USS Marsh (DE-699) was a 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 after Ensign Benjamin R. Marsh, Jr.

Benjamin R. Marsh, Jr.

Benjamin Raymond Marsh, Jr. was born on 11 October 1916 in Lansing, Michigan. He enlisted in the Naval Reserve on 17 August 1940 at Detroit, Michigan. His enlistment terminated 13 February 1941, and he was appointed midshipman in the Reserve the following day, receiving his commission as ensign...

, USNR, who was killed on board the battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

  during the attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack 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...

.

Marsh was laid down on 23 June 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company

Defoe Shipbuilding Company

The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was a small ship builder established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan, USA. It ceased to operate in 1976 after failing to renew its contracts with the United States Navy. The site of the former company is now a scrapyard on the bank of the Saginaw River.-Founding:Harry J...

 in Bay City, Michigan

Bay City, Michigan

Bay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...

. She was launched on 25 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ben R. Marsh, mother of Ensign Marsh; and commissioned on 12 January 1944, with Lieutenant Commander P. M. Fenton in command.

World War II

Following a 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...

 shakedown cruise, Marsh conducted training exercises and escorted convoys along the northeast coast. On 25 March, she steamed from New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, heading for Plymouth, England, on her first trans-Atlantic 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...

. She returned to the East Coast on 1 May, and on 23 May, sailed for the coast of North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

. The destroyer escort

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...

 accompanied two more convoys between those coasts before being assigned to the Mediterranean Theater. Entering the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar

Strait of Gibraltar

The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...

 on 9 July, Marsh escorted convoys between North Africa, Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, and southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 until mid-August. On 14 August, she sailed from Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 with the assault forces for "Operation Dragoon

Operation Dragoon

Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...

", the invasion of Southern France

Southern France

Southern France , colloquially known as le Midi is defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Gironde, Spain, the Mediterranean, and Italy...

. She remained in the Mediterranean for the next month providing gunfire support and convoying supplies in the area.

With the successful establishment of another major crack in the crumbling front of the Third Reich, Marsh was reassigned to the Pacific. She departed Mers El Kébir, Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

, on 28 September, transited 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...

 in mid-October, and arrived at Eniwetok on 20 December. For the next five months, she escorted convoys to Guam

Guam

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...

, 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...

, 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...

, and 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...

.

In May 1945, Marsh joined in the active pacification of bypassed islands in the Marianas. Broadcasting propaganda messages in Japanese and Okinawan, she sailed among the various islands of that group, including Asuncion

Asunción

Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...

, Anatahan

Anatahan

Anatahan is one of the most active volcanoes of the Northern Mariana Islands. The island of Anatahan is 9 kilometers  long and has a land area of . Formerly inhabited, it now has no population because of the always-present danger of volcanic eruptions...

, Alamagan

Alamagan

The Northern Marianas island of Alamagan is located north from Saipan and is 11.12 km² in area. The island's volcano has a large caldera at the summit. The volcano last erupted around 870 AD, with an error bar of 100 years. It involved pyroclastic flows, and had a VEI of 4...

, Sarigan

Sarigan

Sarigan is a small island in the Northern Mariana Island chain. It is the result of a Holocene Era stratovolcano with no known historic eruptions, although a swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes took place here in the summer of 2005....

, Maug, and Agrihan

Agrihan

Agrihan is a stratovolcano which forms an island in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. The entire island is a massive volcano which rises over from the ocean floor, and is the fifth largest in the Marianas volcanic arc. At , its summit is the highest point in Micronesia...

, taking on prisoners as they surrendered. Where the broadcasts were not successful, she escorted landing parties and provided gunfire support for the completion of their missions. By mid-July, resistance on some islands remained stiff. Marsh, flagship of the Northern Marianas Expeditionary Force, continued to lead her small force against the holdouts in order to provide safe-ditch areas for pilots returning to Allied bases from raids on the enemy's home islands. With the securing of the islands, weather station

Weather station

A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for observing atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, wind speed, wind...

s and aircraft beacon

Beacon

A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location.Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of...

s were set up to further aid the pilots.

On 11 August, Marsh detached from the Expeditionary Force, and sailed for Okinawa. Resuming escort duties, she steamed back to the Marianas and then on to Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. Departing Tokyo on 31 August, she sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 24 September. Then she took on equipment which transformed her into a mobile power unit. In this conversion, an electric generator and power cables replaced her torpedo tubes. With this new asset, she returned to Guam on 26 October to provide ship-to-shore power services until the end of the year.

1946–1952

The destroyer-escort returned to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in early 1946 for shipyard overhaul at San Pedro, California. On 16 May, she once again departed for the South Pacific

South Pacific Area

The South Pacific Area was a multinational U.S.-led military command active during World War II. It was a part of the U.S. Pacific Ocean Areas under Admiral Chester Nimitz.Instructions to the senior U.S...

. Arriving at Kwajalein on 31 May, she provided power to that island until September. During her tenure there, a slight mishap occurred. A group of sailors while on leave left the ship and proceeded to burglarize a large liquor storehouse that was on the island. They were discovered by Marine MP's that were stationed on the island. None of them were apprehended but it is known that those who committed the robbery were from the Marsh because a small dinghy belonging to the Marine detachment was stolen that night as well and tied up alongside the destroyer. The officer in charge of the division claimed that it was theirs and that the liquor had been stolen by sailors on board the Marsh. The captain of the vessel staunchly denied the claims. No arrests were made and the small dinghy remained with the Marsh at least until 1947. She then sailed for Guam where she received orders for Tsingtao

Qingdao

' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...

 and Fusan, Korea

Busan

Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

 where the 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...

 lent support to the aims of American policy in China and in the United States occupation zone of Korea

Korea

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...

