HMS Prince of Wales

Figure 1: HMS Prince of Wales photographed in 1941, sometime prior to her 24 May 1941 engagement with the German battleship Bismarck. She is lowering a Supermarine "Walrus" amphibian aircraft over the side. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: Sinking of HMS Hood, painting by J.C. Schmitz-Westerholt, depicting Hood's loss during her engagement with the German battleship Bismarck on 24 May 1941. HMS Prince of Wales is in the foreground. Courtesy of the U.S. Army Chief of Military History. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: Atlantic Charter Conference, 10-12 August 1941. HMS Prince of Wales off Argentia, Newfoundland, after bringing Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic to meet with President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Photographed from USS Augusta (CA-31). Donation of Vice Admiral Harry Sanders, USN(Retired), 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: Atlantic Charter Conference, 10-12 August 1941. USS McDougal (DD-358) alongside HMS Prince of Wales, to transfer President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the British battleship for a meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Photographed in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. Donation of Vice Admiral Harry Sanders, USN(Retired), 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: Atlantic Charter Conference, 10-12 August 1941. Church service on the after deck of HMS Prince of Wales, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, during the conference. Seated in the center are President Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Standing behind them are Admiral Ernest J. King, USN (between Roosevelt and Churchill); General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army; General Sir John Dill, British Army; Admiral Harold R. Stark, USN; and Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, RN. USS Arkansas (BB-33) is in the center distance. Donation of Vice Admiral Harry Sanders, USN(Retired), 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: Atlantic Charter Conference, 10-12 August 1941. Conference leaders during church services on the after deck of HMS Prince of Wales, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill are seated in the foreground. Standing directly behind them are Admiral Ernest J. King, USN; General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army; General Sir John Dill, British Army; Admiral Harold R. Stark, USN; and Admiral Sir Dudley Pound, RN. At far left is Harry Hopkins, talking with W. Averell Harriman. Donation of Vice Admiral Harry Sanders, USN(Retired), 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: Picture of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the crew of the HMS Prince of Wales after returning from the Churchill/Roosevelt meeting at Placentia Bay in August 1941. Courtesy John Barley. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: HMS Prince of Wales mooring in Singapore, 4 December 1941, six days before she was sunk by Japanese aircraft. Courtesy Imperial War Museum, Identification Code 4700-01 A 6786. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: Loss of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, 10 December 1941. Photograph taken from a Japanese aircraft during the initial high-level bombing attack. Repulse, near the bottom of the view, has just been hit by one bomb and near-missed by several more. Prince of Wales is near the top of the image, generating a considerable amount of smoke. Japanese writing in the lower right states that the photograph was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry. Donation of Mr. Theodore Hutton, 1942. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: Loss of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, 10 December 1941. Photograph taken from a Japanese plane, with Prince of Wales at far left and Repulse beyond her. A destroyer, either Express or Electra, is maneuvering in the foreground. Dulin and Garzke's "Allied Battleships in World War II", page 199, states that this photograph was taken "after the first torpedo attack, during which the Prince of Wales sustained heavy torpedo damage." Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

HMS Prince of Wales was a 43,786-ton King George V class battleship that was built at the Cammell Laird Shipyard at Birkenhead, England, and was completed on 31 March 1941. She was approximately 745 feet long and 112 feet wide and had a top speed of 29 knots and a crew of 1,521 officers and men. Prince of Wales was armed with ten 14-inch guns, 16 5.25-inch guns, 48 2-pounder antiaircraft guns, and eight 20-mm antiaircraft guns. This massive battleship also carried four Supermarine Walrus seaplanes.

In late May 1941, even though she was still not fully operational, Prince of Wales was sent out with the battlecruiser HMS Hood to locate and sink the German battleship Bismarck. The two British ships located the Bismarck and its escort, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland on 24 May. What followed was the tragic Battle of the Denmark Strait, in which the Hood was sunk with almost its entire crew (only three sailors survived out of a crew of 1,418 officers and men). During the battle, Prince of Wales suffered several hits and was forced to retreat. Although the Royal Navy eventually cornered and sank the Bismarck, the loss of the Hood and the damage inflicted on the brand new battleship Prince of Wales was a severe blow to Great Britain.

