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Robert Cox, YNCS
to remember
Sprague, Clifton Albert F (Ziggy), VADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Dorchester, MA
Last Address San Diego, CA
Date of Passing Apr 11, 1955
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Notable career events:
- Entered the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1914 and graduated one year early on June, 28, 1917 in response to World War 1.
- Nicknamed "Ziggy" at the USNA.
- Served in the Atlantic on the Gun Boat Wheeling during World War 1 employed on combat patrol and escort duties in the Azores and Gibraltar areas.
- Was designated as one of the Navy's first 300 Flight Officers in August 1921.
- Credited with assisting inventor Carl Norden with improvements to aircraft carrier arresting gear on Lexington and Saratoga in the late 1920s.
- Was the first U.S. Navy Pilot to fly a non-stop round trip flight from Hawaii to Midway Island in February 1934.
- Was CO of Sea Plane Tender Tangier during the Japanese Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.
- Commanded the fast carrier Wasp in 1943 and 1944.
- Promoted to Rear Admiral in July 1944.
- His Task Unit 77.4.3 fought off the superior Japanese Centre Force at Leyte Gulf (Battle Off Samar) on October 25, 1944.
- Served as Commander of Carrier Division 26 at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
- Commanded Carrier Division 2, embarked on USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) which operated against the Japanese home islands of Kyushu, Honshu, and Hokkaido in the summer of 1945.
- Was Commander, Navy Air Group for Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in July 1946.
- In November 1950, was the first U.S. Navy Admiral to fly over the North Pole.
- The guided missile frigate USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) commissioned March 21, 1981.
- Inducted into the Carrier Aviation Hall of Fame in 1985.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: Task Unit 77.4.3
General Orders: Commander 7th Fleet: Serial 0193 (January 19, 1945)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral Clifton Albert F. Sprague, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander, Task Unit SEVENTY-SEVEN POINT FOUR POINT THREE (TU-77.4.3), consisting of six escort carriers and aboard the U.S.S. FANSHAW BAY (CVE-70), in action against the enemy from 18 through 25 October 1944. Rear Admiral Sprague furnished air support to amphibious attack groups landing troops on the shores of Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands. On 25 October 1944, this Task Unit was taken under fire by a strong enemy force consisting of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, and was under air attack from Japanese suicide dive bombers. In the face of overwhelming enemy fire power and speed he repeatedly launched aircraft against the enemy Fleet, directed torpedo attacks by the screen, and so skillfully maneuvered his force that only two of his carriers were lost. His stubborn defense and damage inflicted on the enemy ships by ships and aircraft of his command was a major factor contributing to the Japanese decision to retire from the Battle of Samar Island. Admiral Sprague's personal courage and determination in the face of overwhelming enemy surface gunfire and air attack were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
GALLANT FIGHT OF ESCORT CARRIERS WON SAN BERNARDINO STRAIT BATTLE
PACIFIC FLEET HEADQUARTERS, PEARL HARBOR, Nov. 20. (AP) - The battle of San Bernardino Strait October 24, in which a Japanese force of four battleships, eight heavy cruisers and at least 10 destroyers trapped 16 American escort carriers protected only by their own planes and an unreported number of destroyers was one of the strangest in Naval history.
The American victors fled before the vanquished Japanese, who had heavy odds in their favor; far superior range, very heavy armor, far greater speed and the assistance of land based airplanes.
The Japanese were fast overtaking the little CVE's (escort carriers) - but just when the American vessels seemed doomed the enemy turned and fled under attack by U.S. carrier planes.
The Gambier Bay took a shell that knocked out one engine. The resultant sudden slowing, plus the enemy's speed, allowed the Gambier Bay to be overtaken by the entire Japanese force.
The enemy deliberately riddled her at point blank range and sent the ship to the bottom, but a great number of her crew were saved.
The story was related today by a naval observer who witnessed much of the action from the escort carrier Natoma Bay, but whose name was withheld by censorship.
Another CVE, the St. Lo, was hit heavily, set afire and sunk a few miles away. The crew went overside when "abandon ship" was ordered and an escorting destroyer dared Japanese fire to pick up survivors.
