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USS Bauer (DE-1025)
Encyclopedia
USS Bauer (DE-1025) was a in the United States Navy
. She was named for Lieutenant Colonel Harold William Bauer
, naval aviator and recipient of the Medal of Honor
for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage as Commander of Marine Fighting Squadron 212 in the South Pacific between 10 May and 14 November 1942.
might generate and to counter the growing threat from advanced Russian submarine
s. Assigned to Escort Squadron (CortRon) 3 at San Diego, she underwent six months of preparatory training exercises. On 12 June 1958, she departed San Diego for duty with 7th Fleet
in the Far East. Arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on 2 July, she joined the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) task group on its patrols in the East China Sea
. For the next five months, the destroyer escort cruised western Pacific waters, visiting ports in Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan, before returning to San Diego on 4 December.
Bauer resumed training with CortRon 3, conducting local operations out of San Diego until 9 September 1959, when she sailed again for the western Pacific. On this deployment - which included port visits to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan the destroyer escort participated in President Eisenhower's "People to People" program. This included offering tours of the vessel to civilians, contributing to local charities, and participating in competitive sports with members of foreign military units. In mid-October, Bauer visited Tacloban City, in the Philippines, for the annual celebration of the 20 October 1944 Leyte landings during World War II.
Returning to San Diego on 18 September, the warship resumed a regular schedule of local operations. Drills with submarines, such as a mid-January 1962 sonar training exercise with and , kept her busy until 6 March when she entered drydock at the Naval Repair Facility, San Diego. During the ensuing upgrade, part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization
(FRAM) program, the warship lost her after 3-inch/50 twin mount to the initial flight deck modifications for the drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH), but received a modern SQS-23 sonar and two triple-mount lightweight ASW torpedo tubes.
On 6 June, Bauer returned to ASW training out of San Diego. Over the next several months, the warship held sonar tracking exercises with nuclear submarine and provided underway services for the antisubmarine warfare support carrier in September. The following month, she made preparations to return to the Far East and sailed from San Diego on 26 October. The destroyer escort, in company with Yorktown and the other escorts of CortDiv 31, moored at Pearl Harbor on 1 November. After two ASW exercises held near the islands, the task group left Hawaii on 26 November for Japan. Arriving at Yokosuka on 6 December, Bauer spent the next four months conducting operations with 7th Fleet units. In January 1963, she operated in the waters off Japan, training with submarine and providing screen services for Yorktown. In February and March, the warship patrolled in the South China Sea before joining the nuclear submarine on 9 April for tracking exercises in Philippine waters.
After anchoring at Manila on the 13th, the destroyer escort spent 11 days in port before returning to sea again on 24 April. Bauer steamed to the South China Sea, where she joined British, Australian, Thai, and Pakistani warships, for Operation "Sea Serpent." During this exercise, she helped the foreign warships to practice convoy-screening operations and to learn American naval tactics. She returned to the Philippines on 8 May but put to sea again almost immediately with orders to the site of an Australian helicopter crash just outside Manila harbor. Sadly, Bauer found no sign of the flight crew. The following day, the warship set course for Japan, arriving in Sasebo on the 13th. After local exercises and screening duty with Yorktown, she departed Yokosuka on 6 June to return to the United States.
Arriving at San Diego on the 18th, Bauer operated out of that port through the end of the year. Underway training filled much of her time, including a hold-down exercise with radar picket submarine in August, shore bombardment practice in September, and an electronic counter-measures test with auxiliary submarine in December. In January 1964, the warship provided screening services for antisubmarine warfare support carrier , and conducted ASW training in February with nuclear submarine and submarine . These exercises ended on 19 March when the destroyer escort entered the Naval Repair Facility at San Diego for a three-week overhaul. On 13 April, she began two months of refresher training, preparatory to another Far Eastern deployment, upon which she embarked on 19 June.
