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N7KTP > NAVNET 08.01.05 02:14l 135 Lines 7498 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 31512_N7FSP
Read: DG8DG GUEST
Subj: USS GATLING (DD-671)
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Sent: 050107/1602z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
A distinguished career for destroyer USS Gatling. Destroyer's guns fired more than 77 tons of explosives during World War II in
the Pacific.
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
The Fletcher class destroyer USS Gatling (DD-671) was built by the
Federal Ship Building &Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J. She was commissioned
Aug. 19, 1943 at New York Navy Yard with Lt.Cmdr. Alvin H. Richardson
as her first commanding officer.
Displacing 2,050-tons, Gatling was nearly 377-feet in length and
carried a draft of 17 feet, nine-inches. With 329 men assigned in
Gatling, she was outfitted with five, 5-inch gunmounts, 10, 40mm
antiaircraft gunmounts and 10, 21-inch torpedo tubes. She could reach a
top speed of 38 knots via her General Electric Geared Turbines coupled
to two screws developing 60,000 shaft horsepower.
After shakedown operations out of Bermuda and alterations at New
York in early November, she arrived at Norfolk, Va. to conduct training
cruises for crews of destroyers still under construction. Gatling
sailed from Norfolk on Dec. 3, escorting USS Intrepid through the
Panama Canal to San Francisco where they arrived on Dec. 22. The next
day she sailed for Pearl Harbor.
On Jan. 16, 1944 Gatling sortied with Task Force 58 to support the
forthcoming invasion of the Marshall Islands, thereafter, Gatling was
continuously with the carrier task forces as they struck Japanese
outposts.
In February the first carrier strikes against Truk occurred.
Gatling provided fire support during the raid and screened the flattops
during raids on the Marianas a few days later. In March she joined in
the attack on Emirau Island and at the beginning of April in the air
strikes against the Palau Archipelago. Steaming south to strike
Hollandia, Wakde, Sawar, and Same, New Guinea, the task force supported
Army landings at Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay, and Humboldt Bay. During this
action, Gatling stood radar picket duty and directed fighter planes.
After new attacks on Truk in late April 1944, Gatling supported the
invasion and occupation of the Marianas from June 10 to July 5.
In the Battle of the Philippine Sea, July 19 and 20, Gatling was
credited with shooting down or aiding in the kills of six Japanese
planes. Late that month, carrier task forces again struck the Palaus
and blasted Yap and Ulithi. In early August the Bonin Islands became
targets for Gatling's powerful guns, and in September the carriers she
guarded repeatedly struck Japanese targets in the Philippines.
October saw attacks against Okinawa and against Formosa, Luzon, and
the Visayas. On Oct. 24, after enemy bombs had sunk the carrier USS
Princeton in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, Gatling recovered more than
300 of the light carrier's survivors. For heroism in saving these men,
4 of Gatling's crew were awarded the Navy Marine Corps Medal, and 16
others received the Bronze Star.
Gatling landed the survivors at Ulithi and rejoined carrier task
groups for November and December strikes against the Philippines. After
a powerful typhoon in which three destroyers capsized, Gatling searched
for survivors and helped to save more than 100 men from the sea.
At Christmas 1944, the destroyer returned to Ulithi. The task force
sortied on Dec. 29, to strike Formosa and Luzon during January 1945.
Hoping to locate and destroy a Japanese fleet in that area, Admiral
Halsey took the task force into the South China Sea on Jan. 10 and hit
targets in Indochina and on the China coast.
In the middle of February, the carriers launched initial attacks
against Honshu with Tokyo as their main target. As part of a picket
line more than 30 miles in advance of the main forces, Gatling was once
within 40 miles of Honshu. On Feb. 19 and 20, as part of Destroyer
Division 99, she escorted USS North Carolina and Indianapolis to Iwo
Jima to support the Marines who were fighting to take away that
volcanic fortress from Japan to become a base for B- 29's damaged over
the home islands. Rejoining the carrier task force, Gatling aided in
new strikes against Honshu and Okinawa in late February and early
March. She returned to Iwo Jima independently and throughout March
blasted Japanese shore batteries to support the invasion, During this
duty, the versatile and busy destoyer saved the entire crew of a B-29
forced down while returning from a mission against Nagoya.
On March 29, 1945 she stood out from Iwo Jima, escorting transports
carrying victorious Marines to Guam. The destroyer then sailed to the
United States for an overhaul and repairs at San Francisco arriving
April 18.
After repairs and refresher training, Gatling escorted USS New
Jersey and Biloxi to Eniwetok, bombarding Wake Island en route.
Continuing to escort New Jersey, she arrived at Guam Aug. 9. There the
news came that Japan had accepted the provisions of the Potsdam
Declaration and agreed to surrender.
Gatling now headed for Japan escorting transports bearing the 4th
Marine Division as the 3rd Fleet rendezvoused off Japan. On Sept. 3,
1945, Gatling steamed into Tokyo Bay as a unit of the Allied Naval
Occupation Forces of Japan. During her aggressive career in World War
II, Gatling traveled more than 175,000 miles and fired 77 tons of high
explosives from her guns. She sank two enemy ships and splashed eight
Japanese planes, either as kills or assist. In addition to her other
rescue missions, preserving the lives of more than 400 sailors, she
saved 37 aviators forced to ditch at sea.
Gatling decommissioned on July 16, 1946 and entered the Atlantic
Reserve Fleet at Charleston, S.C.
After Communist aggression erupted in Korea, the veteran destroyer
was recommissioned on June 3, 1951 at Charleston, S.C. Until August
1952 she operated off the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies before
proceeding to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for modernization. In the
fall of 1952 Gatling as a unit of the NATO forces stood out of Newport,
R.I., for Europe and visited Scotland, Norway, and Belgium in Operation
"Mainbrace." Returning to the Far East, Gatling arrived at Tokyo on
June 3, 1953, and joined Task Force 77 supporting United Nations forces
in Korea. She then steamed to Manila, Saigon, Singapore, Colombo, and,
passing through the Suez Canal, called at France and Portgual. She
returned to Philadelphia in late summer 1953.
After repairs and training in New England waters, Gatling sailed to
Portugal, France, and Italy. Recrossing the Atlantic and transiting the
Panama Canal, the destroyer arrived at Guayaquil, Ecuador on Oct 7,
1955. The following year she visited France and Cuba as a part of her
varied operating schedule.
In 1957 Gatling again took part in NATO exercises, calling at
Spain, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. Further operations brought her to
England, to Spain again, and in 1958 to San Juan and Cuba. Her last
major operations took her to Mediterranean ports of call, Pakistan and
Iran, after which Gatling returned to her home base at Rhode Island on
Oct. 11, 1959.
Gatling was once again decommissioned, after a distinguished
career, on May 2, 1960 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She was
stricken from the Navy's list on Dec. 1, 1974 and sold for scrap on
Feb. 22, 1977.
USS Gatling (DD-671) was awarded eight battle stars for her World
War II service and one battle star for her Korean service.
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