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USS Wadsworth (DD-516)
Encyclopedia
USS Wadsworth (DD-516), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy
to be named for Commodore
Alexander S. Wadsworth
(1790–1851).
Wadsworth was laid down on 18 August 1942 at Bath, Maine
, by the Bath Iron Works
; launched
on 10 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Rebecca Wadsworth Peacher, the great-great-granddaughter of Commodore Alexander S. Wadsworth; and commissioned
at the Boston Navy Yard
, on 16 March 1943, Commander John F. Walsh in command.
, Maine
, until the 15th, when she sailed for Cuba
n waters. After shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay
, the new destroyer steamed north for post-shakedown availability and voyage repairs in the Boston Navy Yard.
Putting to sea on 23 May, Wadsworth screened the aircraft carrier
s and out of Port of Spain
, Trinidad
, as they conducted training evolutions. Following that cruise, Wadsworth touched at Norfolk, Virginia
, on 17 June and returned to Boston the following day.
After escorting to Hampton Roads
, Virginia, Wadsworth screened and planeguarded for that carrier as her air group trained off the Virginia Capes
. Following a return to Boston, the destroyer got underway again on 20 July to rendezvous with a task group formed around , Princeton, and . She met the carriers off the Delaware
breakwater, and the warships then set a southerly course, bound for the Panama Canal
.
Reaching Pearl Harbor
on 9 August, Wadsworth spent 10 days in the Hawaii
an operating area before heading for Canton Island in the screen for . Subsequently touching Espiritu Santo
, in the New Hebrides
Islands, Wadsworth reported to Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, Commander, Aircraft, South Pacific
(ComAirSoPac), for duty.
On the last day of August 1943, Wadsworth cleared Espiritu Santo to hunt for the Japanese
submarine
—later identified as —that had torpedo
ed and damaged the tanker
W. S. Rheem about 10 miles (20 km) north of Bougainville Strait
. Wadsworth made no contact with any submarines in the first area searched but then teamed with amphibious patrol planes to scour the seas to the south of Espiritu Santo and west of Nalekula Island.
Her diligence was soon rewarded. On 1 September, Wadsworth picked up an underwater sound contact and dropped seven patterns of depth charge
s and claimed unconfirmed damage to the submersible. I-20 may have survived that onslaught but never returned home. Records list her as "missing" as of 10 October 1943.
Putting into Havannah Harbor, Efate
Island, on 6 September, Wadsworth then exercised with a task force
formed around . The destroyer subsequently cleared that port on the 17th in company with and, over the ensuing days, escorted a convoy
of supply ships to Kukum beach, Guadalcanal
.
Returning to Efate with empty cargo ships on 30 September, Wadsworth took a screening station near to escort that battlewagon to the west for a rendezvous with a cruiser
-battleship
striking force under the command of Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee
. Wadsworth then patrolled off Meli Bay, Efate, to cover the entrance of convoys into Havannah Harbor.
Wadsworth subsequently joined other units of Destroyer Division 45 (DesDiv 45) as part of the protective screen for a dozen troop transports, Task Group 31.5 (TG 31.5), bound for the Solomons
and the initial landings of men in Empress Augusta Bay
, Cape Torokina
, Bougainville
. The expeditionary force arrived off the beach at Cape Torokina in the early morning darkness on 1 November. Then Wadsworth led in the initial force, a group of minesweeper
s, into Empress Augusta Bay.
At 05:47, Wadsworths 5 inch guns began to bark, and her shells destroyed enemy barge
s along the shoreline. For nearly two hours, the warship blasted targets behind the beaches, before she and sister ship took a patrol station to protect the transports which were landing troops. Suddenly, six enemy planes plunged out of the sun at the two destroyers, and the first of six bombs exploded only 25 yards to starboard of Wadsworth. Two other bombs burst within 500 yards of her beam, one to starboard and one to port. Then, a near-miss 20 feet from her port side sprayed the after section of the ship with fragments that killed two Wadsworth sailors and wounded nine others. On the other hand, the two destroyers each bagged two of the attackers.
Standing out of the unloading area on the night of 1 November, Wadsworth patrolled off Koli Point, Guadalcanal. Early in the morning a week later, the destroyer returned to Bougainville, escorting the second echelon of troop transports to Empress Augusta Bay. On this occasion, Wadsworth took a fighter-director station off the transport area and assisted in repelling a noon enemy air attack, her guns claiming one dive bomber
and one torpedo plane.
Clearing Cape Torokina shortly before midnight, Wadsworth patrolled off Guadalcanal until the 10th, when she moved to Purvis Bay
, Florida Island. However, she soon returned to Bougainville's coastal waters, escorting a troop convoy. The destroyer arrived off Cape Torokina near midnight on the 12th and, before dawn, had repelled two torpedo attacks with her radar-controlled 5 inch gunnery.
Wadsworth operated in support of the Bougainville occupation through the end of 1944, escorting troop-and supply-laden convoys from Kukum beach, Guadalcanal, to Empress Augusta Bay. From time to time, she also carried out shore bombardment missions. Three days after Christmas 1943, she blasted Japanese trenches and gun emplacements on both the south and north sides of the mouth of the Reini River, aided by air spot.
, escorting a merchantman. She returned to Espiritu Santo shepherding , before she steamed to Guadalcanal as part of the escort for . She then put into Blanche Harbor
, Treasury Islands
, on 1 February.
That day, Wadsworth conducted an antishipping sweep off the Buka Passage
, trading shells with an enemy shore battery on Buka Island
, before she entered Bougainville Strait in company with and . Those three ships then proceeded to bombard the newly constructed Japanese airfield at Choiseul Island
.
Subsequently taking on ammunition at Hawthorne Sound, New Georgia
, Wadsworth left on the night of 1 February to exercise with motor torpedo boat
s off Rendova. The following day off Blanche Harbor, she joined the screen for a convoy of landing craft and cargo ships that had arrived off Cape Torokina on 4 February.