On the 26th, Bauer stopped at Pearl Harbor for three weeks of training. Designed to familiarize her crew with Vietnam-theater operating procedures, this training continued until 20 July when she headed for Japan. Arriving at Yokosuka 10 days later, the destroyer escort remained in port until 5 August when she set out for Vietnamese waters. Taking up a position at "Yankee Station" on the 11th, the warship provided ASW protection for the growing number of American carriers operating in the South China Sea. These duties included ASW patrol, sonar contact investigation, and lifeguard station watch. This assignment—broken only by brief stops at Subic Bay, Sasebo, and Hong Kong—lasted until 30 November when she sailed for home.
Following her 16 December arrival, the destroyer escort spent the holidays in port at San Diego. She began a heavy schedule of local operations on 25 January 1965. These ranged from sonar exercises, with 12 trainees from the Pacific Fleet ASW school on board, to screening operations for attack carrier and antisubmarine warfare support carrier . Various other drills, with submarines, escorts, and amphibious forces, also took place out of San Diego. In early March, the destroyer escort twice encountered a Russian trawler snooping around the exercise area. At the end of the month, the warship conducted two days of ASW drills off Coronado Island with the Greek submarine Triaina (S-86).
In mid-June, following a sonar project for the Fleet ASW School, the destroyer escort began preparations for a drydock period at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. After receiving services from , the warship moved to the shipyard on 30 June. She entered drydock on 27 July, left it again on 26 August, but continued to receive repairs until 10 October. Underway the next day, Bauer commenced refresher training and remained so employed until 11 January 1966 when she returned to Long Beach Naval Shipyard
for modifications. These repairs lasted until the 26th when the warship returned to San Diego.
Following two months of preparatory training, Bauer got underway for Alaskan waters on 29 March 1966. The destroyer escort stopped at Esquimalt in British Columbia and at Juneau and Kodiak
in Alaska
before anchoring off Adak Island on 15 April. She steamed to Attu
on the 17th and conducted special operations in the Bering Sea for the next five weeks. After refueling at Adak
on 26 May, the warship sailed for a visit to Pearl Harbor before returning to San Diego on 13 June. For the next five months, she conducted only local exercises out of that port before sailing for the Far East on 4 November.
Arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 11th, Bauer joined Bennington for training exercises before setting out for Japan on 28 November. After mooring at Yokosuka on 8 December, the destroyer escort headed for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on the 10th. A week later, she began patrolling the Taiwan Strait. These patrols occupied her until 12 January 1967 when she moved on to Vietnamese waters. Arriving on "Yankee Station" on the 18th, Bauer provided screen and plane guard services to the carriers for the next 10 weeks. On 7 March, she steered for Sasebo, putting into that port on the 12th. The warship entered S.S.K. Shipyard for eight weeks of repairs on 3 April. The work was completed on 30 May and she steamed for home.
Bauer sailed via Midway and Pearl Harbor and arrived at San Diego on 16 June. Following leave and upkeep, the warship conducted local training operations, including a few DASH flights, until 5 September when she sailed for Alaskan waters. Mooring at Adak on the 13th, Bauer remained in that port owing to a severe storm that crossed into the area. The next day, the storm swept medium harbor tug Pawtucket (YTM-359) into the warship, punching a small hole in Bauer's hull. The destroyer escort suffered more damage on the 15th when rough seas drove her against the pier. Although she moved to Amchitka the following day, the weather conditions allowed only one day of Arctic sonar tracking training before forcing her south for calmer waters. The warship refueled at Pearl Harbor on the 30th and made San Diego on 8 October.
After repairing the hull damage received in the Aleutians, Bauer conducted normal training exercises out of San Diego for the next 11 months. These activities were interrupted in early January 1968 when the warship helped track California gray whales with sono-buoys while off Baja, Mexico. On 30 August, Bauer moved to the Reserve Training Compound, San Diego. Reassigned to Reserve Destroyer Squadron (ResDesRon) 27, she carried out training missions with reservists through the end of the year.
