Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

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.pg who reputedly swallowed their uppers as a result of the ship's accentu- ated vibration. When the ship went into drydock the afternoon of the third, Tara- wa was almost forgotten in the excitement of predicting the possible se- quel to the DASHIELUS grounding. The ship was docked for twenty- four hours and then shifted berths. On the morning of 5 December she was underway again conducting speed trials to determine the condition of the hull and engineering plant. During that afternoon and the fol- lowing day hopes, rumors, and speculations ran riot. On 7 December, the second anniversary of our entry into the war, the decision became known, and at 1415 the DASHIELL got underway to join a four-ship convoy bound for San Francisco, U. S. A. On the night of 14-15 De- cember she stood into the wintry mists of San Francisco Bay. The great bridge towering into the night, the clustered lights of the city, and the biting air were a moving welcome to the men of the DASHIELL. The ship was in port only twenty-four hours, which was time enough for most of the crew to become initiated to the enticements of the Golden Gate City. Then orders were received to proceed to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington. The 659 got underway at 1000 on the 16th, arriving at her new destination in the afternoon of 18 De- cember. The fog, snow, and cold of Puget Sound were a far cry from Honolulu and Efate. ' From 19 December 1943 till 23 January 194-4 the DASHIELL was drydocked at Bremerton undergoing extensive repairs and alterations, all hands receiving hard-earned but far-too-brief leaves. The weeks at Bremerton provided a host of memories: daybreak viewed wearily through the stale cigarette smoke of the Seattle ferry, the nocturnal clat- ter of welders, chippers, and riveters which precluded sleep, night spots where ice and mixers were sold to bottle-laden customers. With the startled employees of Seattle's imposing Olympic Hotel the unpredicta- ble exploits of DASHIELL men became legendary. On 9 January an event of importance took place when the Captain, Commander J. B. McLean, was assigned command of a destroyer divi- sion and t11rned over the ship to his Executive Officer, Lieutenant Com- mander E. A. Barham. The DASHIELIIS stay in Puget Sound hardly constituted a vaca- tion for her company. Work and supervision connected with her over- haul demanded the constant attention of many hands. Then the wor- Destroyer Homeward Bound,

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her from stem to sternpost, the USS DASHIELL grounded in a patch of coral pinnacles and sand 300 by 150 yards in area. Fuel and salt water ballast were jettisoned, and at 1302, forty-fiveminutes after high water, the ship was floated and pulled clear by her own motor whale- boats. At least the chart could be made a little more informative now. As a result of damage sustained to the screws, vibration became ex- cessive at speeds over fourteen knots. In addition the sound gear and Pit log were rendered inoperative, and a six-inch slit was opened in the bottom shell plating. The crew took the casualty in their stride, though, and were eager for another opportunity to hurl more steel at Japanese still opposing the unrelenting advance of our Marines. This chance was afforded at noon the next day when the 'G659,' was ordered back into the lagoon to deliver call fires till sunset. She resumed firing at 0600 the fol- lowing morning and maintained an active battery until our troops final- ly reached the end of the island at 1300. During the occupation of Tarawa naval bombardment was an in- dispensable element of the troops' successful progress. Centers of de- termined enemy resistance, often inaccessible to air strikes, could be silenced by the concentrated fire power of the Navy's mobile artillery. On occasion, when a Japanese gun position had thus been rendered in- active, it would fall the lot of a C. B. bulldozer to inhume the recalcit- rant defenders in their self-made graves. The DASHIELUS contribution to the success of the Tarawa action was a credit to her name. In addition to prearranged and call fires, she accounted for five to seven shore batteries, several active pill boxes, num- erous congregations of the enemy, and an ammunition dump. The crew, who had eaten and slept on station during most of the operation, dis- played a coolness and coordination of effort worthy of veteran campaign- ers. And indeed, as the U. S. S. DASHIELL proceeded from Tarawa lagoon at 1600 on 23 November and set her course once again for Pearl, her men and officers could truly call themselves veterans. Enroute to Pearl Harbor the 4'659 ' and other destroyers were screening the U. S. S. Mississippi and a number of transports. The big ships' crews would have been a shade less complacent, perhaps, had they known that one of the trim destroyers in which they reposed so much confidence could make no more than fourteen knots and had inoperative submarine-detecting equipment. But on 3 December the voyage end- ed at Pearl without incident, possibly excepting certain crew members 5

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