Near midnight, she helped to repel enemy air attacks on the Torokina beaches, before she left the area the next morning, screening to Purvis Bay.
Clearing Purvis Bay on 11 February, Wadsworth rendezvoused with destroyers and troop-laden LST
s off Munda
, New Georgia, bound for the Green Islands
. Before dawn on the 15th, Wadsworth, acting as fighter-director ship, vectored night fighters toward an enemy raid of five planes that dropped flares off the formation. As a result of the destroyer's instructions, the prowling night fighters knocked down one enemy floatplane
. At dawn, Wadsworth vectored fighters against another raid, during which they splashed three intruders and repelled the enemy without damage to any ship of the formation. Wadsworth then screened the transports as they disembarked their troops.
After putting into Purvis Bay on the night of 17 February, Wadsworth steamed to Kukum beach and joined a troop convoy earmarked for the Green Island occupation. After her charges had safely delivered their troops to the objective on 20 February, Wadsworth returned to Purvis Bay the next afternoon.
Getting underway on 23 February, Wadsworth steamed via St. George's Channel to Kavieng
, New Ireland
, and to Rabaul
, New Britain
, for an antishipping sweep. A few minutes after midnight on the 24th, the destroyer opened fire and shelled a supply dump, stowage houses, and enemy troop concentrations in that area. One salvo of 5 inch shells started a fierce fire that lit up the entire target area. The flames from that blaze were still glowing as Wadsworth and the rest of the bombardment force stood down St. George's Channel three hours later.
With Purvis Bay as her base of operations, Wadsworth escorted supply convoys to Green Island and from Guadalcanal to Cape Torokina until 17 March. That day, the destroyer joined the screen for high-speed transports (APDs) setting course from Guadalcanal for the landings on Emirau Island
.
On the morning of the 19th, Wadsworth took a patrol station near Emirau and remained in the vicinity, supporting the operation, until sunset on the 20th. She subsequently conducted two more Guadalcanal-to-Emirau runs—escorting troopships—that kept her busy through mid-April.
After a period of rest and recreation at Sydney, Australia
, Wadsworth returned to Havannah
Harbor on 10 May. Assigned to duty with Battleship Division 3 (BatDiv 3)—comprising , , and —Wadsworth engaged in battle maneuvers and training off the New Hebrides in preparation for the conquest of the Marianas
. While his ship lay moored in Havannah Harbor on 31 May, Wadsworths commanding officer, Comdr. John F. Walsh, was given the additional duty of Commander, Destroyer Division 90 (DesDiv 90), and broke his pennant in his ship.
On 2 June, Wadsworth and the other destroyers in her squadron and with BatDiv 3 formed Task Group 53.14 (TG 53.14) and cleared Havannah Harbor, bound for the Marianas. At 04:30 on 14 June, the destroyer joined the screen of Pennsylvania, Idaho, and the cruiser for the bombardment of shore installations on eastern Tinian
. She completed the initial phase of her operations in the Marianas on the 16th by screening bombardment-force cruisers and battleships off Guam
.
After refuelling off Saipan
, Wadsworth joined Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 (TF 58) on the afternoon of 17 June, becoming a part of TG 58.3, formed around the veteran aircraft carrier in TF 58's bid to repel the First Japanese Mobile Fleet then on its way to the Marianas. On the morning of the 19th, TG 58.3 came under attack from Japanese carrier- and land-based aircraft during the beginning of what history would record as the Battle of the Philippine Sea
.
Sometimes known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", that battle sounded the death knell for the Imperial Japanese Navy
. During the action, the enemy lost 395 carrier planes and 31 floatplanes—about 92% and 72% of its total strength in those categories. At the end of its ill-fated effort to defend the Marianas, the Japanese Navy retained the operational use of only 35 carrier planes and 12 float planes. Besides the losses afloat, the Japanese lost some 50 land-based bombers as well.
During the two-day battle, Vice Admiral Mitscher's fliers had done well, turning back the enemy raids before they reached the American fleet. As TF 58 steamed westward to destroy the fleeing enemy on the 20th, Mitscher ordered further air strikes—attacks that sank the Japanese carrier .
Mitscher had taken a calculated risk, however, launching the last strikes so late in the day. As the planes droned home in the gathering darkness, the admiral faced an agonizing decision. Many planes would be lost if they could not see their carriers. On the other hand, if the ships were illuminated, enemy submarines might also see the vital carriers. Mitscher ordered the lights turned on. Meanwhile, Wadsworth and other destroyers received orders to pick up any fliers who were forced to "ditch."
When TF 58 had reached a point some 300 miles (550 km) off Okinawa, it abandoned further pursuit of the Japanese. Wadsworth then returned to the Marianas and patrolled off Saipan. On 5 July, her commanding officer was relieved of his collateral duties as ComDesDiv 90.
Two days later, Wadsworth joined a cruiser-destroyer force under Rear Admiral C. Turner Joy
for the bombardment of Tinian. The destroyer and her mates soon shifted their attention to Guam and destroyed many shore installations and gasoline dumps at Apra Harbor
and Agana Harbor, besides blasting enemy airstrips well in advance of the landings scheduled for that island. Terminating her bombardment duties off Guam on the afternoon of the 12th, Wadsworth joined the screen for the retiring carriers, and , and reached Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands
, on 15 July.
However, the respite provided by that in-port period was brief, for Wadsworth proceeded to sea on the 17th, as part of the escort for troop-laden transports slated to put their combat-garbed marines and soldiers ashore on Guam. Wadsworth patrolled off that isle as those men splashed ashore and, while engaged in that duty 26 miles offshore, picked up eight natives of Guam, who had escaped from the Japanese, on the morning of 22 July. The destroyer quickly transferred them to , because they possessed valuable intelligence information on Japanese dispositions ashore.
Wadsworths guns again spoke in the invasion of Guam on the night of 24 and 25 July, before she took a radar picket
station between Guam and Rota Islands. Relieved by on 2 August, Wadsworth then spent four days acting as primary fighter-director ship off Agana beach for two divisions of fighters based on Belleau Wood, , and . Relieved of that duty on 6 August, Wadsworth departed Guam on the 10th, screening fleet oilers as they withdrew to Eniwetok.