After Prince of Wales was repaired, she carried Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic to Newfoundland. Once there, Churchill met President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the Atlantic Charter Conference from 9 - 12 August 1941. It was the first meeting between the two leaders, who were trying to forge a “Grand Alliance” against the Axis powers.

After the conference was over, Prince of Wales brought the Prime Minister back to England. The battleship then was sent to the Mediterranean for convoy escort duty, where she successfully shot down some Italian warplanes off the coast of Malta in late September.

With war looming with Japan in the Pacific, Churchill decided to send Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse to reinforce Singapore and Malaya. Known as “Force Z,” the two British ships were escorted by four destroyers and placed under the command of Admiral Sir Tom Phillips. Repulse, Prince of Wales, and their four escorts reached Singapore on 2 December 1941. On 8 December (7 December at Pearl Harbor, which was on the other side of the International Date Line), Japanese forces landed in northern Malaya. Admiral Phillips took Force Z out of Singapore to attack the Japanese invasion force. Admiral Phillips knew that the local Royal Air Force units possessed only a few obsolete Brewster “Buffalo” fighters and that they could not guarantee air cover for his ships. But Phillips decided to continue searching for the Japanese because he truly believed that his ships were relatively immune from air attack. Up to that point no capital ship had ever been sunk by aircraft at sea. The largest ship sunk at sea by aircraft was a heavy cruiser.

Force Z left Singapore and frantically searched for the Japanese. Unable to locate the Japanese invasion fleet, the British ships decided to return to Singapore. But late in the morning of 10 December 1941, Force Z was discovered and attacked by a large force of Japanese high-level bombers and torpedo planes. Because there were no Allied aircraft covering Force Z, the Japanese planes soon began scoring numerous bomb and torpedo hits on both Repulse and Prince of Wales. Repulse sank at about 1230, with the Pince of Wales going down less than an hour later. These were the first capital ships in naval history to be sunk by air attack while steaming at sea and their loss stunned the world. The escorting destroyers picked up many men, but approximately 840 British sailors died in the attack. The Japanese lost only six aircraft.

The destruction of Repulse and Prince of Wales, along with the crippling of the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, marked an enormous turning point in military history. Aircraft could now sink major warships either at sea or in port and the captal ship was no longer invulnerable to air attack. The airplane was now the true power at sea and the side that possessed air superiority would win any future war. True, there were numerous naval battles during World War II where aircraft did not play a role, but it was now impossible to deny that the side that had air superiority also had an enormous advantage over an opponent. Furthermore, old-fashioned officers like Admiral Phillips had to come to terms with the fact that the battleship was no longer the most powerful weapon in the navy and that expensive battleships could now be easily destroyed by cheap and expendable aircraft. Unfortunately, Phillips would never be able to learn from his mistakes. He went down with the Prince of Wales.

USS South Dakota (BB-57)

Figure 1: USS South Dakota (BB-57) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 20 August 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS South Dakota (BB-57) anchored in the Hvalfjordur area, Iceland, 24 June 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS South Dakota (BB-57) operating off the US East Coast, 9 August 1943, with a destroyer keeping company in the background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS South Dakota (BB-57) underway in the Atlantic during her shakedown period, July 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: Port beam view of USS South Dakota while underway in the Atlantic, probably during her shakedown period, July 1942. USN photo BuAer #19079 courtesy of David Buell. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: Guadalcanal Campaign, 1942-43. USS South Dakota (BB-57) and two destroyers alongside USS Prometheus (AR-3) for repairs, probably at Noumea, New Caledonia, in November 1942. The inboard destroyer, with the distorted bow, is probably USS Mahan (DD-364), which was damaged in a collision with South Dakota at the close of the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 27 October 1942. South Dakota received damage in both that battle and in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 15 November 1942. The other destroyer may be USS Lamson (DD-367). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS South Dakota (BB-57) crewmen haul down the National Ensign as the battleship is decommissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Base, Pennsylvania, 31 January 1947. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: Listed from left to right: USS Huntington (CL-107), USS Dayton (CL-105) and USS South Dakota (BB-57) laid up in reserve at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania, 24 August 1961. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

