USS McCall (DD-400)-- Part 5: Action Off the Philippines and Iwo Jima

The McCall spent most of November 1944 off Leyte supporting  land operations there.  She sortied  27 December to Lingayen Gulf to support the Luzon invasion.  In mid-January 1945 she was attached to  TG 78.12 for transport convoy escort duty and on the 28th for fire support duties.

From February to March the McCall was off Iwo Jima screening transports and providing shore bombardment, harassing and illumination fire services.

On 27 March, she departed for Pearl Harbor and then to the west coast  to San Diego, arriving  22 April.  Within a week she got underway for a scheduled overhaul in New York where her yardwork was completed by  4 August and was undergoing exercises at Casco Bay when Japan surrendered.

Two months later, she entered Norfolk Navy Yard where she was decommissioned. 30 November 1945 and struck from the Navy Register 28 January 1947 and sold for scrapping in 1948.

The McCall was quite the busy ship during World War Ii and received nine Battle Stars.

--GreGen

USS McCall (DD-400)-- Part 3: Operations in the Pacific and the Battle of the Philippine Sea

1942 and 1943

In February 1842, the McCall escorted the carriers Yorktown and Enterprise for attacks  on Japanese installations in the southern Marshall Islands and northern Gilbert Islands.  Next were surprise attacks on Wake and  Marcus Islands.

March and April, the ship spent patrolling the Hawaiian Islands and then to Fiji and Somoa islands.  On the summer she was involved in the Aleutians.

After an overhaul in Hawaii, she  joined the Battle of Guadalcanal and then was in the Solomon Islands for the next ten months.

1944

Starting early in 1944, the McCall screened carriers for various operations around the Pacific, being involved with seven operations.  In June, after a short repairs in Hawaii, she joined another Task Force headed for the Marianas Islands.  

On 18 June, word was received of a major Japanese fleet headed for them and on June 19, the Battle of the Philippine Sea began.  By the end of the two-day battle, the Japanese had lost three carriers an 72% of its float planes.  This was a disastrous loss for them.

--GreGen

USS McCall (DD-400)-- Part 2: Was Not at Pearl Harbor During the Attack

The McCall was laid down on   17 March 1936 at the Union Plant, Bethlehem Shipbuilding  Corporation, San Francisco, California. and launched on  20 November  1937.  It was commissioned  22 June  1938, Lt. Cmdr. John Whelchel, commanding.

The McCall was assigned to Pacific duty in Destroyers Battle Force on  16 January 1839.  

Less than two years later, in December 7, 1941,  she was steaming with the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise en route to Pearl Harbor from Wake Island when she received word of the attack.  The McCall's  task force (TF 8) immediately began conducting a search for the Japanese fleet.

By the time the task force returned to Pearl Harbor, its planes had sunk the Japanese submarine I-70.

For the rest of 1941, the McCall stayed in the Hawaiian Islands to defend against a possible follow up attack.

--GreGen

USS McCall (DD-400)-- Part 1

It was a Gridley-class  destroyer named in honor of War of 1812 hero Edward R. McCall.  He commanded the brig USS Enterprise in its battle with the British brig HMS Boxer on September 5, 1813, off the coast of Maine after his commander had been mortally wounded.

Launched in 1937, she saw action throughout World War II including at Guadalcanal,  Battle of Philippine Sea and others, earning nine Battle Stars in her career.  She was struck from the rolls in  1947 and scrapped the following year.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Length:  341 feet 4 inches

Beam:  35 feet 5 inches

Depth:  14 feet 4 inches

Speed:  35 knots

Complement:  184

Armament:

Four 5-inch guns

Sixteen 21-inch torpedo tubes

--GreGen