USS Jouett (DD-396)-- Part 1: Early Duty

The other ship that was with the USS Omaha when the German blockade runner SS Rio Grande was sunk was the destroyer YSS Jouett, named for Civil War naval officer James Jouett.

From Wikipedia

The USS Jouett was a Somers-class destroyer and was laid down  26 March 1936 by Bath Ironworks in Bath, Maine, and launched  24 September 1938, commissioned  at Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 January 1939, Commander  G.W. Clark in command.

She soon began work on the U.S. Neutrality Patrol along the U.S. east coast and the Gulf of Mexico.  She  stood out of Pensacola, Florida, on 15 February 1940 as one of the escorts of the USS Tucaloosa (CA-37) carrying President Roosevelt to Panama.

She then had duty at Pearl Harbor from 10 April 1940 until April 1941.  She then accompanied the carrier USS Yorktown through the Panama Canal.  She then joined a cruiser/destroyer fleet charged with protecting American shipping from German surface and submarine attacks.

On 7 December 1941, the Jouett was in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and immediately began offensive anti-submarine patrols between Brazil and Africa.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 6: Operations Around the Philippines

1944

After screening aircraft carriers during the attacks on Okinawa and Formosa,  the Gridley joined the American forces for the Philippines Campaign.  While protecting large ships off Luzon 28 October 1944, she and the destroyer USS Helm detected and sank the Japanese submarine I-51 with a series of devastating depth charge attacks.

In the following days. the Gridley fought off Japanese kamikazes and returned to Ulithi with damaged carriers Franklin and Belleau Wood  on 2 November.

1945

The Gridley was soon at sea again, clearing Ulithi 5 November with the fast  carrier task force for the Leyte operation.  She later joined a group of escort carriers and served as a bombardment and patrol ship during the landings at Lingayen Gulf  until 10 February 1945.

After stopping again at Ulithi, the Gridley escorted the battleship USS Mississippi en route to Pearl Harbor and then sailed via San Diego and the Panama Canal for New York, where she arrived 30 March 1945.  She entered New York Navy Yard  the next day for much-needed repairs and after finishing her overhaul, departed the United States 22 June 1945 and served in Europe from July 1945 to January 1946.

She was decommissioned  on 18 April 1945 and sold for scrap in August 1947.

During her service, the Gridley earned ten Battle Stars.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 3: Back and Fort, Pearl Harbor and Alaska

The Gridley was built at Boston Navy yard and fitted out there before cruising in the Caribbean and then through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean.  Then back to the east coast and then back to the west coast again in 1939, where she became the flagship of destroyer Division 11.

In April 1940, the ships of Division 11 moved to Hawaii and operated in those waters.

The Gridley left Pearl Harbor on November 28, 1941, as part of the anti-submarine screen for the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise out to Wake Island and then were going back to Pearl Harbor and approaching it  on the morning of December 7 when they heard the base was under attack.

The Gridley entered the harbor the next day to protect against further attacks.

During the next five months, she was involved with escorting transports and repair ships to and from Pearl Harbor and areas in the South Pacific.  In June 1942, the Gridley operated in Alaskan waters and participated in the bombardment of Kiska 7 August 1942.

While there, she served as the flagship of noted destroyerman  Commander Frederick Moosbrugger.

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor David Payne Turns 100-- Part 3

In 1998, David Payne and his wife returned to Pearl Harbor.  The barracks he was living in then are still there, although the building is now  the Repair Headquarters for Pacific Air Forces.  The building suffered serious damage during the attack, but it has been restored.  But careful effort was made to  preserve evidence of what happened nearly 80 years ago.

"They left the bullets, the damage that the bullets did, they left that there.  They never fixed it, Payne said.

Later, he was a police officer in the Panama Canal Zone and involved with the Berlin Airlift.

--GreGen

USS Fulton (AS-11)-- Part 2: Battle of Midway

I wrote about the five ships that have been in the U.S. Navy by this name, of course, after the inventor of the steamboat Clermont, earlier this month.  This ship participated in World War II and for many years afterwards.

From Wikipedia.

The USS Fulton  (AS-11) was the lead ship of her class of seven submarine tenders.   It was launched December 1940 at Mare Island Navy Yard in San Francisco and sponsored by Mrs. A.T. Sutcliffe, the great granddaughter of Robert Fulton.   Commissioned 12 September 1941.

529.6 feet long,  73.4 beam, 1303 crew and four 5-inch guns.

It was on its shakedown cruise out of San Diego when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  She was ordered immediately to the Panama Canal, arriving December 9.   During the next month, the Fulton established several seaplane bases.

Then she tended submarines out of Pearl Harbor from March 1941 to July 1942, when she put out to sea during the Battle of Midway.  She transported many of the survivors of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown back to Pearl Harbor, arriving  8 June.

--GreGen