Horror aboard USS Suwannee

26th October 1944: A graphic account of the terrible conditions aboard one of the first ships to fall victim to a Japanese-ordered Kamikaze attack

F6F Hellcat completing pullout after chasing Zeke which crashed into USS Suwannee (CVE-27), 25 October 1944. Taken by USS Petrof Bay.

Japanese Zero crashes deck of USS Suwannee (CVE-27) and bursts into flames, Leyte Gulf, Philippines, 25 October 1944. The bomb is exploding four feet above hangar deck. Remains of plane crashed throughout the hangar deck and stopped on main deck below.

The Battle of the Leyte Gulf, the clash between the US Navy and the most important elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy off the Philippines, continued.

The Japanese were now desperate to prevent further US advances and threw the greater part of their remaining Navy into the attack. Without the Philippines, they would be cut off from their fuel supplies.

Isolated from the rest of the ship with only the reflection from the gasoline fires above and a few flickering battle lamps for light, I saw my wounded partially covered with wreckage …

The mismatch between the two sides' resources was now so significant that the US Navy had more ships than the IJN had planes. So they resorted to desperate measures. The battle saw the first organised use by the Japanese of 'kamikaze' tactics - their planes would be used in suicide attacks on Allied ships.