USS Kanawha
(AO-1) with thirteen Wickes &
Clemson
class destroyers alongside, off San Diego, California, during
the early 1920s.
Ships present
are (from left to right): USS Meade
(DD-274); USS Evans
(DD-78); USS Kennedy
(DD-306); USS Aaron
Ward (DD-132); USS Woolsey
(DD-77); USS Wickes (DD-75); USS Buchanan
(DD-131); USS Kanawha;
USS Farquhar (DD-304); USS Paul Hamilton (DD-307); USS Thompson
(DD-305); USS Reno (DD-303); USS Stoddert (DD-302) and USS Philip
(DD-76)
The first Wickes
(Destroyer No. 75) was laid down on 26 June 1917 at Bath, Maine,
by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 25 June 1918, sponsored by
Miss Ann Elizabeth Young Wickes, the daughter of Dr. Walter Wickes,
a descendant of Lambert Wickes, and commissioned on 31 July 1918,
Lt. Comdr. John S. Barleon in command.
After an abbreviated
shakedown, Wickes departed Boston on 6 August and arrived at New
York on the 8th. Later that day, she sailed for the British Isles
escorting a convoy of a dozen merchantmen. After shepherding her
charges across the Atlantic, Wickes was detached from the convoy
to make a brief stop at Queenstown, Northern Ireland, on 19 August.
Underway again the following day, the warship sailed for the Azores
to pick up passengers and United States bound mail at Punta Delgada
before continuing on to New York.
Wickes subsequently
escorted convoys off the northeast coast of the United States.
She departed New York on 7 October, bound for Nova Scotia; but,
during the voyage north, her crew was hit by influenza. Soon after
the ship's arrival at Halifax, 30 men including the commanding
officer were hospitalized ashore.
Soon the outbreak
of "flu" in Wickes abated, but bad luck seemed to dog
the destroyer. She departed New York at 1748 on 23 October, screening
ahead of the armored cruiser Pueblo and escorting a convoy of
merchant vessels. At 2104, Wickes sighted an unidentified ship
to port on a collision course. She immediately changed her course
and switched on her lights. When the oncoming ship failed to give
way, the destroyer ordered full speed astern and went to general
quarters. At 2110, only six minutes after the initial sighting
the unidentified ship's bow smashed into Wickes' port billboard.
The stem of the stranger cut through the destroyer's keel and
caused extensive damage forward. Fortunately, there were no personnel
casualties; and the flood was contained by a key bulkhead which
held fast. In this case of "hit and run" on the high
seas, the assailant remained unknown, since she scraped the destroyer's
port side and steamed off into the night. Stopping engines at
2112, Wickes' crew took stock of the damage and put about for
the New York Navy Yard, where she arrived at 0453 on 24 October.
While the ship
was undergoing repairs there, the signing of the armistice on
11 November 1918 stilled the guns of World War I. Now the task
of establishing a fair peace for victors and vanquished lay ahead.
To take part in forging what was hoped to be a wise and just settlement
of issues raised by the war, President Woodrow Wilson sailed for
Europe in the transport George Washington; and Wickes served as
part of the escort screen for the President's ship, departing
from New York on 4 December 1918, bound for Brest, France.
Wickes subsequently
cruised to northern European ports in late 1918 Calling at Hamburg
and Stettin, Germany; and Harwich, England. During this European
cruise, while mooring at Hamburg on 3 March 1919, the destroyer
collided with the German merchantman Ljusne Ell. After repairs,
the destroyer shifted to Brest in June and from there escorted
George Washington as that transport carried President Wilson back
home to the United States.
After celebrating
the 4th of July 1919 off the Atlantic coast, Wickes and her sisters
sailed for the Pacific transiting the Panama Canal on 24 July
1919 with the mass movement of the ships from Atlantic to Pacific.
Later in that year, Commander William F. Halsey took command of
the ship, after an overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard. Halsey,
who would win fame in the second World War, later stated in his
memoirs that Wickes was "the best ship I ever commanded;
she was also the smartest and the cleanest." As flagship
for Destroyer Division 10, Wickes operated off the west coast
into 1922, conducting the usual target practices and exercises.
