Figure 1: USS Dale (DD-353) photographed by the New York Navy Yard, 22 July 1935. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Dale (DD-353), left, leading USS Monaghan (DD-354) through a turn during an exhibition by Destroyer Squadron Twenty ships, staged for Movietone News, off San Diego, California, on 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 Dale (DD-353) underway circa 1935-1937. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Dale (DD-353) steaming at sea, circa 1935-1937. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Dale (DD-353) at sea on 10 March 1937. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Dale (DD-353) operating at sea with the battle fleet, circa 1937-1940. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Dale (DD-353) underway on 28 April 1938. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Dale (DD-353) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, 5 October 1944. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 31, Design 6d. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Dale (DD-353) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, 5 October 1944. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 31, Design 6d. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Dale (DD-353) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, 5 October 1944. Her camouflage is Measure 31, Design 6d. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: USS Dale (DD-353) underway at sea, June 1944, probably during the Marianas operation. Note ships conducting replenishment operations in the distance. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after Commodore Richard Dale (1756-1826), who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and in the United States Navy in the late 1790s and early 1800s, USS Dale was a 1,395-ton Farragut class destroyer that was built at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, and was commissioned on 17 June 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. Dale was armed with five 5-inch guns, eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges, but this armament was modified during World War II.
After being commissioned, Dale was sent to the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas, but was soon transferred to the Pacific. Throughout the rest of the 1930s, Dale participated in the usual peace-time naval exercises in the US Fleet and visited numerous ports, from Alaska to Peru. She also served as a gunnery training ship. In October 1939, Dale was sent to Hawaii and was stationed at Pearl Harbor. Dale was at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on 7 December 1941, but the officer on duty at the time (an ensign) managed to get the ship underway and established a patrol off the entrance of the harbor. Dale’s guns opened fire on the oncoming Japanese aircraft and managed to shoot one of them down.
During the first months of the war, Dale was assigned to patrol and escort duties and screened aircraft carriers in some of the US Navy’s first counterattacks against Japan. From 14 December 1941 to 17 March 1942, Dale escorted the aircraft carriers USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Yorktown (CV-5), which participated in air strikes against New Guinea on 10 March. Dale also screened USS Saratoga (CV-3) and escorted transports in early August 1942 during the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the battle for the Solomon Islands. She continued escorting transports and merchant ships throughout the rest of the year.
On 9 January 1943, Dale left San Francisco, California, and was sent to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. She participated in the occupation of Amchitka from 23 January to 19 March, patrolling the area and fighting off various Japanese attacks. On 22 March, the task force Dale was in steamed west of Attu to intercept and sink any Japanese ships trying to reinforce Japanese troops on the islands of Attu and Kiska. On 26 March, Dale’s task force collided with a Japanese task force that was escorting troop transports bound for Attu. What resulted was the little-known Battle of the Komandorski Islands, when Dale actually fired on all of the Japanese cruisers in the enemy task force while, at the same time, escorting the damaged American cruiser USS Salt Lake City (CA-25). Evidently, the Japanese lost their nerve and did not press their advantage against the smaller American task force. The Japanese withdrew and their reinforcements failed to reach Attu, leaving the Japanese troops there to their fate. Dale went on to escort transports and was used as a fire support ship during the actual invasion of Attu on 11 May 1943. She continued patrolling the waters around Attu until 1 August. She was part of the pre-invasion bombardment of Kiska on 2 August and escorted troop transports during the actual invasion of the island on 15 August.
Dale was sent back to the central Pacific in September 1943 and during the next two months escorted ships on a raid on Wake Island and escorted landing ships during the invasion of Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. During the first seven months of 1944, Dale supported the invasion of the Marshall Islands by escorting carrier strike forces in the area and she bombarded Japanese positions on Saipan and Guam during June and July. After an overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, Dale escorted logistics ships that were attached to carrier operations against the Philippines and the Japanese home islands. During June and July 1945, Dale assisted in the invasion of Borneo and then returned to escort duties. She returned to the United States shortly after the war ended in the Pacific. USS Dale was decommissioned in New York on 16 October 1945 and was sold for scrapping on 20 December 1946.
USS Dale had a very active career, including her participation in a now forgotten part of World War II, the Aleutian Islands campaign. It was a violent little part of World War II, fought under horrific weather conditions, and was the only part of the war actually fought on North American soil. It deserves recognition.
