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USS Hutchins (DD-476)
Encyclopedia
USS Hutchins (DD-476), a Fletcher-class
destroyer
, was a ship of the United States Navy
named for Lieutenant Carleton B. Hutchins
(1904–1938), a naval aviator who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor
.
Hutchins (DD-476) was launched
by Boston Navy Yard
, Boston, Mass., 20 February 1942; sponsored by Mrs. C.B. Hutchins, widow of Lt. Hutchins; and commissioned
17 November 1942, Lieutenant Commander B.W. Herron in command. Hutchins was to be one of six Fletcher-class destroyers built with a catapult for a float plane but the plan was abandoned.
, Maine
, Hutchins got underway from Boston 17 March 1943 and escorted two tanker
s to Galveston, Tex. From there she proceeded through the Panama Canal
to San Diego, where she arrived 11 April. Following an escort voyage to New Caledonia
and Espiritu Santo
, Hutchins arrived Pearl Harbor
30 May for armament alterations. While testing her guns in Hawaii
an waters 25 June, an electrical failure caused the gun to fire into Hutchins stack, killing nine men and wounding twenty. While repairing at Pearl Harbor, the ship was fitted with the newest Combat Information Center
(CIC) equipment.
The ship returned to San Diego 11 July 1943 for training, and got underway with an LST
group seven days later for the voyage to Adak Island
in the Aleutians. She took part in the occupation of Kiska
15 August as the Japan
ese gave up their Aleutians foothold, and in the months that followed patrolled the islands and engaged in fleet training maneuvers.
Hutchins departed the bleak northern Pacific 18 November 1943 for the steaming and bitterly-contested coast of New Guinea
. She arrived Milne Bay
19 December and soon afterward screened LSTs during the landings at Cape Gloucester
. Designed to secure the important straits between New Britain
and New Guinea, the landings began 26 December. Hutchins and the other screening vessels came under severe air attack in the days that followed, with Hutchins downing one aircraft and assisting with another. After escorting a support convoy to Cape Gloucester from Buna
on mainland New Guinea, the destroyer steamed with another LST group to Saidor, farther up the coast of New Guinea. During a rain squall she collided with another destroyer in the congested assault area, and was forced to steam to Cairns
, Australia
16 January 1944 for bow repairs.
's amphibious group for the Admiralties
. Arriving next day, the ship carried out shore bombardment of Manus
, the base which was to become so vital in the coming campaigns, and with Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, RN, in HMAS Shropshire, established a patrol off Manus. During late March and April Hutchins and other destroyers made bombardment sweeps of Wewak
and Hansa Bay
, encouraging the Japanese in the mistaken belief that the next amphibious assault would be in that area. In reality it was planned for much farther up the coast, at Hollandia
.
Steaming from Cape Sudest
18 April, Hutchins arrived Hollandia 22 April and with other fleet units gave close gunfire support to the well-executed initial assault. She then retired to screen escort carrier
s providing air cover and, near the end of April, bombarded Wakde Island. The versatile destroyer steamed south of Truk 10 May to pick up survivors of a B-24 raid on the Japanese stronghold, returning south for the next step in New Guinea.
Hutchins next took part in the Wakde-Sarmi operation 17 May. After shore bombardment and screening operations she moved on to Biak
with its vital airbase site 10 days later. Early in June the destroyer operated with Task Forces 74
and To off Biak, and on the night of the 8th, the ships detected Japanese ships approaching from the northwest. The enemy destroyers cast off their troop-laden barges and with Hutchins and the rest of Adm. Crutchley's force in pursuit, retired rapidly. During a long stern chase the destroyers exchanged gunfire at long range; Allied ships broke off the chase just before 02:30 and returned to the assault area.
In July Hutchins took part in the Noemfoor
landings, providing the all-important gunfire support, and operated with the nimble PT boat
s in the Aitape
area 15–25 July in harassing Japanese communications. She also took part 30 July in the landings at Sansapor, completing the brilliant series of amphibious hops along the northern coast of New Guinea.
August 1944 was spent at Sydney
and on fleet exercises off New Guinea, and, after a drydock period, Hutchins sailed from Humboldt Bay
12 September to take part in the Morotai landings, an important steppingstone to the Philippines
. She bombarded airstrips 16 September and returned to Seeadler Harbor
29 September to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines. The giant invasion fleet sortied to arrive Leyte Gulf
20 October. Hutchins took part in preinvasion bombardment, gunfire support, and patrolled the entrance after the initial phases of the assault
.
