USS Wyman
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History | |
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Name | USS Wyman |
Laid down | 7 September 1942 |
Launched | 3 June 1943 |
Commissioned | 1 September 1943 |
Decommissioned | 21 December 1945 |
Reclassified | DE-38, 16 June 1943 |
Stricken | 8 January 1946 |
Honors and awards | 6 battle stars (World War II) |
Fate | Sold for scrapping, 16 April 1947 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Evarts-class destroyer escort |
Displacement |
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Length |
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Beam | 35 ft (11 m) |
Draft | 11 ft (3.4 m) (max) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
Range | 4,150 nmi (7,690 km) |
Complement | 15 officers and 183 enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Wyman (DE-38) was an
She was originally laid down as BDE-38 on 7 September 1942 at
Namesake
Eldon P. Wyman was born on 11 January 1917 in
During the attack on Pearl Harbor the Oklahoma was hit by four aerial torpedoes and rolled over at her berth; among those trapped within the ship's hull was Wyman.
On 4 September 2008 the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office announced the remains of Wyman and two other seamen had been identified.
World War II Pacific Theatre operations
Following shakedown, Wyman departed Puget Sound on 7 November, bound for Hawaii, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 14th. Assigned to duty with Submarines, Pacific Fleet, the destroyer escort operated out of Pearl Harbor on submarine exercises from 1 December 1943 through the spring of 1944.
Anti-submarine operations
Detached from this duty on 22 June 1944, Wyman sailed for the
The destroyer escort arrived in her patrol zone on 9 July and refueled from Guadalupe (AO-32) on the 11th. She remained in the area from 12 to 18 July before proceeding to investigate a surface radar contact at 0024 on the 19th. The destroyer escort closed the range until she lost radar contact at 0045 and switched immediately to her sonar. Wyman picked up a strong metallic echo and, at 0051, fired a full pattern of "hedgehog" projectiles, with negative results. She reloaded, opened the range, and then closed for a second attack, as Reynolds (DE-42) closed in the meantime.
Sinking of the Japanese Submarine Ro-48
At 01:25, Wyman launched a second full pattern from her hedgehog – dead on the target. A series of violent explosions rocked the destroyer escort, as the depth bombs blew the submarine apart. Wyman circled to
Attacked by friendly forces
As it was gathering this materiel, Wyman's motor whaler was strafed by two planes from Hoggatt Bay, whose pilots had mistaken the boat for a surfaced submarine. (According to my father who was on the motor launch, Wyman's captain broke radio silence and informed the Hoggatt Bay, that if their planes made another pass on his men, the Wyman would "open fire" on them.)[1] There were no fatalities, and the injured men were soon transferred to Hoggatt Bay for medical treatment. Oil from the sunken submarine – later identified by a post-war examination of Japanese records as Ro-48 – continued to bubble up in copious quantities into the next day. Satisfied that the kill was definite, Wyman rejoined TG 12.2 and arrived at Eniwetok on 22 July.
Sinking of Japanese submarine I-55
Her respite was short, however, for she again got underway on 26 July. Two days later, at 1733, lookouts in Hoggatt Bay and Wyman simultaneously spotted the
Return to escort duty
With the dissolution of TG 12.2 on 9 August, Wyman joined TG 57.3 for escort duty in waters between the Marshalls and
Supporting Okinawa operations
She departed from
Post-War activity
The destroyer escort remained with the 5th Fleet until 10 June, continuing her unglamorous but vital role, screening the important convoys bringing men and munitions to the war zone for the drive against the Japanese homeland. After a stop at Guam, Wyman headed for the United States, proceeding via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok, and arrived at San Francisco, California, on 15 July.
End of War decommissioning
The end of the war changed the Navy's plans for the ship. On 17 August – while in the midst of her scheduled 42-day overhaul during which she was to receive her "ultimate approved armament" (This armament was to be a large deck gun to be fitted to the Wyman for the purpose of grounding the Wyman on the Japanese coast and shelling the Japanese mainland in preparation for the invasion of American Marines. Crew were told to get their affairs in order while on leave. The crew was to report back to the ship to prepare for the invasion which never happened. The atom bomb ended those plans and the Wyman crew never sailed again.)[2]– all work on the ship "except that necessary to place the ship in safe and habitable condition" was halted. Declared surplus to the needs of the postwar Navy, Wyman was decommissioned on 17 December 1945 and struck from the Navy List on 8 January 1946.
Having been stripped prior to her decommissioning, the ship's hulk was sold to the National Metal and Steel Company, of Terminal Island, California, on 16 April 1947 for scrapping, a process which was completed by 14 March 1948.
Awards
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Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) |
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American Campaign Medal |
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with six service stars )
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World War II Victory Medal
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Notes
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Photo gallery of USS Wyman (DE-38) at NavSource Naval History