USS Moale

	USS Moale
History
United States
Name	Moale
Namesake	Edward Moale, Jr.
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Laid down	5 August 1943
Launched	16 January 1944
Commissioned	28 February 1944
Decommissioned	2 July 1973
Stricken	2 July 1973
Fate	Sold for scrapping
General characteristics
Class and type	Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
Displacement	2,200 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Draft	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45,000 kW);; 2 propellers;
Speed	34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range	6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	336
Armament	6 × 5-inch 38 caliber guns,; 12 × 40 mm AA guns,; 11 × 20 mm AA guns,; 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes,; 6 × depth charge projectors,; 2 × depth charge tracks;

USS Moale (DD-693) was the second Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer of the United States Navy.

Namesake

Edward Moale Jr. was born on 10 September 1866 at

Baltimore, Maryland, from illness contracted during land operations in the Cagayan Valley

(Philippines) swamps in 1899.

Construction and commissioning

Moale was

launched 16 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Edward S. Moale, daughter-in-law of Lieutenant Moale, Jr.; and commissioned in the Brooklyn Navy Yard

28 February 1944.

Service history

World War II

Following a

7th Fleet

.

Joining

LSTs of the landing force. At least one plane was shot down by Moale's gunners, but two ships were hit. Moale went alongside LST-738

to assist fighting the resulting fire, suffering damage, but the LST had to be abandoned and sunk. Moale suffered one fatality and thirteen wounded. Moale picked up 88 survivors from LST-738 including the ship's captain.

Moale set sail for

Fast Carrier Forces, now designated TF 58. On 10 February, the force sortied from Ulithi and on 16–17 February, strikes were conducted against the enemy's capital to prevent aid from being sent to the Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima. Two ships of DesRon 60, Barton and Ingraham, were damaged when they collided on 16 February and on 17 February Moale was detached to escort them back to Saipan. While en route, Moale assisted in the sinking of an enemy armed merchantman and a small coastal vessel. Ordered back on 18 February, she rendezvoused with TG 58.4 on 19 February and, on 21 February, screened the carriers as they provided air cover for the marines' on Iwo Jima

.

Having sustained extensive damage to her deck and No. 1 mount during heavy seas with 40-foot (12 m) swells, Moale departed the

minesweepers in Operation Juneau. At the end of the month, Moale once again anchored in San Pedro Bay, Leyte. There, on 15 August, she received word of the Japanese surrender. On 20 August, she sailed to rendezvous with TG 38.4 off the coast of Japan, and for the next month she steamed off that coast, serving as a weather ship and air route radio beacon. On 27 September she departed Tokyo Bay, proceeding, via Guam

, to the west coast and peacetime duty.

1945–1973

Following the end of World War II the assignments of Moale were varied. She had the honor of escorting the first ship bearing war dead back to the United States. Moale remained in operation off the west coast until 21 May 1946, when she sailed for

UN forces off the coast of Korea

. During June and July, she operated with TF 77 and TF 95, remaining after the truce as a unit of the security patrol.

From 1954, into 1969, Moale's employment schedule included operations in the Atlantic,

Battle Efficiency "E" Award

for Destroyer Squadron 10. Moale concluded her service as part of the Reserve Destroyer Squadron 302 based at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.

Moale was decommissioned on 2 July 1973.