Pressing on from the Marshalls for Hawaiian waters on 13 August as escort for a merchantman, Wadsworth reached Pearl Harbor on the 20th. She then operated off Oahu
on radar picket patrols. She departed Hawaiian waters on 15 September as part of the escort for and , heading for the Marshalls. Arriving there on 25 September, the destroyer reported for duty with the 3d Fleet.
That tour of duty proved brief, however; for, soon thereafter, Wadsworth sailed for the West Coast of the United States. Proceeding via Eniwetok, Ulithi
, and Pearl Harbor, the destroyer arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 25 October for a major overhaul and completed that period of repairs and alterations on 5 December.
Wadsworth—shifted from DesRon 45 to DesRon 24—then conducted refresher training evolutions at San Diego before departing San Francisco five days before Christmas and heading for the Hawaiian Islands as an escort for a convoy. The destroyer safely conducted her charges into Oahu's waters on 29 December 1944.
Reaching the Palaus on the 16th, Wadsworth relieved as tender
for four minesweepers and two subchasers (SCs) engaged in patrols between Peleliu
and Angaur
Islands. In the early morning darkness two days later, she illuminated a target heading for the transport area and received information that there were no friendly small craft in the vicinity. Wadsworths searchlight continued to illuminate the small boat—a barge—as it beached, where Army searchlights ashore soon fixed their beams upon it. Men began to debark from the craft, just as small arms fire began to crackle. Some 50 Japanese troops had attempted a daring raid to damage American aircraft on the ground and destroy ammunition, only to be foiled by Wadsworth and the Army troops ashore. The Japanese landing party was exterminated.
During the night of the 19th, Wadsworth provided illuminating gunfire support for troops on "Amber" beach, Peleliu, before she sailed on the 25th for Ulithi. There, she joined the screen of TG 51.1, a transport group slated to take part in the invasion of Iwo Jima
.
Touching at Apra Harbor, Guam, between 8 and 16 February, Wadsworth arrived off Iwo Jima
on the morning of the 19th. The destroyer then conducted antisubmarine patrols off the southern tip of the island until nightfall, when she joined a bombardment group. The next morning, Wadsworth took station in the fire support sector off Iwo Jima and blasted enemy tanks and mortar and rocket positions. She continued that action in support of the ground troops ashore until the afternoon of the 21st, when she resumed screening duty for transports carrying the occupation force which ultimately landed on 2 March.
Clearing Iwo Jima on 5 March, Wadsworth headed for the Philippines
, arriving at Dulag
anchorage, in Leyte Gulf
, on the 9th. For most of the rest of March, Wadsworth operated locally in Philippine waters, conducting bombardment and fire support exercises in San Pedro Bay
, off Leyte, until 27 March. On that day, the destroyer got underway, screening the sortie of a transport group bound for the Ryūkyūs
.
Wadsworth arrived off Okinawa on the morning of 1 April 1945—Easter Sunday, April Fools' Day
, and D day for that operation
. At 04:15, the destroyer completed an advance sweep ahead of the transports off the invasion beaches and then took a fire support station off the southern end of the island. For the next 15 days, Wadsworths guns blasted Japanese troop concentrations and gun emplacements, as well as caves where the fantical defenders had holed-up.
On 17 April, Wadsworth took on board a fighter-director team at Kerama Retto
; and technicians from assisted the destroyer's ship's force in installing fighter-director equipment. She sailed later that day on her first radar picket assignment, part of the early warning network to provide the alarm of incoming Japanese aircraft. From 17 April to 24 June, Wadsworth carried out nine assignments on station, repelling 22 attacks by enemy aircraft, shooting down six, and assisting in the destruction of seven others. In addition, the combat air patrol fighters that she directed splashed 28 enemy aircraft.
During one day of that duty, on 28 April 1945, Wadsworth repelled six determined attacks by 12 enemy aircraft. The raids—which came from all points of the compass—commenced at sunset and continued for over three hours. One enemy torpedo plane closed fast on her port beam as Wadsworth skillfully maneuvered to keep the enemy on the beam to allow a heavy concentration of antiaircraft fire. Frustrated in his first attempt, the enemy pilot then brought the plane around a second time, circling to the right to commence an attack from directly astern, strafing as he came.
Wadsworth maneuvered to port as the plane went into a power dive that took him within 30 feet of the waves before he passed the destroyer to starboard at a distance of about 100 yards. The Japanese then zoomed sharply and turned to cross in front of Wadsworth. He then opened the range before boring in low and fast on the third attack.
Wadsworths determined adversary then dropped a torpedo at 1,200 yards. The destroyer turned "left full" and the "fish" passed harmlessly by her starboard side. Meanwhile, under constant fire from every gun in Wadsworth that could be brought to bear, the enemy plane came on, attempting to crash into the ship.
The Japanese bore in through the flak-peppered skies. His wing struck the forward port 40-millimeter gun, and the main body of the plane spun into the gig
rigged outboard, carried away a life raft, and then smashed a 26-foot motor whaleboat
before falling into the sea. Providentially, the enemy did not explode; the ship did, however, receive a shower of debris and gasoline. That had been the ship's second narrow escape. Only six days previously, on 22 April, Wadsworth's gunners had shot down a suicider that exploded in the sea only 20 feet from the ship, showering the ship with fragments. Fortunately, only minor hull damage resulted, and only one sailor was wounded.
At Hagushi
anchorage on the morning of 24 June, Wadsworth, relieved of radar picket duty, put her fighter-director team ashore. Since her first arrival off Okinawa, she had sounded general quarters 203 times, detected and reported the approach of hundreds of enemy aircraft, and successfully fought off all that attacked her. Her exploits during that time earned her the Presidential Unit Citation (US)
.