As a wave of peacetime austerity swept over the United States,
the Navy felt the "pinch" of decreased expenditures
and the widespread antimilitary sentiment which cropped up in
the aftermath of World War I. Accordingly, Wickes was decommissioned
and placed in reserve at San Diego, Calif., on 15 May 1922.
The destroyer
lay out of commission for eight years. Recommissioned on 26 April
1930, Wickes shifted to the Atlantic and was based at New York.
She operated off the eastern seaboard, making training cruises
with Naval Reserve detachments from the 3d Naval District embarked.
From 3 to 18 February 1931, the ship visited Tampa, Fla., for
the Florida State Fair and Gasparilla Carnival, before she shifted
to Mobile, Ala., to take part in Mardi Gras observances. In November,
the busy destroyer visited Bridgeport, Conn., to participate in
the Armistice Day observances on the 11th. In April 1932, two
years after being recommissioned, Wickes reported for duty with
Rotating Reserve Squadron 20 and subsequently shifted back to
the Pacific
From 1933 to
1937, Wickes operated out of San Diego. Decommissioned on 6 April
1937, the destroyer remained in reserve only a short time because
of the increase of tension in Europe and the Far East. Fighting
broke out in Poland on 1 September 1939 as German forces invaded
that country and thus triggered British and French assistance
to Poland. World War II was on.
President Roosevelt
promptly directed that the Navy establish a "Neutrality Patrol"
off the eastern seaboard, in the approaches to the Panama Canal
and Guantanamo Bay, and at the two entrances to the Gulf of Mexico.
To help patrol these stretches of sea, the Navy quickly reactivated
77 destroyers and light minelayers.
Wickes was
recommissioned on 30 September 1939, Lt. Comdr. Charles J. Stuart
in command. Over the ensuing month, the destroyer was fitted out
while moored at the destroyer base alongside Whitney (AD4). Early
in November, she shifted to the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo,
Calif., for drydocking. After returning to San Diego on the 21st,
Wickes departed the west coast on the 27th, bound for Panama in
company with her division, Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 64. En
route she fueled from Neches (AO-5) and arrived at Balboa on 6
December. Transiting the canal on the 7th, the destroyer arrived
at the Naval Operating Base (NOB), Key West, Fla., on the 11th
and commenced neutrality patrol duty.
Wickes and
her sister ships patrolled alternately in the Yucatan Channel
between the east coast of Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula and in
the passage between Florida and the west coast of Cuba. They shadowed
belligerent merchantmen and warships of the British and Commonwealth
navies searching for German freighters or passenger ships caught
in or near American coastal waters by the outbreak of war.
On her first
patrol, Wickes spotted a cruiser possibly HMAS Perth or HMS Orion
(her log is not specific here) at 1058 on 14 December. The destroyer
shadowed the cruiser, changing courses and speeds to conform with
the other ship's movements, until well after nightfall. Anchored
off Port Everglades, Fla. just before Christmas of 1939, Wickes
noted the British destroyer HMS Hereward (H.93) maintaining a
diligent patrol 12 miles off the Florida coast between 23 and
25 December.
Wickes returned
to Key West on 30 December but enjoyed barely enough time to refuel
and provision before she got underway again on 2 January 1940.
She maintained a patrol off the Yucatan Peninsula for a week before
returning to Key West on the 9th. Shifting to Guantanamo Bay soon
thereafter, Wickes exercised with larger units of the Atlantic
Squadron from 24 to 26 January before proceeding with DesDiv 64
for Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on the 26th. Arriving the following
day, the ships commenced a three-day port visit
After leaving
Puerto Cabello, Wickes and her division mates visited St. Thomas,
Virgin Islands, before joining DesDiv 65 at St. Eustatius, Dutch
West Indies on 6 February. The next day, these two divisions rendezvoused
with Wichita (CA-45) and DesDiv 82; together with DesDivs 61 and
83 and the heavy cruiser Vincennes (CA-44), these ships formed
the "Antilles Detachment" of the Atlantic Squadron.
After formation steaming and exercises, Wickes arrived back at
Guantanamo Bay on 9 February before shifting to NOB Key West on
the 14th.
