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The lookouts of Taffy 3 spotted the anti-aircraft fire to the north. The Japanese came upon Taffy 3 at 06:45, achieving complete tactical surprise. At about the same time, others in Taffy 3 had picked up targets from surface radar and Japanese radio traffic. At about 07:00, Yamato opened fire at a range of 17 nmi (20 mi; 31 km).
A Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Military Book Club, the book tells the story of the remarkable two-and-a-half-hour sea battle fought on October 25, 1944, in which Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague's task unit, known as "Taffy 3" (7th Fleet's Task Unit 77.4.3), of escort carriers and their "tin can" escorts rose to the impossible challenge of beating back an overwhelming ...
Johnston, 34,000 yards (31,000 m) south-east from the Japanese, was informed of its presence at 0650; [12] eight minutes later, the Japanese opened fire, beginning the Battle off Samar. [31] The force was led by Kurita's flagship, the battleship Yamato , the largest and most powerfully armed and armored battleship ever built, displacing 72,808 ...
The ship was part of Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3"), escort carriers only protected by relatively few destroyers and destroyer escorts. Task Unit 77.4.3 was inadvertently left to fend off a fleet of heavily armed Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers off the island of Samar.
In the Battle off Samar, a part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Evans led Johnston until it was sunk on October 25, 1944, by a Japanese force that was vastly superior in number, firepower, and armor. Johnston , together with the destroyers Samuel B. Roberts , Hoel , and Heermann , four destroyer escorts and six escort carriers (CVEs) formed the ...
As a result of Taffy 1 being so far south of Samar, not many Taffy 1 airplanes participated in the Battle off Samar. While in the air southwest of Leyte Gulf, the aircraft and ships of Taffy 1 were immediately ordered to assist Taffy 3 off of Samar but they had to return to the escort carriers to refuel and rearm.
During the Battle off Samar, October 25, 1944, while commanding Samuel B. Roberts, Lieutenant Commander Copeland led his ship and crew in an attack on a superior Japanese battleship and cruiser force. Though his ship was lost, this action helped defeat the Japanese counter-offensive against the Leyte invasion.
These units, known by their radio calls as the "Three Taffys", began operating off Samar 18 October 1944 to cover the landings on Leyte. Hoel was attached to "Taffy 3" (Escort Carrier Task Unit 77.4.3) commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague and comprising four escort carriers guarded by destroyers Hoel, Heermann, and Johnston.