Destroyer Sinks Battleship

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051111/ap_on_re_us/melvin_s_men


I never heard about this one.

Later

 

From DANFS (Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)

DD-680

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MELVIN II
(DD-680: dp. 2,050; l. 314'6"; b. 39'9"; dr. 17'9"; s. 37 k.; cpl. 319; a. 5 5", 10 40-mm., 7 20-mm., 10 21" tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct.; cl. FLETCHER)

The second MELVIN (DD-680) was laid down 6 July 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.; launched 17 October 1943; sponsored by Miss Gertrude C. Bailey, grandniece of Lt. (j.g.) J. T. Melvin; and commissioned 24 November 1943, Comdr. Warner R. Edsall in command.

Following shakedown off Bermuda, MELVIN sailed for the Pacific 1 February 1944. Arriving Pearl Harbor 4 March, she got underway for Majuro 5 days later and for the next month conducted antisubmarine patrols and participated in the blockade of enemy-held atolls in the Marshalls, returning to Pearl Harbor 2 May. There she underwent intensive fire support training and 31 May departed with TG 52.17 for Saipan. Approaching that island on the night of 13 and 14 June, she sank an enemy submarine, RO-36. A few hours later, while steaming off northern Saipan, she again engaged an enemy vessel, this time a merchantman, which burned brightly for a few hours before sinking For the next 23 days she provided counter battery fire; conducted antisubmarine patrols damaging an enemy submarine on the 17th; served as call fire ship for marines on the beach; escorted ships from Eniwetok; and participated in the bombardment of Tinian.

On 8 July MELVIN sailed for Eniwetok, whence on the 18th she sailed in the screen of the transports carrying troops to Guam, off which she screened transports and oilers from 22 July to 7 August. After preparations at Guadalcanal, from 8 to 21 September she took part in the capture and occupation Of the southern Palaus, then joined TG 33.19 for the unopposed occupation of Ulithi. After escorting LSTs to Hollandia, she arrived Manus to stage for the invasion of Leyte.

Now with TG 79.11, MELVIN sailed 11 October toward the Philippines in the screen of the landing craft to be used in the assault on Dulag. Soon after midnight 20 December she entered Leyte Gulf and took up her assigned screening station between Dinagat and Hibuson Islands, carrying out similar screening patrols for the next 4 days. In the early hours of the 26th, she joined in DesRon 54's torpedo attack which opened the Battle of Surigao Strait. Assigned with REMEY (DD-688) and MCGOWAN (DD- 678) to the Eastern Attack Group, MELVIN began launching torpedoes soon after 0300, scoring on FUSO, which exploded and sank at about 0338. Following their attack, the destroyers retired up the Dinagat coast to Hibuson from where they witnessed the deadly barrage from Admiral Oldendorf's battleline.

Within 48 hours, MELVIN was en route to Hollandia, and duty escorting resupply convoys to the Philippines into December, when she returned to the Solomons to rehearse for the assault on Luzon. She stood out of Purvis Bay, Florida Island, 25 December, escorting transports to Manus and then on to Lingayen Gulf. She arrived with her charges 11 January 1945, and provided illumination and fire support as wen as screening services. Continuing to cover the landings until the 15th, she met Japanese suicide attackers, as swimmers, in boats, and in planes, with equal determination.

From Luzon, MELVIN sailed south to Leyte, then to the Carolines and a new assignment, screening the fast carriers of TF 38/58. Steaming north with that force 10 February, MELVIN guarded the flattops as their planes raided Honshu and then provided direct air cover for the Iwo Jima campaign. On the 21st, she aided damaged SARATOGA (CV-3) in her fight against fires and enemy planes, splashing three, and then escorted her to Eniwetok for repairs.

By mid-March she had rejoined the fast carriers at Ulithi, sailing northwest with them on the 14th to prepare the way for the Okinawa campaign. For the next 61 days MELVIN remained at sea, guarding the carriers, providing fire support for the troops embattled after 1 April, and patrolling on picket station. After a brief respite at Ulithi in mid-May, she returned to the Ryukyus on the 24th for raids on enemy installations In those islands and on Kyushu. Mid-June brought another brief respite from the war while the destroyer was docked in San Pedro Bay. She was underway again 1 July as the carriers steamed north for their last deployment against Japan. In the next month and a half, the force operated off the enemy's homeland, shelling and bombing industrial and military centers on Honshu and Hokkaido.

MELVIN remained with the carriers until 10 August when she sailed north to join TF 92 in an anti-shipping sweep and bombardment of Paramushiro. That mission completed on the 12th, she sailed east to Adak, where she received word of the Japanese surrender, and new orders to return to Japan for occupation duty with minesweepers off Northern Honshu. On 12 October she departed for the United States, arriving at San Francisco 4 November. At San Diego, 31 May 1946, she decommissioned and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

MELVIN recommissioned 26 February 1951 and sailed 1 June for Newport to join the Atlantic Fleet's DesRon 24 and bolster the 2d and 6th Fleets so that they could spare destroyers for the U.N. effort in Korea. For 2 1/2 years she cruised off the east coast and in the Caribbean, deploying to the Mediterranean from 22 April to 8 October 1952 and 22 April to 6 June 1953.

On 13 January 1954 she again decommissioned and joined the Reserve Fleet at Charleston, S.C. She remained berthed there until 1960, when she was reassigned to the Philadelphia Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet, where she has remained into 1969.

MELVIN received 10 battle stars for World War II service.

 

Interesting, thanks Bill. BTW, I really liked Caddy Shack.

Later

 

Thanks for the great link and the amplifying information Bill and JP. That is very distinguished service the ship and crew provided. I hope they succeed in getting a fighting vessel named for their Captain.

 

I have a book on PT boats that claims the sinking for themselves. I do NOT believe this. The credit belongs to the DesRon groups deployed to each side of the straight. The PT's did participate, but not in the "kill".
Needless to say the hits were to the credit of all involved. A violent manuver to avoid one attack puts you in harms way of another, that may have missed, or your screen may have moved off to engage another attack. Either way the attack against Fuso (and company) was multiple.
Someone has to get the credit for the beancounters, and I'm glad Melvin got it.
If it doesn't matter if you win or lose, how come they keep score!... Vince Lombardi? or Newt Rockney? Still pertinant.

 

Only the Japs were stupid enough to lose a BB to a DD. In the entire Pacific war the lost approx. 5 ships to the Allies' 1. They were like kids who were given toys for grownups. The Japs didnt know what the hell they were doing.

 

With all due respect respect Duck, the Japanese Navy was quite a formidable opponent at the beginning of the war. After all for about the first 6 months they pretty much had their way with anything the US, British, Dutch and Australians threw at them. This was a navy that had already developed the tactic of massing their carriers for strike ops in 1940(3yrs before the Allies). A navy that before the use of radar routinely owned any night engagement they fought through superior torpedos and doctrine. What they could not hope to contend with however was the industrial strength and resources of the Allies. By 1943 the US in particular was cranking out warships at a rate which Japan could never contend with let alone match. Allied industries were producing better radar units all the time and the military was constantly updating its doctrine. The combination of these technilogical advantage along with superior numbers meant the Japanese not only would not win the war but could not win by mid to late 1944.

 

No kidding -- Bill said it all. Japanese torpedoes remained superior to American ones until virtually the end of the war. The Japanese inability to replace losses and technological inferiority finally caught up with them. It was well into 1943 before the United States had a clear advantage.

Duck needs to read a little military history, first!!