In late February,
Wickes again patrolled the Florida Straits, visiting the Dry Tortugas
in the course of her operations. At the end of March, she sailed
on the Yucatan Patrol. Returning to Key West on 8 April, Wickes
maneuvered alongside Twiggs (DD-127) at the fuel pier there. The
two ships touched and broke off the propeller guard from Twiggs
which punctured a small hole above Wickes' waterline. The damage,
fortunately, was minor, and the destroyer returned to sea shortly
thereafter to conduct short range battle practice off Key West
before undertaking another stint on the Yucatan Patrol in mid-April.
From late April
through mid-June, Wickes visited San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St.
Thomas. She departed from the latter port on 1 July to join Texas
(BB-35) Arkansas (BB-33), and New York (BB-34) that afternoon
and conducted simulated torpedo attacks upon them at night. Wickes
then operated out of San Juan for the remainder of the month.
Meanwhile,
in Europe, the situation facing the British had materially worsened.
The devastating German blitzkrieg had carried the Low Countries
before it and knocked France out of the war. British destroyer
forces had suffered terribly in the ill-fated Norwegian campaign
and in the evacuation from Dunkirk. Moreover, German U-boats had
taken their toll in their operations against British convoys.
With Italy's entry into the war in the summer of 1940, the British
were faced with another long lifeline to defend in the Mediterranean.
Prime Minister
Winston Churchill appealed to President Roosevelt for assistance,
and, during the summer of 1940, an agreement was worked out between
the United States and Great Britain. In return for 50 "overage"
American destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy, the United
States received leases, for a duration of 99 years, on strategic
base sites stretching from Newfoundland to British Guiana.
Accordingly,
50 ships were picked for transfer Wickes among them. After her
last Caribbean tour, the destroyer returned to Key West on 24
July. She shifted to Galveston, Tex., on 27 July for an overhaul
at Todd's Drydock Co. and remained there through August.
Wickes departed
Galveston in company with Elvans (DD-79), on 22 September, touched
briefly at Key West, and arrived at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth,
Va., on the 26th. On 9 October, Wickes departed Hampton Roads
with DesDiv 64 and stopped at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport,
R.I., soon thereafter. The ships transited the Cape Cod Canal,
en route to Provincetown, Mass., and after stopping there briefly,
pushed on for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they arrived on 16 October.
As part of
the fifth group of destroyers transferred to the British and Canadians,
Wickes was visited by Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada
and Rear Admiral F. L. Reichmuth, USN, the Commander, Destroyers,
Atlantic Fleet, on 19 October, during the indoctrination period
for the prospective British crew. On 23 October 1940, Wickes was
turned over to the Royal Navy. Her name was struck from the Navy
list on 8 January 1941.
Commissioned
simultaneously on the 23d under the White Ensign as HMS Montgomery
(G.95) Lt. Comdr. W. L. Puxley, RN, in command the destroyer underwent
further fitting out and familiarization before departing Canadian
waters on 1 November, bound for the British Isles. En route, Montgomery
and the other of her sister ships in company swept through the
scene of the one-sided naval engagement between the armed merchant
cruiser HMS Jervis Bay and the German "pocket battleship"
Admiral Scheer. This action had occurred on 5 November when the
German warship attacked a convoy escorted by the erstwhile merchant
steamship. Jervis Bay had gallantly interspersed herself between
the raider and the convoy, allowing the latter to escape while
being herself smashed to junk and sunk. Montgomerg found nothing,
however, and after searching briefly for the German "pocket
battleship" with orders to shadow by day and attack by night
arrived at Belfast, Northern Ireland on 11 November.
Shifting to
Plymouth, England, a week later, Montgomery was allocated to the
Western Approaches command and based at Liverpool. During the
course of one of her early patrols, Montgomery rescued 39 survivors
from the torpedoed motor tanker Scottish Standard which had been
torpedoed and sunk by U-96 on 21 February 1941. Disembarking the
rescued mariners on the 24th, Montgomery resumed her Western Approaches
patrols soon thereafter.