.

Marsh returned to her home port, Pearl Harbor, on 31 March 1947, and for the next three years, operated in 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...

 and off the coast of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, deploying in 1948 for two months duty at Eniwetok.

Her next Pacific deployment came after the invasion of South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 by the Communists in June 1950. Marsh arrived at Yokosuka, Japan

United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka

U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, or Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka is a United States Navy base, in Yokosuka, Japan. Its mission is to maintain and operate base facilities for the logistic, recreational, administrative support and service of the U.S. Naval Forces Japan, U.S. 7th Fleet and...

 on 7 September, and departed on the 14th for Pusan, where she supplied power to the city for two weeks. On 9 October, she entered Inchon Harbor, and remained as support for that area's defense until the end of the month. She supplied power at Masan

Masan

Masan was a formerly a municipal city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The city was situated on Masan Bay , approximately 35 km west of Busan. It was known for its textile industry, and it was the site of Hite Brewery's production facilities.During the control of the Mongolians, the...

, a seaport on Chosen Strait, for a month starting on 9 November, then returned to Pusan where she remained as a ship-to-shore power unit for the remainder of her tour.

On 8 February 1951, at Pusan, several of her crew were credited with heroic actions in fighting fires which had broken out in the Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 gasoline dump adjacent to the pier where the ship lay.

Returning to the West Coast on 26 March, Marsh remained at San Francisco for three months before reporting to the Fleet Sonar School

Fleet Sonar School

The Fleet Sonar School was a United States Navy facility in Key West, Florida for the training of Service personnel in Sonar techniques and equipment, and Anti-submarine warfare....

 at San Diego

Naval Station San Diego

Naval Base San Diego is the largest base of the United States Navy on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. Naval Base San Diego is the principal homeport of the Pacific Fleet, consisting of 54 ships and over 120 tenant commands. The base is composed of 13 piers stretched...

. Until April 1952, she conducted training exercises for the school and with other units of the fleet off the southern coast of California.

On 15 May 1952, Marsh once again joined the battle line off the Korean coast. She patrolled the west coast, operating primarily in the Sochon-Do area, until the end of May. She then steamed to Okinawa for hunter-killer exercises, returning to Korea on 21 June. Taking up aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 screen duties, she operated with and in the Yellow Sea

Yellow Sea

The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...

. In July, she again headed south, this time to serve with the Formosa

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 Patrol, then on 22 August, returned to the battle line. She patrolled off the west Korean coast initially, but was moved to the east coast in late September to blockade

Blockade

A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...

. She participated periodically in the shelling of troop and transportation centers in the Songin and Wonsan

Wonsan

Wŏnsan is a port city and naval base in southeastern North Korea. It is the capital of Kangwŏn Province. The population of the city is estimated to have been 331,000 in 2000. Notable people from Wŏnsan include Kim Ki Nam, diplomat and Secretary of the Workers' Party.- History :The original name of...

 areas. On 22 October, she sailed again to the Korean coast where she conducted patrols until steaming for Yokosuka and the United States on 14 November.

1952–1961

For the next five years, Marsh operated out of San Diego primarily with the Fleet Sonar School for six months, and served in the western Pacific for the remainder of each year. During these WestPac cruises, she conducted oceanographic survey tests concerned with the temperature and content of the waters of the Marianas, and the Marshalls

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...

 in addition to her regular duties.

On 10 September 1957, Marsh entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard

San Francisco Naval Shipyard

The San Francisco Naval Shipyard was a United States Navy shipyard in San Francisco, California, located on of waterfront at Hunters Point in the southeast corner of the city...

 for overhaul, then went in reserve. Before decommissioning, she conducted two cruises, one to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and one to 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...

. On 16 August 1958, she decommissioned at San Diego, but remained in service as an anti-submarine training ship of the Selected Reserve Forces. Based at Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, she conducted training cruises for selected reserve crews and when they were not embarked served as a training ship for other 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...

 units in the Long Beach-Los Angeles area.

During the summer of 1961, Marsh and her reserve crew were ordered activated for a one-year period. She was recommissioned on 15 December, and on 6 January 1962, she sailed for her new home port, Pearl Harbor. On 10 February, she departed Hawaii for deployment in the western Pacific. Operating out of Subic Bay

Subic 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...

, Marsh conducted training exercises for and patrolled with units of the South Vietnamese Navy

Republic of Vietnam Navy

The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...

, from 18 March to 21 May. She returned to Long Beach on 17 July, and on 1 August, she was again placed in service, in reserve. Reassigned as a Naval Reserve training ship at the same time, she continued this duty into 1969.

Military awards and honors

	American Campaign Medal American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal was a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal is a service decoration of the Second World War which was awarded to any member of the United States military who served in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945 and was created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was...  (with one bronze service star Service star A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service... )
	European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
	World War II Victory Medal
	Navy Occupation Service Medal Navy Occupation Service Medal The Navy Occupation Service Medal is a decoration of the United States Navy which was issued to Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel who participated in the European and Asian occupation forces following the close of the World War II. The decoration was also bestowed to personnel who...
	National Defense Service Medal National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal is a military service medal of the United States military originally commissioned by President Dwight D. Eisenhower...  (with one bronze service star Service star A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service... )
	Korean Service Medal Korean Service Medal The Korean Service Medal is an award of the United States military and was created in November 1950 by executive order of President Harry Truman. The Korean Service Medal is the primary United States medal for participation in the Korean War and is awarded to any U.S. service member, who...  (with four bronze service star Service star A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service... s)
	Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal is a military award of the United States military, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John Kennedy...
	United Nations Korea Medal
	Korean War Service Medal Korean War Service Medal The Korean War Service Medal is a decoration of South Korea which was first authorized in December 1950...