USS Isherwood (DD-520)

History
United States
Namesake	Benjamin F. Isherwood
Builder	Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, Staten Island
Laid down	12 May 1942
Launched	24 November 1942
Commissioned	12 April 1943
Decommissioned	11 September 1961
Stricken	15 January 1974
Fate	Loaned to Peru, 8 October 1961
Peru
Name	Almirante Guise (DD-72)
Acquired	8 October 1961
Stricken	1981
Fate	Scrapped in 1981
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 nmi. (12,000 km) at 15 kt
Complement	336
Armament	5 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns; 5 × twin AA guns; 7 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns; 2 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 × single depth charge throwers; 2 × depth charge racks;

USS Isherwood (DD-520), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Isherwood (1822–1915).

Isherwood was

New York Navy Yard

.

The new destroyer conducted her shakedown training in

Spitzbergen for German battleship Tirpitz. Sailing 14 September, the destroyer returned to Boston with a convoy

29 September 1943.

Isherwood was subsequently reassigned to the

Kurile Islands

, finally arriving San Francisco for repairs 15 August 1944.

Philippines invasion

Isherwood sailed for Pearl Harbor 26 August 1944 to take part in the long-awaited invasion of the

Battle for Leyte Gulf 23–26 October, in which the Japanese

surface fleet was all but annihilated. During November the ship escorted convoys from advance bases to the Philippines in support of the buildup there.

The next major invasion of the Philippines campaign was to be at

Leyte to Lingayen, the transport groups and carrier task groups were attacked incessantly by kamikazes, but even these desperate attacks could not stop the invasion. Isherwood shot down at least one suicide plane and assisted in splashing others before arriving the assault area 9 January 1945. She screened a landing craft group during the landing, sailing for Leyte with a returning group 11 January. During the last days of the month, specifically 29 and 30 January, the ship returned to Luzon to support the unopposed landings at San Antonio and Subic Bay, as ground units moved on Manila

. Isherwood remained in the Philippines providing antisubmarine protection and patrolling until mid-March.

Okinawa invasion

Isherwood sailed for the

Ie Shima

. That afternoon she took over Laffey's duties as fighter director ship on picket station.

The days that followed found Isherwood in numerous heavy air raids, as the Japanese made a desperate attempt to drive off the invasion fleet with suicide planes. While on station 22 April a kamikaze made a dusk attack on the destroyer and crashed No. 3 gun mount. One veteran described the kamikaze pilot as: "a jockey riding in on a horse." Many fires were started by the

D3A1 "Val" dive bomber and his 500-pound bomb, but all were quickly extinguished except the one in the depth charge

rack aft. After 25 minutes of dangerous fire-fighting, the charge exploded, causing great damage in the after engine room. Isherwood arrived Kerama Retto with over 80 men killed, wounded, or missing.

After the war

Isherwood arrived

Atlantic Reserve Fleet

.

Isherwood recommissioned at Charleston 5 April 1951, and after shakedown and training in the

Mediterranean

, departing 22 April 1952, and, for the next 6 months, visited various ports supporting the important peace-keeping operations of the fleet. She returned to her home port 17 October 1952.

Isherwood made another 6th Fleet cruise 22 April – 26 October 1953, after which she took part in maneuvers and plane guard duty off the East Coast. In June 1954 the ship underwent refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay, and sailed from Newport 30 November 1954 to join the

Pacific Fleet

.

The veteran ship arrived

7th Fleet operations ended in June and she arrived San Diego the 19th for additional training and readiness steaming. 1956, however, brought Isherwood back to these troubled waters, as she spent the period January–July on operations off Taiwan, Malaya, and Japan

.

The destroyer returned to the Far East in 1957, making stops in Sydney, Perth and Darwin, Australia with the three other destroyers of DesDiv 211, DesRon 21. This was the first US Navy visit to an Australian port, and the country welcomed the ships by opening a national park in Sidney, commemorating the Battle of Coral Sea.

During the 1958, she steamed off Taiwan during the tense

Communist China. The ship returned to her home port of San Diego on 7 December 1958, and spent the first 6 months of 1959 on maneuvers and training exercises after refitting in Mare Island (Vallejo) Navy Yard. Isherwood then sailed for her fifth 7th Fleet cruise 1 August 1959. During the next months she operated with carrier Lexington (CV-16) in the South China Sea, helping to limit the fighting in Laos and lending strength to United Nations

efforts to find a solution. After additional flight operations and fleet exercises, the ship sailed for San Diego 29 November 1959.

In 1960 Isherwood took part in training operations, including a summer

midshipmen

training cruise, until sailing again for 7th Fleet duty 18 October. She served on Taiwan Patrol and took part in an amphibious exercise on Okinawa before arriving San Diego 27 March 1961.

Isherwood engaged in training off California until decommissioning 11 September 1961.