USS White Plains ( CVE - 66 ) USS " White Plains " ( CVE - 66 ) was an " Casablanca " class escort carrier of the United States Navy . 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 Japan ese 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 F4F Wildcat fighters and 12 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 Plains " sortie d 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 15 September assault . 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 . In October , after repairs at the naval base at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands , the USS " White Plains " headed for the invasion of the Philippines at Leyte . The initial assault went forward on 20 October . Aircraft from the " 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 Admiral s Shōji 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 battleship s - including the huge superbattleship s and - 11 heavy cruiser s , two light cruiser s , and 19 destroyer s . 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 Palawan Passage on 23 October , and the " Musashi " and the succumbed to Task Force 38 ' s air attacks in the Sibuyan Sea on the following day . The " Musashi " sank there , whereas the " 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 ' s aircraft carriers , only three Task Groups - composed of escort carriers , destroyers , and destroyer escorts - remained off Samar island between Kurita and Leyte Gulf . The 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 - verification which came disconcertingly enough when the enemy battleship s ' pagoda - style masts loomed up over the horizon . 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 murderous , but mercifully and frequently inaccurate , heavy - caliber cannonade . The aircraft carriers ' warplanes fearlessly 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 , the USS , , and were sunk by gunfire . Later , the USS [ Note , the USS " Gambier Bay " remains the only American aircraft carrier ever to be sunk in action by weapons from enemy surface ships . All of the others that have ever been sunk by enemy action were sunk either by Japanese Navy air attacks or submarine ' s torpedoes . ] Miraculously , 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 the " 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 the " White Plains " as their victim . Her antiaircraft gunners responded with a hail of gunfire . They scored a hit on one of the intruders , and he immediately changed course and succeeded in crashing into the USS , which eventually sank . His comrade continued on toward the " White Plains " , but her antiaircraft guns finally brought him down mere yards astern . His explosion scattered debris all over her deck and sides but caused only 11 relatively minor casualties . In the meantime , the USS and the 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 the USS " White Plains " , not only of the Battle off Samar but also of the war . She steamed to the naval base at Manus with the other surviving carriers , and she arrived there 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 . The USS " White Plains " arrived at San Diego Harbor on 27 November and repairs began immediately . Ready for action once more , the USS " White Plains " steamed out of San Diego on 19 January 1945 . However , for the remainder of the war , she carried out the relatively tame assignment of ferrying replacement aircraft from their factories in the United States to bases in the western Pacific . During the last months of the war , the " White Plains " visited such places as 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 all become rear areas . The closest approach to the fighting by the " 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 that 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 November 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 Boston Group , Atlantic Reserve Fleet . 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 . Awards . " White Plains " earned five battle star s during World War II , as well as the Presidential Unit Citation for her part in the Battle off Samar .