Figure 1: USS Cummings (DD-365) underway at sea, 29 November 1937. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Cummings (DD-365) underway in San Diego harbor, California, 11 April 1938. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Cummings (DD-365) underway at sea during the later 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Cummings (DD-365) photographed by Ted Stone, circa the later 1930s. Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia, Ted Stone Collection. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Cummings (DD-365) photographed by Ted Stone, circa the later 1930s. Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia, Ted Stone Collection. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Case (DD-370), USS Shaw (DD-373), USS Cummings (DD-365), and USS Tucker (DD-374) with USS Brooklyn (CL-40) behind in Auckland, New Zealand, March 1941. Courtesy Gary Hines. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: 3 September 1944 the day Cummings participated in an attack on Wake Island. Note light gun shields forward, no shields aft. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: A series of images from the collection of Garold White, whose father served on board Cummings during World War II. The first is Cummings’ “Scoreboard.” Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: A Japanese vessel that surrendered to Cummings. Courtesy Garold White. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: More of the crew from the Japanese vessel that surrendered to Cummings. Courtesy Garold White. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: A Japanese pilot that had been shot down by Cummings. Courtesy Garold White. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after Andrew Boyd Cummings, a Union naval hero who was killed during the Civil War, USS Cummings (DD-365) was a 1,465-ton Mahan class destroyer that was built by United Shipyards at New York City and was commissioned on 25 November 1936. She was approximately 341 feet long and 35 feet wide, had a top speed of 36 knots, and had a crew of 158 officers and men. Cummings was initially armed with five 5-inch guns, four .50-caliber machine guns, 12 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges, although this armament was substantially modified during World War II.
Following a shakedown cruise in the Atlantic, Cummings was assigned to the Pacific in the fall of 1937. Aside from attending US fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean in 1939, Cummings spent the next six years of her career in the Pacific. She was based at Pearl Harbor in April 1940 and made a trip that took her to Samoa, New Zealand, and Tahiti in March and April 1941. But as war drew closer in the Pacific, Cummings spent most of her time patrolling the waters off the coast of Hawaii.
Cummings was docked at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard when the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941. Although bombs exploded ahead and astern of her, no direct hits were scored on the ship. Flying bomb fragments, though, did cause some minor damage. Cummings quickly built up steam and left Pearl Harbor. She then spent the rest of 1941 and the first four months of 1942 escorting convoys between Hawaii and the US mainland. In May 1942, Cummings was sent to the south Pacific, where she was assigned to patrol and escort missions during the struggle for Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands. Cummings went back to San Francisco for an overhaul in the fall of 1943 and then was assigned to the Aleutian Islands. Cummings patrolled the Aleutians for several weeks before returning to Pearl Harbor on 21 December.
During January and February 1944, Cummings escorted US aircraft carriers during the Marshall Islands campaign and then worked with the British Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean from March to May. Cummings returned to Hawaii to resume duties in the central Pacific and in July 1944 she escorted the heavy cruiser USS Baltimore (CA-68) as it carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Hawaii and Alaska and then back to the US mainland. Roosevelt was on board Cummings for several days in August during trips between Seattle, Washington, and the Puget Sound Navy Yard. While on board Cummings, President Roosevelt broadcast a nationwide address from the forecastle of the ship.
Cummings participated in the raids on Wake and Marcus Islands in September and October 1944 and she escorted aircraft carriers during the invasion of Leyte in October. Cummings then operated in the Marianas and Bonin Islands areas, taking part in patrol, escort, and air-sea rescue missions. She also was part of the assault on Iwo Jima in February and March 1945 and provided gunfire support for the troops on shore. In September 1945, after Japan surrendered, Cummings supervised the occupation of the island of Haha Jima, part of the Bonin Islands. On 19 September 1945, Cummings was sent back to America, making stops in San Pedro, California; Tampa, Florida; and finally Norfolk, Virginia. She was decommissioned on 14 December 1945 and sold for scrapping on 17 July 1947.
Cummings received seven battle stars for her service during World War II. She was at Pearl Harbor on the very first day of the war on 7 December and she was with the US Navy in Japanese waters when the war ended in 1945. She was a typical destroyer, taking on numerous escort, patrol, and shore bombardment duties during the war. She even transported the President of the United States, an honor few ships can boast. But once the war was over and she was no longer needed, Cummings was quickly decommissioned and scrapped, a fate that claimed many fine ships. Although she no longer exists, her career is still worth noting.
