History of
USS HULL (DD-350)
Recommended reading for additional DD-350 history
Down to the Sea: An Epic
Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II
(click picture to view cover)
(click picture to view)
Newsweek Battle Baby compliments of Pat
Douhan SOM2 DD-350
All DD-350 pages compliments of Dave Vrooman EM3
'60 - '62
USS Hull (DD-350),
the third of the Farraguts, was the first to be built by a government
shipyard. The new destroyer was assigned to the New York Navy Yard for
construction. Hull was named for Captain Isaac Hull, skipper of
USS Constitution in her epic battle with the British frigate
Guerriere during the War of 1812. She was the fourth United States
vessel and the third destroyer to bear the name. The destroyer Hull
was laid down 7 March 1933; launched 31 January 1934, sponsored by Miss
Patricia Louise Platt; and commissioned 11 January 1935, with Commander
R. S. Wentworth commanding.
Like her two sisters following a
shakedown cruise, which took her to the Azores, Portugal, and the
British Isles, Hull was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. She
arrived in San Diego via the Panama Canal 19 October 1935. She began her
operations with the Pacific Fleet off San Diego, engaging in tactical
exercises and training. The new destroyer maneuvered with the Pacific
Fleet for more than five years. , Hull was assigned to the
Pacific Fleet. She arrived in San Diego via the Panama Canal 19 October
1935. She began her operations with the Pacific Fleet off San Diego,
engaging in tactical exercises and training. The new destroyer
maneuvered with the Pacific Fleet for more than five years.
During the summer of
1936, she cruised to Alaska. In April 1937 she took part in fleet
exercises in Hawaiian waters, ultimately calling Pearl Harbor her
homeport when the fleet transferred from the mainland to the advanced
anchorage on 12 October 1939. During this increasingly tense pre-war
period, Hull often acted as plane guard to the Navy's Pacific
carriers during the perfection of tactics, which would be a central
factor in America's victory in World War II. She continued these
operations until the outbreak of the war.
The pattern of fleet
problems, plane guard duty and patrolling was rudely interrupted 7
December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and other Hawaiian
Military facilities. Hull was alongside tender USS Dobbin
(AD-3) undergoing repairs, but quickly put her anti-aircraft batteries
into operation. Her antiaircraft battery chased off several attackers
and assisted in splashing others. As the main object of the raid was
battleships, the destroyer suffered no hits and with the end of the
attack came extraordinary efforts to raise steam. Scant hours later, she
was able to sortie from Pearl to escort USS Enterprise (CV-6)
back to the still-smoking port. During the next critical months of the
war, Hull operated with Admiral Wilson Brown's Task Force 11,
screening USS Lexington (CV-2) in important strikes on Japanese
bases in the Solomons. Her return to Pearl Harbor 26 March meant 3
months of convoy duty in the submarine threatened waters between Hawaii,
and the West Coast of the United States.
Hull was soon
back in the thick of combat however. She sailed, on the first
anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, for Suvu, Fiji Islands, to
prepare for America's first offensive land thrust, the amphibious
assault on Guadalcanal. In company with her sisters, she departed 26
July for the Solomons, and on the day of the landings, 7 August 1942,
she fought off enemy air attacks, screened cruisers during shore
bombardment, and then took up station as antisubmarine protection for
the transports. Next day she helped repel strong enemy bombing attacks,
shooting down several of the attackers, and that evening performed the
sad duty of sinking transport USS George F. Elliott(AP-13),
burning beyond control, the transport's wounds proved too severe for
damage control forces. On 9 August, the destroyer sank a small schooner
off Guadalcanal, departing that evening for Espiritu Santo. During the
difficult weeks on Guadalcanal, Hull made three voyages with
transports and warships in support of the troops, undergoing air attacks
9 and 14 September. For the next two years, Imperial Japanese forces
felt the presence of the far-ranging destroyer from the Aleutians to the
Southern Pacific. DD-350 supported swift strikes against enemy held
islands in the Central Pacific, sometimes as a diversion to the true
invasion targets, sometimes as a prelude to full-scale landings.
The ship returned to
Pearl Harbor 20 October, and spent the remainder of the year with
battleship Colorado (BB-45) in the New Hebrides. She sailed 29
January from Pearl Harbor bound for repairs at San Francisco, arriving 7
February 1943. Upon completion, she moved to the bleak Aleutians,
arriving Adak 16 April, and began a series of training maneuvers with
battleships and cruisers in the northern waters. As the Navy moved in to
retake Attu in May, Hull continued her patrol duties, and during
July and early August, she took part in numerous bombardments of Kiska
Island. The ship also took part in the landings on Kiska 15 August, only
to find that the Japanese had evacuated their last foothold in the
Aleutian chain.