The flush-decker
underwent repairs at Barrow, Laneashire from April to September
and was later assigned to the 4 th Escort Group. Based now at
Greenock, Scotland, the destroyer operated between the British
Isles and Canadian ports through the end of 1941. On 13 January
1942, the Panamanian-registered steamer SS Friar Rock was torpedoed
and sunk by U-180 100 miles southeast of Cape Race' Newfoundland.
Four days later Montgomery picked up seven survivors from that
ship.
In February
1942, Montgomery came under the aegis of the Western Local Escort
Force at Halifax. Later in 1942, the destroyer was loaned to the
Royal Canadian Navy before she sailed south and underwent repairs
at the Charleston (S.C.) Navy Yard which lasted into the following
year 1943. Resuming her coastwise convoy escort operations in
February 1943, Montgomery rescued survivors of the torpedoed Manchester
Merchant sunk by U-628 on 25 February 1943, 390 miles off Cape
Race.
The destroyer
remained with the Western Local Escort Force into late 1943, operating
out of Halifax. On 12 December 1943, she assisted the Bowater-Lloyd
Paper Co. barge Spruce Lake and, on the 27th, departed Halifax
for the British Isles, carrying the surviving crew members from
the torpedoed British destroyer HMS Hurricane which had been sunk
by U-415 on Christmas Eve.
Arriving in
England soon thereafter, Montgomery was placed in reserve in the
Tyne River on 23 February 1944. Removed from the "effective
list" the British equivalent of the United States Navy's
"Navy list" the veteran flush-decker was subsequently
broken up for scrap in the spring of 1945 shortly before the end
of the war in Europe.
The second
Wickes (DD-578) was laid down on 15 April 1942 at Orange, Tex.,
by the Consolidated Steel Co.; launched on 13 September 1942;
sponsored by Miss Catherine Young Wickes, the great-great-grandniece
of Lambert Wickes; and commissioned on 16 June 1943, Lt. Comdr.
William Y. Allen, Jr., in command.
Departing New
Orleans on 13 July, Wickes sailed for Cuban waters and reached
Guantanamo Bay three days later. She conducted shakedown training
until 11 August, when she set sail for Charleston, S.C., where
she commenced her post shakedown availability.
Wickes then
trained into the autumn, ranging from Trinidad, in the British
West Indies to Casco Bay Maine, and from Norfolk, Va., to Argentia,
Newfoundland, from 1 September to 6 November. Between drills at
sea, the ship underwent brief periods of repair in the navy yards
at Boston and Norfolk.
On 6 November,
Wickes departed the Boston Navy Yard in company with the small
aircraft carrier Cabot (CVL-28) and sister destroyer Bell (DD-587)their
destination: the Canal Zone. Transiting the Panama Canal between
12 and 15 November, the destroyer reached San Diego, Calif., on
the 22d, but pushed on for the Hawaiian Islands and reached Pearl
Harbor on the 27th. Over the ensuing days, the destroyer exercised
in those local waters, conducting antisubmarine and antiaircraft
drills. On several occasions during this training, her routine
was interrupted by orders to rendezvous with and augment the screens
of various task groups returning from the operations which wrested
the Gilbert Islands from Japan.
Wickes in company
with sister ships Charles J. Badger (DD-657) and Isherwood (DO-520)
departed Pearl Harbor on 10 December 1943 and set a course for
the Aleutian Islands. Over the next few months Wickes operated
in the Aleutians. To her commanding officer and crew, the duties
performed seemed "uneventful," their "greatest
battles," he recalled were fought against the elements and
the "dreary monotony of Aleutian duty."
Such an enervating
routine was interrupted by three bombardments conducted by Task
Force (TF) 94 against the Kuril Islands, Paramushiro and Matsuwa.
The first raid hit Paramushiro on 4 February 1944 and marked the
first time that Wickes made contact with the enemy. She bombarded
Japanese targets in the town of Kurabuzaki on the southern tip
of the island.
Early in March,
Wickes in company with other units of TF 94 made another sweep
into Japan's backyard. On the lookout for Japanese shipping as
they steamed through the Sea of Okhotsk, the task force found
slim pickings before again shelling targets on Paramushiro on
4 March. Another bombardment was slated to take place there, but
unfavorable weather made it impossible.