USS South Dakota (BB-57), the lead ship of a class of 35,000-ton battleships, was built at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 20 March 1942. She was approximately 680 feet long and 108 feet wide, had a top speed of 27.8 knots and a crew of 2,354 officers and men. South Dakota was armed with nine 16-inch guns, 16 5-inch guns, 68 40-mm guns, and 76 20-mm guns. She was modern, fast, and heavily armed and was built just in time to take an active part in some of the most dramatic naval battles of World War II.

After her shakedown cruise off America’s East Coast, South Dakota was sent to the Pacific where she was soon drawn into the intense naval battles off Guadalcanal. On 26 October 1942, she provided critical anti-aircraft support during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, during which a Japanese bomb hit her forward 16-inch gun turret. Soon after being hit by that bomb, South Dakota accidentally rammed the destroyer USS Mahan (DD-364). Although only temporary repairs were made to the battleship locally, South Dakota quickly returned to duty. She then played an important role in the major naval battle off Guadalcanal during the night of 14-15 November 1942, a battle which basically ended Japan’s bid to retake the island. South Dakota was hit several times by Japanese warships during the battle and the damage forced her to leave the area and head for Noumea, New Caledonia, for repairs. But South Dakota scored numerous hits on the attacking Japanese warships and the battle turned out to be a major victory for the United States Navy.

After returning to the United States for more permanent repairs and a major overhaul, South Dakota was assigned to the Atlantic from February to August 1943. She worked briefly with the British Home Fleet, but was soon sent back to the Pacific to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands from November 1943 to February 1944. South Dakota escorted the Navy’s fast carriers during that time and assisted in raids on Japanese bases, continuing these operations well into the spring of 1944. In June 1944, she took part in the Marianas Campaign, using her heavy guns to bombard enemy targets on Saipan and Tinian. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June, South Dakota was hit by another Japanese bomb, killing 24 men and wounding 27 others. After this battle, South Dakota was sent back to the United States for repairs and arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard on 10 July 1944.

South Dakota was, once again, sent back to the Pacific after being repaired. From October 1944 until the end of the war, she escorted carrier task forces in the Western Pacific, from the South China Sea to Japan itself. She also participated in the invasions of Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In March and April 1945, South Dakota bombarded Okinawa and also shelled targets on the Japanese home islands in July and August. She took part in the ceremonies in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945 during Japan’s formal surrender to the United States. South Dakota returned to America shortly after that and was decommissioned in Philadelphia on 31 January 1947. She remained in reserve but out of commission until 25 October 1962, when she was sold for scrapping. South Dakota received 13 battle stars for her service in World War II.

The many battles fought by South Dakota could certainly fill a book. The above comments are a very brief outline of what was an amazing career in the US Navy. Like most old warhorses, South Dakota met her end not in a battle but in the scrapper’s yard. But her contributions in battle were invaluable, as were the men who sailed her.

USS Penguin (AM-33)

Figure 1: USS Penguin (originally Minesweeper # 33) steaming at full speed for Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919, during an unsuccessful effort to arrive in time to save some of the German warships scuttled there on that day. Note the identification letters "PD" on her bow. Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by DeLong, of USS Black Hawk, published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 38. Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Penguin underway near USS Scranton (ID # 3511), probably circa 28 March 1919. Photograph from the USS Scranton photo album kept by J.D. Bartar, one of her crewmembers. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Penguin close astern of USS Scranton (ID # 3511), as a Chief Petty Officer is "putting the heaving line 60 ft." between the two ships, circa 28 March 1919. Note the line's weight in the air above Penguin's bow. Photograph from the USS Scranton photo album kept by J.D. Bartar, one of her crewmembers. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Penguin (now AM-33) underway off Shanghai, China, circa the later 1920s, following conversion for river gunboat service. Note the sampan in the foreground. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Penguin (Minesweeper # 33), at left, and USS Lapwing (Minesweeper # 1), right. "Coming up to repass" sweep gear, after exploding a mine during the sweeping of the North Sea Mine Barrage in 1919. Note the identification letters on the ships' bows: "PD" on Penguin and "W" on Lapwing. Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by DeLong, of USS Black Hawk, published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 59. Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: "The Buoy Laying Division in Kirkwall Harbor." From left to right, in center: USS Osprey (Minesweeper # 29), USS Penguin (Minesweeper # 33), and USS Lapwing (Minesweeper # 1) moored together in Kirkwall Harbor, Orkney Islands, during the sweeping of the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919. Note the identification letters on the ships' bows: "A" on Osprey, "PD" on Penguin and "W" on Lapwing. Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by Kitress, of USS Swan, published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 63. Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Penguin liberty party gathered on the ship's stern, preparing to go ashore after reviewing the Fleet in New York Harbor, 26 December 1918. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Penguin ship's Officers and Crew, 1919. Halftone reproduction of a photograph, published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 137. Donation of Chief Storekeeper Charles A. Free. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

