The escort carriers had been supporting troops ashore when the Japanese surface force appeared. Taffy 3 took the direct gunfire while aircraft from Taffies 1 and 2 expanded the aerial counterattack to roughly four hundred aircraft; destroyers and destroyer escorts bought the carriers time to launch. Armor-piercing shells sometimes passed through the lightly built carriers without detonating because there was too little armor to trigger them as intended. The action overturned the expectation that vulnerable support carriers would collapse immediately under battleship and cruiser gunfire.
Chapter · 2:26:25-2:29:20
Escort carriers meet battleships off Samar
Halsey's move north exposed Taffy 3 to the Japanese Center Force, while aircraft from all three Taffy groups joined the defense.