CVE-63 was initially named Chapin Bay for a bay in Alaska, on the southeast coast of Admiralty Island, Alexander Archipelago (the bay was named in 1892 by LT William Irwin Moore, USN, in command of the U.S. Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey steamer Patterson, for ENS Frederick Lincoln Chapin, USN, a member of his party). (NS0306312).

Renamed Midway, 3 April 1943 (prior to launching), after the battle (3–6 June 1942) in which the U.S. Pacific Fleet turned back a Japanese attempt to capture Midway, the westernmost atoll in the Hawaiian chain, in a decisive action which cost the enemy four large aircraft carriers and forced Japan to assume a defensive posture (NS0306312a–NS0306312d, NS024196.) A previous Midway had been named for the atoll itself.

On 10 October 1944 CVE-63 was renamed St. Lo, to free the name Midway for CVB-41, one of the "Large Carriers" then under construction. The new name commemorated an important victory of American troops in France, that captured the strongly defended town, Saint-Lô, 18 July 1944. (NS0306312b, NS0306312c.)

(Maps NS0306312, NS0306312a, NS0306312b and NS0306312d courtesy of Google Maps. Photo NS024196 U.S. Navy. Photo NS0306312c courtesy of Conseil régional de Basse-Normandie and US National Archives.)

"The Battle of Midway," directed by John Ford and narrated by Henry Fonda, is comprised mostly of authentic footage from the battle. This documentary, produced in 1942, won an Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award (Oscar). Then Commander (later Rear Admiral) John Ford, USNR, in civil life wrote, directed or produced more than 130 films in a career spanning four decades.

Format: MP4 (.mp4)  Duration: 18' 7"  Size: 320 x 240

Download a free MP4 player.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) leaving the destroyer base at San Diego, 10 April 1944, as seen from USS White Plains (CVE-66).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-384078.

A Zeke, as seen from White Plains [(CVE-66), ] hitting the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE-63). The kamikaze approached from astern, dropping its bomb which penetrated the flight deck aft, before hitting amidships at a shallow angle, igniting its fuel tanks. This explains the streak of flame shooting upwards and forward from the point of impact. The 20-mm gun in the foreground has been fitted with a Mk.14 lead-computing gun sight that used a pair of gyroscopes to extrapolate an aiming point from the gun's previous movements. Photo from NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) facility College Park, MD.

Photo and text from Fire From The Sky, by Robert C. Stern.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) burns after being hit by a Kamikaze on 25 October 1944. This photograph was taken from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), # 80-G-270511.

[Cropped copy of photo NS0306306]. St. Lo as seen from Kalinin Bay probably less than two minutes after the kamikaze hit. St. Lo's crew can be seen fighting the fire on the flight deck, which fortunately had been clear awaiting a returning strike. This fire was rapidly brought under control. Photo from NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) facility College Park, MD.

Photo and text from Fire From The Sky, by Robert C. Stern.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) burning after being hit by a Japanese suicide plane off Leyte Gulf, Philippines, 25 October 1944. Taken from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-270512.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) burning after being hit by a Japanese suicide plane off Leyte Gulf, Philippines, 25 October 1944. Taken from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68). This view shows the moments after the second explosion.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-270513.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) hit by a Japanese suicide plane off Leyte Gulf, Philippines, 25 October 1944. Taken from one of the accompanying ships.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) burning after being hit by a Japanese suicide plane off Leyte Gulf, Philippines, 25 October 1944. Taken from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68). This picture shows sailors viewing the moments after the second explosion.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-270514.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) shown immediately after being hit by a Japanese suicide plane off Leyte Gulf, Philippines, 25 October 1944. Taken from USS Kalinin Bay (CVE-68).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-270515.

At about 1055 a major detonation (probably caused by a pair of torpedoes lying almost in the center of a fire started a few minutes earlier by a kamikaze hit) destroyed much of the after section of the flight deck. The after elevator blew upward and disappeared, some 25' of the flight deck were folded forward and the forward elevator was warped. The explosion also knocked out steering control.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), # 80-G-270516.

USS St. Lo (CVE-63) burning after Japanese fighter made suicide dive onto the flight deck during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 25 October 1944. As seen from USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 80-G-287510.

The now doomed St. Lo as seen from Kitkun Bay [(CVE-71)]. Another massive explosion followed the first and several more followed this one. Within a half-hour, the escort carrier rolled over and sank, the first of 66 ships lost to the Tokkotai (Special Attack Units).

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), photo # 287511.

Text from Fire From The Sky, by Robert C. Stern.

Japanese planes sink the escort carrier USS St. Lo (CVE-63) during the Battle of Samar off the Philippines, 25 October 1944. Photograph released 14 November 1944.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) photo, # 80-G-47041.

