Figure 1: USS Worden (DD-352) at anchor, circa the later 1930s. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Dobbin (AD-3) photographed circa 1937, with several destroyers alongside. They include (from left to right): USS Phelps (DD-360), USS Worden (DD-352), USS MacDonough (DD-351), USS Dewey (DD-349), and USS Hull (DD-350). Note that some of these ships' hull numbers are painted close to the waterline, while others are about midway between the waterline and the weather deck. Courtesy of BMGC Ralph E. Turpin, USN (Retired), 1963. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Worden (DD-352) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 21 November 1942. Note barrage balloons aloft in the distance. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Worden
(DD-352) at the Mare
Island Navy Yard, California, 21 November 1942. USS St. Louis (CL-49) is in the background. Circles mark recent shipyard
alterations to Worden. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection
in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Worden
(DD-352) aground
in Constantine Harbor during the occupation of Amchitka, Aleutian Islands, Alaska,
on 12 January 1943. USS Dewey (DD-349), which unsuccessfully tried to
tow Worden off, is standing by in the left center. Official US Navy
Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Worden (DD-352) sinking after she went aground in Constantine Harbor during the occupation of Amchitka, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, on 12 January 1943. Note oil spreading around the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: Boats removing USS Worden's (DD-352)
crew after she went aground in Constantine Harbor during the occupation of
Amchitka, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, on 12 January 1943. USS Dewey
(DD-349) is standing by in the foreground. The ship in the distance, in the
upper right, is USS Arthur Middleton (AP-55). Official US Navy
Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Worden (DD-352) being abandoned after going aground in Constantine Harbor during the occupation of Amchitka, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, on 12 January 1943. Note men in the water near the landing craft in the foreground and steam pouring from Worden's stacks and midships area. Fourteen of her crewmen were lost in the icy waters in this incident. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after Rear Admiral John L. Worden (1818-1897), who was the
commander on board USS Monitor during her historic battle with CSS Virginia
on 9 March 1862, the 1,726-ton USS Worden (DD-352) was a Farragut
class destroyer that was built by the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington, and was commissioned on 15 January 1935. The ship was
approximately 341 feet long and 34 feet wide, had a top speed of 36 knots, and
had a crew of 186 officers and men. Worden was armed with five 5-inch guns,
four .50-caliber machine guns, eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.
After being commissioned, Worden completed her shakedown cruise
off the coast of Central America. After that, she steamed to the Atlantic for
several months before returning to the Pacific in August 1935. Worden
was based at San Diego, California, from 1935 to 1939 and sailed at various
times as far north as Alaska and as far south as Peru. The ship also
participated in naval exercises in the Caribbean, in the waters around Hawaii,
and off America’s west coast. In October 1939, after war began in Europe, Worden
was transferred to and based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December
1941, Worden was at anchor there next to the destroyer tender USS Dobbin
(AD-3). No bombs hit Worden, but a machine gunner on board the destroyer
managed to shoot down a low-flying Japanese aircraft. Within two hours after
the start of the attack, Worden was able to make steam and head out into
the open sea. Worden made numerous anti-submarine sweeps outside of
Pearl Harbor, making contact with at least one Japanese submarine later that
same day. After dropping roughly seven depth charges, contact was lost with the
target. Worden then joined a task force built around the light cruiser USS
Detroit (CL-8), which searched the seas southwest of Oahu for Japanese
warships. Worden eventually rendezvoused with the fleet oiler USS Neosho
(AO-23) and escorted her to a fueling rendezvous with Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch’s
Task Force TF-11, which was built around the aircraft carrier USS Lexington
(CV-2).
In the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Worden
participated in the abortive Wake Island relief expedition. The relief of Wake
Island was seen by Washington as not being worth the risk to the few remaining
American warships in the Pacific, so it was allowed to fall, condemning more
than 1,000 American sailors, Marines, and civilian construction workers to an
unimaginable hell as prisoners of war for the rest of the conflict. It was a
shameful example of the lack of will that paralyzed the American government
during those first few days of the war and what made it even more painful was
that the Americans on Wake were actually holding their own against the Japanese
onslaught, inflicting much damage on the invading enemy task force. But the
American forces couldn’t hold out forever and were forced to surrender when it
became clear that no help was coming.
Worden was
employed on patrol and escort duties during the first half of 1942, making two
round-trip voyages to the south Pacific between February and May. In early
June, Worden escorted US aircraft carriers during the pivotal Battle of
Midway. In July 1942, Worden returned to the south Pacific and in August
she escorted the carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) during the American
invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. Worden continued escorting Saratoga
during the Battle for the Eastern Solomon Islands later in that month. But less
than a week after the battle, a Japanese submarine torpedoed Saratoga
and put her out of action, forcing the carrier to return to the mainland United
States for repairs.
Worden was
ordered to return to the United States for an overhaul, arriving at the Puget
Sound Navy Yard on 14 October 1942. After the overhaul was completed, Worden
steamed south to San Francisco and on December 27 joined the invasion force for
the occupation of Amchitka Island in the Aleutians. Worden reached Dutch
Harbor, Alaska, on 1 January 1943 and on 12 January was guarding the transport Arthur
Middleton (AP-55) as she landed preliminary Army units on the shores of
Constantine Harbor at Amchitka Island. Worden carefully maneuvered into
the rock-strewn harbor and stayed there until the last Army troops left the
transport and arrived on shore. The destroyer then faced the difficult prospect
of leaving the small harbor.
Suddenly, a strong current pushed Worden onto a large pinnacle
or rock that tore up the ship’s hull beneath the engine room. This caused
massive flooding and an immediate loss of power. Worden’s sister ship,
USS Dewey (DD-349), passed a towline to Worden and attempted to
tow her off the rock, but the tow line parted and the heavy seas began moving Worden
towards the rocky coastline. Since Worden had no power, she was unable
to move away from the shore. The sinking ship was battered mercilessly by large
waves and soon Worden buckled and began breaking apart. Commander
William G. Pogue, Worden’s commanding officer, gave the order to abandon
ship. Small boats from other ships in the area arrived on the scene and began
removing Worden’s crew. But before this work could be completed, large
waves swept some men overboard and tossed them into the icy sea. One of the men
swept overboard was Commander Pogue. Pogue, though, was one of the lucky ones
because he was hauled, unconscious, out of the water. Sadly, fourteen of Worden’s
crewmembers drowned during the rescue effort. Worden gradually capsized
to starboard, broke in two, and sank.
USS Worden’s plight certainly confirmed the old adage that “The
sea is a demanding mistress.” In many
cases during World War II, the sea was as deadly an enemy as the Japanese or
the Germans. That the men on board these ships had to endure both harsh seas as
well as enemy attacks demonstrates the amount of courage and stamina that was
required of them throughout the war.