Departing Okinawa on 24 June, Wadsworth anchored in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on the 27th. She spent a fortnight in Philippine waters before getting underway with a group of heavy cruiser
s. The force touched at Okinawa on 16 July and then headed for the East China Sea
for antishipping sweeps off the coast of China between the ports of Foochow
and Wenchow. Returning to Okinawa on 29 July, that force made a similar sweep during the first week of August.
After "V-J Day" in mid-August, Wadsworth remained in the Far Eastern area, clearing Okinawa on 12 September, bound for Nagasaki, Japan, as escort for two LST
s. Reaching that atomic bomb-devastated port two days later, Wadsworth assisted in the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war from that port. On the 18th, she received on board a total of 125 liberated men, American, British
, Dutch
, and Australian, and transported them to Okinawa, reaching Buckner Bay on 20 September.
Clearing Buckner Bay on 25 September, Wadsworth arrived at Sasebo
, Japan, the next day. Soon thereafter, she commenced transport and occupation duties, carrying troops and escorting their vital supply ships between Sasebo, Wakayama, and Yokosuka—duties in which she remained engaged through mid-November.
Departing Sasebo on 17 November 1945, Wadsworth headed for the United States, her occupation service completed. Sailing via the Hawaiian Islands, the destroyer reached San Diego between 6 and 10 December and disembarked returning veterans at that port before she headed on for Panama
. Transiting the Panama Canal soon thereafter, Wadsworth arrived at the Charleston Naval Shipyard
in South Carolina
two days before Christmas 1945 and reported for inactivation.
Decommissioned on 18 April 1946, Wadsworth was assigned to the Charleston Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The destroyer remained inactive until selected for transfer to the Federal Republic of Germany
in 1959 under the Military Assistance Program.
After her initial six-year loan period was extended, Zerstörer 3 remained with the West German Navy into the 1970s. Struck from the United States Navy List
on 1 October 1974, the ship was sold to the Federal Republic of Germany on that date. She remained active with the West German Navy until 30 October 1980, when it was transferred to Greece
.
, the ship was renamed Nearchos (D-65).
She was stricken and scrapped in 1991.
service, and a Presidential Unit Citation (US)
:
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...
to be named for Commodore
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
Alexander S. Wadsworth
Alexander S. Wadsworth
Commodore Alexander Scammel Wadsworth was an officer of the United States Navy. His more than 40 years of active duty included service in the War of 1812.-Biography:...
(1790–1851).
Wadsworth was laid down on 18 August 1942 at Bath, Maine
Bath, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...
, by the Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
; 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...
on 10 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Rebecca Wadsworth Peacher, the great-great-granddaughter of Commodore Alexander S. Wadsworth; 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...
at the 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...
, on 16 March 1943, Commander John F. Walsh in command.
1943
Wadsworth departed Boston on 5 April and conducted exercises 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...
, until the 15th, when she sailed for Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n waters. After shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
, the new destroyer steamed north for post-shakedown availability and voyage repairs in the Boston Navy Yard.
Putting to sea on 23 May, Wadsworth screened the 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...
s and out of Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, as they conducted training evolutions. Following that cruise, Wadsworth touched at Norfolk, Virginia
Naval Station Norfolk
Naval Station Norfolk, in Norfolk, Virginia, is a base of the United States Navy, supporting naval forces in the United States Fleet Forces Command, those operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean...
, on 17 June and returned to Boston the following day.
After escorting to Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
, Virginia, Wadsworth screened and planeguarded for that carrier as her air group trained off the Virginia Capes
Virginia Capes
The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America....
. Following a return to Boston, the destroyer got underway again on 20 July to rendezvous with a task group formed around , Princeton, and . She met the carriers off the Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
breakwater, and the warships then set a southerly course, bound for 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...
.
Reaching 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 9 August, Wadsworth spent 10 days in the 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 operating area before heading for Canton Island in the screen for . Subsequently touching 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....
, in the 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...
Islands, Wadsworth reported to Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, Commander, Aircraft, 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...
(ComAirSoPac), for duty.
On the last day of August 1943, Wadsworth cleared Espiritu Santo to hunt for the Japanese
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
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...
—later identified as —that had 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 damaged the 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:...
W. S. Rheem about 10 miles (20 km) north of Bougainville Strait
Bougainville Strait
Bougainville Strait separates Choiseul Island from Bougainville Island, the next to the northward. It was first passed through in 1768 by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who christened it. A Lieutenant John Shortland of the Royal Navy sailed through it in 1788, giving the name of Treasury Islands...
. Wadsworth made no contact with any submarines in the first area searched but then teamed with amphibious patrol planes to scour the seas to the south of Espiritu Santo and west of Nalekula Island.
Her diligence was soon rewarded. On 1 September, Wadsworth picked up an underwater sound contact and dropped seven patterns of 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...
s and claimed unconfirmed damage to the submersible. I-20 may have survived that onslaught but never returned home. Records list her as "missing" as of 10 October 1943.
Putting into Havannah Harbor, Efate
Éfaté
Efate is an island in the Agean Ocean which is part of the Shefa Province in The Republic of Maliki. It is also known as Île Vate. It is the most populous island in Vanuatu. Efate's land area of makes it Vanuatu's third largest island. Most inhabitants of Efate live in Port Vila, the national...
Island, on 6 September, Wadsworth then exercised with a task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
formed around . The destroyer subsequently cleared that port on the 17th in company with and, over the ensuing days, escorted a 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...
of supply ships to Kukum beach, Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
.
Returning to Efate with empty cargo ships on 30 September, Wadsworth took a screening station near to escort that battlewagon to the west for a rendezvous with 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...
-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...
striking force under the command of Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee
Willis A. Lee
Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee, Jr. was a Vice Admiral of the United States Navy during World War II. Lee commanded the American ships during the second night of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and turned back a Japanese invasion force headed for the island...
. Wadsworth then patrolled off Meli Bay, Efate, to cover the entrance of convoys into Havannah Harbor.
