USS St . Lo ( CVE - 63 ) USS " St . Lo " ( CVE – 63 ) was a 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 of Leyte Gulf . " St . Lo " was laid down as Chapin Bay on 23 January 1943 ; renamed Midway on 3 April 1943 ; launched on 17 August 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Howard Nixon Coulter ; and commissioned on 23 October 1943 , Captain Francis J . McKenna in command . She was renamed St . Lo on 10 October 1944 after the town of Saint - Lô in Normandy , France , which was the location of fierce fighting during the allied Normandy landings . Service history . After shakedown on the west coast and two voyages to Pearl Harbor and one to Australia carrying replacement aircraft , " Midway " , with Composite Squadron 65 ( VC - 65 ) embarked , joined Rear Admiral Gerald F . Bogan ' s Carrier Support Group 1 in June for the conquest of the Mariana Islands . She furnished air coverage for transports and participated in strikes on Saipan on 15 June 1944 . She fought off several air attacks but suffered no damage during her support of the Saipan campaign . VC - 65 ′ s FM - 2 Wildcat s shot down four and damaged one other Japanese plane during combat air patrol operations there . On 13 July , she sailed for Eniwetok for replenishment before joining the attack on Tinian on 23 July . Furnishing air support for ground forces on the island and maintaining an anti - submarine patrol , " Midway " operated off Tinian until she again headed out for supplies on 28 July . " Midway " remained at anchor in Eniwetok Atoll until she got under way on 9 August for Seeadler Harbor at Manus , Admiralty Islands , arriving on 13 August . On 10 September , she sortied with Task Force 77 ( TF 77 ) for the invasion of Morotai . Catapulting her first plane to support the landings on 15 September , she continued to assist American troops ashore and to provide cover for the transports through the 22nd . After stopping for fuel and ammunition at Mios Woendi , " Midway " resumed air operations off Morotai . On 3 October , launched two torpedoes at " Midway " . Capt . McKenna eluded them , but one struck the stern of destroyer escort . " Shelton " was later taken under tow but foundered . " Midway " returned to Seeadler Harbor on 7 October . There , word arrived that the escort carrier had been renamed St . Lo on 10 October to free the name " Midway " for a new fleet carrier and to commemorate an important victory of American troops in France who had captured the strongly defended town of Saint - Lô on 18 July 1944 . Battle of Leyte Gulf . " St . Lo " departed Seeadler Harbor on 12 October to participate in the liberation of Leyte . Ordered to provide air coverage and close air support during the bombardment and amphibious landings , she arrived off Leyte on 18 October . She launched air strikes in support of invasion operations at Tacloban on the northeast coast of Leyte . Operating with Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague ' s escort carrier unit , " Taffy 3 " ( TU 77 . 4 . 3 ) , which consisted of six escort carriers and a screen of three destroyers and four destroyer escorts , " St . Lo " steamed off the east coasts of Leyte and Samar as her planes sortied from 18 – 24 October , destroying enemy installations and airfields on Leyte and Samar islands . Steaming about east of Samar before dawn of 25 October , " St . Lo " launched a four - plane anti - submarine patrol while the remaining carriers of Taffy 3 prepared for the day ' s initial air strikes against the landing beaches . The Battle off Samar began at 06 : 47 , when Ensign Bill Brooks — piloting one of the TBM Avenger s from " St . Lo " — reported sighting a large Japanese force comprising four battleships , six heavy and light cruisers , and 10 - 12 destroyers approaching from the west - northwest , only away . At the same time , lookouts on " St . Lo " spotted the characteristic pagoda - like superstructures of Japanese battleships on the horizon . Rear Admiral Sprague ordered Taffy 3 to turn south at flank speed . Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita ' s force steadily closed and by about 06 : 58 opened fire on the slow , outnumbered , and outgunned ships of Taffy 3 . " St . Lo " and the other five CVEs dodged in and out of rain squalls and managed to launch all available fighter and torpedo planes with whatever armament they had handy ( general purpose bombs and even depth charges ) . Pilots were ordered " to attack the Japanese task force and proceed to Tacloban airstrip , Leyte , to rearm and refuel " . The carriers dodged salvos from enemy cruisers and battleships . As salvos fell " with disconcerting rapidity " increasingly nearer " St . Lo " , her planes , striking the enemy force with bombs , rockets , and gunfire , continued to harass the closing ships . By 07 : 38 , the enemy cruisers , approaching from " St . Lo " ′ s port quarter , had closed to within . " St . Lo " responded with rapid fire from her single 5 - inch gun , claiming three hits on a " Tone " - class cruiser . For the next 90 minutes , Admiral Kurita ' s ships closed in on Taffy 3 , with his nearest destroyers and cruisers firing from as close as on the port and starboard quarters of " St . Lo " . Many salvos straddled the ship , landed close aboard , or passed directly overhead . Throughout the running gun battle , the carriers and their escorts were laying a particularly effective smoke screen that Admiral Sprague credited with greatly degrading Japanese gunfire accuracy . Even more effective were the courageous attacks by the destroyers and destroyer escorts at point - blank range against the Japanese destroyers and cruisers . All the while , Kurita ' s force was under incessant attack by Taffy 3 aircraft and planes from the two other U . S . carrier units to the south . Under heavy attack from the air and harassed by incessant fire from American destroyers and destroyer escorts , the enemy cruisers broke off action and turned north at 09 : 20 . At 09 : 15 , the enemy destroyers — which had been kept at bay by the daring and almost singlehanded exploits of — launched a premature torpedo attack from . The torpedoes had nearly run out of fuel when they finally approached the escort carriers , broaching the surface . A " St . Lo " Avenger , piloted by Lieutenant , junior grade Tex Waldrop , strafed and exploded two torpedoes in the wake of . During the surface engagement , Taffy 3 lost , , , and to enemy gunfire . Kamikaze . At 10 : 47 , the task unit came under a concentrated air attack by the Shikishima Special Attack Unit . During the 40 – minute engagement with enemy " kamikaze s " , all the escort carriers except were damaged . One Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero — perhaps flown by Lieutenant Yukio Seki — crashed into the flight deck of " St . Lo " at 10 : 51 . Its bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded on the port side of the hangar deck , where aircraft were in the process of being refueled and rearmed . A gasoline fire erupted , followed by six secondary explosions , including detonations of the ship ' s torpedo and bomb magazine . " St . Lo " was engulfed in flame and sank 30 minutes later . Of the 889 men aboard , 113 were killed or missing and approximately 30 others died of their wounds . The survivors were rescued from the water by , , , and ( which picked up 434 survivors ) . Awards . " St . Lo " received the Presidential Unit Citation for the heroism of her crew in the Battle off Samar and four battle star s for her World War II service .