USS Ammen (DD-527)
_underway_off_Leyte_in_October_1944.jpg) USS Ammen (DD-527) underway off Leyte, 20–24 October 1944
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | Daniel Ammen |
| Builder | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Francisco, California |
| Laid down | 29 November 1941 |
| Launched | 17 September 1942 |
| Commissioned | 20 March 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 15 September 1960 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1960 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 20 April 1961 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Fletcher-class destroyer |
| Displacement | 2,050 tons |
| Length | 376 ft 6 in (114.7 m) |
| Beam | 39 ft 8 in (12.1 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft 9 in (5.4 m) |
| Propulsion | 60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers |
| Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
| Range | 6500 nm at 15 kn (12,000 km at 28 km/h) |
| Complement | 336 |
| Armament |
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USS Ammen (DD-527), a
Construction and commissioning
Ammen was laid down on 29 November 1941 at
Service history
Alaska, March–November 1943
Ammen put to sea on 30 March bound for
At the conclusion of her part in the operation, Ammen headed back to California, arriving in San Diego on 31 May. The destroyer underwent two weeks of repairs at San Diego and then moved north to San Francisco where she resumed post-shakedown availability. On 11 July, she departed San Francisco in the screen of another
New Guinea, November 1943 – September 1944
On 26 November, Ammen left Adak bound for the southwestern Pacific. She made a five-day stop at Pearl Harbor before resuming her voyage on 9 December. Steaming by way of
. In addition to providing antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection for the larger ships, she transported casualties from the battle ashore and conducted shore bombardments.In February, the destroyer visited Sydney, Australia, returning to the New Guinea area at Milne Bay on 22 February. A week later, Ammen put to sea in the screen of an LST task unit, the first resupply echelon for the reconnaissance in force of Los Negros Island that burgeoned into the occupation of the Admiralty Islands. During the first half of March, Ammen busied herself providing gunfire support for the soldiers securing a hold on Los Negros and fighting off air attacks. Between 17 and 19 March, she joined Beale, Daly, Hutchins, and Mullany in a fruitless anti-shipping sweep along the coast of New Guinea near enemy-held Wewak.
After several weeks of upkeep at Milne Bay and training exercises in that vicinity, Ammen put to sea once again on 18 April in company with Rear Admiral Crutchley's
After a respite at Manus, Ammen departed
On 30 June, the warship put to sea in the screen of the bombardment force assigned to the seizure of
On 26 August, Ammen headed back to the combat zone. Steaming by way of Milne Bay, New Guinea, she arrived in Seeadler Harbor, Manus, on 1 September. The destroyer spent the first 10 days of September engaged in drills and upkeep at Manus. On the 11th, she got underway for Morotai and another uncontested landing. The warship spent only two days at Morotai before returning to Seeadler Harbor via Mios Woendi.
Philippines, October–December 1944
Ammen remained at Manus from 29 September until 11 October. On the latter day, she put to sea on a circuitous voyage bound ultimately for the invasion of the
Her duties with respect to the flagship kept Ammen out of both the surface actions launched by the Japanese to contest the invasion of Leyte. By the time she was detached to join TG 77.3 on the afternoon of 25 October to guard the eastern entrance to Leyte Gulf, the Japanese had shot their bolt. The forces that had tried to charge through
Though the major Japanese effort to disrupt the Leyte landings had been foiled, it was not immediately apparent. As a consequence, Ammen served with several defensive formations on an ad hoc basis. As already stated, she joined TG 77.3 on the afternoon of 25 October to help guard the eastern entrance to Leyte Gulf. That assignment lasted until the early morning hours of the 27th when she transferred to TG 77.4, the escort carrier group that had been mauled off
Rebuffed on the surface, the Japanese resorted to an aerial blitz. Ammen spent the first 16 days of November helping to ward off enemy aircraft. On the very first day, 1 November, a burning Yokosuka P1Y "Frances" twin-engine bomber struck Ammen 15 feet from the bridge crew taking off a searchlight and two stacks. The plane caromed off the ship into the sea but caused considerable topside damage and inflicted 26 casualties, including five dead. Ammen, however, carried on with her duties and claimed a number of hits and two probable kills in the aerial onslaught over the following two weeks. On 16 November, the warship laid in a course for the Admiralty Islands. She entered Seeadler Harbor on 21 November and spent the next nine days preparing for the voyage back to the United States. On 30 November, Ammen departed Manus and pointed her bow east toward the United States. After stops at Majuro and Pearl Harbor, she arrived in San Francisco on 21 December.
