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N7KTP > NAVNET 27.10.04 01:48l 89 Lines 4964 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 25788_N7FSP
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Subj: USS EDWARDS (DD-619)
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Sent: 041026/1705z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Destroyer Edwards awarded 14-battle stars during World War II
By FRED MlLES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
The Benson class destroyer USS Edwards (DD-619) was built at
Federal Shipbuilding Co., of Kearny, N.J. and was commissioned on Sept.
18, 1942 as Lt Cmdr. W.L. Messmer took command of the ship.
Displacing 1,630-tons, Edwards was 348-feet in length and had a
draft of 17 feet, 5-inches. With her Westinghouse geared turbines and
two screws, Edwards could attain a top speed of 37 knots. At the time
of commissioning the ship was equipped with four, 6-inch gunmounts,
six-21-inch torpedo tubes, six depth charge projectors and two depth
charge tracks.
After shakedown operations and a brief service escorting convoys
along the East Coast and in the Caribbean, the destroyer received
orders and sailed from New York on Nov. 8,1942 to join the Pacific
Fleet. She joined Task Force 18 at Noumea on Jan 4, 1943, to cover a
large troop convoy bound for Guadalcanal. On Jan. 29 they were attacked
by a swarm of Japanese torpedo bombers off Rennell Island. Although
most were driven off by the heavy accurate fire of the ships, enough
broke through to put two torpedoes into the heavy cruiser Chicago (CA-
29). Edwards with four other destroyers was detached to screen the
damaged cruiser. On the following day, as the group sailed for Espiritu
Santo, attacks continued. The destroyers put up a strong defense, but
Chicago was torpedoed again and sank. Edwards rescued 224 of the 1,049
survivors. One of the other screening destroyers, La Vallette (DD448),
was also torpedoed; Edwards saw her safely to port before rejoining her
task group.
Edwards returned to Pearl Harbor March 27, 1943 for an overhaul,
then set sail April 16 for the Aleutians. Her guns came alive as she
bombarded Attu on April 26, and as antisubmarine screen for USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) during the landings of May 11. The followi
ng day
she teamed with USS Farragut (DD-348) for a 10-hour depth charge
attack on a submarine which attempted to torpedo the battleship.
I-35 was forced to the surface and badly damaged by Edward’s guns
before diving, only to be sunk finally by USS Frazier DD-607.
Edwards continued to sail through the stormy Aleutian waters on
antisubmarine patrol. In June 1943 she joined the blockade patrol which
bombarded Kiska Island in early August and covered the eventual
landings on the Aug. 13. After overhaul, she returned to Espiritu Santo
in October for training.
On Nov. 8, 1943 the destroyer sailed to screen carriers in air
strikes on Rabaul on the 11th. A flight of Japanese planes attacked her
task group at noon that day; Edwards and her companions drove off or
splashed every plane before it could hit any American ship. She
screened the support force at Tarawa on Nov. 19, then escorted
transports to Pearl Harbor before continuing on to the West Coast for a
brief overhaul. On March 3, 1944 she arrived at Majuro, where she
patrolled as well as screening strikes on Mili Atoll in the Marshalls
and in the Palaus by carriers of the 6th Fleet. In April she guarded
the carriers as they launched air attacks on New Guinea in coordination
with the Hollandia landings. Edwards was also involved in the attack on
Truk on April 29 and 30.
From May 12 to Aug. 18, 1944 Edwards' destroyer division formed
the Eastern Marshalls Patrol Group, They patrolled off the Japanese-
held atolls of Mili, Jaluit, Maloelap, and Wotje to keep the enemy from
receiving assistance or evacuating. On May 22 she joined Bancroft (DD-
598) to put several enemy batteries on Wotje out of action. Again off
Wotje on June 27 she ignored shore fire to rescue downed aviators
drifting toward shore.
After an overhaul in Pearl Harbor in August the destroyer sailed
for San Pedro Bay, Leyte, in the Philippines, arriving Oct. 30 for
patrol. She joined the assault force for the landings at Ormoc on Dec.
7. It was there that her guns shot down several of the harder hitting
air attackers as well as aiding ships they had been damaged.
On Dec. 11, she took aboard casualties from USS Caldwell (DD-605),
set on fire by a suicide plane.
The battle-hardened Edwards remained in the Philippines, shep-
herding supply convoys through to Mindoro, Lingayen Gulf, Polloc
Harbor, and Davao Gulf. On May 9, 1945 she arrived at Morotai to
distinguish herself during the invasion of Borneo, returning to Subic
Bay on July 12. She made one voyage to Iwo Jima, another to Okinawa to
escort convoys, then sailed Sept. 16 for the United States arriving on
Jan. 7, 1946 at Charleston, S..C., where she was placed out of
commission in reserve on April 11, 1946. She remained in the reserve
fleet until it was stricken on July 1, 1971. It was sold by DRMS on May
25, 1973 for scrap.
USS Edwards (DD-619) was awarded 14 battle stars for its service
during World War ll.
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