In January 1969, Bauer participated in Exercise "Bellcurve", during which she conducted raider surface attacks against an ASW task group, before resuming reservist training out of San Diego. In April, the warship embarked two groups of naval reservists for active duty training; and, in early May, the destroyer escort conducted ASW exercises for the Pacific Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare School. On 21 May, she entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard, for a regular overhaul but continued to train reservists throughout the overhaul period. With repairs and alterations complete on 26 August, Bauer returned to reserve training out of San Diego, which occupied her time through the end of the year and into 1970.
Following a final reserve cruise on the last weekend in September, the warship stood down at San Diego on 1 October. Bauer was decommissioned on 3 December 1973, and her name was struck from the Navy List that same day. After a possible Military Assistance Program transfer to the Turkish Navy was cancelled, she was sold for scrap to the National Metal & Steel Corp., Terminal Island, California, on 22 August 1974.
Bauer received two battle stars for Vietnam service.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. She was named for Lieutenant Colonel Harold William Bauer
Harold W. Bauer
Lieutenant Colonel Harold William Bauer, commonly referred to as "Joe" Bauer, was a United States Marine Corps air group commander and fighter pilot ace credited with destroying 11 Japanese aircraft during World War II...
, naval aviator and recipient of the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage as Commander of Marine Fighting Squadron 212 in the South Pacific between 10 May and 14 November 1942.
Operational service
Built as a mobilization test platform, Bauer was designed to meet the mass production requirements that a war with the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
might generate and to counter the growing threat from advanced Russian submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s. Assigned to Escort Squadron (CortRon) 3 at San Diego, she underwent six months of preparatory training exercises. On 12 June 1958, she departed San Diego for duty with 7th Fleet
United States Seventh Fleet
The Seventh Fleet is the United States Navy's permanent forward projection force based in Yokosuka, Japan, with units positioned near Japan and South Korea. It is a component fleet force under the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with...
in the Far East. Arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on 2 July, she joined the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) task group on its patrols in the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
. For the next five months, the destroyer escort cruised western Pacific waters, visiting ports in Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan, before returning to San Diego on 4 December.
Bauer resumed training with CortRon 3, conducting local operations out of San Diego until 9 September 1959, when she sailed again for the western Pacific. On this deployment - which included port visits to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan the destroyer escort participated in President Eisenhower's "People to People" program. This included offering tours of the vessel to civilians, contributing to local charities, and participating in competitive sports with members of foreign military units. In mid-October, Bauer visited Tacloban City, in the Philippines, for the annual celebration of the 20 October 1944 Leyte landings during World War II.
1960s
The destroyer escort remained in Far Eastern waters into the new year before returning to San Diego in mid-February 1960. Normal training, including weapons firing drills and sonar tracking exercises, continued until 1 July when the warship was assigned to the newly formed CortDiv 31. Together with her sister ships , , and , Bauer continued to practice submarine hunting and to test new tactics and equipment out of San Diego. In March 1961, the destroyer escort sailed for her third 7th Fleet deployment. Much as in her previous overseas assignment, the warship conducted ASW exercises with 7th Fleet warships, patrolled Far Eastern waters, and participated in the ongoing "People to People" program.Returning to San Diego on 18 September, the warship resumed a regular schedule of local operations. Drills with submarines, such as a mid-January 1962 sonar training exercise with and , kept her busy until 6 March when she entered drydock at the Naval Repair Facility, San Diego. During the ensuing upgrade, part of the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization
Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization
The Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization program of the United States Navy extended the lives of World War II-era destroyers by shifting their mission from a surface attack role to that of a submarine hunter...
(FRAM) program, the warship lost her after 3-inch/50 twin mount to the initial flight deck modifications for the drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH), but received a modern SQS-23 sonar and two triple-mount lightweight ASW torpedo tubes.
