photo #1835312

USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) ,an Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate, was launched sponsored by Courtney Sprague Vaughan, Adm. Sprague's daughterShe was named for Vice Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague (1896–1955), hero of the Battle off Samar action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where he received the Navy Cross.Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.3 (radio call sign Taffy III) consisting of 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts fought off the 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers of Japanese Admiral Takeo Kurita's vastly superior Center Force at the Battle off Samar near Samar Island in the Philippines on 25 October 194