As the Japanese fleet moved toward the Philippines in a gigantic three-pronged attempt to stop the invasion, Hutchins joined Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's surface forces waiting in Surigao Strait
for Adm. Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force. In this major phase of the larger Battle for Leyte Gulf, Hutchins, flagship
of Captain K.M. McManes' Destroyer Squadron 24 (DesRon 24), was stationed on the right flank of the powerful array of firepower Oldendorf had assembled. As Nishimura steamed up the strait early 25 October his ships were harassed by PT-boats and then attacked by destroyers on both sides. Hutchins group steamed south, launched torpedo
es at about 03:30, and turned to close the range. As the large Japanese ships began to slow and scatter, the destroyers fired another spread of torpedoes, this time blowing up destroyer Michishio
. After exchanging gunfire with the Japanese heavy ships, McManes brought Hutchins and the rest of the squadron out of range, their job done, so that the big guns of the waiting fleet could open fire. Oldendorf won a crushing night victory, and Japanese naval power was dealt a death blow.
After the decisive actions of Leyte Gulf, Hutchins returned to screening. She ran onto an uncharted hulk 26 October and after helping to repel air attacks until 29 October, sailed for San Francisco via Pearl Harbor, arriving 25 November 1944 for repairs.
to join a carrier force for the Iwo Jima operation
. Her carrier group arrived 3 days before the landings to pound Japanese defenses and continued to support the operation during February and March 1945. With this important island in allied hands, Hutchins returned to Ulithi
briefly before sailing 27 March for the giant Okinawa operation
, last step on the long island campaign toward Japan. She screened a transport group during the landings 1 April and for 3 days following, undergoing numerous air attacks which she skillfully helped repel. Assigned to gunfire support 4 April, in the battle-filled days that followed Hutchins spent her days close to the beaches and her nights screening the larger ships during bombardment and air defense. Hutchins shot down several attacking planes during the great air attack 6 April, rescuing survivors from the stricken Newcomb
(DD-586), and was under severe attack again 12–13 April.
for temporary repairs, thence to Portland, Oregon
, 15 July 1945.
Still undergoing repairs at war's end Hutchins was towed to Puget Sound
20 September 1945. She decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington
30 November 1945, and was sold for scrap in January 1948 to Learner & Co., Oakland, California
.
Fletcher class destroyer
The Fletcher class were a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939 as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types...
destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
, was a ship of the United States Navy
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...
named for Lieutenant Carleton B. Hutchins
Carleton B. Hutchins
Carlton Barmore Hutchins was a U.S. Naval aviator who lost his life in a mid-air collision in 1938. Mortally injured, he was able to remain at the controls and allow his surviving crew to parachute to safety...
(1904–1938), a naval aviator who was posthumously awarded 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...
.
Hutchins (DD-476) was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
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, Mass., 20 February 1942; sponsored by Mrs. C.B. Hutchins, widow of Lt. Hutchins; and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
17 November 1942, Lieutenant Commander B.W. Herron in command. Hutchins was to be one of six Fletcher-class destroyers built with a catapult for a float plane but the plan was abandoned.
1943
After completing shakedown cruise in Casco BayCasco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Hutchins got underway from Boston 17 March 1943 and escorted two tanker
Tanker (ship)
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...
s to Galveston, Tex. From there she proceeded through the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
to San Diego, where she arrived 11 April. Following an escort voyage to New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
and 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....
, Hutchins arrived 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...
30 May for armament alterations. While testing her guns in Hawaii
Hawaii
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 waters 25 June, an electrical failure caused the gun to fire into Hutchins stack, killing nine men and wounding twenty. While repairing at Pearl Harbor, the ship was fitted with the newest Combat Information Center
Combat Information Center
The Operations Room is the tactical center of a warship or AWAC aircraft providing processed information for command and control of the near battle space or 'area of operations'...
(CIC) equipment.
The ship returned to San Diego 11 July 1943 for training, and got underway with an LST
Tank landing ship
Landing Ship, Tank was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore....
group seven days later for the voyage to Adak Island
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...
in the Aleutians. She took part in the occupation of Kiska
Kiska
Kiska is an island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska located at . It is about long and varies in width from - Discovery :...
