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USS Case (DD-370)
Encyclopedia
USS Case (DD-370) was a in the United States Navy
during World War II
. She was the second ship named for Augustus Ludlow Case
.
Case was launched 14 September 1935 by Boston Navy Yard
, Boston, Massachusetts; sponsored by Miss M. R. Case; commissioned 15 September 1936, Commander
J. S. Roberts in command; and reported to the Battle Force, later the Pacific Fleet.
an area, and in 1938, served as school ship at San Diego, California
. From this, her home port, she carried midshipmen on an Alaska
n cruise in summer 1939, and in April 1940 returned to Pearl Harbor
to take part in a fleet problem which found her sailing to Midway
, Johnston Island, and Palmyra Island. Between February and April 1941, she cruised to Samoa
, Tahiti
, and Auckland
, New Zealand
.
. From 7 December until 23 May 1942, Case escorted convoys passing between the west coast and Pearl Harbor.
. On 7 August, she unleashed her guns in the pre-invasion bombardment of Kiska and on an enemy tanker with undetermined results. Case continued on patrol off Adak
until mid-October, when she escorted shipping to Pearl Harbor, then proceeded to the States for overhaul.
Returning to Pearl Harbor 21 November 1942, Case cleared to escort a convoy to the Fiji Islands, arriving 20 December. From Fiji she sailed to Guadalcanal to screen a convoy during its unloading period, and on 1 January 1943, arrived at Espiritu Santo
, her base for escort, patrol, and training duty through 23 September. After overhaul at San Francisco, California
, Case returned to Pearl Harbor in December.
For the next 8 months, Case was almost constantly at sea, screening groups of the 3rd and 5th Fleets. From mid-January through mid-March 1944, these strikes were against Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands
, supporting the invasion of these islands. Palau
and the western Carolines
were the targets 30 March-1 April, and Case next sailed from Majuro
for the late-April air raids on Hollandia
, Truk, Satawan
, and Ponape
. A month of local screening and escort duty at Majuro preceded Cases assignment to TG 58.4 for the strikes on Japanese airfields in the Bonins, designed to neutralize these bases during the invasion of the Marianas
. With this group, she screened carriers in the historic Battle of the Philippine Sea
on 19 and 20 June.
late in July 1944, and the attacks on the Bonins on 4 and 5 August. Through mid-September, Case served on inter-island escort duty in the Marianas. In September, she rendezvoused with two submarines carrying allied prisoners of war, many of them wounded, rescued after the sinking of a Japanese transport. Since rough seas prevented the submarines from transferring the wounded to Case, the destroyer put medical officers on board the submarines.
Case participated in the bombardment of Marcus Island on 9 October 1944 and then joined TG 38.1 for strikes on Luzon
in conjunction with the invasion of Leyte from 18 to 23 October. She returned to Ulithi
29 October, putting to sea again 8 November for the bombardment of Iwo Jima
on the night of 11/12 November.
Resuming escort duty from Ulithi, Case was screening cruiser
s bound for Saipan
on 20 November, when she rammed and sank a Japanese midget submarine at the entrance to Mugai Channel. Immediately, she put back to Ulithi for an inspection of damage incurred in the encounter, but was back in action just two days later, bound for off shore patrol at Saipan until 6 December.
, arriving 1 November. Here, she was decommissioned 13 December 1945, and sold 31 December 1947.
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...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She was the second ship named for Augustus Ludlow Case
Augustus Case
Augustus Ludlow Case was a rear admiral in the United States Navy who served during the American Civil War.-Biography:Born in Newburgh, New York, Case was appointed midshipman in 1828...
.
Case was launched 14 September 1935 by Boston Navy Yard
Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...
, Boston, Massachusetts; sponsored by Miss M. R. Case; commissioned 15 September 1936, Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
J. S. Roberts in command; and reported to the Battle Force, later the Pacific Fleet.
Service history
Case joined in fleet problems in the HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an area, and in 1938, served as school ship at San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. From this, her home port, she carried midshipmen on an 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...
n cruise in summer 1939, and in April 1940 returned to Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
to take part in a fleet problem which found her sailing to Midway
Midway Atoll
Midway Atoll is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago, about one-third of the way between Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Unique among the Hawaiian islands, Midway observes UTC-11 , eleven hours behind Coordinated Universal Time and one hour...
