft recovery on the 29th, and the evening was spent rescuing ditched airmen. Following a withdrawal to refuel and receive replacement aircraft, the task group carried out two more rounds of Luzon strikes in the first weeks of November. These attacks pounded Japanese shipping and port facilities at Manila and central Luzon, sinking half a dozen light warships and over a dozen cargo ships and auxiliaries.
  On the 15th, Biloxi departed the Philippines and steamed east to Ulithi. Arriving there two days later, she received much needed repairs and replenishment. Biloxi also recovered pilot Lt.(jg) Dana, who related an exciting cruise in Sterlet during which time the submarine sank at least two enemy cargo ships. While at Ulithi on 20 November, Biloxi's crew experienced the Japanese kaiten attack on the anchorage. All five midget submarines were lost in the attack, though not before the Japanese torpedoes damaged and eventually sank the tanker Mississinewa (AO-59).
  On 22 November, Biloxi joined TG 38.3 for another set of air strikes against Luzon. While carrier aircraft attacked enemy coastal shipping on the 25th, the light cruiser helped the task group fight off Japanese kamikazes. Numerous raids breached friendly fighter defenses that day and five American carriers were damaged, forcing the task group to retire from the area.
  The carriers returned to the Philippines on 13 December and, in addition to air strikes in support of the Mindoro landings, they also launched special night raids against Japanese airfields. These attacks prevented enemy kamikaze dive bombers (called "green hornets") from launching the coordinated attacks that had plagued the American task groups in late November.
  On 18 December, Biloxi's task force encountered a typhoon northeast of Samar and suffered heavy damage. In addition to the loss of three destroyers, many other warships were damaged and Biloxi herself lost an OS2U washed overboard. After spending the next few days searching for survivors, the light cruiser steamed to Ulithi on the 24th and remained there for the next week.
  Biloxi put to sea with TG 38.3 on 30 December, intending to strike Formosa, Nansei Shoto, and northern Luzon. The task group, built around the carriers Essex (CV-9), Ticondero
caption: Gunnery practice, October 1943
exif: {}