Notes:

(reuploaded, did some touching up.)
"In a two-and-a-half hour melee off the coast of Samar Island, the Americans lost four ships--the destroyers Johnston and Hoel, the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts, and the escort carrier Gambier Bay. The Japanese, who had gone into the battle with an unimaginably more powerful force, suffered similar losses--two heavy cruisers were dead (Chokai and Chikuma) two more were badly damaged (Kumano and Suzuya), and the battleship Haruma sustained severe damage to her superstructure and hull. Deciding that his attack wasn’t worth the losses he was taking--and realizing that reinforcements were rapidly approaching in the form of fresh American fighter aircraft and warships--Admiral Kurita called off the attack. Taffy-3 had somehow held off the largest gunship fleet ever assembled, and they’d done it with just six escort carriers and seven destroyers."
http://badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=52657811114