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USS Johnnie Hutchins (DE-360)
Encyclopedia
USS Johnnie Hutchins (DE-360) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort
acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II
. The primary purpose of the destroyer escort was to escort and protect ships in convoy
, in addition to other tasks as assigned, such as patrol or radar picket
. She served her nation in the Pacific Ocean
, and, post-war, she returned home proudly with a Navy Unit Commendation
awarded to her for her battle with Japanese
midget submarines 9 August 1945.
USS Johnnie Hutchins was named in honor of Johnnie David Hutchins
who was awarded the nation’s highest honor, the Medal of Honor
, for giving his own life in order to save his shipmates on September 4, 1943 aboard USS LST 473 during the assault on Lae, New Guinea. She was laid down 6 March 1944 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Texas
; launched 2 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Johnnie M. Hutchins, mother of Seaman First Class Hutchins; and commissioned 28 August 1944, Comdr. H. M. Godsey in command.
training out of Bermuda
11 September 1944, and 5 days later encountered the survivors of destroyer
, sunk in a hurricane off the U.S. East Coast. Johnnie Hutchins rescued 34 officers and men and, after transporting them to Norfolk, Virginia
, continued to Bermuda
. The ship completed exhaustive shakedown exercises and arrived Boston, Massachusetts, 25 October 1944 for brief coastal convoy
duties between that port and Norfolk.
30 November from Norfolk, steaming by way of the Panama Canal
, Bora Bora
, and Manus
, and arriving Hollandia
21 January 1945. Five days later she steamed from Humboldt Bay to Leyte on her first Pacific escort assignment, arriving Leyte Gulf
31 January. During the months that followed the ship acted as an escort for resupply and reinforcement convoys from advance bases to Lingayen
and Leyte, thus contributing to the imminent defeat of Japan.
, Philippines
, 22 May 1945 to join a hunter-killer group. In June and July she trained with American and British
submarines and carried out antisubmarine searches in preparation for the eventual invasion of Japan.
and Okinawa 9 August 1945, Johnnie Hutchins encountered a surfaced midget submarine
, and was taken under fire. As the ship's accurate gunnery succeeded in sinking the Japanese sub, another fired a torpedo
at her. Captain Godsey skillfully avoided the "fish" and with a well-placed series of depth charges sank the second submarine. A third was probably damaged by depth charges the same day.
during the occupation. In early October the ship arrived Shanghai
for duty with U.S. Marines attempting to stabilize the turbulent Chinese
situation. She escorted vessels to and from various occupied ports until 22 November 1945 when she weighed anchor in the Yangtze River
and headed eastward to Pearl Harbor
. Johnnie Hutchins arrived San Pedro, California, 15 December 1945.
, 14 May 1946, Johnnie Hutchins made two month-long Naval Reserve
training cruises to the Hawaiian Islands
, one in the summer of 1948 and one in 1949. In early 1950 the ship steamed through the Panama Canal
to Boston, where she was assigned permanent duty as Naval Reserve Training Ship for the 1st Naval District. Johnnie Hutchins was placed in commission "in reserve" 23 June 1950, and in commission 22 November 1950, Lt. Comdr. B. H. Patek in command. With a skeleton crew
supplemented by Naval Reservists, the destroyer escort made regular training cruises during the next few years, visiting Montreal
, Quebec
, and many Caribbean
ports. With a task group of other training ships she made a voyage to Europe
in June-July 1955.
. She entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and was berthed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. She was struck from the Navy list
on 1 July 1972, and, on 5 February 1974, she was sold for scrapping.
for her battle with midget submarines 9 August 1945.
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
acquired by the U.S. Navy 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...
. The primary purpose of the destroyer escort was to escort and protect ships in convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
, in addition to other tasks as assigned, such as patrol or radar picket
Radar picket
A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...
. She served her nation in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, and, post-war, she returned home proudly with a Navy Unit Commendation
Navy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation of the United States Navy is an award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944...
awarded to her for her battle with Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
midget submarines 9 August 1945.
USS Johnnie Hutchins was named in honor of Johnnie David Hutchins
Johnnie David Hutchins
Johnnie David Hutchins was a United States Navy sailor and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II....
who was awarded the nation’s highest honor, 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 giving his own life in order to save his shipmates on September 4, 1943 aboard USS LST 473 during the assault on Lae, New Guinea. She was laid down 6 March 1944 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Texas
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
; launched 2 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Johnnie M. Hutchins, mother of Seaman First Class Hutchins; and commissioned 28 August 1944, Comdr. H. M. Godsey in command.