Two months
later, Wickes' guns once more joined in a cannonade against Japanese
facilities on Paramushiro and at Matsuwa, on 26 May and 13 June,
respectively. Darkness and fog presented difficulties for the
American forces but did not constitute insurmountable difficulties.
On 2 August while TF 94 was again steaming to shell Matsuwa, Wickes
made visual contact with a "snooper," a Mitsubishi G4M
"Betty" bomber. On van picket station, the destroyer
opened fire on the intruder the ship's first antiaircraft action.
Unfortunately, the plane managed to escape and, together with
the worsening weather, nullified TF 94's chances of making an
undetected approach to Matsuwa. The bombardment was accordingly
canceled.
Wickes' tour
in one of the most difficult operating areas on the globe finally
ended when she "very happily" departed Adak, Alaska,
on 7 August, headed south in company with other units of Destroyer
Squadron (DesRon) 49. Reaching San Francisco on 16 August, Wickes
moored at Pier 36. There, she received minor repairs from the
facilities and workmen of the Matson Navigation Co., under the
eye of the Assistant Industrial Manager, Mare Island Navy Yard.
During the refit, the ship received a "dazzle" camouflage
pattern, designed to confuse observers as to the ship's heading
and speed.
Underway from
the west coast upon completion of repairs and alterations, Wickes
set a course for Pearl Harbor once more, in company with Kimberly
( DD521), Young (DD-580), and William D. Porter (DD579)other units
of DesRon 49. Reaching Hawaiian waters, Wickes spent the first
two weeks of September engaged in supporting landing rehearsals
at Lahaina Roads, Maui, "in preparation for forthcoming operations."
While in port between exercises at sea, Wickes received additional
radar gear while alongside Yosemite (AD-19), in preparation for
the ship's slated role as a fighter-director ship
Thus newly
outfitted, Wickes left Pearl Harbor on 15 September, as part of
Task Group (TG) 33.2, the group slated to hit the island of Yap.
Reaching Eniwetok, in the Marshalls, on the 25th, the destroyer
spent the next two days replenishing fuel and provisions. Resuming
her voyage on the 28th, Wickes reached Manus, in the Admiralties,
on 3 October. En route, the ship crossed the equator for the first
time.
However, changing
operational requirements resulted in the cancellation of the Yap
invasion. Wickes was thus reassigned to the 7th Fleet and earmarked
for participation in the assault on the island of Leyte. She remained
at Manus until 14 October, conducting general upkeep and engaging
in gunnery and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training.
Wickes with
a fighter-director team embarked departed the Admiralties on 14
October. As a screening unit of task group "Baker" TG
79.4 a transport group, the destroyer reached Leyte Gulf according
to plan, on D day, 20 October. She then proceeded to her assigned
radar picket station near the center of the gulf and assumed duties
as picket and fighter-director ship.
Over the next
four days, Wickes remained on that station as the invasion the
first step in the liberation of the Philippines unfolded. She
frequently saw Japanese aircraft particularly in the area where
the transports were congregated but none came within range of
her guns. She even made one good sound contact, on the 22d, and
dropped an 11-charge pattern but observed no positive results.
Wickes witnessed
the Battle of Surigao Strait from a faraway vantage point in the
pre-dawn darkness of 25 October. "It is no exaggeration,"
recorded her historian, "to state that this engagement was
exciting even from a distance." During the rest of her time
on station, Wickes' fighter-director team evaluated the air situation,
controlling the protecting combat air patrol (CAP) overhead on
the first two days of the landings, 20 and 21 October. During
the first afternoon, the Wickes-directed CAP splashed a "Zeke"
or "Zero" carrier-borne fighter.
Subsequently
clearing Leyte Gulf, Wickes served as screen commander for a 12
ship group of LST's headed for New Guinea. The group, Task Unit
(TU) 79.14.9, reached Hollandia, arriving without incident on
1 November. Wickes dropped anchor soon after her arrival and remained
there through the 4th.