USS Penguin (AM-33) was a 1,009-ton Lapwing class minesweeper built at the New Jersey Dry Dock and Transportation Company, Elizabeth, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 21 November 1918. She was approximately 187 feet long and 35 feet wide, had a top speed of 14 knots and a crew of 78 officers and men. She was armed with two 3-inch guns and, later on in her career, also carried several machine guns.

Commissioned 10 days after the end of World War I, Penguin was assigned to minesweeping and salvage work in the New York area until 22 May 1919, when she was ordered to steam to Kirkwall, Scotland. On 5 June she joined the North Sea Minesweeping Detachment, which was given the task of clearing the North Sea Mine Barrage that was left over from the war. This was incredibly dangerous duty, especially in the turbulent waters of the North Sea. On 9 July, a mine exploded not far from Penguin, causing minor damage. But in August, while laying buoys for a minesweeping operation, another mine went off next to Penguin, this time causing serious damage to the ship. After temporary repairs were made to the ship at Chatham, England, Penguin was sent back to New York for more permanent repairs.

Penguin arrived in New York in November 1919 and, after a major overhaul, was sent to join the Pacific Fleet’s Mine Squadron 4, which was based in the eastern Pacific. Penguin continued working as a minesweeper until 1 June 1922, when she was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Pearl Harbor. Penguin was re-commissioned 13 October 1923 and was converted into a gunboat for service with the US Navy’s Asiatic Fleet. She left Pearl Harbor and headed west to become part of the famous “Yangtze Patrol” and was based at Shanghai. Although this was supposed to be only a “temporary” assignment, Penguin remained with the Yangtze Patrol for seven years, protecting American lives and property while battling Chinese pirates and warlords. In 1930, Penguin sailed to Cavite in the Philippines for a brief period of time before being ordered to go to Guam.

Throughout the 1930s, Penguin was assigned to various patrol and rescue duties around the island of Guam. With the coming of World War II in the Pacific, Japan invaded China and was making ominous moves towards many of the islands in the region. In 1941, Penguin was ordered to increase her patrols around Guam and to guard against any Japanese warships that could potentially threaten the island. No one really knew, though, what the small and poorly armed gunboat could do if it encountered units from the enormous Japanese Navy.

On the morning of 8 December 1941 (which was 7 December east of the International Date Line in Pearl Harbor), Penguin was returning from a patrol and had just entered the port at Agana, the capital of Guam. Soon after Penguin received word of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, scores of Japanese warplanes appeared over the island. Japanese aircraft quickly began making bombing runs on fuel storage tanks and other shore installations. As bombs began raining down on Guam, Penguin built up steam, slipped her mooring and moved away from the harbor. Hoping to reach the open sea, Penguin’s small guns managed to keep the Japanese aircraft away from her briefly but could not do so indefinitely. Soon several aircraft began bombing and strafing runs on Penguin. Although none of the bombs scored a direct hit, one group of bombs straddled Penguin, causing major damage to the ship. The explosions killed one crewman and wounded 60 others.

