launched on 20 December 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Charles Sumner Moore; and commissioned
on 4 June 1942.
1942
From June until September 1942, Tillman underwent sea trials and
United States East Coast. In September and October, the new destroyer escorted convoys and participated in exercises on the Eastern Sea Frontier before getting underway on 23 October from the Chesapeake Bay with a convoy bound for Operation Torch
.
Shortly before midnight on 7 November, Tillman reached a point some 6
5-inch (127 mm)
guns, the patrol vessel exploded and beached herself. Tillman later captured three French merchant ships.
(63 km/h; 39 mph), Tillman fired on the French ships, leaving one vessel steaming in circles, before she returned to her station off the transport area. On 12 November, Tillman departed the area escorting a convoy which weathered 50-to-60-foot (15 to 18 m) seas before arriving safely at New York on 1 December 1942.
1943
Tillman continued convoy duty in the wintry Atlantic and then participated in exercises off Casco Bay, Maine. Departing New York Harbor in the early hours of 8 February 1943, a dark night with unusually strong tides, Tillman sideswiped the paravane boom of an improperly illuminated merchant vessel anchored directly in the channel. After repairs at New York, Tillman operated on the Eastern Sea Frontier in February and March 1943, performing escort duties and participating in exercises. In the spring of 1943, Tillman protected convoys in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
On 6 July 1943, Tillman screened the sortie from
landing troops and supporting ships. Fear of hitting troops on the beaches forced the Allied
ships to withhold their fire when aiming at the low-flying planes.
During the night of 10–11 July, Tillman patrolled off the invasion beaches. On 11 July, she repelled enemy aerial bombing attacks and supplied fire missions called in by shore observers. On 16 July, Tillman returned to Oran to guard returning transports.
During the remainder of 1943, Tillman escorted convoys in
torpedo plane. Patchy haze limited visibility to 2,000 yards (1,800 m) when the plane, incorrectly identified as friendly, dropped torpedoes. Quick maneuvering saved Tillman from destruction by the torpedo which crossed about 30 yards (27 m) ahead and passed down her port side trailing a sinister wake. During the same attack, the destroyer Kendrick was damaged by a German torpedo. Two days later, the convoy arrived at Bizerte, but the illusion of safety in port was dispelled on 6 September 1943 by a 30-minute air attack on the harbor. Tillman engaged the attackers with her main battery and machine guns
. Thirteen members of her crew were injured when a spent shell exploded on the deck of the ship.
On 6 November 1943, as she steamed off the coast of
Dornier 217 singled out Tillman as the target of her glide bomb. The radio-controlled missile came in at a terrific speed, but Tillman's machine guns splashed it in a violent explosion only 150 yards (140 m) off the destroyer's port bow. Soon after, a second glide bomb intended for Tillman's destruction splashed and exploded, again only 160 yards (150 m) away, as Tillman shot down its launching plane. A third glide bomb splashed off the ship's starboard beam as its parent craft turned back in the face of Tillman's concerted fire. During this first stage of the attack, Tillman maneuvered constantly and rapidly to evade the glide bombs. Her own safety temporarily secured, Tillman then turned her guns on planes attacking the convoy and splashed another attacker. Soon, the final and fiercest phase of the attack began as five German planes attacked Tillman. As her main battery engaged the raiders, Tillman turned left full rudder to evade torpedoes, two of which passed nearly parallel to the ship at distances of 60 and 100 feet (18 and 30 m). Moments later, as Tillman swung to port to regain her station, a heavy explosion shook the ship. This detonation, thought to have been caused by a torpedo exploding in the destroyer's wake, caused her no serious damage, and she turned to the task of rescuing survivors from the sinking merchant freighter SS Santa Elena. She then proceeded to Philippeville
to disembark the survivors.
1944 – 1946
Japanese approaching Tillman in preparation for the surrendering of Yap IslandJapanese atoll commander on Tillman for the surrendering of Yap Island
During December 1943 and throughout 1944, Tillman escorted convoys between ports in the United States, the Mediterranean, and the
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This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
