USS Laws

History
United States
Name	USS Laws
Namesake	Alexander Laws
Builder	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	19 May 1942
Launched	22 April 1943
Commissioned	18 November 1943
Decommissioned	30 March 1964
Stricken	15 April 1973
Fate	Sold for scrap, 3 December 1973
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) @ 15 kt
Complement	273
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 Laws (DD-558), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy.

Laws was laid down on 19 May 1942 by

on 18 November 1943.

Naming

The ship was named for Alexander Laws, who served in the Navy during the

harbor and put her to the torch.

On 16 February 1804, Decatur laid his command, the

Decatur's force of 70 volunteers suffered only one man wounded in taking the ship to begin her destruction by fire.

After a stint of detached service in

Mediterranean

service, he was furloughed to the merchant service on 15 August 1806. Ultimately appointed lieutenant on 8 January 1807, he resigned his commission, such being accepted on 13 April 1807.

1944

After shakedown, Laws departed San Francisco on 11 February 1944, joining the advance forces at

operation.

After a brief respite at

. Two days later, enemy planes made a vain attempt to penetrate the screen and find the carriers. Laws' 5 inch guns threw up a deadly barrage of antiaircraft fire, splashing two enemy planes and assisting in the downing of another. The destroyer remained in the Saipan area on patrol and screening duty until mid-August.

Additional bases were needed as staging areas for ships and aircraft during the planned

, Laws, and three other destroyers were sent to intercept the group.

The carrier aircraft had already started to attack when the cruiser-destroyer force arrived on the scene. The enemy proved no match for the Americans, as Laws and her sister ships launched a coordinated attack, wiping out the convoy. Laws continued screening carriers until arriving at Ulithi on 1 October.

At sea again on 6 October, she joined the carriers as they struck

to the home islands, the Japanese could be expected to strike back at the invasion with their entire fleet.

Planes from Carrier

Jisaburo Ozawa

's force toward mid-afternoon, Laws raced north with the carriers to intercept. Reaching striking range during the early hours next morning and shortly after dawn, the carriers launched planes to begin a day-long pounding that sank four carriers and a destroyer.

Meanwhile, the Japanese suffered other crippling defeats at

, reflected after the close of hostilities "...defeat at Leyte was tantamount to the loss of the Philippines. When you took the Philippines, that was the end of our resources."

1945

Laws continued to screen the carriers as they conducted strikes against Japanese forces on Leyte and Luzon for the rest of the year. Sailing with the carriers late in December, she supported the amphibious assault on Luzon on 6 January 1945. Bringing destruction closer to Tokyo, her task group next concentrated raids on the China coast and Formosa before replenishing at Ulithi.

Departing 10 February, Laws joined a destroyer radar picket unit set up to give the carrier forces early warning of enemy attacks. On the 19th, she screened the flattops as they struck Iwo Jima, a volcanic island fortress needed for a B-29 airstrip. After supporting the invasion campaign until success was assured, Laws retired to Ulithi on 12 March.

Preparations for the

as it made its way toward the fleet. The destroyer remained off Okinawa until the island was declared secure, and continued operations in its vicinity for the rest of the war.

With the cessation of hostilities with Japan's surrender, Laws departed Ulithi on 7 September, and arrived

, where she remained until decommissioning on 10 December 1946.

1951 – 1964

When the need arose for additional ships to support the

. During January 1953 the destroyer remained off the coast to screen carriers engaged in raids on the peninsula.

On 19 February, Laws proceeded independently to Nando Island, where she bombarded the shore, supporting the ROK 15th Division by silencing two enemy shore emplacements on 6 March. She continued operations in support of American forces in Korea until late May when she sailed to patrol off Formosa. Laws completed her Far East tour early in July and arrived at San Diego on 20 July.

Operating on a tactical training schedule for the next seven months, the destroyer departed on her second

. Laws returned to San Diego on 12 September and resumed training operations off the west coast for the rest of the year. From 1955 through 1957 Laws made annual cruises to the Far East to operate with the Seventh Fleet, including Taiwan patrol and training exercises.

On 1 July 1958, Laws was assigned to Reserve Escort Division 12 and commenced service as a training ship. She continued reserve cruises along the coast from Mazatlán, Mexico, to Canada until 2 February 1962 when she sailed on another WestPac cruise. While in the Far East, Laws exercised with the Korean and Nationalist Chinese Navy and remained on the alert during the Laotian crisis.

Fate

Returning San Francisco on 17 July 1962, the destroyer resumed operations as a Naval Reserve training ship and continued in this capacity until she was decommissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, on 30 March 1964. She was assigned to Reserve Destroyer Division 271, Mare Island Group, on 1 April 1964.

Laws was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 April 1973, and was sold to American Ship Dismantlers, Inc., of Portland, Oregon, on 3 December 1973. She was transferred to the buyer on 28 December 1973 to be broken up for scrap.

Honors

Laws received nine

service.

USS Laws can be seen briefly in TV's Kraft Suspense Theatre episode: "Streetcar, do you Read Me?" as position ship alpha.

Notable crew members

• John W. Young - Astronaut, one of 12 to walk on the Moon - served as Fire Control Officer on the USS Laws until June 1953 - completed a tour in the Korean Seas

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• navsource.org: USS Laws
• hazegray.org: USS Laws
• Destroyers Online — USS Laws Archived 2016-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Life on a Destroyer Archived 2005-02-05 at the Wayback Machine by Melvin Breyfogle, a former crew member of Laws
• Korean War Project USS Laws Web Site