15 August as the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese gave up their Aleutians foothold, and in the months that followed patrolled the islands and engaged in fleet training maneuvers.
Hutchins departed the bleak northern Pacific 18 November 1943 for the steaming and bitterly-contested coast of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. She arrived Milne Bay
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, southeastern Papua New Guinea. The bay is named after Sir Alexander Milne.The area was a site of the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942....
19 December and soon afterward screened LSTs during the landings at Cape Gloucester
Cape Gloucester
Cape Gloucester is a headland, in the northwest of the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at . During World War II, the Japanese captured New Britain, and had driven most of Cape Gloucester's native population out to construct two airfields...
. Designed to secure the important straits between New Britain
New Britain
New Britain, or Niu Briten, is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits and from New Ireland by St. George's Channel...
and New Guinea, the landings began 26 December. Hutchins and the other screening vessels came under severe air attack in the days that followed, with Hutchins downing one aircraft and assisting with another. After escorting a support convoy to Cape Gloucester from Buna
Buna, Papua New Guinea
Buna is a village in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea. It was the site in part, of the Battle of Buna-Gona during World War II, when it constituted a variety of native huts and a handful of houses with a airstrip...
on mainland New Guinea, the destroyer steamed with another LST group to Saidor, farther up the coast of New Guinea. During a rain squall she collided with another destroyer in the congested assault area, and was forced to steam to Cairns
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
16 January 1944 for bow repairs.
1944
Hutchins departed Cairns 22 February and, after important night tactical drills, sailed 28 February with Admiral Daniel E. BarbeyDaniel E. Barbey
Vice Admiral Daniel Edward Barbey was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II. A graduate of the Naval Academy, he participated in the 1912 United States occupation of Nicaragua and the 1915 United States occupation of Veracruz. While serving with the War...
's amphibious group for the Admiralties
Admiralty Islands
The Admiralty Islands are a group of eighteen islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the south Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-covered islands form part of Manus Province, the smallest and...
. Arriving next day, the ship carried out shore bombardment of Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
, the base which was to become so vital in the coming campaigns, and with Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, RN, in HMAS Shropshire, established a patrol off Manus. During late March and April Hutchins and other destroyers made bombardment sweeps of Wewak
Wewak
Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak....
and Hansa Bay
Hansa Bay
Hansa Bay is a bay located on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, in Madang Province, between Madang and Wewak, north east of Bogia.- World War II history :...
, encouraging the Japanese in the mistaken belief that the next amphibious assault would be in that area. In reality it was planned for much farther up the coast, at 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....
.
Steaming from Cape Sudest
Cape Sudest
Cape Sudest is a Cape in Papua New Guinea, next to Oro Bay. There was an important U.S military base there in World War II. It was situated in Oro Province, about a mile south of Harigo....
18 April, Hutchins arrived Hollandia 22 April and with other fleet units gave close gunfire support to the well-executed initial assault. She then retired to screen escort carrier
Escort aircraft carrier
The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the USN or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the British Royal Navy , the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and the...
s providing air cover and, near the end of April, bombarded Wakde Island. The versatile destroyer steamed south of Truk 10 May to pick up survivors of a B-24 raid on the Japanese stronghold, returning south for the next step in New Guinea.
Hutchins next took part in the Wakde-Sarmi operation 17 May. After shore bombardment and screening operations she moved on to Biak
Biak
Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...
with its vital airbase site 10 days later. Early in June the destroyer operated with Task Forces 74
Task Force 74
The US Task Force 74 was a US Navy task force of the United States Seventh Fleet that was deployed to the Bay of Bengal by Nixon administration in December 1971, at the height of the 1971 Indo-Pak War...
and To off Biak, and on the night of the 8th, the ships detected Japanese ships approaching from the northwest. The enemy destroyers cast off their troop-laden barges and with Hutchins and the rest of Adm. Crutchley's force in pursuit, retired rapidly. During a long stern chase the destroyers exchanged gunfire at long range; Allied ships broke off the chase just before 02:30 and returned to the assault area.
In July Hutchins took part in the Noemfoor
Noemfoor
Numfor is one of the Biak Islands in Papua province, Indonesia. It was the site of conflict between Japanese and the Allied forces during World War II, and was major airbase for both sides.-Geography:The island is situated just north of the large Cenderawasih Bay...
landings, providing the all-important gunfire support, and operated with the nimble PT boat
PT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...
s in the Aitape
Aitape
Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals...
area 15–25 July in harassing Japanese communications. She also took part 30 July in the landings at Sansapor, completing the brilliant series of amphibious hops along the northern coast of New Guinea.
