Remembering Suwannee: U.S.S. Suwannee, Part 4

Eric Musgrove County Historian Last week, we were looking at the history of the World War II escort carrier U.S.S. Suwannee. The article ended with Suwannee and other Allied forces preparing for what is usually considered the largest naval battle in world history. This Battle of Leyte Gulf (sometimes also called the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea) actually consisted of four major battles (Sibuyan Sea, Surigao Strait, Cape Engano and Samar), some of which were separated by hundreds of miles. In fact, the total area of the battle encompassed more than 100,000 square miles of sea. As a way of comparison, Suwannee County covers less than 700 square miles, and the entire stat