Figure 1: USS Macdonough (DD-351) off the Boston Navy Yard, 14 June 1935. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Macdonough (DD-351) steaming in another destroyer's wake during maneuvers staged for Movietone News off San Diego, California, by Destroyer Squadron Twenty (DesRon 20), 14 September 1936. Courtesy of Commander Robert L. Ghormley, Jr., USN, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Macdonough (DD-351) steaming in another destroyer's wake during an exhibition staged for Movietone News by Destroyer Squadron Twenty (DesRon 20) off San Diego, California, 14 September 1936. Courtesy of Commander Robert L. Ghormley, Jr., USN, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Macdonough (DD-351) at sea, circa 1935-1937. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Macdonough (DD-351) underway at sea, circa 1935-1937. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Macdonough (DD-351) approaching an anchorage in the lower end of Iliuliuk Bay, off Rocky Point, in the Aleutian Islands, 27 April 1937. Photographed from USS Dewey (DD-349). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Macdonough (DD-351) underway in a harbor, 11 April 1938. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: View of USS Macdonough’s (DD-351) starboard side, forward, while she was at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, on 29 May 1942. Note details of motor boat (lower left), pilothouse, and main battery gun director. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Macdonough (DD-351) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 17 January 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Macdonough (DD-351) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 3 September 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: USS Macdonough (DD-351) at sea in December 1943. Place unknown. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after Commodore Thomas Macdonough (1783-1825), a famous US naval hero from the War of 1812, USS Macdonough (DD-351) was a 1,395-ton Farragut class destroyer that was built by the Boston Navy Yard at Boston, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 15 March 1935. The ship was approximately 341 feet long and 34 feet wide, had a top speed of 36 knots, and had a crew of 160 officers and men. Macdonough was armed initially with five 5-inch guns, four .30-caliber machine guns, eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges, although this armament was modified during World War II.
After a shakedown cruise that took her to Europe and western South America, Macdonough was assigned to the US Pacific Fleet and was based at San Diego, California, until 12 October 1939. She was then moved to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and joined Destroyer Squadron 1. Macdonough was at Pearl Harbor during the attack on 7 December 1941 and managed to shoot down one of the attacking Japanese aircraft. Undamaged during the attack, Macdonough left Pearl Harbor and joined the few remaining US warships that went searching for the Japanese task force. Unable to locate the enemy, the American warships returned to their shattered naval base and for the next three months Macdonough was used to patrol the waters southwest of Oahu, Hawaii. Macdonough also escorted convoys between America’s west coast and Hawaii and she was assigned to patrol and escort duties in the south Pacific as well, primarily around New Guinea.
Macdonough participated in the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands on 7 August 1942. She also was part of the doomed American task force during the Battle of Savo Island, where several Allied cruisers were lost in a single night. Macdonough, though, escaped unharmed from this tragic encounter. At the end of September, Macdonough began escorting ships between New Guinea, Espiritu Santo (in the New Hebrides), and Pearl Harbor and continued these duties until the end of December 1942, when she was sent to Mare Island, California, for an overhaul.
Macdonough’s next mission was to participate in the invasion of Attu Island in the Aleutians. She arrived at Adak, Alaska, on 16 April 1943 and patrolled the waters northeast of Attu in preparation for the invasion, which was scheduled to begin on 11 May. But on 10 May, Macdonough was hit by the merchant ship Sicard while escorting the attack transports in bad weather. As a result of the collision, the destroyer was forced to return to port under tow. Macdonough returned to Mare Island for repairs and remained there until 23 September 1943.
After being repaired, Macdonough participated in the invasion of Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands on 20 November 1943, acting as a control ship for landing craft and bombarding Japanese targets on shore. On 23 November, the battle for Makin Island ended and Macdonough returned to Pearl Harbor. Macdonough continued escorting ships during the invasion of the Marshall Islands from January to February 1944 and on 15 February, while patrolling off Kwajalein Atoll, Macdonough assisted in sinking a Japanese submarine, RO-40.
Once the campaign in the Marshall Islands was over, Macdonough was assigned to the central Pacific and to amphibious assaults in New Guinea. On 30 April 1944, Macdonough assisted in the destruction of another Japanese submarine (RO-45) off the island of Truk. Macdonough participated in the invasion of the Marianas Islands from early June until early August 1944 and her major duties included bombarding enemy targets on shore, supporting underwater demolition teams, conducting anti-submarine patrols, and escorting carrier task forces. Later that year, Macdonough was part of the invasion of the Philippine Islands and escorted a number of transports during the Battle for Leyte Gulf on 24 and 25 October. Macdonough continued her escort duties until January 1945, when she went to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, for a badly needed three-month overhaul. Once the overhaul was completed, Macdonough served as a radar picket ship and escort in the central and western Pacific, mainly between Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands and Okinawa, Japan.
Macdonough found herself at Guam when the war ended in the Pacific. She returned to the United States and arrived at San Diego on 3 September 1945. After stopping briefly at San Diego, Macdonough continued her voyage to the New York Navy Yard on America’s east coast. She was decommissioned there on 22 October 1945 and was sold for scrapping on 20 December 1946. USS Macdonough received a hefty 13 battle stars for her service during World War II.
