USS William C. Miller (DE-259) was an constructed for 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 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...

s 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 seven battle stars, a very high number for a ship of her type.

She was laid down on 10 January 1943 at Boston, Massachusetts, by 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...

; launched on 22 February 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Melvin B. Miller, the mother of the late Radioman

Radioman

Radioman was a rating for United States Navy and United States Coast Guard enlisted personnel, specializing in communications technology.-History of the rating:...

 3rd Class Miller; and commissioned on 2 July 1943, Lt. Comdr. Frederick C. Storey, USNR

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...

, in command.

World War II Pacific Theater operations

William C. Miller got underway on 19 July, bound for 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...

. There, she conducted her 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...

 before returning to Boston for post-shakedown availability and remained in the navy yard until 27 August, when she sailed 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...

. After transiting 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...

 between 1 and 3 September, the destroyer escort arrived at 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 the 12th and shifted to 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 the 15th, before sailing for 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...

 nine days later in the screen for Convoy 4796. She returned to the west coast early in the fall but departed San Francisco on 19 October, bound for the Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands

The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...

 and "Operation Galvanic".

Battle of Tarawa operations

As a unit of Task Group (TG) 54.9, 5th Fleet, William C. Miller screened the ships of the Tarawa garrison group and patrolled in area "Longsuit" off the invasion beaches into early December. She then guarded the entrance to the lagoon

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,...

 at Tarawa through the middle of the month before departing the Gilberts on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

, bound for 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...

.

Participation in major invasions

Reaching Pearl Harbor on 30 December 1943, William C. Miller underwent upkeep alongside the destroyer tender

Destroyer tender

A destroyer tender is a ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of the 20th century as the roles of small combatants have evolved .Due to the increased size and automation of...

  and remained in Hawaiian waters into February 1944. That year was to prove a busy one for the destroyer escort. She earned the other six of her seven battle stars in the next year and one-half operating on screening, escorting, and hunter-killer duties with convoys for the remainder of 1944. During that period, William C. Miller supported the occupation of Kwajalein

Kwajalein

Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...

 and Majuro

Majuro

Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...

 from 29 January to 8 February 1944; the capture of Eniwetok from 17 February to 2 March; the capture and occupation of 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 26 June to 10 August; and the capture and occupation of 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....

 from 24 July to 10 August. It was during the Saipan screening operations, however, that the ship avenged the loss of her namesake.

Japanese submarine sighted and sunk

At 2120 on the evening of 13 July, a patrol plane sighted a Japanese 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...

 submerging some 78 miles from Rorpgattan Point, Saipan, and reported the enemy's position. Accordingly, William C. Miller and the other members of a hunter-killer group — carrying the officer in tactical command (OTC) — altered course and departed the screen for the transport area to track the submersible. At 0022 on the following day, the destroyer escort and her sisters arrived on the scene and commenced searching.

Seven hours later, William C. Miller obtained sound contact

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

 at a range of 1700 yards (1,554.5 m). The destroyer escort approached at 15 knots and dropped a 13-charge pattern at 0726. Opening the range after observing no damage, the escort vessel attacked for the second time, dropping a second pattern at 0752, once again, of 13 charges.

That pattern appears to have proved devastating to . At 0804, William C. Miller noted pieces of wood popping to the surface about 500 yards (457.2 m) ahead, one point on the starboard bow. One minute later, a "heavy and prolonged underwater explosion" — estimated to be about three times the shock of a 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...

 explosion — shook the ship.

Shortly thereafter, observers in William C. Miller noted a large "boil" in the water some 50 yards (45.7 m) in diameter. At 0806, the destroyer escort laid a third 13-charge pattern that apparently landed atop the submarine, completing whatever devastation had been wreaked by the second salvo. William C. Miller closed the oil slick and debris and lowered a boat to investigate. The ship soon recovered small pieces of cork insulating material; fractured wooden decking; and a fur-lined, Japanese seaman's cap. The depth charge barrage had literally torn the submarine apart. A postwar accounting credited William C. Miller with the destruction of Japanese submarine I-6.

The Navy, in what seems to be in error gave credit to the William C. Miller for sinking the I-6, but due to recent research information presented by "combinedfleet.com", it seems to have been the I-55. I-6 was sunk in a collision with the freighter TOYOKAWA MARU on 16 June 1944


Continued convoy and anti-submarine operations

After the completion of the Tinian campaign, William C. Miller departed that island on 21 August in company with . The destroyer escort paused briefly at Eniwetok, in 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...

, on the 24th before she pushed on for the Hawaiian Islands, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 2 September. William C. Miller returned to Eniwetok at the end of October and then shifted to Ulithi

Ulithi

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...

, in the Carolines

Caroline Islands

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...

, where she picked up Ulithi-to-Eniwetok Convoy Number 19 on 5 November. After bringing that convoy safely into port five days later, William C. Miller departed the Marshall Islands on 13 November with Eniwetok-to-Pearl Harbor Convoy Number 21. Making port at Pearl Harbor on 24 November, the destroyer escort underwent ordnance repairs at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard into the following year.

Supporting the invasion of Iwo Jima

William, C. Miller sortied from Pearl Harbor on 6 February 1945, as part of Task Unit (TU) 51.6.2 to participate in the assault and occupation of 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...

 between 23 February and 16 March. She returned to Pearl Harbor in early April, via 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...

 and Eniwetok. The destroyer escort subsequently steamed back to the west coast and remained there, first at San Francisco and then at San Diego, until 13 June when she sailed for the Hawaiian Islands in company with .

After arriving at Pearl Harbor on 19 June, William C. Miller escorted a convoy to Eniwetok which she reached on 6 July. She soon put to sea to operate in the screen of 3rd Fleet units in their operations against the Japanese home islands. She performed those duties into mid-August when hostilities with Japan ceased.

End-of-War activity

William C. Miller arrived at Ulithi on 19 August but soon sailed for Tokyo Bay

Tokyo Bay

is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...

 as part of the initial occupation forces. She arrived at Tokyo Bay on 26 August and was there at the time of the formal Japanese surrender on 2 September.

Post-War decommissioning

Later that month, the destroyer escort headed home, via Ulithi, Eniwetok, and Pearl Harbor, and reached San Francisco, California, on 17 October. William C. Miller was decommissioned at the 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...

 on 21 December and stripped of all usable equipment. On 8 January 1946, William C. Miller was struck from the 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...

. Sold to Mr. Fred Perry of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

on 10 April 1947, her hulk was subsequently scrapped on 19 November 1947.

External links