USS Mertz

History
United States
Name	Mertz
Laid down	10 May 1943
Launched	11 September 1943
Commissioned	19 November 1943
Decommissioned	23 April 1946
Stricken	1 October 1970
Honours and; awards	10 Battle Stars
Fate	Sold 16 December 1971, scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement	2,050 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.09 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.41 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45,000 kW); 2 propellers
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
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 Mertz (DD-691) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1972.

Namesake

Albert Mertz was born on 26 March 1851 in

Naval Home, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 25 March. He retired on 26 March 1913 and died at San Diego, California

on 21 July 1936.

Construction and commissioning

Mertz was

Charlestown, Massachusetts

on 19 November 1943.

Service history

Arrival in the Pacific

After shakedown off

Majuro Atoll 6 days later. Mertz sailed on 22 March to join TG 58.2 and on 26 March and act as escort back to Majuro. En route on 31 March, she caught a Japanese maru at 0600 in the glare of her searchlights. The enemy merchant ship maneuvered to get away, only to go down under the hail of 5-inch (127 mm) projectiles from Mertz. The task group reached Majuro 6 April. Five days later Mertz steamed for the New Hebrides as a screen for the escort carrier Barnes, arriving at Espiritu Santo

on 15 April.

In mid-May, the destroyer returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the

Saipan

on 14 June, pounding gun emplacements in the daytime and at night maintaining illumination over the enemy lines until 22 June, when she began screening convoys.

Peleliu and Angaur

Mertz participated in the

Leyte, Philippines

.

Philippines campaign

On 20 October, D-Day for the Leyte landing forces, Mertz escorted

Zero

at several hundred yards with heavy machinegun fire.

With the Leyte beachhead established, the destroyer got underway 26 October for

Ki-43 ("Oscar") 15 December and assisted in the destruction of several others. Departing San Pedro Bay 4 January 1945, she made another voyage through the Sulu Sea, to support the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf

on 9 January before returning to San Pedro Bay on 16 January.

Attacks on Japan

On 10 February, Mertz steamed from

Kyūshū, Japan, in March, she downed two more enemy planes. While operating off Okinawa Mertz helped sink the I-56 on 18 April.^[1] The destroyer retired to Ulithi 14 May, before returning to Okinawa on 24 May. She next steamed to Okino Daito Jima

which she bombarded on 9 June. The next day, she got underway for Leyte Gulf, anchoring at San Pedro Bay 13 June.

As part of

Aleutians. The destroyer arrived at Adak

14 August, the day of Japan's capitulation.

End of World War II and fate

Mertz's first and only peacetime duty came 31 August, when she departed Adak for Japan, arriving

Hokkaidō

area. On 15 September the destroyer departed Ominato Harbor for the west coast, arriving San Francisco on 30 September.

On 1 December, Mertz steamed to San Diego, where she decommissioned 23 April 1946 and entered the

Pacific Reserve Fleet. She was reassigned to the Long Beach, California, group 1 July 1951 and the Stockton, California

, group 1 January 1959. Mertz was finally sold for scrap on 16 December 1971.

Awards

Mertz received 10

battle stars

for World War II service.

References

^ Fitzsimons, Bernard, general editor. Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare (Phoebus, 1978), Vol 13, p.1409, "I54". He mistakenly identifies I-56 as I-58, however.

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

External links

[1] Fitzsimons, Bernard, general editor. Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare (Phoebus, 1978), Vol 13, p.1409, "I54". He mistakenly identifies I-56 as I-58, however.

[1]