Ships
- USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73) Captain from 19 August 1944 · Relieved on 25 October 1944
- USS Commencement Bay (CVE-105) Captain from 28 April 1945 · Relieved on 10 February 1946
Walter Victor Rudolph Vieweg was born on 19 September 1902 in Buffalo, New York. At the Naval Academy, Class of 1924, his classmates named him "Bowser" for his pugnacious personality. The Lucky Bag noted his fondness for animals and his ferocity as a champion wrestler, and he finished in the top sixth of his class. His motto was "Use your gonk and you can do anything."
He took command of the escort carrier Gambier Bay in August 1944. On the morning of 25 October 1944 off Samar, Admiral Kurita's battleships and cruisers caught her "Taffy 3" group. Vieweg launched every plane he could while turning into a rain squall, but his ship lay on the windward flank, where the smoke screens could not hide her. Eight-inch shells hit her at least fifteen times. Her steering was lost at 0837, and by 0845 she was dead in the water. He ordered abandon ship at about 0850, and at 0907 she capsized. Of 900 men aboard, 131 were lost. He received the Navy Cross. In his after-action report he blamed the "divided chains of command" that had let Kurita's fleet through San Bernardino Strait unreported, a judgment that fed a lasting postwar debate.
He later commanded the escort carrier Commencement Bay and retired as a rear admiral. He died on 20 March 1960 in Bethesda, Maryland, at 57.