Torpedo Attack near Ormoc Bay
Operating in company with USS Allen M. Sumner (DD 692) and USS Moale (DD 693) through Surigao Straits COOPER encountered a Japanese force of transports and escorting destroyers landing troops at Ormoc Bay, Leyte Philippines. The three US destroyers during the melee damaged or sank one destroyer, five transport freighters and 10 aircraft. At 0013 a Japanese torpedo found COOPER; she suffered a high order explosion on her starboard side, breaking the ship in two and sinking within a minute of the torpedo hit. 191 of her crew went down with the ship ... The proximity of Japanese forces precluded the immediate rescue of survivors by friendly surface forces, however the valiant efforts of “Black Cat†seaplanes enabled 168 survivors to later be rescued from the waters of Ormoc Bay