On 6 June, Bauer returned to ASW training out of San Diego. Over the next several months, the warship held sonar tracking exercises with nuclear submarine and provided underway services for the antisubmarine warfare support carrier in September. The following month, she made preparations to return to the Far East and sailed from San Diego on 26 October. The destroyer escort, in company with Yorktown and the other escorts of CortDiv 31, moored at Pearl Harbor on 1 November. After two ASW exercises held near the islands, the task group left Hawaii on 26 November for Japan. Arriving at Yokosuka on 6 December, Bauer spent the next four months conducting operations with 7th Fleet units. In January 1963, she operated in the waters off Japan, training with submarine and providing screen services for Yorktown. In February and March, the warship patrolled in the South China Sea before joining the nuclear submarine on 9 April for tracking exercises in Philippine waters.
After anchoring at Manila on the 13th, the destroyer escort spent 11 days in port before returning to sea again on 24 April. Bauer steamed to the South China Sea, where she joined British, Australian, Thai, and Pakistani warships, for Operation "Sea Serpent." During this exercise, she helped the foreign warships to practice convoy-screening operations and to learn American naval tactics. She returned to the Philippines on 8 May but put to sea again almost immediately with orders to the site of an Australian helicopter crash just outside Manila harbor. Sadly, Bauer found no sign of the flight crew. The following day, the warship set course for Japan, arriving in Sasebo on the 13th. After local exercises and screening duty with Yorktown, she departed Yokosuka on 6 June to return to the United States.
Arriving at San Diego on the 18th, Bauer operated out of that port through the end of the year. Underway training filled much of her time, including a hold-down exercise with radar picket submarine in August, shore bombardment practice in September, and an electronic counter-measures test with auxiliary submarine in December. In January 1964, the warship provided screening services for antisubmarine warfare support carrier , and conducted ASW training in February with nuclear submarine and submarine . These exercises ended on 19 March when the destroyer escort entered the Naval Repair Facility at San Diego for a three-week overhaul. On 13 April, she began two months of refresher training, preparatory to another Far Eastern deployment, upon which she embarked on 19 June.
On the 26th, Bauer stopped at Pearl Harbor for three weeks of training. Designed to familiarize her crew with Vietnam-theater operating procedures, this training continued until 20 July when she headed for Japan. Arriving at Yokosuka 10 days later, the destroyer escort remained in port until 5 August when she set out for Vietnamese waters. Taking up a position at "Yankee Station" on the 11th, the warship provided ASW protection for the growing number of American carriers operating in the South China Sea. These duties included ASW patrol, sonar contact investigation, and lifeguard station watch. This assignment—broken only by brief stops at Subic Bay, Sasebo, and Hong Kong—lasted until 30 November when she sailed for home.
Following her 16 December arrival, the destroyer escort spent the holidays in port at San Diego. She began a heavy schedule of local operations on 25 January 1965. These ranged from sonar exercises, with 12 trainees from the Pacific Fleet ASW school on board, to screening operations for attack carrier and antisubmarine warfare support carrier . Various other drills, with submarines, escorts, and amphibious forces, also took place out of San Diego. In early March, the destroyer escort twice encountered a Russian trawler snooping around the exercise area. At the end of the month, the warship conducted two days of ASW drills off Coronado Island with the Greek submarine Triaina (S-86).
In mid-June, following a sonar project for the Fleet ASW School, the destroyer escort began preparations for a drydock period at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. After receiving services from , the warship moved to the shipyard on 30 June. She entered drydock on 27 July, left it again on 26 August, but continued to receive repairs until 10 October. Underway the next day, Bauer commenced refresher training and remained so employed until 11 January 1966 when she returned to Long Beach Naval Shipyard
Long Beach Naval Shipyard
thumb|right|300px|Long Beach Naval Shipyard in 1993The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which closed in 1997, was located at Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles and approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport.The Long Beach...
for modifications. These repairs lasted until the 26th when the warship returned to San Diego.
