USS Rall (DE-304) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

USS Rall (DE-304) was an 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...

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 sent off into 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...

to protect convoys and other ships from 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...

submarines and fighter aircraft

Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

. She performed escort and anti-submarine operations in dangerous battle areas and returned home with three battle stars.

She was laid down on 24 May 1943; launched on 23 September by Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Mare Island Naval Shipyard

The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...

, Vallejo, California

Vallejo, California

Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...

; sponsored by Mrs. R. R. Rall, widow of Lieutenant (junior grade) Rall; and commissioned on 8 April 1944, Lt. Comdr. C. B. Taylor in command.

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

Following shakedown

Shakedown (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...

and training exercises off the 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...

coast in April and May, Rall departed San Francisco, 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...

, on 9 June, escorting , and arrived at 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...

on 18 June. For the next three months, she supported the Pacific Submarine Training Command.

On 23 September 1944, 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...

sortied from Pearl Harbor to escort troop ships carrying the occupation force for 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...

Atoll

An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...

. The task group arrived at Ulithi

Ulithi

on 8 October and spent the remainder of the month on patrol and escort missions there and in the Palaus.

In the early weeks of November, the destroyers served in an escort group protecting the oilers of Task Group 30.8, which supported the assault ships at the 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...

landings. During this duty she rode out heavy weather from a typhoon with no serious damage.

Rall sinks Japanese midget submarine

On 20 November a Japanese midget submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

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...

ed and sank oiler in Ulithi

Ulithi

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

. Laying depth charge

Depth charge

A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

patterns at the site of swirls in the calm water of the lagoon, Rall was credited with sinking the submarine when debris and bodies surfaced.

Support invasion operations

Following patrol duties in early December, Rall and escorted two escort carriers to the Admiralty Islands

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...

, then returned to Ulithi

Ulithi

. On 14 December Rall with other ships sortied from that atoll and arrived 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...

in time for Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

.

After invasion rehearsals at Maui

Maui

The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...

and Kahoolawe

Kahoolawe

Kahoolawe is the smallest of the eight main volcanic islands in the Hawaiian Islands. Kahoolawe is located about seven miles southwest of Maui and also southeast of Lanai, and it is long by wide, with a total land area of . The highest point on Kahoolawe is the crater of Lua Makika at the...

preparatory to the 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...

assault, Rall got underway 26 February 1945 as a unit of the escort group convoying the garrison

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

troops for the occupation of that island. The transports and their escorts arrived on 21 March and landed the Army occupation units. Rall then escorted the transport group carrying assault troops back to 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...

. From there she proceeded to 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....

, New Hebrides

New Hebrides

New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...

, arriving on 19 March.

Assigned as a screening ship for the transports carrying the Floating Reserve, the 27th Infantry Division, for the Okinawa invasion, DE-304 sortied from Espiritu Santo

Espiritu Santo

on 25 March for Ulithi

Ulithi

and the Ryukyus. En route, the 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...

made an unidentified submarine contact, and Rall's lookout spotted a floating mine in the convoy path and detonated it by gunfire. The task group arrived off Okinawa on 9 April, and Rall took a screening station about 10 miles southeast of Ie Shima. The next few days were quiet except for air raid alerts.

Attacked by Japanese kamikaze aircraft

At 1925 on 12 April, the ship went to General Quarters

General quarters

General Quarters or Battle Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage....

. During the next three hours, 14 separate air attacks were tracked into the area, as the "Divine Wind" brought death and damage to the American invasion fleet off Okinawa. A raid of five Japanese planes approached Rall's sector. The destroyer escort's gunners commenced firing, splashing three of the kamikaze

Kamikaze

The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....

s. A fourth was destroyed by a 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...

, but the fifth broke through the fiery screen, and the plane, damaged and aflame hit the escort on the starboard side aft. A 500-pound bomb slung beneath the plane tore through the ship, exploding in the air about 15 feet from the port side. The explosion and fire from the suicide plane, combined with strafing

Strafing

Strafing is the practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons. This means, that although ground attack using automatic weapons fire is very often accompanied with bombing or rocket fire, the term "strafing" does not specifically include the...

attacks from another wave of fighters, resulted in heavy damage, 21 dead and 38 wounded. Prompt damage control

Damage control

Damage control is a term used in the Merchant Marine, maritime industry and navies for the emergency control of situations that may hazard the sinking of a ship...

action extinguished the fires and temporary repairs were commenced. Rall entered the Hagushi

Hagushi

Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...

Beach anchorage and moored alongside , where most of the wounded were transferred. The dead were removed the next morning for burial on Okinawa.

Recovering from a kamikaze strike

After initial repairs, ComCortDiv 61 shifted his pennant to , and the Rall departed for the Kerama Retto

Kerama 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....

anchorage on 15 April. She was ordered on to Ulithi

Ulithi

, arriving there on 23 April. Following additional structural repairs, she left Ulithi for the last time and arrived at Seattle, Washington, on 18 May.

End-of-War activity

Following repairs and overhaul, the ship headed for 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...

, on 12 July. Upon completion of underway refresher training, Rall left San Diego on 28 July, arriving Pearl Harbor on 5 August. Training occupied the time until 3 September, when Rall sailed for the east coast proceeding via San Pedro, California, and 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...

Post-War decommissioning

Arriving Charleston Navy Yard on 24 September, she was decommissioned on 11 December 1945, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

on 3 January 1946. Her hulk was sold for scrap on 18 March 1947.

World War II Pacific Theatre operations

Rall sinks Japanese midget submarine

Support invasion operations

Attacked by Japanese kamikaze aircraft

Recovering from a kamikaze strike

End-of-War activity

Post-War decommissioning

See also