Wickes subsequently
spent most of November in screening operations, escorting a transport
group during all phases of its replenishment run to Leyte. Transports
and cargo ships, TG 79.15, were screened to Noemfoor Island and
during the loading operations that ensued. She then escorted them
to Leyte, where they were unloaded on the 18th. She then escorted
the auxiliaries back to Seeadler Harbor, Manus, where she arrived
on the 25th.
Wickes departed
Manus on the 28th, bound for Torokina, Bougainville, in the Solomons
escorting the troopships of Transport Division 38. En route, she
touched at Finschhafen on the 29th during the division's stopover
to embark troops and reached Torokina on 1 December.
Wickes remained
at Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay, until the 15th, patrolling the
outskirts of that body of water in company with her sister ships
of DesRon 49 The next day, she began the return trip to the Admiralty
Islands but stopped in the Huon Gulf for a landing exercise to
prepare for her next slated operation. She finally reached Manus
on the 21st. The destroyer spent Christmas in port and replenished
her logistics requirements until the 27th.
Underway on
that day, Wickes proceeded to Luzon for the assault at Lingayen
On the approach run, the ship screening tractor groups "Able
and Baker" of TF 79 steamed with TU 79.11.3. Embarked was
a new fighter-director team taken on at Manus.
The northbound
run proved largely uneventful, except for what the ship's historian
called "a moderate amount of heckling" by enemy aircraft
day and night. Again, Wickes proved exceptionally adept at fighter
direction duties. Her team vectored CAP planes to oncoming enemy
planes, and they accordingly splashed four "Tojo" fighters
into the waters off Luzon on the morning of 8 January 1945
The ship herself
did not fire upon any enemy planes until reaching Lingayen Gulf
itself the following day, 9 January, when she fired at a pair
of attacking planes driving them off but not splashing them. That
same evening, Wickes departed the coast of Luzon with her charges,
screening the unloaded ships as they headed out of the battle
area.
About one-half
hour before sunrise on the morning of 10 January, a Japanese plane
a single-engined fighter pushed over in a dive and dropped a bomb
which exploded off the destroyer's starboard side, close aboard.
Fragments, scything through the air, wounded 15 sailors topside
and punctured the ship with a few small holes.
That brush
with the enemy, and the light damage inflicted by the attacker,
did not keep the ship off the "front lines," for she
was soon back in action again, operating on antisubmarine patrols
in Leyte Gulf during most of the time between 13 and 25 January.
On 26 January,
she sortied as part of TG 78.3 and took station as escort and
fighter-director ship for the passage of the task group through
the Mindanao and Sulu Seas, en route to Luzon, for landings on
the west coast in the vicinity of San Felipe, Zambales Province.
The landings themselves took place two days later, meeting no
opposition and calling for no bombardment. Friendly natives, happy
to see their liberators, came out in bancas and other craft to
greet the Americans warmly. On the 30th, Wickes stood in readiness
during another unopposed landing the one made at Grande Island,
in Subic Bay. For the next two weeks, the destroyer was based
on Subic Bay, operating in the waters off southwestern Luzon.
During that period, she made a short run to Mindoro and back,
escorting for convoys of landing craft each way.
Meanwhile,
preparations were being made for assaults on Bataan and Corregidor
the scene of the humiliating disasters for the United States and
her Filipino allies three years before. Minesweeping operations
commenced on 13 February. At sunset that day, Wickes joined her
sistership Young in supporting the thinly armored "sweepers"
off Manila Bay, retired with them that night, and returned with
them the next morning.
As the ships
worked their way into an area between Corregidor and Carabao Islands,
Japanese shore batteries emplaced on those islands and on Caballo
began to lob shells at the minecraft and their escorts. Wickes
teamed with Young to deliver vigorous counter-battery fire, knocking
out the pugnacious guns. Other destroyers and cruisers also participated
in the silencing of the enemy emplacements, but Wickes' historian
modestly recorded, "No claim is made by Wickes to have done
the job single-handed, but it is certain that this ship's gunfire
was accurate and effective, and contributed materially toward
the successful result and protection of the minesweepers who were
able to proceed with their task unmolested for the remainder of
the day." Nevertheless both Wickes and Young had some close
shaves, as the enemy landed some shells close aboard but fortunately
did not hit either ship.