August 1944 was spent at Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and on fleet exercises off New Guinea, and, after a drydock period, Hutchins sailed from Humboldt Bay
Teluk Yos Sudarso
Yos Sudarso Bay also known earlier as Humboldt Bay is a small bay in Indonesia. It is on the north coast of New Guinea, about 50 kilometers west of the border between Indonesia's province of Papua and the country of Papua New Guinea...
12 September to take part in the Morotai landings, an important steppingstone to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. She bombarded airstrips 16 September and returned to Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II...
29 September to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines. The giant invasion fleet sortied to arrive Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...
20 October. Hutchins took part in preinvasion bombardment, gunfire support, and patrolled the entrance after the initial phases of the assault
Battle of Leyte
The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by...
.
As the Japanese fleet moved toward the Philippines in a gigantic three-pronged attempt to stop the invasion, Hutchins joined Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's surface forces waiting in Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait is a body of water in the Philippines located between the islands of Mindanao and Leyte. This strait connects the Bohol Sea with Leyte Gulf and is regularly crossed by ferries that transport goods and people between Visayas and Mindanao...
for Adm. Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force. In this major phase of the larger Battle for Leyte Gulf, Hutchins, flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
of Captain K.M. McManes' Destroyer Squadron 24 (DesRon 24), was stationed on the right flank of the powerful array of firepower Oldendorf had assembled. As Nishimura steamed up the strait early 25 October his ships were harassed by PT-boats and then attacked by destroyers on both sides. Hutchins group steamed south, launched torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es at about 03:30, and turned to close the range. As the large Japanese ships began to slow and scatter, the destroyers fired another spread of torpedoes, this time blowing up destroyer Michishio
Japanese destroyer Michishio
was the third of ten destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the mid-1930s under the Circle Two Supplementary Naval Expansion Program .-History:...
. After exchanging gunfire with the Japanese heavy ships, McManes brought Hutchins and the rest of the squadron out of range, their job done, so that the big guns of the waiting fleet could open fire. Oldendorf won a crushing night victory, and Japanese naval power was dealt a death blow.
After the decisive actions of Leyte Gulf, Hutchins returned to screening. She ran onto an uncharted hulk 26 October and after helping to repel air attacks until 29 October, sailed for San Francisco via Pearl Harbor, arriving 25 November 1944 for repairs.
1945
Hutchins returned to Pearl Harbor to resume her combat duty 26 January 1945. Training exercises were carried out until 3 February when she steamed toward SaipanSaipan
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...
to join a carrier force for the Iwo Jima operation
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
. Her carrier group arrived 3 days before the landings to pound Japanese defenses and continued to support the operation during February and March 1945. With this important island in allied hands, Hutchins 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...
briefly before sailing 27 March for the giant Okinawa operation
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
, last step on the long island campaign toward Japan. She screened a transport group during the landings 1 April and for 3 days following, undergoing numerous air attacks which she skillfully helped repel. Assigned to gunfire support 4 April, in the battle-filled days that followed Hutchins spent her days close to the beaches and her nights screening the larger ships during bombardment and air defense. Hutchins shot down several attacking planes during the great air attack 6 April, rescuing survivors from the stricken Newcomb
USS Newcomb (DD-586)
USS Newcomb was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the only ship named for Commodore Frank H. Newcomb of the United States Revenue Cutter Service, Congressional Gold Medal recipient from the Spanish-American War.Newcomb was laid down 19 March 1943 by...
(DD-586), and was under severe attack again 12–13 April.
Fate
While on close support operations 27 April, Hutchins was attacked by a Japanese suicide boat. The small fast boat slipped through the formation and dropped a large explosive charge close aboard. Hutchins was shaken violently by the explosion and her hull severely damaged, but no casualties were suffered and damage control parties brought flooding under control. The ship retired to Kerama RettoKerama Retto
The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....
for temporary repairs, thence to Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, 15 July 1945.
Still undergoing repairs at war's end Hutchins was towed to Puget Sound
Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...
20 September 1945. She decommissioned at Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton, Washington
Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...
30 November 1945, and was sold for scrap in January 1948 to Learner & Co., Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.