At this time, about 9 am, the naval officer reported, the CVE's were fleeing the scene as fast as possible in a line extending many miles over the Philippine Sea, even while their own planes were bombing and torpedoing the enemy attackers. The little carriers, capable of only about 20 knots, were being overhauled rapidly by the Japanese ships, all believed capable of more than 30 knots.
The CVE's were "being heavily shelled by Jap cruisers and battleships - - the situation looks almost hopeless," the naval officer wrote in his diary.
He saw shells from the foremost Japanese ship falling over the screening American destroyers and astern of his fleeing Natoma Bay. The enemy used red, green, yellow and purple dyes in shells from the various ships better to determine their accuracy. Green shells fell around the Natoma Bay and "spouted plumes of water in a beautiful iridescent green in the clear sunlight against the dark blue sea."
The 16 escort carriers "had no protection other than our aircraft, our maneuverability and gallant destroyer screen."
Their captains were:
Gambier Bay, Capt. W. V. R. Vieweg.
St. Lo (formerly the Midway), Capt. F. J. McKenna.
Kalinin Bay, Capt. T. B. Wilkinson.
Kitkun Bay, Capt. J. P. Whitney.
Fanshaw Bay, Capt. D. P. Johnson.
White Plains, Capt. D. J. Sullivan.
Natoma Bay, Capt. A. K. Morehouse.
Manila Bay, Capt. Fitzhugh Lee.
Ommaney Bay, Capt. H. L. Young.
Kadashan Bay, Capt. R. N. Hunter.
Marcus Island, Capt. C. F. Greber.
Savo Island, Capt. C. E. Ekstrom.
Sangamon, Capt. M. E. Browder.
Suwanee, Capt. W. D. Johnson.
Santee, Capt. R. E. Blick.
Petrof Bay, Capt. J. L. Kane.
Rear Admiral T. L. Sprague was in overall command, with Rear Admiral C. A. F. SPRAGUE and Fexlix B. STUMP cooperating.
Some of the other CVE's were damaged, but they were not identified.
The force expected no outside aid (although it did get some in mid afternoon). Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's battleship force still was in Leyte Gulf after sinking an entire Japanese force of two battleships, two cruisers and four destroyers before dawn.
Admiral William F. Halsey's 3rd Fleet was engaging the imperial carrier task force northeast of Luzon Island.
However, shortly after the naval observers noted that the situation was ominous, grim, these things happened in quick sequence.
"The Japanese force split and turned away...
"Our torpedo planes stopped the Japanese. At least one Japanese cruiser has been torpedoed and sunk....Other cruisers and battleships had been hit..."
All morning, the CVE pilots bombed and torpedoed the Japanese, returned to their carriers, armed, gassed, gulped sandwiches and were launched again and again for further attacks on the Japanese. Many of the pilots were engaging in their first combat.
The naval observer's final entry in is diary:
"The Japanese force has been whipped by our planes. Japanese ships lie crippled in their pools of oil....Surviving ships are running for their lives, leaving their wounded behind. The battle has turned and we no longer are pursued but are now the pursuers... A Jap battleship, a cruiser and a destroyer are ignored by our pursuing planes as they lie crippled in the sea. We are harrying them in their retreat."
At 4:30 in the afternoon, the Japanese sent more than 40 land based planes against the CVE's, but they were turned back after 16 had been destroyed. Meanwhile, carriers Admiral Halsey had detached from his 3rd Fleet had come south and joined in sinking or damaging every one of the fleeing Japanese ships.
Today, Admiral T. L. Sprague sent this message to all ships which had participated in the CVE action:
"These ships not only met and defeated enemy attacks in the air but they have turned back a large enemy fleet composed of his most modern ships.... Never have fighting men performed their duty with greater determination and distinction....Against such teamwork the enemy could not have prevailed....
"To the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, wives and sons and daughters of those who were lost, I say: Do not be sad. Be comforted and inspired in the thought that victory for which these men so freely and courageously gave their lives has contributed immeasurably to final defeat of the enemy."