Sailors aboard the escort carrier USS Petrof Bay (CVE-80) watch as the sister escort carrier USS Suwannee (CVE-27) burns in the distance, struck by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft that crash-dived onto her flight deck on October 26, 1944, at 1228 hours. This occurred in the immediate aftermath of the Battle off Samar, during the earliest coordinated kamikaze attacks of the Pacific War. Escort carriers, though vital for providing air support to ground forces and screening larger fleets, were lightly armored and highly vulnerable to determined attacks. Photographs like this captured both the horror and the helplessness felt by crews who could only watch as their fellow ships came under attack. Project: 218487