On the morning
of the 15th, Wickes shelled Japanese positions in Mariveles Harbor,
just prior to the landings there. She then stood by to render
gunfire support for the troops as they went ashore. However, when
no opposition developed, the destroyer took up a patrol station,
on watch for submarines. Meanwhile, throughout the day, 7th-Fleet
destroyers and cruisers assisted by planes continued giving Corregidor
a pasting.
Between 0400
and daylight on the 16th, Wickes steamed in company with Picking
and Young, to intercept "suicide boats" that had penetrated
Mariveles Harbor. Many drifting mines revealed themselves with
the wash of dawn but no suiciders. Wickes destroyed one mine with
gunfire and was about to destroy others when minesweepers arrived
on the scene and relieved the destroyer of that duty.
Wickes then
proceeded to conduct another shore bombardment mission this time
against the beaches on Corregidor over which the assault was to
pass. Paratroops drifted down and landed on the top of the island
as part of the many faceted attack designed to destroy the enemy
units heavily entrenched there. When the troops commenced landing,
Japanese guns opened up from caves on the rocky island. Wickes
replied with counter-battery rounds against Corregidor and Caballo
Islands, maneuvering to keep Caballo covered for the remainder
of the day.
Late on the
afternoon of the 16th Wickes in company with Picking and Young
was detached from that duty. "By all standards," recounted
the ship's historian when reviewing the Philippine operations,
"this operation was the most interesting one the Wickes ever
took part in." It had afforded the ship the opportunity to
observe, closely, the activities of other units: paratroops, heavy
bombers, minesweepers, and ground troops alike. "All hands
felt that at last the Wickes had produced some results and definitely
accomplished something after months of more or less routine duties,"
"Fire from enemy shore batteries," he went on, "added
just the right amount of hazard and provided the first real test
of the ship under fire."
However, there
would be quite enough "hazard," in the ship's future
operations. Inexorably, the mighty American Navy bore down upon
the shores of Nippon itself. Yet every step that the American
armada took closer to the Japanese home islands increased the
intensity of the enemy's resistance.
For Wickes,
upon conclusion of her support of the Corregidor assaults, there
was a tender availability awaiting her in Leyte Gulf. After those
repairs, Wickes in company with Luce (DD-522) and Charles J. Badger
escorted the heavy cruisers Portland (CA-33) and Minneapolis (CA-36)
to Ulithi, in the Carolines departing Philippine waters on 2 March
and returning eight days later on the 10th.
Wickes participated
in the landing practices in Leyte Gulf for the next operation
on the American timetable, the assault on Okinawa Gunto. From
13 to 16 March the forces slated to take part in that thrust trained
and rehearsed for the upcoming event. Activities during those
days of training included duty in the tractor group "George"
screen TG 51.7 fire support drills, and ASW patrols around the
transport area all skills that would be very much needed.
After replenishing
fuel, ammunition, and provisions and receiving additional fighter-director
equipment, Wickes with a new fighter-director team embarked sortied
for Okinawa on 19 March with TG 51.7.
Upon her arrival
off Okinawa on the 26th, Wickes acted as a fire support vessel,
supporting the landings by scheduled bombardments on Yakabi Shima,
Kerama Retto; but there was no opposition on that island that
required additional naval gunfire. Commencing on 26 March and
continuing through 4 May, Wickes conducted regular radar-picket
and fighter-director duties on the various stations off Okinawa.
During that period, the CAP, vectored to the enemy by Lt. (jg.)
James R. Baumgartner, USNR, the senior fighter-director officer
embarked, engaged 42 enemy aircraft, destroyed eight, and damaged
four.
Late on the
afternoon of 22 April, the Wickes-directed CAP scored their most
signal success. On Radar Picket Station 14, about 70 miles northwest
of Okinawa, Wickes vectored Marine fighters from Yontan Field
to a large raid approaching from the northward. The flying Leathernecks
knocked down 26 Japanese planes, probably splashed another pair,
and damaged four.
After later
turning over her fighter-director team to Gainard (DD-706), on
4 May, Wickes alternated duty on the antiaircraft screen protecting
the transports off Hagushi beach with antisubmarine patrols. She
also supervised underway fueling operations for a day. She then
underwent a period of needed upkeep to have her boilers cleaned.
