The Japanese surface force broke off its pursuit from 0912–0917 hours, and after milling around in apparent confusion for a time, retired northward to San Bernardino Strait. The retreat by Kurita's surface force, however, did not end the ordeal for "White Plains" and her fellow warships. After a 90-minute respite, they suffered harassment from a different quarter. At 1050 hours, a formation of nine Japanese Navy Zeke fighters appeared and began simultaneous "kamikaze" attacks. Two of them singled out "White Plains" as their victim. Her antiaircraft gunners responded, hitting one of the intruders, which immediately changed course and crashed into , which eventually sank. The other aircraft continued on toward "White Plains", but her antiaircraft guns finally brought him down yards astern, scattering debris all over the ship's deck and sides, but causing only 11 relatively minor casualties. In the meantime, and USS "Kalinin Bay" also suffered from "kamikaze" crashes, but neither of these proved to be fatal to the carriers. That attack proved to be the final combat action of USS "White Plains". She steamed to the naval base at Manus with the other surviving carriers, arriving on 31 October. After an inspection of the damage, it was decided that the battered escort carrier should return to the United States for complete repairs. Accordingly, she departed from Manus on 6 November and headed to the West Coast, arriving at San Diego Harbor on 27 November; repairs began immediately.