Hull returned
to the Central Pacific after the Kiska operation, arriving Pearl Harbor
26 September 1943. She departed with the fleet 3 days later for strikes
on Wake Island, and operated with escort carriers during diversionary
strikes designed to mask the Navy's real objective-the Gilberts. Hull
bombarded Makin during this assault 20 November, and with the invasion
well underway arrived in convoy at Pearl Harbor 7 December 1943. From
there, she returned to Oakland 21 December for amphibious exercises.
Next on, the island road to Japan was the Marshall Islands, and Hull
sailed with Task Force 53 from San Diego 13 January 1944. She arrived 31
January off Kwajalein, screening transports in the reserve area, and
through February carried out screening and patrol duties off Eniwetok
and Majuro. Joining a battleship and carrier group, the ship moved to
Mille Atoll 18 March, and took part in a devastating bombardment.
Hull also took part in the bombardment of Wotje 22 March.
The veteran ship next
participated in the devastating raid on the great Japanese base at Truk
29-30 April, after which she arrived Majuro 4 May 1944. There she joined
Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee's battleships for a thrust into the Marianas
and the invasion of Saipan. Hull bombarded Saipan 13 June,
covered minesweeping operations with gunfire, and patrolled during the
initial landing 15 June. Two days later DD-350 was detached and with
other ships steamed out to join Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's fast
carriers as the Japanese made preparations to close the Marianas for a
decisive naval battle. The great fleets approached each other 19 June
for the biggest carrier engagement of the war, and as four large air
raids hit the American dispositions fighter cover from the carriers of
Hull's Task Group 58.2 and surface fire decimated the Japanese
planes. With an able assist from American submarines, Mitscher succeeded
in sinking two Japanese carriers in addition to inflicting fatal losses
on the Japanese naval air arm during "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".
Hull's accurate antiaircraft fire, now considerably more
formidable than the .50 cal. machine guns she used at Pearl Harbor just
thirty months before, contributed to the "ring of steel" protecting the
carriers from the wrath of the Japanese. Mitscher's forces so decimated
the ranks of the Imperial Japanese Navy's aircrews that her carriers
were never to effectively threaten the Allies again.
During July, the
destroyer operated with carrier groups off Guam, and after the assault,
21 July patrolled off the island. In August she returned to Seattle,
arriving the 25th, and underwent a yard refit that kept her in the
States until 23 October. When she anchored at Pearl Harbor. Hull
was assigned to screen the Third Fleet refueling group which kept the
fast carriers in the Central Pacific operational, departing 20 November
1944 to rendezvous with fast carrier striking forces in the Philippine
Sea.
Suddenly, Hull's
luck had changed. Fueling began 17 December, but increasingly heavy seas
forced cancellation later that day. The refueling group became engulfed
in the approaching typhoon Cobra next day, with barometers falling to
very low levels and winds increasing above 90 knots. At about 1100 18
December Hull became locked "in irons," in the trough of the
mountainous sea and unable to steer. All hands worked feverishly to
maintain integrity and keep the ship afloat during the heavy rolls, but
finally, in the words of her commander, Lieutenant Commander J. A.
Marks: "The ship remained over on her side at an angle of 80 degrees or
more as the water flooded into her upper structures. I remained on the
port wing of the bridge until the water flooded up to me, then I stepped
off into the water as the ship rolled over on her way down."
The typhoon swallowed
many of the survivors, but valiant rescue work by Tabberer (DD-418)
and other ships of the fleet in the days that followed saved the lives
of 7 officers and 55 enlisted men.
Hull received 10 battle stars for World War II
service.
U.S.S. Hull DD - 350 (FARRAGUT
class)
As Built1
Displacement: 1,365 Tons; Length: 341' 3" (oa); Beam:
34' 3"; Draft, 16'4" (Max);
Battery: 5 - 5"/38 Anti-Aircraft Guns; 4 - .30 cal.
Machine Guns; 8 - 21" Torpedo Tubes - 4 per side;
Machinery: 42,800 SHP; Curtis Geared Turbines; Twin
Screws;
Speed: 36.5 Knots; Range 6500 NM@ 12 Knots;
Complement: 160
Fate
Foundered in Typhoon off Luzon, Philippines 17
December 1944
1 - In some accounts these numbers may
vary.