Okinawa, March–June 1945
Repairs to her battle damage carried out at the
On 27 March, she stood out of Leyte Gulf with TF 55, the Southern Attack Force, bound for the assault on
Her return to Okinawa on 20 April marked the beginning of Ammen's service on various of the
Following patrol duty on the 26th and 27th, she took over support ship duties from
While snoopers probed the area throughout the night, none approached nearer than three or four miles, and no new attacks developed until the following night. Just before 02:00 on 30 April, a group of between six and eight bogies appeared on Ammen's radar screen headed directly for her station. The destroyer opened fire about five minutes after the contacts were made. Smart ship handling caused the first two suiciders to overshoot Ammen and splash into the sea fairly close aboard to port. Bennion suffered additional minor damage when the third kamikaze struck another glancing blow to her fantail. Ammen received the attention of the fourth member of the group, but he, too, went into the sea. The two destroyers then combined forces to knock the fifth intruder out of the sky with antiaircraft fire. The sixth bandit went into the sea about three or four miles off to starboard. The final plane in the group fell before the guns of an American night fighter.
Relative quiet returned to her station during the daylight hours of the 30th and the following night. Not long before noon on 1 May, Ammen, relieved by Ingraham, headed for Hagushi anchorage to receive on board a fighter director team along with its equipment. After refueling and replenishing at Kerama Retto, the destroyer headed for radar picket station 9 during the evening of 3 May. She remained on station until the 9th, directing combat air patrol (CAP) fighters put to meet sporadic raids of one, two, and three planes. Relieved by William D. Porter on the morning of 9 May, Ammen replenished at Kerama Retto that day and then moved on to Hagushi anchorage on the 10th. While at Hagushi, the destroyer opened fire briefly on the evening of 12 May at an "Oscar" and a Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo." Both planes attempted suicide dives on New Mexico. The "Oscar" overshot the mark, but the "Tojo" struck New Mexico amidships.
On 13 May, Ammen returned to radar picket duty, relieving Lowry as fighter director on station 16 about 50 miles west northwest of the peninsula on Okinawa known as Zampa Misaki. Over the next six days, the destroyer directed her CAP fighters out to meet a number of raids, but she, herself, fought no engagements with enemy aircraft. On the 18th, Ammen stood down and headed back to Hagushi. On the 19th, she put into Kerama Retto for repairs alongside Hamul until the 22d. After two days back at Hagushi, the destroyer resumed duty with the radar pickets in the afternoon of 24 May.
Her return coincided with the seventh of Japan's 10 kikusui attacks on Okinawa shipping. The onslaught had begun the previous evening but had subsided somewhat during the daylight hours of the 24th when Ammen resumed duty as a fighter director. Just before 2000, the Japanese renewed their attacks with increasing intensity. The first six raids she detected posed no real threat to Ammen and her colleagues at radar picket station 15. The seventh raid closed to within five miles of her station but kept its distance in face of antiaircraft fire from Ammen's consorts. From that time until about 0300 on the 25th, aircraft flew back and forth over station 15. The warships assigned there let fly with their antiaircraft batteries whenever enemy planes approached.
Throughout the night of 24–25 May, no Japanese aviator made a really determined attack on radar picket station 15. In fact, Ammen's radar screen remained clear of bogies during the morning watch of 25 May. Half an hour into the forenoon watch, however, things began to warm up. She detected a group of enemy planes approaching from the north about 40 miles distant. The destroyer dispatched her CAP fighters to meet the enemy, and they bagged two Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo" Army fighters and two Kawasaki Ki-61 "Tony" Army fighters. Unfortunately, a fifth plane-another "Tojo"-slipped through and, a little after 0900, began a suicide dive, apparently at Ammen. The destroyer opened fire, but the kamikaze maintained his course and gathered speed. Instead of striking Ammen, though, he passed along her length and did a wingover into Stormes crashing her after torpedo mount. Though battered, Stormes remained afloat and, after repairs, continued in active service for almost three decades.