Remarkably, Penguin’s gunners managed to shoot down one of the attacking aircraft. But, with the ship leaking seriously, it was only a matter of time before the Japanese aircraft destroyed what was left of the crippled little gunboat. Therefore, Penguin’s captain, Lieutenant J.W. Haviland III, decided to scuttle his ship in 200 fathoms of water approximately one and a half miles off the coast of Guam, thereby preventing her from going down in shallow water and possibly being salvaged by the enemy at a later date. The crew abandoned ship and paddled to shore in life rafts. Those crewmen who were not seriously injured during the battle later assisted in the defense of Guam. It is not known how many of Penguin’s crew survived the war after the island fell to the Japanese on 10 December 1941.

USS Penguin was a little too late to serve in World War I and was sunk on the first day of World War II. In between that time, this brave little ship swept mines in the North Sea, was a successful gunboat with the Yangtze Patrol, and was used by the US Navy as a patrol and rescue vessel for the island of Guam. Although people could argue that the small and poorly armed Penguin did not represent much of an American naval presence in Guam, no one can say that the US Navy didn’t get its money’s worth out of this little warship.

USS Lawrence (DD-250)

Figure 1: USS Lawrence (DD-250) at anchor, circa 1921. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Lawrence (DD-250) photographed during the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Lawrence (DD-250) underway during the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Lawrence (DD-250) in the Panama Canal, during the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Lawrence (DD-250) in San Diego harbor, California, 1933. USS Eagle 11 (PE-11) is in the right background. Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Lawrence (DD-250) underway in San Diego harbor, California, 1935. Photographed from USS Dobbin (AD-3). Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Lawrence (DD-250) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 June 1942. Note that her after smokestack and after torpedo tubes have been removed, but she still retains 4"/50 guns. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Lawrence (DD-250) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 June 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS Lawrence (DD-250) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 June 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: USS Lawrence (DD-250) alongside a wharf at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 June 1942. This view looks forward from over the ship's after deckhouse, and shows her midships' 4"/50 guns and smokestacks. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after Captain James Lawrence (1781-1813), who was killed while commanding the frigate Chesapeake during the War of 1812, the USS Lawrence was a 1,190-ton Clemson class destroyer built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 18 April 1921. She was approximately 314 feet long and 31 feet wide and had a top speed of 35 knots and a crew of 101 officers and men. Lawrence was armed with four 4-inch guns, one 3-inch gun, two depth-charge tracks and 12 21-inch torpedo tubes.

Following her shakedown cruise, Lawrence was assigned to the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, and was sent to the Mediterranean in June 1922. She arrived off Constantinople on 4 July and for the next year patrolled the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Lawrence joined British, French, and Italian naval forces in assisting refugees that were displaced by both the Russian Civil War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In September 1922, Lawrence was part of a small US naval task force off the coast of Smyrna, Turkey, and helped to evacuate hundreds of Greek refugees, saving them from almost certain death at the hands of the Turks who had recently completed a re-conquest of Asia Minor. After assisting Red Cross workers and US Food Administration officials in the region for several more months, Lawrence returned to New York on 20 October 1923.

From late 1923 until early 1931, Lawrence was assigned to the Scouting Fleet in the Atlantic and the Caribbean and made several trips through the Panama Canal to take part in naval exercises in the Pacific. Lawrence also was used as a training ship and made several cruises with the Naval Reserve. She was sent off the coast of Nicaragua in February and March 1927 during that country’s Civil War, but returned to Philadelphia later that year. Lawrence was decommissioned on 6 January 1931.

Lawrence was re-commissioned on 13 June 1932 and was sent to San Diego where she spent the next six years participating in fleet exercises and tactical training drills. She was decommissioned once again on 13 September 1938.

When war started in Europe on 1 September 1939, Lawrence was re-commissioned for the second time and joined the active fleet on 26 September 1939. For the remainder of the year, as well as for most of 1940, Lawrence patrolled the Caribbean and the Atlantic. She returned to the Pacific on 27 December 1940 and was based at San Diego. She began escorting convoys along the West Coast shortly after America entered the war on 7 December 1941 and throughout most of 1942 Lawrence escorted merchant ships from San Francisco to the Aleutian Islands. From September 1942 until the end of the war, Lawrence was based at San Francisco and was given numerous patrol and escort duties. On 31 May 1944, Lawrence rescued almost 200 men from the steamship Henry Bergh, which had gone aground in the nearby Farralon Islands.