World War II North Atlantic operations
The new escort vessel sailed for shakedownShakedown (testing)
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...
training out of Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
11 September 1944, and 5 days later encountered the survivors of 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...
, sunk in a hurricane off the U.S. East Coast. Johnnie Hutchins rescued 34 officers and men and, after transporting them to Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, 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....
, continued to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
. The ship completed exhaustive shakedown exercises and arrived Boston, Massachusetts, 25 October 1944 for brief coastal convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
duties between that port and Norfolk.
Transfer to the Pacific Theater
Johnnie Hutchins got underway for the Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
30 November from Norfolk, steaming by way of 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...
, Bora Bora
Bora Bora
The commune of Bora-Bora is made up of the island of Bora Bora proper with its surrounding islets emerging from the coral reef, 29.3 km² in total, and of the atoll of Tupai , located north of Bora Bora...
, and 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...
, and arriving 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....
21 January 1945. Five days later she steamed from Humboldt Bay to Leyte on her first Pacific escort assignment, arriving 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...
31 January. During the months that followed the ship acted as an escort for resupply and reinforcement convoys from advance bases to Lingayen
Invasion of Lingayen Gulf
The Liberation of Lingayen Gulf was an Allied amphibious operation in the Philippines during World War II. In the early morning of 9 January 1945, an Allied force commanded by Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf began approaching the shores of Lingayen. U.S...
and Leyte, thus contributing to the imminent defeat of Japan.
Supporting Philippine area operations
The destroyer escort arrived Subic BaySubic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
, 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...
, 22 May 1945 to join a hunter-killer group. In June and July she trained with American and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
submarines and carried out antisubmarine searches in preparation for the eventual invasion of Japan.
Attacked by Japanese midget submarines
While operating with a task group in the shipping lanes between LuzonLuzon
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...
and Okinawa 9 August 1945, Johnnie Hutchins encountered a surfaced midget submarine
Midget submarine
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...
, and was taken under fire. As the ship's accurate gunnery succeeded in sinking the Japanese sub, another fired a 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...
at her. Captain Godsey skillfully avoided the "fish" and with a well-placed series of depth charges sank the second submarine. A third was probably damaged by depth charges the same day.
End-of-war assignments
After the end of the war against Japan, Johnnie Hutchins spent 2 months escorting ships through swept channels and acting as air-sea rescue ship off Okinawa. She also steamed off Japan and KoreaKorea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
during the occupation. In early October the ship arrived Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
for duty with U.S. Marines attempting to stabilize the turbulent Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
situation. She escorted vessels to and from various occupied ports until 22 November 1945 when she weighed anchor in the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
and headed eastward 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...
. Johnnie Hutchins arrived San Pedro, California, 15 December 1945.
Supporting Naval Reserve training
Following decommissioning at San Diego, CaliforniaSan 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...
, 14 May 1946, Johnnie Hutchins made two month-long Naval Reserve
United States Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve, until 2005 known as the United States Naval Reserve, is the Reserve Component of the United States Navy...
training cruises to the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, one in the summer of 1948 and one in 1949. In early 1950 the ship steamed 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 Boston, where she was assigned permanent duty as Naval Reserve Training Ship for the 1st Naval District. Johnnie Hutchins was placed in commission "in reserve" 23 June 1950, and in commission 22 November 1950, Lt. Comdr. B. H. Patek in command. With a skeleton crew
Skeleton crew
A skeleton crew is the minimum number of personnel needed to operate and maintain an item at its most simple operating requirements, such as a ship or business, during an emergency and, at the same time, to keep vital functions operating.- Uses :...
supplemented by Naval Reservists, the destroyer escort made regular training cruises during the next few years, visiting Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and many Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
ports. With a task group of other training ships she made a voyage to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in June-July 1955.
Final decommissioning
Johnnie Hutchins continued her vital task of keeping at a high level the skills and readiness of our reserve officers and men until decommissioning 25 February 1958 at Bayonne, New JerseyBayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
. She entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and was berthed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. She was struck from the Navy list
Navy List
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 1 July 1972, and, on 5 February 1974, she was sold for scrapping.
Awards
Johnnie Hutchins received the Navy Unit CommendationNavy Unit Commendation
The Navy Unit Commendation of the United States Navy is an award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944...
for her battle with midget submarines 9 August 1945.
See also
- USS Hutchins (DD-476)USS Hutchins (DD-476)USS Hutchins , a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Lieutenant Carleton B. Hutchins , a naval aviator who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor....
has a similar name. - List of United States Navy ships
- World War IIWorld War IIWorld 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...
- DestroyerDestroyerIn 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...
- Destroyer escortDestroyer escortA destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...