Following two months of preparatory training, Bauer got underway for Alaskan waters on 29 March 1966. The destroyer escort stopped at Esquimalt in British Columbia and at Juneau and Kodiak
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
before anchoring off Adak Island on 15 April. She steamed to Attu
Attu Island
Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, making it the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska and the United States. It was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on the incorporated territory of the United States ,...
on the 17th and conducted special operations in the Bering Sea for the next five weeks. After refueling at Adak
Adak Island
Adak Island is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island...
on 26 May, the warship sailed for a visit to Pearl Harbor before returning to San Diego on 13 June. For the next five months, she conducted only local exercises out of that port before sailing for the Far East on 4 November.
Arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 11th, Bauer joined Bennington for training exercises before setting out for Japan on 28 November. After mooring at Yokosuka on 8 December, the destroyer escort headed for Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on the 10th. A week later, she began patrolling the Taiwan Strait. These patrols occupied her until 12 January 1967 when she moved on to Vietnamese waters. Arriving on "Yankee Station" on the 18th, Bauer provided screen and plane guard services to the carriers for the next 10 weeks. On 7 March, she steered for Sasebo, putting into that port on the 12th. The warship entered S.S.K. Shipyard for eight weeks of repairs on 3 April. The work was completed on 30 May and she steamed for home.
Bauer sailed via Midway and Pearl Harbor and arrived at San Diego on 16 June. Following leave and upkeep, the warship conducted local training operations, including a few DASH flights, until 5 September when she sailed for Alaskan waters. Mooring at Adak on the 13th, Bauer remained in that port owing to a severe storm that crossed into the area. The next day, the storm swept medium harbor tug Pawtucket (YTM-359) into the warship, punching a small hole in Bauer's hull. The destroyer escort suffered more damage on the 15th when rough seas drove her against the pier. Although she moved to Amchitka the following day, the weather conditions allowed only one day of Arctic sonar tracking training before forcing her south for calmer waters. The warship refueled at Pearl Harbor on the 30th and made San Diego on 8 October.
After repairing the hull damage received in the Aleutians, Bauer conducted normal training exercises out of San Diego for the next 11 months. These activities were interrupted in early January 1968 when the warship helped track California gray whales with sono-buoys while off Baja, Mexico. On 30 August, Bauer moved to the Reserve Training Compound, San Diego. Reassigned to Reserve Destroyer Squadron (ResDesRon) 27, she carried out training missions with reservists through the end of the year.
In January 1969, Bauer participated in Exercise "Bellcurve", during which she conducted raider surface attacks against an ASW task group, before resuming reservist training out of San Diego. In April, the warship embarked two groups of naval reservists for active duty training; and, in early May, the destroyer escort conducted ASW exercises for the Pacific Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare School. On 21 May, she entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard, for a regular overhaul but continued to train reservists throughout the overhaul period. With repairs and alterations complete on 26 August, Bauer returned to reserve training out of San Diego, which occupied her time through the end of the year and into 1970.
1970s
On 24 March 1970, Bauer got underway for a two-week training cruise, including a port visit to Mazatlan, Mexico, before returning to her usual schedule of weekend drills and underway exercises. For the next three years, Bauer continued this pattern of reserve training operations. Highlights included training cruises to San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and even one voyage to Hawaii in June and July 1972. Target ship services were provided to such fleet units as , and the reserve crew provided planeguard services for and in January 1973. On 13 July, however, the destroyer escort failed her service inspections. Material deficiencies such as inadequate communications systems, worn out machinery, and poor habitability, combined with a lack of environmental and crew safety gear, led to a recommendation for disposal.Following a final reserve cruise on the last weekend in September, the warship stood down at San Diego on 1 October. Bauer was decommissioned on 3 December 1973, and her name was struck from the Navy List that same day. After a possible Military Assistance Program transfer to the Turkish Navy was cancelled, she was sold for scrap to the National Metal & Steel Corp., Terminal Island, California, on 22 August 1974.
Bauer received two battle stars for Vietnam service.