In late August 1945, Lawrence was sent to the East Coast and her final destination was Philadelphia. She was decommissioned for the last time on 24 October 1945. Lawrence was then sold for scrapping on 1 October 1946 to the Boston Metal Company of Baltimore, Maryland.

Lawrence was one of those unusual warships that never fired a shot at an enemy but did manage to save hundreds of lives off the coasts of Turkey and the United States. She was a destroyer that was always prepared for war, but ended up getting a reputation as a rescue ship and escort. Not a bad legacy for a tough old warship.

USS Hoel (DD-533)

Figure 1: USS Hoel (DD-533) off San Francisco, California, 3 August 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Hoel (DD-533) off San Francisco, California, 3 August 1943, soon after commissioning. She was completed with three 20mm guns mounted just forward of her pilothouse structure. Note the blimp overhead. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Hoel (DD-533) underway in San Francisco Bay, California, 7 August 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Hoel (DD-533) underway in San Francisco Bay, California, 7 August 1943. The city of San Francisco and the Bay Bridge are in the background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Hoel (DD-533) underway in San Francisco Bay, California, 7 August 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Hoel (DD-533) in San Francisco Bay, California, 25 October 1943, after post-completion alterations. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Hoel (DD-533) in San Francisco Bay, California, 25 October 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Hoel (DD-533) in San Francisco Bay, California, 25 October 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS Hoel (DD-533) photographed from USS Kwajalein (CVE-98), during operations in the south Pacific, 10 August 1944. Hoel's camouflage is Measure 32, Design 1d. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944. American survivors of the battle are rescued by a U.S. Navy ship on 26 October 1944. Some 1200 survivors of USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), USS Hoel (DD-533), USS Johnston (DD-557) and USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) were rescued during the days following the action. Photographed by U.S. Army Private William Roof. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after William R. Hoel, a Civil War hero in the Union Navy, the USS Hoel (DD-533) was a 2,050-ton Fletcher class destroyer built at the Bethlehem Steel Company, San Francisco, California, and was commissioned on 29 July 1943. She was approximately 376 feet long and 39 feet wide and had a top speed of 36 knots. Hoel was armed with five 5-inch guns, four 1.1-inch guns, four 20-mm. cannons, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes, six depth charge projectors and two depth charge tracks.

After her shakedown cruise along America’s West Coast, Hoel left for the Pacific combat zone in October 1943. One month later, Hoel joined the invasion of the Gilbert Islands and was given the task of screening American escort carriers. She continued in this role during the invasion of the Marshall Islands in January and February 1944 and also provided gunfire support for the landings on Eniwetok. From March 1944, Hoel escorted convoys and provided anti-submarine support to escort carriers attached to the Third and Seventh Fleets in the south Pacific. She also screened escort carriers during the invasion of Peleliu in September 1944.

In October 1944, Hoel was attached to Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague’s escort carrier group for the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines. Sprague’s force (Task Group 77.4) was made up of three units, each containing a group of escort carriers that were screened by destroyers and destroyer escorts. These three units (known as Taffy 1, Taffy 2, and Taffy 3) began operating off Samar, the island just to the north of Leyte, on 18 October 1944. Their primary function was to provide air cover for the amphibious landings taking place on Leyte. Hoel was assigned to Taffy 3 (Escort Carrier Task Unit 77.4.3), under the command of Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague (no relation to Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague). Taffy 3 was made up of four escort carriers that were screened by the destroyers Hoel, Heermann, and Johnston. Two more escort carriers and four destroyer escorts, Dennis, John C. Butler, Raymond, and the Samuel B. Roberts then reinforced Taffy 3.

