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N7KTP > NAVNET 19.06.05 01:29l 68 Lines 3789 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 41100_N7FSP
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS PALMER (DM-5)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0AAB<F6KFT<F6KDL<HB9EAS<OE9XPI<OE7XLR<IN3TRX<IW3AQL<
I4UKI<IK5CKL<IZ0AWG<PY1AYH<7M3TJZ<N7FSP
Sent: 050618/1553z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Converted destroyer to sweeper fought to the end
By Fred Miles Watson - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
The destroyer USS Palmer (DD-161) was built by Fore River Shipbuilding
Co., of Quincy, Mass and was commissioned Nov. 22, 1918. Cmdr. R.R. Stewart
was the ship's first commanding officer.
The Wickes-class ship displaced 1,191-tons and was 314 feet in length.
She carried a draft of 9 feet, 2-inches and had an incredible top speed of
35 knots. Carrying four, 4- inch and two, 3-inch gunmounts, Palmer also
was outfitted with 10, 21-inch torpedo tubes. A total of 122 Sailors served
in Palmer.
For its first three years of service Palmer was assigned to the Pacific
and joined in fleet operations until being decommissioned at San Diego on
May 31; 1922: For 18 years Palmer was in the reserve fleet until it was
recommissioned Aug. 7, 1940 and converted to a minesweeper with the
designation DM-5 as of Nov. 19, 1940. Palmer returned to the Atlantic Fleet
and joined Mine Division 19 out of Norfolk for escort duty in the Atlantic
and Caribbean. Sailing Oct. 24, 1942, the now sweeper, screened Task Force
34 to the invasion of North Africa, arriving off Fedala on Nov. 7, where
the ship conducted an exploratory sweep before taking station in the
antisubmarine screen. The next day Palmer seized the French trawler Joseph
Elise, and engaged an enemy shore battery.
Palmer served on patrol and escort off North Africa until Dec. 12,
then returned to Atlantic escort duty through 1943, sailing both coastal
and Caribbean and Northwestern Atlantic routes. Ordered to the Pacific, she
trained out of San Diego then joined Task Force 53 at Pearl Harbor, sailing
with it Jan. 22, 1944 for the assault on Kwajalein. Palmer remained in the
Marshalls until Feb. 12, laying buoys and screening transports, then made
escort voyages to Pearl Harbor and Majuro.
Preceding the invasion force by two days, Palmer arrived off Saipan
for a five hour sweep 13 June, then screened transports during the landings.
Screening duty to Eniwetok caused her to miss the battle of the Philippine
Sea, but the minesweeper returnbed to Saipan for screnning duties from June
22 to July 8.
Palmer arrived off Guam on July 22, the day after the island was
invaded, to screen transports off Apra Harbor for five days. Returning to
Pearl Harbor, Palmer prepared for the return to the Philippines, a vast
operation in which the aging converted destroyers would once again prove
themselves. Staging at Manus, the force arrived off Leyte Gulf Oct. 17, to
sweep the main channels and transport areas during the three days before
the landings. After escorting the transports through the safe channels, the
minesweepers made a quick sweep in Surigao Strait, the returned to Manus
Strait Oct. 23, the eve of the battle for Leyte Gulf.
Replenished, Palmer cleared Manus on Dec. 23 for Lingayen Gulf, where
she was to repeat the successful operations carried out in Lingayen Gulf
1945, and began their sweep at Leyte. Harassed enroute by enemy ships and
planes, Palmer and the task force successfully penetrated Lingayen Gulf
early on Jan. 7, 1945, and began their sweep under enemy air attack. At
about 1545 hours, a violent explosion occurred, knocking out Palmer’s port
low pressure turbine. She began recovering sweeping gear and left forma-
tion to make repairs. Three hours later, at 1840 hours, a Japanese twin-
engine bomber flew low overhead and dropped two bombs which hit the ship
portside. A huge fire, threatening the ship's magazines, billowed skyward,
and Palmer sank in six minutes. Of the crew, two were killed, 38 wounded,
and 26 were listed as missing in action.
USS Palmer (DM-5) was awarded five battle stars for its World War II
service.
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