Marshall (DD 676) - Naval Cruise Book

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U.S.S. MARSHALL QDD 6761 U.S. S. MARSHALL QDD 6765, named for the late Lieutenant Commander Thomas Worth Marshall jr. , was built by the Federal Ship Building Company at Kearney, New jersey. She is a Fletcher class destroyer, 376 feet long, 39 feet abeam , and has a displacement of 2100 tons. She was commissioned 15 October, 1943, at U.S. Naval Shipyard, New York, and proceeded immediately for her shakedown cruise to Bermuda, and what was to prove to be an illustrious career. Her shakedown cruise was interrupted when she received orders to rendezvous with the U.S. S. IOWA in the Atlantic and escort President Roosevelt back from his historic Big Three conferences at Casablanca. In january, 1944, MARSHALL departed New York for duty in the Pacific, Her first assign- ment was with the famed Task Force 58, and for the next 14 months struck telling blows against the japanese Empire. As a unit of this Fast Carrier Task Force's screen, MARSHALL partici- pated in strikes against Wake, Hollandia, and numerous other islands. She helped write Naval history in battles such as the Philippine Sea , Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. While support- ing the Palau landings , she joined the Navy elite by capturing 44 japanese prisoner-survivors from the japanese cruiser Nateri, which was sunk by a U. S. Submarine. In june, 1945, she returned to the states, after traveling more than 175,000 miles at an average speed of 17 knots. She had participated in 30 engagements and eight star campaigns, she had rescued 21 allied airmen, captured 44 japanese prisoners, and aided in downing five enemy planes. In january, 1946, the mighty M retired and joined the moth ball Fleet at San Diego, 7 , California. It was not long, however, before it was necessary for her to re-enlist in the fighting Navy. In April, 1951, with the outbreak of the Korean War, MARSHALL was shaking the moth- balls out. In August, 1951, she joined Task Force 77, and began screening for the big carriers as they delt crippling blows at the Communist forces in Korea. After her initial duty in the new Pacific war zone, she patrolled the Formosa straits. Then in November, 1951, she returned to Korean waters as a unit of the United Nations Blockade and Escort Force. In two months she pumped more than 7,000 shells into red shore installments, inflicting an estimated 600 casualties and considerable destruction. Finally in March, 1952, eight and one half years after first being commissioned, MARSHALL returned to San Diego to undergo her first complete overhaul. After seven months in the states , she renewed operations with Task Force 77, as a member of Destroyer Division 171, again striking against Communist Forces. In November, 1952, MARSHALL joined Task Force 95 in the bombardment of Wonsan Harbor, and was on Formosa Patrol when President Eisenhower withdrew the Seventh Fleet from the area. Since that time, MARSHALL has had a peacetime training and operating schedule. Each year she has spent approximately six months in San Diego and the nearby operating areas , and six months overseas. I When making Western Pacific cruises, MARSHALL usually makes the ports of Pearl Harbor, Midway Island, Sasebo and Yokosuka, japan, Subic Bay, Philippine Islands , Guam , Okinawa, and Hong Kong. 3