USS Trathen
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Trathen |
Namesake | James Trathen |
Builder | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Francisco, California |
Laid down | 17 March 1942 |
Launched | 22 October 1942 |
Commissioned |
|
Stricken | 1 November 1972 |
Fate | Used as target hulk November 1973, scrapped |
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 |
|
USS Trathen (DD-530) was a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and 1951 to 1965.
History
World War II
Trathen was named after
1943
Following training operations in the
With Baker secure and the priceless airfield constructed and ready for use by 11 September, Trathen headed for Hawaii. On 29 September, the ship commenced screening operations for Task Group (TG) 14.5, as it sortied from Pearl Harbor, bound for Wake Island. Under the command of Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery, this fast carrier task force—the largest yet assembled—consisted of Essex (CV-9), Yorktown (CV-10), Lexington (CV-16), Cowpens (CVL-25), Independence (CVL-22), and Belleau Wood. On 5 and 6 October, Montgomery's planes made six strikes, flying 738 combat sorties while battleships and cruisers provided their heavy gunfire for further harassment of the Japanese-held island. Despite a cracked high-pressure turbine casing, Trathen retired with the task force back toward the Hawaiian Islands and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 11th.
Temporary patching at Pearl Harbor permitted the destroyer to proceed to
After pressing on to
1944
Trathen conducted gunnery exercises in the Hawaiian area before departing Pearl Harbor on 23 January, bound for the Marshall Islands.
Entering
Trathen continued to provide gunfire support until the Kwajalein operations ended on 7 February. The destroyer headed for Majuro on the 8th and arrived there the next day. On the 10th, Trathen returned to Kwajalein to conduct antisubmarine patrols.
Trathen next formed up with
Too late for a radical change of plans, Indianapolis and near-sister Portland (CA-33), accompanied by Trathen and Hoel (DD-533), stationed themselves on the flanks of the LCI(G)'s, with waves of LVT's in the middle. Trathen screened the former cruiser while Hoel drew the latter, and the ships joined the gunboats (LCI(G)) in firing on the island.
Eniwetok soon fell to the mailed fist of American land and sea power. Trathen furnished fire support intermittently until the 29th of the month and thereafter remained at Eniwetok until 4 March when she headed for Majuro for a tender availability. Then, following exercises at Purvis Bay in the Solomon Islands and patrol duty between the Emirau and New Hanover Islands, Trathen subsequently joined the 7th Fleet on 3 May.
The destroyer departed
The next target on the Navy's timetable, this island—the largest of the
At 1100, four Japanese fighters made half-hearted passes over the airstrips on Biak. Two fighter-bombers came over late in the afternoon shortly thereafter followed by four twin-engined planes—three of which were destroyed by antiaircraft fire. The fourth was damaged. Trathen remained on patrol station off the Schoetens until 31 May, when she retired to
The Japanese' first reinforcement attempt towards Biak had been detected, and the Nipponese had turned back. On 3 June, as the enemy was retreating, TF 74 and 75 received orders to go after the fleeing Japanese. At 23:18 on 3 June, Trathen got underway with the other units of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 48 and gave chase. The next day, 10 Japanese Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers tried to pounce on the American force but were driven off. On the 5th, Japanese torpedo bombers attacked American forces, and one of them fell to Trathen's heavy antiaircraft fire.
Subsequently, the enemy launched a second effort aimed at reinforcing their beleaguered outpost on Biak. Six Japanese destroyers—three with troops embarked and three towing landing barges—joined cruisers
Unaware of Sakonju's position, Crutchley decided to commence a sweep parallel to the coast of Biak. About 2200 on the night of 8 June, a PB4Y bomber on night patrol, detected the Nipponese force and reported five unidentified ships making 12 knots in the direction of Crutchley's cruisers and destroyers. Deploying for battle on a northerly course, the British Admiral ordered his ships to general quarters. The Japanese simultaneously detected the American's presence and turned to fire torpedo spreads before retiring.
Trathen, in DesDiv 48, followed astern of DesDivs 42 and 47, under orders from Crutchley to pursue the fleeing enemy. Then, while the two divisions charged ahead on the heels of the retreating Nipponese, Trathen and her division mates fell back on orders to screen Crutchley's cruisers.
The American force never caught up with the enemy and returned to
Recreation and availability at
With the dissolution of her task, the destroyer headed for Manus and arrived there on 2 October. Next assigned to TG 77.4, Trathen set her course towards
Again on the 24th, Japanese aircraft harassed the ships of the invasion force, and the alert combat air patrol (CAP) downed two more of the enemy. Trathen retired to Manus early in November but returned to Leyte Gulf on the 16th for patrols in Surigao Strait. Relieving Sigourney (DD-643) on the 19th, Trathen remained in the Philippines until the 23d when she headed to the Western Carolines. After sinking a medium barge with 5-inch and 40-millimeter fire en route, she reached Ulithi on 25 November.