On the morning of 25 October 1944, Taffy 3 was operating northeast of Samar while Taffy 2 was in the center position protecting the entrance to Leyte Gulf. Taffy 1 was monitoring the southern approaches to Leyte Gulf and was approximately 130 miles to the southeast of Hoel and Taffy 3. Admiral Thomas L. Sprague, commander of the entire task force, believed that the heavy units of Admiral William Halsey’s Third Fleet were to the north of him, providing cover against larger elements of the Japanese Navy. Unfortunately, Halsey and the Third Fleet were chasing a Japanese task force well to the north of their position, leaving Admiral Thomas L. Sprague’s ships to fend for themselves. Then, the unthinkable happened. At 0645, lookouts on board the ships of Taffy 3 spotted a large Japanese task force bearing down on them. This was Admiral Takeo Kurita’s powerful “Center Force,” which had slipped unnoticed through the San Bernardino Strait, located to the north of Samar. Kurita was heading for the American beachhead at Leyte and he was bringing with him four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. The only thing standing between Kurita’s task force and the defenseless cargo and amphibious assault ships off Leyte was Taffy 3. A small collection of American escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts would have to take on a vastly superior Japanese task force.

What followed was one of the most amazing battles in American naval history. Every available aircraft on all of the escort carriers was ordered to immediately attack the Japanese warships. After all of the planes were launched, the defenseless escort carriers headed south towards Leyte Gulf, hoping that help would arrive before they were all annihilated by the superior Japanese warships. As the American planes attacked the Japanese warships, Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, commander of Taffy 3, ordered his destroyers to make a torpedo attack against the oncoming Japanese warships.

After receiving this order, Hoel headed straight for the nearest Japanese battleship, Kongo, which was only 18,000 yards away. At 14,000 yards Hoel’s guns opened fire, but her bridge was hit by a shell from one of Kongo’s 14-inch guns. Although staggered by the hit, Hoel kept on going and fired half of her torpedoes at a range of 9,000 yards. Though none of the torpedoes hit Kongo, the attack forced the battleship to turn away from the escort carriers and head in the opposite direction. A few minutes later, Hoel sustained hits from some of the other Japanese warships. These hits knocked out three of her 5-inch guns, stopped her port engine and destroyed her Mark-37 fire control director, her radar, and her bridge steering control. But the Hoel and her crew did not give up. Hoel slowly turned with what power she had left and attacked a Japanese column of heavy cruisers. When she was within 6,000 yards of the leading cruiser, Haguro, Hoel fired her remaining torpedoes. This time, large columns of water rose from the side of her target, an indication that at least some of the torpedoes hit. Although Japanese records deny that these torpedoes hit the cruiser, there is no evidence to indicate any other explanation for the geyser effect observed.

Hoel was now a crippled wreck surrounded by enemy warships. Kongo was only 8,000 yards off her port beam and the Japanese heavy cruisers were now 7,000 yards off her port quarter. For the next hour, Hoel fired what guns she had left at the enemy, thereby drawing attention towards her and away from the escort carriers she was protecting. But the heavy shells hitting the destroyer soon took their toll and at 0830, after sustaining more than 40 hits, an 8-inch shell silenced her remaining engine. With her engineroom under water, her No. 1 magazine ablaze, and the ship listing heavily to port and settling by the stern, Hoel’s captain, Commander Leon S. Kinterberger, was forced to give the order to “Prepare to abandon ship.” The Japanese continued to fire at the doomed destroyer as the surviving officers and men went into the water. The shelling stopped at 0855, when the Hoel rolled over and sank. Only 86 of the Hoel’s crew survived, while 253 officers and men went down with the ship.

There were many other acts of outstanding bravery that day. Ships like the Johnston, Samuel B. Roberts, and Gambier Bay were lost while trying to fight off the oncoming Japanese warships. But their sacrifice was not in vain because Admiral Kurita was so intimidated by the attacks made by Taffy 3’s ships and aircraft that he decided to retreat. The American destroyers and destroyer escorts forced the Japanese to retire, thereby saving the unarmed American merchant ships and amphibious assault ships off Leyte from certain destruction. It was an amazing sacrifice and one of the greatest acts of heroism in the annals of American naval history.

USS Hoel received the Presidential Unit Citation, the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation Badge and five battle stars for her service in World War II.