During the
51 days Wickes spent off Okinawa, she took enemy aircraft under
fire no less than 14 times, and was, four times, the object of
attention from kamikazes. Her gunners claimed five "kills"
from the suiciders' ranks, and one "probable." Two of
the downed enemy aircraft managed to crash close enough to send
pieces of themselves onto the ship's fantail fortunately doing
no damage. On one occasion, one of the kamikazes attempted to
torpedo the ship, but its "fish" also missed. In addition,
Wickes may have saved the hospital shin Relief (AH-1) from serious
damage when she deflected, with her gunfire, a suicider attempting
to crash into the ship-of-mercy.
Until 10 April,
Wickes patrolled her picket stations alone, without support. After
that time, a landing craft or another destroyer was always present.
Other incidental occurrences that came up during the ship's time
off the embattled isle of Okinawa included the rescue of five
men from a raft from the fast transport Dickerson (APD-21), fishing
out a crashed fighter pilot from the fleet carrier Bennington
(CV-20); and exploding a drifting mine with gunfire. Remarkably,
in contrast to some of her sisterships that suffered grievous
damage at the hands of the suicidal kamikaze, Wickes suffered
only three casualties: all wounded when a plane strafed the ship.
Wickes departed
the Okinawa area on 15 May, bound for Ulithi, while the campaign
continued on. She screened a convoy of auxiliaries and merchantmen
to the Western Carolines, reaching her destination on the 21st.
She then nested alongside the destroyer tender Prairie (AD-16)
and received a 10-day availability. The time spent there at the
sprawling, busy, advance base was, truly, "a welcome rest"
after the long hours of general quarters and alerts that were
part and parcel of duty off Okinawa. "Although all hands
had gained a great deal of confidence in our ability to handle
air attacks," wrote the ship's historian, "it was difficult,
after more than a month of picket duty, not to feel like fugitives
from the law of averages, as so many other ships had been hit."
Wickes her
availability alongside Prairie completed by early June departed
Ulithi on 7 June, escorting another slow convoy. Her destination
was again Okinawa. She safely reached there with her charges on
the 13th and took on board another fighter-director team. In company
with two or three supporting destroyers, Wickes then returned
to the picket lines. Most enemy air activity then took place nocturnally.
Her second
stay at Okinawa proved briefer than the first. The ship headed
for Saipan on the 23d of June with a slow convoy but with onward
routing approved to Pearl Harbor. Reaching Saipan on the 29th,
Wickes departed that same day, bound for the Hawaiian Islands
in company with Picking and Hall (DD-583).
Making port
at Pearl Harbor on 7 July, Wickes' time in Hawaiian waters proved
brief, for, on the 8th, she was bound "stateside," her
bow "very happily pointed" toward the Golden Gate. She
made the last leg of the voyage in company with her old companion
Picking, and two other ships, Sproston (DD-577) and Brackett (DE-41).
All ships arrived on the morning of 14 July and proceeded to the
Naval Ammunition Depot at Mare Island to unload ammunition. Upon
completion of that task, Wickes got underway for Hunters Point
tying up at pier side at sunset, with 47 days' availability ahead
of her.
Within a day
or two after arrival, DesRon 49 was dissolved; and Wickes was
reassigned to DesRon 58. The war in the Pacific, though, ended
before the destroyer completed her scheduled overhaul on 31 August
1945.
With the end
of the war, however, it soon became evident that with the massive
shipbuilding programs that had come along during hostilities there
was a surplus of ships for anticipated postwar needs. Along with
the decommissioning and scrapping of many of the older fleet units,
some of the newer ships were decommissioned and placed in reserve.
Wickes was
among the latter. Completing her overhaul by early September of
1945, the ship conducted refresher training exercises into the
autumn and winter. Her service career was growing short. She was
placed out of commission, in reserve, on 20 December 1945. She
never returned to active duty, even during the Korean War when
many of her sister ships were pulled out of mothballs and recommissioned.
Struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1972, her hulk was later
expended in ordnance tests.
ウィックス.
Down
Illustrated by
RN.
