The screen's duty to absorb attacks meant for capital ships

The charge at Samar grew from a long-standing screening doctrine rather than a sudden imitation of Japanese suicide tactics. Destroyer crews understood that their ships might have to block small attackers, absorb torpedoes intended for capital ships, or blast open a path for the rest of a flotilla. Tribal-class destroyers embodied that expectation despite being among the Royal Navy's largest and most capable destroyers. Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland and the John C. Butler-class destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts provide an alternative Samar example. Alongside the Fletcher-class ships, Roberts shows how the same sacrificial logic extended across ship sizes when the protected force had no other way to escape.