Exercises off Ulithi occupied the ship from 30 November to 29 December before Trathen joined TG 38.2 on 5 January 1945. She served as plane guard and screening vessel for this group and TG 38.5 through the end of the month. The former group participated in preinvasion strikes on the island of
1945
After leaving the South China Sea through the
Following the strikes on Okinawa, Trathen got underway from Ulithi on 10 February to support carrier operations between Iwo Jima and the Japanese home islands. Six days later, TF 58 commenced the first strikes against Tokyo launched from 150 miles south east of the Imperial city. After a night retirement, the group conducted further strikes the next day. With the landings at Iwo Jima, Trathen arrived in the vicinity on the 20th and screened the carriers as they conducted air strikes for the next four days supporting the American marines fighting for that fanatically defended island.
The force swept north with Trathen in its screen and arrived at a point off Tokyo at dawn on the 25th to launch strikes to hit the Japanese capital again. That night, the carriers steamed in the direction of Nagoya, but heavy weather cancelled the strikes scheduled to be launched against that industrial city on the 26th. While in Japanese waters, Trathen and her division mates sighted a number of floating mines. The destroyer herself sank one with gun fire on 27 February.
Following availability at Ulithi, Trathen returned to the "front lines" on 14 March, rendezvousing with TG 58.4 in preparations for air strikes on the Japanese home islands and on Okinawa. Temporarily detached to pick up a downed pilot, the destroyer rejoined the group as it plowed on towards Japan. She later sank several more floating mines while screening the carriers against air attacks. Slashing through CAP and antiaircraft fire, some kamikazes managed to crash into their targets and give their lives for the Emperor. Antiaircraft fire from Trathen's group accounted for five of the winged marauders, but one hit Intrepid (CV-11) on 18 March.
Nine days later, Trathen, in company with battle cruisers Guam (CB-2) and Alaska (CB-1), cruisers Flint (CL-97) and San Diego (CL-53) and four other destroyers left the carriers to bombard Minamidaitōjima. All ships shelled the target area with impunity. The battlecruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers rejoined the carriers on 28 March and resumed their screening duties.
In the months that followed, American forces—aided by the small British Far East Fleet—continued hammering at the Japanese homeland with air strikes and bombardments by surface ships. On 11 April, still attached to TF 58, Trathen hammered away at attacking Japanese planes with her antiaircraft batteries. During the third raid that day, a 5-inch shell from a "friendly" ship hit the destroyer near her number five 5-inch mount handling room. It killed three men, wounded 21, and rendered the after mount inoperative.
Tender availability soon made good the damage, and Trathen returned to the Fleet. Departing Ulithi on 3 May, she rejoined TF 58 on the 5th near Okinawa. Six days later, Bunker Hill (CV-17), flagship of TF 58, was hit by a kamikaze. Another Japanese pilot, with similar intentions for Trathen, dived toward the destroyer. While the ship's guns hammered at the suicide plane, help came from the air. A "friendly" fighter, braving the antiaircraft fire from his own ships, also attacked the kamikaze which crashed into the sea off Trathen's port bow.
Anchoring in Ulithi lagoon for a needed rest, Trathen got underway again 10 days later and sortied with TG 58.4 to screen the carrier.
On 4 June, air operations were cancelled as the barometer began to plummet. The storm center of a typhoon passed some 70 miles to the southeast, and the ships in company with Trathen emerged unscathed from the fringes of the storm. On 6 June, while carrying out plane-guard duties, the destroyer rescued the two-man crew of a downed
These operations proved to be Trathen's last of World War II, for she soon departed Leyte to begin the long voyage back to the United States. After a stop at Pearl Harbor, Trathen arrived at
Post-World War II
When North Korean forces swept southward across the 38th parallel on 25 June 1950, the United States soon came to the aid of the embattled South Koreans. Called out of reserve service on 14 June 1951, Trathen was recommissioned on 1 August. As flagship of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 28, the ship was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet on 5 October, based at Norfolk, Virginia, and operated off the east coast and in the Caribbean through the end of 1952.
Subsequently ordered to the Far East, Trathen arrived at
Returning to the United States via Southeast Asia and the
While Trathen was at Kaohsiung during her last deployment to WestPac, word arrived early in August of the
Fate
After arriving at Long Beach on 28 October, the destroyer conducted routine carrier operations off the west coast. On 12 February 1965, Trathen reported to the Commander, San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet, to begin her second inactivation period at the Todd Shipyard, San Pedro, California. On 15 March, she made her final voyage at the end of a towline. Brought to San Diego, she completed the process of deactivation and was decommissioned on 11 May 1965 and placed in reserve. A survey of the ship conducted in June 1972 reported that the costs of modernization to Trathen would be disproportionate to the value of the ship. Accordingly, Trathen was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 November 1972 and scrapped.
Honors
Trathen received eight
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.