Relative peace returned to radar picket station 15 that night, and continued until early on 27 May when the Japanese launched their eighth kikusui attack-the last in which 100 or more planes were involved. Attacks on other stations began as early as the end of the morning watch. Ammen made no contact with the enemy until about 1730 when she detected an enemy formation approaching Okinawa from the north. No bogies closed her station until after 2000 hours; but, between 2030 and 0200, she and Boyd fought off eight coordinated air attacks and sustained no damage in the effort. By 0330, the radar screen showed the skies to be clear of bogies within an eight-mile radius of Ammen. Forty minutes later, the destroyer headed via Hagushi anchorage to Kerama Retto to refuel and replenish.
Ammen served on radar picket duty for another four weeks. During that time Japanese air activity began to diminish rapidly. The enemy made two more kikusui efforts, both mere shadows of the murderous affairs of April and May but still lethal nonetheless. Enemy planes still ventured within range of her guns and fell victim to them. Efficient American air power directed by radar picket destroyers such as Ammen, however, generally caught them and knocked them out of the air at some distance from the ships around Okinawa. The warship completed her last tour of duty as a radar picket on 23 June. After taking on fuel at Kerama Retto the following morning, she put to sea in company with several other destroyers on their way to Leyte in the Philippines.
June 1945 – April 1946
Ammen arrived at Leyte on 27 June and began a fortnight of recreation and upkeep. On 13 July, she got underway from Leyte with TF 95, built around
Following the cessation of hostilities in mid-August, Ammen operated in the Ryukyu Islands until the end of the first week in September. On 7 September, she departed Okinawa on her way to Japan proper, arriving at
1951–1960
The outbreak of war in
On 26 August 1952, Ammen stood out of Newport bound for her first tour of duty in European waters. She cruised in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet until early 1953, participating in various training operations and showing the flag in ports on the European, North African, and Middle Eastern coasts of the Mediterranean. The destroyer returned to Newport in February 1953 and operated with the 2d Fleet until August. On 10 August 1953, she departed Boston for the Far East. The warship served with the 7th Fleet, frequently in waters adjacent to the Korean peninsula, through the end of the year. Ammen concluded her tour of duty in the Orient on 14 January 1954. Making the westward voyage by way of the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, she arrived in Newport on 10 March. In April, the warship entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for regular overhaul. She completed repairs early that summer and then conducted refresher training in the West Indies in August and September.
That fall,
After her return to San Diego on 19 June 1955, the warship took up normal 1st Fleet operations, conducting type training and participating in fleet exercises in the eastern Pacific. That employment occupied her through January 1956. On 7 February of that year, Ammen left San Diego again on her way to the Far East. That deployment lasted until late July when she headed back to the west coast of the United States. The destroyer reached San Diego on 11 August and, on the 30th, began a three-month overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard near San Francisco. She returned to San Diego and to active service on 7 December.
On 16 April 1957, Ammen stood out of San Diego bound for another tour of duty with the 7th Fleet in the Far East. En route, she took quite a detour, steaming via Suva in the Fiji Islands to Melbourne, Australia, to participate in the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the Allied victory in the Battle of the Coral Sea. After the commemoration, Ammen headed north via Manus in the Admiralty Islands and Guam to Yokosuka where she arrived on 1 June. A little less than four months later she concluded her assignment with the 7th Fleet and stood out of Yokosuka on 29 September to return to the United States.
Ammen arrived back in San Diego on 14 October and, after post-deployment stand down, resumed normal 1st Fleet operations along the California coast. She remained so occupied until late June 1958. On the 25th, the destroyer got underway again for the western Pacific. She arrived in Yokosuka on 13 July to begin five months of duty with the 7th Fleet. In a deployment plagued by engineering casualties, Ammen still managed extended service at sea with the fast carriers of TF 77 and on the Taiwan Strait patrol. On 6 December, she departed Yokosuka to return to San Diego. Ammen steamed into San Diego on 18 December and remained there exactly 10 weeks completing the usual post-deployment and holiday leave and upkeep period and preparing for regular overhaul.
At the end of February 1959, the destroyer began her overhaul at San Francisco. Repairs complete, she resumed active duty late in June. In mid-August, Ammen departed San Diego for operations between Pearl Harbor and Guam. At the end of September, she returned briefly to the California coast at Long Beach. Early in October, the destroyer embarked upon the final western Pacific deployment of her career. She returned to the west coast from that tour of duty early in 1960. Later that spring the warship began preparations for inactivation.
On 19 July 1960, while making the transit between Seal Beach and San Diego for decommissioning, Ammen was struck by
Honors
Ammen earned eight
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