Wadsworth subsequently joined other units of Destroyer Division 45 (DesDiv 45) as part of the protective screen for a dozen troop transports, Task Group 31.5 (TG 31.5), bound for the Solomons
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
and the initial landings of men in Empress Augusta Bay
Empress Augusta Bay
Empress Augusta Bay is a major bay on the western side of the island of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea, at . It is a major subsistence fishing area for the people of Bougainville. It is named after Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein, wife of German Emperor William II.In November 1943, the...
, Cape Torokina
Cape Torokina
Cape Torokina is a promontory at the north end of Empress Augusta Bay, along the central part of the southeastern coast of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea....
, Bougainville
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
. The expeditionary force arrived off the beach at Cape Torokina in the early morning darkness on 1 November. Then Wadsworth led in the initial force, a group of minesweeper
Minesweeper (ship)
A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...
s, into Empress Augusta Bay.
At 05:47, Wadsworths 5 inch guns began to bark, and her shells destroyed enemy barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s along the shoreline. For nearly two hours, the warship blasted targets behind the beaches, before she and sister ship took a patrol station to protect the transports which were landing troops. Suddenly, six enemy planes plunged out of the sun at the two destroyers, and the first of six bombs exploded only 25 yards to starboard of Wadsworth. Two other bombs burst within 500 yards of her beam, one to starboard and one to port. Then, a near-miss 20 feet from her port side sprayed the after section of the ship with fragments that killed two Wadsworth sailors and wounded nine others. On the other hand, the two destroyers each bagged two of the attackers.
Standing out of the unloading area on the night of 1 November, Wadsworth patrolled off Koli Point, Guadalcanal. Early in the morning a week later, the destroyer returned to Bougainville, escorting the second echelon of troop transports to Empress Augusta Bay. On this occasion, Wadsworth took a fighter-director station off the transport area and assisted in repelling a noon enemy air attack, her guns claiming one dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
and one torpedo plane.
Clearing Cape Torokina shortly before midnight, Wadsworth patrolled off Guadalcanal until the 10th, when she moved to Purvis Bay
Purvis Bay
Purvis Bay is located in the Florida Islands, which are part of the Solomon Islands. The bay was used by the US Navy during World War Two....
, Florida Island. However, she soon returned to Bougainville's coastal waters, escorting a troop convoy. The destroyer arrived off Cape Torokina near midnight on the 12th and, before dawn, had repelled two torpedo attacks with her radar-controlled 5 inch gunnery.
Wadsworth operated in support of the Bougainville occupation through the end of 1944, escorting troop-and supply-laden convoys from Kukum beach, Guadalcanal, to Empress Augusta Bay. From time to time, she also carried out shore bombardment missions. Three days after Christmas 1943, she blasted Japanese trenches and gun emplacements on both the south and north sides of the mouth of the Reini River, aided by air spot.
1944
After returning to Purvis Bay from her last screening and escort missions in support of the Bougainville operation, Wadsworth departed the Solomons on 8 January 1944, bound for Pago Pago, American SamoaAmerican Samoa
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
, escorting a merchantman. She returned to Espiritu Santo shepherding , before she steamed to Guadalcanal as part of the escort for . She then put into Blanche Harbor
Blanche Harbor
Blanche Harbor is a natural harbour between Mono and Stirling Islands of the Treasury Islands, Solomon Islands, at .-External links:*...
, Treasury Islands
Treasury Islands
Treasury Islands are a small group of islands a few kilometers to the south of Bougainville and 24 kilometers from the Shortland Islands. They form part of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. The two largest islands in the Treasuries are Mono Island and the smaller Stirling Island...
, on 1 February.
That day, Wadsworth conducted an antishipping sweep off the Buka Passage
Buka Passage
Buka Passage is a narrow strait that separates Buka Island from the northern part of Bougainville Island. A number of shipwrecks are located in the passage....
, trading shells with an enemy shore battery on Buka Island
Buka Island
Buka Island is the second largest island in the Papua New Guinean province of Bougainville.- History :Buka was first occupied by humans in paleolithic times, some 30,000 years ago...
, before she entered Bougainville Strait in company with and . Those three ships then proceeded to bombard the newly constructed Japanese airfield at Choiseul Island
Choiseul Island
Choiseul Island, native name Lauru, is the largest island of the Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands, at .-Description:This island is named after Étienne François, duc de Choiseul....
.
Subsequently taking on ammunition at Hawthorne Sound, New Georgia
New Georgia
New Georgia is the largest island of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.-Geography:This island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most of the other larger islands in the province...
, Wadsworth left on the night of 1 February to exercise with motor torpedo boat
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...
s off Rendova. The following day off Blanche Harbor, she joined the screen for a convoy of landing craft and cargo ships that had arrived off Cape Torokina on 4 February.
Near midnight, she helped to repel enemy air attacks on the Torokina beaches, before she left the area the next morning, screening to Purvis Bay.
Clearing Purvis Bay on 11 February, Wadsworth rendezvoused with destroyers and troop-laden 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....
s off Munda
Munda (Solomon Islands)
Munda is the largest settlement on the island of New Georgia in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, and consists of a number of villages...
, New Georgia, bound for the Green Islands
Green Islands, Papua New Guinea
The Green Islands are a small group of islands in Papua New Guinea. They are located at , about east of Rabaul on New Britain and about northwest of Bougainville. The Green Islands are administered as part of Bougainville Province .Nissan is the largest island of the group. Other islands include:...
. Before dawn on the 15th, Wadsworth, acting as fighter-director ship, vectored night fighters toward an enemy raid of five planes that dropped flares off the formation. As a result of the destroyer's instructions, the prowling night fighters knocked down one enemy floatplane
Floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane, with slender pontoons mounted under the fuselage; only the floats of a floatplane normally come into contact with water, with the fuselage remaining above water...
. At dawn, Wadsworth vectored fighters against another raid, during which they splashed three intruders and repelled the enemy without damage to any ship of the formation. Wadsworth then screened the transports as they disembarked their troops.
After putting into Purvis Bay on the night of 17 February, Wadsworth steamed to Kukum beach and joined a troop convoy earmarked for the Green Island occupation. After her charges had safely delivered their troops to the objective on 20 February, Wadsworth returned to Purvis Bay the next afternoon.