, Johnston Island, and Palmyra Island. Between February and April 1941, she cruised to Samoa
Samoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
, Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, and Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Pearl Harbor
Case was in a nest of destroyers at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl HarborAttack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. From 7 December until 23 May 1942, Case escorted convoys passing between the west coast and Pearl Harbor.
Patrols
From 31 May to 7 August 1942, Case patrolled and carried out the usual varied destroyer assignments off Kodiak, AlaskaKodiak, 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...
. On 7 August, she unleashed her guns in the pre-invasion bombardment of Kiska and on an enemy tanker with undetermined results. Case continued on patrol off Adak
Adak, Alaska
Adak , formerly Adak Station, is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 326. It is the westernmost municipality in the United States and the southernmost city in Alaska. The city is the former location of the Adak Army Base and Adak...
until mid-October, when she escorted shipping to Pearl Harbor, then proceeded to the States for overhaul.
Returning to Pearl Harbor 21 November 1942, Case cleared to escort a convoy to the Fiji Islands, arriving 20 December. From Fiji she sailed to Guadalcanal to screen a convoy during its unloading period, and on 1 January 1943, arrived at Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
, her base for escort, patrol, and training duty through 23 September. After overhaul at San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, Case returned to Pearl Harbor in December.
For the next 8 months, Case was almost constantly at sea, screening groups of the 3rd and 5th Fleets. From mid-January through mid-March 1944, these strikes were against Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, supporting the invasion of these islands. Palau
Palau
Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...
and the western Carolines
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
were the targets 30 March-1 April, and Case next sailed from Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
for the late-April air raids on Hollandia
Jayapura
Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....
, Truk, Satawan
Satawan
Satawan Atoll is part of the Mortlock Islands in the Caroline Islands, administratively part of Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia. Captain James Mortlock discovered two sets of islands on 19 and 27 November 1795. Confusingly, both were later called Mortlock Islands...
, and Ponape
Pohnpei
Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...
. A month of local screening and escort duty at Majuro preceded Cases assignment to TG 58.4 for the strikes on Japanese airfields in the Bonins, designed to neutralize these bases during the invasion of the Marianas
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
. With this group, she screened carriers in the historic Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
on 19 and 20 June.
Repairs
After a repair period at Eniwetok, Case resumed her operations with TG 58.4, screening for air strikes preparing for the landings on GuamGuam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
late in July 1944, and the attacks on the Bonins on 4 and 5 August. Through mid-September, Case served on inter-island escort duty in the Marianas. In September, she rendezvoused with two submarines carrying allied prisoners of war, many of them wounded, rescued after the sinking of a Japanese transport. Since rough seas prevented the submarines from transferring the wounded to Case, the destroyer put medical officers on board the submarines.
Case participated in the bombardment of Marcus Island on 9 October 1944 and then joined TG 38.1 for strikes on Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
in conjunction with the invasion of Leyte from 18 to 23 October. She returned to Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
29 October, putting to sea again 8 November for the bombardment of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
on the night of 11/12 November.
Resuming escort duty from Ulithi, Case was screening cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
s bound for Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
on 20 November, when she rammed and sank a Japanese midget submarine at the entrance to Mugai Channel. Immediately, she put back to Ulithi for an inspection of damage incurred in the encounter, but was back in action just two days later, bound for off shore patrol at Saipan until 6 December.
Iwo Jima
Case joined in a smashing bombardment of Iwo Jima once more on 24 December, during which she and were dispatched to attack a fleeing Japanese transport. A 2-hour chase at full speed followed, both destroyers firing as the range closed. At 1559, the effect of accurate gunfire told as the transport sank, her survivors refusing any assistance from the American destroyers. After repairs at Saipan, she returned to Iwo Jima 24 and 25 January 1945 for antisubmarine patrol during the opening phases of operations ashore. Escort and patrol duty from Saipan occupied her until 19 March, when she began an extended period of antisubmarine patrol, aid-sea rescue, and radar picket duty between Saipan and Iwo Jima until the close of the war.Surrender of the Bonins Islands
On 2 September 1945, the Case sailed to Chichi Jima to accept and supervise the surrender of the Bonins Islands. On 19 September, she took departure from Iwo Jima for Norfolk, VirginiaNorfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
, arriving 1 November. Here, she was decommissioned 13 December 1945, and sold 31 December 1947.
External links
- http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/370.htm
- http://www.destroyerhistory.org/goldplater/usscase.html