Edward J. Huxtable, Jr.: Lead Airmen on USS Gambier Bay During the Battle of Leyte Gulf

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As the barrage continued, power failed. The helm switched to manual steering, but then the pilothouse was hit when another shell destroyed the other engine room; Gambier Bay’s fate was sealed. She was burning and dead in the water. The Japanese ships were a mile away.

Every few seconds another shell hit the helpless baby flattop. Vieweg ordered abandon ship at 8:50. About 20 minutes later, Gambier Bay slid under the waves, the only U.S. aircraft carrier to be sunk by naval gunfire during World War II.

Shortly before Gambier Bay sank, Huxtable decided to see if he could get a bomb load at Tacloban. Fighters low on fuel were given priority at the Philippine air base, so Huxtable led a group of torpedo planes back out to sea. They found their carriers but none could land planes because of extensive damage. So the pilots again turned toward Leyte.

The heroic sacrifice of Taffy 3, however, was not in vain. The Japanese commander, Vice Adm. Takeo Kurita, was stunned by the ferocity of the outgunned Americans, leading him to believe he was up against the U.S. Navy’s first-line Essex-class aircraft carriers. With victory in his grasp and the opportunity to annihilate the American ships supporting the Leyte invasion, Kurita lost his nerve and ordered his force to retire.

For American sailors in life rafts or clinging to flotsam, the sight of their airplanes harassing the Japanese fleet was heartening. It was the only uplifting spectacle some of them would see for the next three days. The sailors fought sharks, thirst and exhaustion before a rescue team found them. Some of Gambier Bay’s crew were rescued after 40 hours in the water, others not until 72 hours had passed.

The men were taken to the Philippines and then placed on ships to return to the United States. Of the 950 men on board Gambier Bay after its planes took off, about 700 were rescued.

Huxtable did not know Gambier Bay had sunk until late that day. He finally landed at Dulag, south of Tacloban. No bombs were available, but there was fuel. Around 3 p.m., he led planes back to Leyte Gulf. As before, no carrier could land planes. So Huxtable went back to Dulag, where the fate of Gambier Bay was confirmed.

The next day, Huxtable said, ‘We took off with orders to go back to our fleet….We broke up into groups; three of us landed aboard Kalinin Bay. From there, we went on back to Eniwetok, where we gathered again. All of our squadron personnel were in clothes that we left the ship in, so we were sort of a sorry looking outfit.’

After a few days at Eniwetok, Huxtable’s men returned to the United States on the carrier Belleau Wood. During that time, the first steps were taken by the Philippine government to give Gambier Bay a unit citation and by the U.S. government to award Huxtable a Silver Star.

Huxtable’s citation reads: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as squadron commander of Composite Squadron 10, attached to the USS Gambier Bay in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Battle off Samar, Philippine Islands, on Oct. 25, 1944. Organizing and leading the early morning attack against enemy surface units which were shelling our escort carriers, Cmdr. (then Lt. Cmdr.) Huxtable pressed home repeated attacks against heavy cruisers and, although he had been launched without bombs, flew at extremely low altitude to divert intense antiaircraft fire from the planes he was directing. His leadership, courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.’

Early in 1945, Sprague wrote about the battle for American magazine. He recalled, ‘For two hours, without so much as a machine gun bullet to fight with, Lt. Cmdr. Edward J. Huxtable, USN, glided his Avenger through the flak to make dry runs on enemy capital ships, once flying down a line of eight enemy cruisers to divert them from their course and throw off their gunfire for a few precious minutes.’

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Sea-Air Operations, World War II