Jenkins (DDE 447) - Naval Cruise Book

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??afe fe ;5 y ■Z 777? - j jj gj ? ' ' ' COMBAT OPERATIONS JENKINS first entered combat in November 1942, in support of the Allied landings at Casa- blanca. Following this action she was assigned to the Pacific Fleet in which she served out the rest of World War II. During the Solomons Islands Campaign in mid-1943, the ship is credited with having shot down three enemy aircraft and having scored at least one torpedo hit in a Japanese combatant surface ship. Later in company with the destroyers NICHOLAS, O ' BANNON, TAYLOR, and RADFORD, she assisted in the sinking of the light cruiser JINTSU by torpedo and gun fire. During the next eighteen months, JENKINS participated actively in shore bombardment missions, anti-submarine patrols, and in radar picket, convoy escort, and fighter director duties. During this period JENKINS joined a search for a downed pilot. Arriving 48 hours after the search had been in progress she picked up the pilot in good condition. Later JENKINS picked up the emergency call of a friendly bomber who was damaged, losing altitude, and lost. The ship vectored the plane in for an emergency landing on an uncompleted fighter strip, the first landing made on that field. JENKINS shot down a Japanese zero during the battle of Surigao Strait and sustained damage herself from a shore battery hit at Lingayen Gulf which killed six men and wounded seven more. In January 1945, as part of a Hunter-Killer group she assisted in the kill of an enemy submarine. A few months later she struck a mine which put her out of action for the remainder of the war. In 1947 JENKINS was placed out of commission, in reser ' e, as part of the U.S. Pacific Reserve Fleet, but was recommissioned as a DDE in 1951 incident to the Korean conflict. She participated in Korean and Formosan Patrols and did some shore bombardment in support of U.N. troops during the Korean hostilities. She returned to Pearl Harbor in 1952 where she has been homeported ever since.

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; : yy7? - r THK SHIPS NAMK On ' H November 1911, the keel was laid for the start of construction of the USS JKNKINS by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dr dock Co. at Kearny. New Jersey. The ship is named in honor of Rear Admiral Thornton A. JENKINS. Admiral JENKINS began his career as a midshipman in % ' SS . He ser%ed in many ships including coast sur ' ey duty where he became interested in the problems of navigation. In 1852 he was made Secretary to the Light-house Board. Early during the Civil War he commanded a variety of ships and was appointed a Fleet Captain and Chief of Staff of Farragul s Fleet. He also had command of a division in the Mobile blockade and took part in all operations in the Battle of Mobile Bay. He became Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in 1865 after having researched and written many outstanding government publications on the problems and procedures of Naval Navigation. In 1870 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral and placed in command of the Asiatic station. He retired in 187. ' J and was President of the L ' .S. Naval Institute from 188H to 1885. He died in 1893 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetary. THE SHIP Originally commissioned m .U July 194L ' , JENKINS earned Battle stars in both the Atlantic and Pacific theatres of war for [wrticipating in actions at Algeria. Morocco, Casablanca. Solomon Islands. Battle of Guadalcanal. New Georgia Group Operations. Gilbert Islands. Marshall Islands. Hollandia Operations. Western New Guinea Operations. Leyte. Luzon, Borneo, and Manila Bay Operations. i v i i ; g ;?s i2

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CAPTAIN D.J. GARRISON Commander Destroyer Division 253 CDR Williom R. KURTZ was born in Grond View, Idoho in 1921, ond graduated from Greeley High School, Greeley, Colorodo in 1938. That same year he entered the U.S. Naval Academy and groduoted in December 1941 in the Class of 1942. His first lour of doty was in USS PHELPS (DD.360). In 1944 he entered the Naval Postgraduate School as o stud- ent in Ordnonce Engineering (Electronics) ond received o Master of Science degree from the Mossochusetts Institute of Technology in 1947. After serving in USS lOV A (BB-61) OS Assistant Gunnery Officer, he was ordered to USS DULUTH (CL.87) as Gunnery Officer. Upon inoctivotion of DULUTH in 1949 CDR KURTZ was ordered to the Bureau of Ordnance for duty in the Guided Missile Branch of the Moteriol Division. This was followed by a tour of duty in Germany on the staff of Commonder Naval Forces Germany. After sea duty in USS MISSOURI IBB-63) as Gun- nery Officer, he was ordered as Commending Officer, USS HIGBEE (DDR-8061 in 1955. A oneyear tour at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Hunstville, Alabama was followed by two yeors in the Special Projects Office, Bureou of Ordnance, working on the develop- ment of the POLARIS missile. In August 1959 he took command of USS JENKINS (DDE-4471. Coploin Daniel J. Corrison was born in Camden, South Corolino on January 20, 1917. He attended Camden High School, Morion Militory Acodemy, U.S. Naval Academy ( Class of 1939) and Stanford Univer- sity ; receiving a BS and o MS degree from the let- ter two institutions respectively. His first tour of duty was with the USS TRENTON, followed by on Asslstonl Gunnery Officer billet on the USS BILOXI in 1943; Gunnery Officer on the USS PITTSBURGH in 1944 and USS YORKTOWN in 1945; Navigator on the USS MANCHESTER in 1947 Then followed o sequence of shore ossignments, interspersed with assignments as Commanding Officer of the USS OBANNON in 1951 and the USS WILKIN- SON in 1955. In August of 1959, he assumed his present duties as Commander Destroyer Division 253. Coptoin Corrison is a holder of the Vt orld War II Bronze Star with Combot V, the Presidential Unit Citation, USS YORKTOWN, and the Koreon Bronze Star USS OBANNON. His campaign and service medals include the American Defense Stor, Ihe Ameri- can Theater Ribbon, the Pacific Theater with six stars, the World War II Victory Medol, the UN Rib- bon and the Korean Presidential Unit Citation. COMMANDER W.R. KURTZ Commanding Officer