During the Battle of the Leyte Gulf off of the Phillipines, the USS Princeton was attacked by a lone enemy dive bomber shortly before 10:00 a.m. on October 20th of 1944. A single bomb struck the carrier between the elevators, crashed through the flight deck and the hangar before exploxding. A fire broke out and quickly spread, which caused additional explosions.

At 2:24 p.m., a second and larger explosion rocked the USS Princeton, probably the result of one or more bombs housed in the magazine. The USS Irwin, also damaged, managed to stay close and launched boats to rescue the Princeton's survivors from the sea. By 3:00 p.m. the fires aboard the Princeton were raging out of control. The remaining personnel were evacuated. Around 4:06 p.m., the Irwin began firing torpedoes at the burning Princeton, but this was abandoned due to torpedo malfunctions. Three minutes later, an even larger explosion destroyed the entire forward section of the Princeton, shooting flames and debris up to 1,000 to 2,000 feet into the air. By 4:50 p.m., the aft section of the Princeton had sunk.

108 men aboard the Princeton were lost during the attack. 1,361 crewmen were rescued.

SOURCES: wwiimemorial.com/registry/cemetery/search/pfram.asp?HonoreeID=741960&popcount=8&tcount=2
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Princeton_(CVL-23)