Getting underway on 23 February, Wadsworth steamed via St. George's Channel to Kavieng
Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2000, it had a population of 10,600....
, New Ireland
New Ireland (island)
New Ireland is a large island in Papua New Guinea, approximately 7,404 km² in area. It is the largest island of the New Ireland Province, lying northeast of the island of New Britain. Both islands are part of the Bismarck Archipelago, named after Otto von Bismarck, and they are separated by...
, and to Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
, 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...
, for an antishipping sweep. A few minutes after midnight on the 24th, the destroyer opened fire and shelled a supply dump, stowage houses, and enemy troop concentrations in that area. One salvo of 5 inch shells started a fierce fire that lit up the entire target area. The flames from that blaze were still glowing as Wadsworth and the rest of the bombardment force stood down St. George's Channel three hours later.
With Purvis Bay as her base of operations, Wadsworth escorted supply convoys to Green Island and from Guadalcanal to Cape Torokina until 17 March. That day, the destroyer joined the screen for high-speed transports (APDs) setting course from Guadalcanal for the landings on Emirau Island
Landing on Emirau
The Landing on Emirau was the last of the series of operations that made up Operation Cartwheel, General Douglas MacArthur's strategy for the encirclement of the major Japanese base at Rabaul. A force of nearly 4,000 United States Marines landed on the island of Emirau on 20 March 1944. The island...
.
On the morning of the 19th, Wadsworth took a patrol station near Emirau and remained in the vicinity, supporting the operation, until sunset on the 20th. She subsequently conducted two more Guadalcanal-to-Emirau runs—escorting troopships—that kept her busy through mid-April.
After a period of rest and recreation at Sydney, 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...
, Wadsworth returned to Havannah
Havannah
Havannah is an abstract strategy board game invented by Christian Freeling. It is played on a base-10 hexagonal board, ten hexes to a side...
Harbor on 10 May. Assigned to duty with Battleship Division 3 (BatDiv 3)—comprising , , and —Wadsworth engaged in battle maneuvers and training off the New Hebrides in preparation for the conquest of the Marianas
Mariana Islands
The Mariana Islands are an arc-shaped archipelago made up by the summits of 15 volcanic mountains in the north-western Pacific Ocean between the 12th and 21st parallels north and along the 145th meridian east...
. While his ship lay moored in Havannah Harbor on 31 May, Wadsworths commanding officer, Comdr. John F. Walsh, was given the additional duty of Commander, Destroyer Division 90 (DesDiv 90), and broke his pennant in his ship.
On 2 June, Wadsworth and the other destroyers in her squadron and with BatDiv 3 formed Task Group 53.14 (TG 53.14) and cleared Havannah Harbor, bound for the Marianas. At 04:30 on 14 June, the destroyer joined the screen of Pennsylvania, Idaho, and the cruiser for the bombardment of shore installations on eastern Tinian
Tinian
Tinian is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.-Geography:Tinian is about 5 miles southwest of its sister island, Saipan, from which it is separated by the Saipan Channel. It has a land area of 39 sq.mi....
. She completed the initial phase of her operations in the Marianas on the 16th by screening bombardment-force cruisers and battleships off 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...
.
After refuelling off 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...
, Wadsworth joined Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 (TF 58) on the afternoon of 17 June, becoming a part of TG 58.3, formed around the veteran aircraft carrier in TF 58's bid to repel the First Japanese Mobile Fleet then on its way to the Marianas. On the morning of the 19th, TG 58.3 came under attack from Japanese carrier- and land-based aircraft during the beginning of what history would record as the Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
.
Sometimes known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", that battle sounded the death knell for the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
. During the action, the enemy lost 395 carrier planes and 31 floatplanes—about 92% and 72% of its total strength in those categories. At the end of its ill-fated effort to defend the Marianas, the Japanese Navy retained the operational use of only 35 carrier planes and 12 float planes. Besides the losses afloat, the Japanese lost some 50 land-based bombers as well.
During the two-day battle, Vice Admiral Mitscher's fliers had done well, turning back the enemy raids before they reached the American fleet. As TF 58 steamed westward to destroy the fleeing enemy on the 20th, Mitscher ordered further air strikes—attacks that sank the Japanese carrier .
Mitscher had taken a calculated risk, however, launching the last strikes so late in the day. As the planes droned home in the gathering darkness, the admiral faced an agonizing decision. Many planes would be lost if they could not see their carriers. On the other hand, if the ships were illuminated, enemy submarines might also see the vital carriers. Mitscher ordered the lights turned on. Meanwhile, Wadsworth and other destroyers received orders to pick up any fliers who were forced to "ditch."
When TF 58 had reached a point some 300 miles (550 km) off Okinawa, it abandoned further pursuit of the Japanese. Wadsworth then returned to the Marianas and patrolled off Saipan. On 5 July, her commanding officer was relieved of his collateral duties as ComDesDiv 90.
Two days later, Wadsworth joined a cruiser-destroyer force under Rear Admiral C. Turner Joy
C. Turner Joy
Vice Admiral Charles Turner Joy was an admiral of the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. During the last years of his career, he served as Superintendent of the Naval Academy. The destroyer USS Turner Joy was named for him.-Early life and career, through World War I:C....
for the bombardment of Tinian. The destroyer and her mates soon shifted their attention to Guam and destroyed many shore installations and gasoline dumps at Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor
Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...
and Agana Harbor, besides blasting enemy airstrips well in advance of the landings scheduled for that island. Terminating her bombardment duties off Guam on the afternoon of the 12th, Wadsworth joined the screen for the retiring carriers, and , and reached Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, on 15 July.
However, the respite provided by that in-port period was brief, for Wadsworth proceeded to sea on the 17th, as part of the escort for troop-laden transports slated to put their combat-garbed marines and soldiers ashore on Guam. Wadsworth patrolled off that isle as those men splashed ashore and, while engaged in that duty 26 miles offshore, picked up eight natives of Guam, who had escaped from the Japanese, on the morning of 22 July. The destroyer quickly transferred them to , because they possessed valuable intelligence information on Japanese dispositions ashore.