"W-391-11/18—Members of the crew of the escort carrier St. Lo, sunk by Jap planes in the Battle of the Philippines, make a victory sign on the deck of a rescue ship, shortly after the battle. Marine Corps photo by [.......]"

THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION to the

TASK UNIT SEVENTY-SEVEN POINT FOUR POINT THREE, consisting of the U.S.S. FANSHAW BAY and VC-68; U.S.S. GAMBIER BAY and VC-10; U.S.S. KALININ BAY and VC-3; U.S.S. KITKUN BAY and VC-5; U.S.S. SAINT LO and VC-65; U.S.S. WHITE PLAINS and VC-4; U.S.S. HOEL; U.S.S. JOHNSTON; U.S.S. HEERMAN; U.S.S. SAMUEL B. ROBERTS; U.S.S. RAYMOND; U.S.S. DENNIS and U.S.S. JOHN C. BUTLER

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

   "For extraordinary heroism in action against powerful units of the Japanese Fleet during the Battle off Samar, Philippines, October 25, 1944. Silhouetted against the dawn as the Central Japanese Force steamed through San Bernardino Strait toward Leyte Gulf, Task Unit 77.4.3 was suddenly taken under attack by hostile cruisers on its port hand, destroyers on the starboard and battleships from the rear. Quickly laying down a heavy smoke screen, the gallant ships of the Task Unit waged battle fiercely against the superior speed and fire power of the advancing enemy, swiftly launching and rearming aircraft and violently zigzagging in protection of vessels stricken by hostile armor-piercing shells, anti-personnel projectiles and suicide bombers. With one carrier of the group sunk, others badly damaged and squadron aircraft courageously coordinating in the attacks by making dry runs over the enemy Fleet as the Japanese relentlessly closed in for the kill, two of the Unit's valiant destroyers and one destroyer escort charged the battleships point-blank and, expending their last torpedoes in desperate defense of the entire group, went down under the enemy's heavy shells as a climax to two and one half hours of sustained and furious combat. The courageous determination and the superb teamwork of the officers and men who fought the embarked planes and who manned the ships of Task Unit 77.4.3 were instrumental in effecting the retirement of a hostile force threatening our Leyte invasion operations and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

For the President,

James Forrestal
Secretary of the Navy

Rear Admiral Francis Joseph McKenna was born on 19 March 1898, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1920 with the class of 1921A, and got his Navy Wings in 1926. Promoted to Captain in June 1942, at the end of his assignment in the Aleutians in April 1943 he was ordered as the Prospective Commanding Officer of the escort carrier USS Midway.

In 1944 Midway was renamed St. Lo, thereby freeing the name for one of the "Large Carriers" then under construction. Just one year after her commissioning, on 25 October 1944, St. Lo was a member of "Taffy 3" at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. The ship came through the surface engagement with the Japanese battle fleet unscathed, but shortly afterwards was hit by a kamikaze and sank, the first US ship to be sunk by a Japanese suicide attack. Captain McKenna, the last man to leave his doomed ship, was awarded the Navy Cross for conspicuous gallantry in action.

Still as a Captain, Francis J. McKenna was the first commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CV-33), in 1946–47.

In addition to the Navy Cross (second only to the Medal of Honor), Admiral McKenna was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat "V," and the Legion of Merit. Additionally, and of great pride to him, he was authorized—with the rest of the crew of St. Lo and Composite Squadron (VC) 65—to wear the Presidential Unit Citation for the magnificent job performed by ship and men at Leyte Gulf as a unit of "Taffy 3" (TU 77.4.3).

Photo courtesy of the United States Navy.

Painting, oil on board, by William F. Draper, 1942, of Captain Francis J. McKenna, Senior Naval Officer present at the occupation of Amchitka. He wears typical winter gear of the Aleutians. A fur-lined parka and the green garrison of a Navy pilot.

Glen Osborn, a USS St. Lo (CVE-63) veteran, speaks at a donation event commemorating the Battle of Samar at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Washington, 14 July 2021. St. Lo was one of the escort carriers that comprised Task Unit 77.4.3, call sign Taffy 3. During the Battle of Samar, St. Lo was struck by a kamikaze becoming the first major ship sunk by a Japanese suicide attack. Naval History and Heritage Command, located at the Washington Navy Yard, is responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Randy Lee Adams II (# 210714-N-WZ681-1073).

Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) Director Samuel J. Cox and Glen Osborn, a USS St. Lo (CVE-63) veteran, shake hands during a donation event commemorating the Battle of Samar at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, Washington, 14 July 2021.

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Randy Lee Adams II (# 210714-N-WZ681-1091).

USS St. Lo (CVE-63)/VC-65.

Taffey(sic)-3.

Set of four USS Midway/St. Lo (CVE-63) and Composite Squadron (VC) 65 Reunion pins.