Wadsworths guns again spoke in the invasion of Guam on the night of 24 and 25 July, before she took a 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...
station between Guam and Rota Islands. Relieved by on 2 August, Wadsworth then spent four days acting as primary fighter-director ship off Agana beach for two divisions of fighters based on Belleau Wood, , and . Relieved of that duty on 6 August, Wadsworth departed Guam on the 10th, screening fleet oilers as they withdrew to Eniwetok.
Pressing on from the Marshalls for Hawaiian waters on 13 August as escort for a merchantman, Wadsworth reached Pearl Harbor on the 20th. She then operated off Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
on radar picket patrols. She departed Hawaiian waters on 15 September as part of the escort for and , heading for the Marshalls. Arriving there on 25 September, the destroyer reported for duty with the 3d Fleet.
That tour of duty proved brief, however; for, soon thereafter, Wadsworth sailed for the West Coast of the United States. Proceeding via Eniwetok, 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 Pearl Harbor, the destroyer arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 25 October for a major overhaul and completed that period of repairs and alterations on 5 December.
Wadsworth—shifted from DesRon 45 to DesRon 24—then conducted refresher training evolutions at San Diego before departing San Francisco five days before Christmas and heading for the Hawaiian Islands as an escort for a convoy. The destroyer safely conducted her charges into Oahu's waters on 29 December 1944.
1945
After local maneuvers out of Pearl Harbor—during which she rescued three aviators from the water on 2 January 1945—Wadsworth set course via Ulithi for the Kossol Passage, Palau Islands.Reaching the Palaus on the 16th, Wadsworth relieved as tender
Ship's tender
A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a boat, or a larger ship used to service a ship, generally by transporting people and/or supplies to and from shore or another ship...
for four minesweepers and two subchasers (SCs) engaged in patrols between Peleliu
Peleliu
Peleliu is an island in the island nation of Palau. Peleliu forms, along with two small islands to its northeast, one of the sixteen states of Palau. It is located northeast of Angaur and southwest of Koror....
and Angaur
Angaur
Angaur or Ngeaur is an island in the island nation of Palau. The island, which forms its own state, has an area of 8 km² . Its population is 188 . State capital is the village of Ngeremasch on the western side...
Islands. In the early morning darkness two days later, she illuminated a target heading for the transport area and received information that there were no friendly small craft in the vicinity. Wadsworths searchlight continued to illuminate the small boat—a barge—as it beached, where Army searchlights ashore soon fixed their beams upon it. Men began to debark from the craft, just as small arms fire began to crackle. Some 50 Japanese troops had attempted a daring raid to damage American aircraft on the ground and destroy ammunition, only to be foiled by Wadsworth and the Army troops ashore. The Japanese landing party was exterminated.
During the night of the 19th, Wadsworth provided illuminating gunfire support for troops on "Amber" beach, Peleliu, before she sailed on the 25th for Ulithi. There, she joined the screen of TG 51.1, a transport group slated to take part in the invasion of Iwo Jima
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...
.
Touching at Apra Harbor, Guam, between 8 and 16 February, Wadsworth arrived off Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
on the morning of the 19th. The destroyer then conducted antisubmarine patrols off the southern tip of the island until nightfall, when she joined a bombardment group. The next morning, Wadsworth took station in the fire support sector off Iwo Jima and blasted enemy tanks and mortar and rocket positions. She continued that action in support of the ground troops ashore until the afternoon of the 21st, when she resumed screening duty for transports carrying the occupation force which ultimately landed on 2 March.
Clearing Iwo Jima on 5 March, Wadsworth headed for 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...
, arriving at Dulag
Dulag, Leyte
Dulag is a third-class municipality in the province of Leyte in Eastern Visayas in the Philippines. This coastal town covering 11,007 hectares of land is home to 44,143 residents...
anchorage, in 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...
, on the 9th. For most of the rest of March, Wadsworth operated locally in Philippine waters, conducting bombardment and fire support exercises in San Pedro Bay
San Pedro Bay (Philippines)
San Pedro Bay is a bay in the Philippines, at the northwest end of Leyte Gulf, about 15 km east-west and 20 km north-south. The bay is bounded on the north and east by Samar and on the east by Leyte Island. It is connected by San Juanico Strait to Carigara Bay of the Samar Sea. The...
, off Leyte, until 27 March. On that day, the destroyer got underway, screening the sortie of a transport group bound for the Ryūkyūs
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
.
Wadsworth arrived off Okinawa on the morning of 1 April 1945—Easter Sunday, April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
, and D day for that 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...
. At 04:15, the destroyer completed an advance sweep ahead of the transports off the invasion beaches and then took a fire support station off the southern end of the island. For the next 15 days, Wadsworths guns blasted Japanese troop concentrations and gun emplacements, as well as caves where the fantical defenders had holed-up.
On 17 April, Wadsworth took on board a fighter-director team at 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....
; and technicians from assisted the destroyer's ship's force in installing fighter-director equipment. She sailed later that day on her first radar picket assignment, part of the early warning network to provide the alarm of incoming Japanese aircraft. From 17 April to 24 June, Wadsworth carried out nine assignments on station, repelling 22 attacks by enemy aircraft, shooting down six, and assisting in the destruction of seven others. In addition, the combat air patrol fighters that she directed splashed 28 enemy aircraft.
During one day of that duty, on 28 April 1945, Wadsworth repelled six determined attacks by 12 enemy aircraft. The raids—which came from all points of the compass—commenced at sunset and continued for over three hours. One enemy torpedo plane closed fast on her port beam as Wadsworth skillfully maneuvered to keep the enemy on the beam to allow a heavy concentration of antiaircraft fire. Frustrated in his first attempt, the enemy pilot then brought the plane around a second time, circling to the right to commence an attack from directly astern, strafing as he came.
Wadsworth maneuvered to port as the plane went into a power dive that took him within 30 feet of the waves before he passed the destroyer to starboard at a distance of about 100 yards. The Japanese then zoomed sharply and turned to cross in front of Wadsworth. He then opened the range before boring in low and fast on the third attack.
Wadsworths determined adversary then dropped a torpedo at 1,200 yards. The destroyer turned "left full" and the "fish" passed harmlessly by her starboard side. Meanwhile, under constant fire from every gun in Wadsworth that could be brought to bear, the enemy plane came on, attempting to crash into the ship.
The Japanese bore in through the flak-peppered skies. His wing struck the forward port 40-millimeter gun, and the main body of the plane spun into the gig
Captain's Gig
The captain's gig is a boat used on naval ships as the captain's private taxi. It is a catchall phrase for this type of craft and over the years it has gradually increased in size, changed with the advent of new technologies for locomotion, and been crafted from increasingly more durable...
rigged outboard, carried away a life raft, and then smashed a 26-foot motor whaleboat
Whaleboat
A whaleboat is a type of open boat that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either forwards or backwards equally well. It was originally developed for whaling, and later became popular for work along beaches, since it does not need to be turned around for beaching or...
before falling into the sea. Providentially, the enemy did not explode; the ship did, however, receive a shower of debris and gasoline. That had been the ship's second narrow escape. Only six days previously, on 22 April, Wadsworth's gunners had shot down a suicider that exploded in the sea only 20 feet from the ship, showering the ship with fragments. Fortunately, only minor hull damage resulted, and only one sailor was wounded.
At 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...
anchorage on the morning of 24 June, Wadsworth, relieved of radar picket duty, put her fighter-director team ashore. Since her first arrival off Okinawa, she had sounded general quarters 203 times, detected and reported the approach of hundreds of enemy aircraft, and successfully fought off all that attacked her. Her exploits during that time earned her the Presidential Unit Citation (US)
Presidential Unit Citation (US)
The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941...
.
Departing Okinawa on 24 June, Wadsworth anchored in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on the 27th. She spent a fortnight in Philippine waters before getting underway with a group of heavy cruiser
Heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...
s. The force touched at Okinawa on 16 July and then headed for the East China Sea
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
for antishipping sweeps off the coast of China between the ports of Foochow
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
and Wenchow. Returning to Okinawa on 29 July, that force made a similar sweep during the first week of August.
After "V-J Day" in mid-August, Wadsworth remained in the Far Eastern area, clearing Okinawa on 12 September, bound for Nagasaki, Japan, as escort for two 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....
s. Reaching that atomic bomb-devastated port two days later, Wadsworth assisted in the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war from that port. On the 18th, she received on board a total of 125 liberated men, American, British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and Australian, and transported them to Okinawa, reaching Buckner Bay on 20 September.
Clearing Buckner Bay on 25 September, Wadsworth arrived at Sasebo
Sasebo, Nagasaki
is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 259,800 and the density of 609 persons per km². The total area is 426.47 km². The locality is famed for its scenic beauty. The city includes a part of Saikai National Park...
, Japan, the next day. Soon thereafter, she commenced transport and occupation duties, carrying troops and escorting their vital supply ships between Sasebo, Wakayama, and Yokosuka—duties in which she remained engaged through mid-November.
Departing Sasebo on 17 November 1945, Wadsworth headed for the United States, her occupation service completed. Sailing via the Hawaiian Islands, the destroyer reached San Diego between 6 and 10 December and disembarked returning veterans at that port before she headed on for Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
. Transiting the Panama Canal soon thereafter, Wadsworth arrived at the Charleston Naval Shipyard
Charleston Naval Shipyard
Charleston Naval Shipyard was a U.S. Navy ship building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River, in North Charleston, South Carolina and part of Naval Base Charleston...
in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
two days before Christmas 1945 and reported for inactivation.
Decommissioned on 18 April 1946, Wadsworth was assigned to the Charleston Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The destroyer remained inactive until selected for transfer to the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1959 under the Military Assistance Program.
Zerstörer 3 (D172)
In the summer of 1959, the German transfer crew assembled at Charleston, South Carolina, for indoctrination, while the ship herself was being prepared for turnover. On 6 October 1959, Wadsworth was turned over to the West Germans and simultaneously commissioned in their service as Zerstörer 3 (D172).After her initial six-year loan period was extended, Zerstörer 3 remained with the West German Navy into the 1970s. Struck from the United States Navy List
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 1 October 1974, the ship was sold to the Federal Republic of Germany on that date. She remained active with the West German Navy until 30 October 1980, when it was transferred to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
Nearchos (D-65) In the Hellenic Navy
Hellenic Navy
The Hellenic Navy is the naval force of Greece, part of the Greek Armed Forces. The modern Greek navy has its roots in the naval forces of various Aegean Islands, which fought in the Greek War of Independence...
, the ship was renamed Nearchos (D-65).
She was stricken and scrapped in 1991.
Honors
Wadsworth (DD-516) earned seven battle stars for her World War IIWorld 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...
service, and a Presidential Unit Citation (US)
Presidential Unit Citation (US)
The Presidential Unit Citation, originally called the Distinguished Unit Citation, is awarded to units of the Armed Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941...
:
- "For outstanding heroism in action as a fighter direction ship on radar picket station during the Okinawa Campaign, from 17 April to 24 June 1945. A natural and frequent target for heavy Japanese aerial attack while occupying advanced and isolated stations, the U.S.S. WADSWORTH defended all efforts of enemy Kamikaze and dive-bombing planes to destroy her. Constantly vigilant and ready for battle, she sent out early air warnings, provided fighter direction and, with her own gunfire, downed six enemy planes, shared in the destruction of seven others, routed many more, rendered valiant service in preventing the Japanese from striking in force against our Naval Forces off the Okinawa Beachhead. A gallant, fighting ship, the WADSWORTH, her officers and her men withstood the stress and perils of vital Radar Picket duty, achieving a distinctive combat record which attests the teamwork, courage and skill of her entire company and enhances the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."