Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

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the second reinforcement group for the Dutch New Guinea landings. The route taken, via Manus Island in the Admiralties, wassdesigned as a feint. Meanwhile all three landings had been carried out as sched- uled and had met little resistance from the startled enemy. In the even- ing of the 23rd, however, a Japanese air attack destroyed supplies freshly landed at Hollandia in the Humbolt Bay area. That night the destina- tion of the DASHIELL's unit was changed from Tanahmerah, where things were going smoothly, to Hollandia. At 0430 the escort ships form- ed an anti-submarine screen while the convoy landed its troops and sup- plies. There was no opposition, although that evening ten or twelve planes approached the disposition and dropped flares, one approaching within ten miles. Fire was withheld since the planes did not attack. At 0430 on the 25th the DASHIELL received orders to proceed west to her original objective, Tanahmerah. She arrived two hours later and took aboard a naval liaison officer preparatory to lending gunfire sup- port. It was then found that the ship's aid was not required and she re- turned to Hollandia the same afternoon. At 2300 the DASHIELL and the Sigsbee escorted a convoy of seven LST's out of Humbolt Bay bound for Cape Cretin, British New Guinea. The convoy was dissolved at Cretin on the morning of 28 April, the '6659 proceeding to Morobe Bay, British New Guinea, where she moored alongside a tender the same day. The brilliantly conceived strike to the west in which the DASHIELL had 'just participated was executed almost without casualty. ln months to come the ship's company would witness first hand the strategic im- portance of the newly won bases and especially of Humbolt Bay. The oHensive strength which the DASHIELL had helped test on her early raids was now being carried with crushing success into the realm of the enemy. Morobe Bay was by no means a metropolitan community. Proof of her uncivilized character was the sketchy lean-to hemmed in by the jungle, that was made to serve as the ubiquitous officers' club. None- theless the men did find some diversion in spying through the range- finder on female natives who were clad in conformance with the warmth of the climate. This was of course a mere outcropping of anthropolo- gical curiosity. On 1 May the ship was underway for Cape Sudest to escort a mer- chant ship on the return trip to Cretin. She anchored once more off Sudest shortly after midnight on the 4th. Then at 1845 on 7 May the DASHIELL headed east with six of her squadron and six transports. 1'5-

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The afternoon of 30 March saw the 6659 once again underway bound with two other destroyers for Espiritu Santo, the most prominent of the New Hebrides group. After a one night stand at Espiritu to load ammunition and take on fuel in a driving tropical thunderstorm, the ship set out with another destroyer on 1 April to screen a Seaplane tender and a merchantman on the way to Guadalcanal. The convoy arrived oH Lunga Point on the forenoon of the 3rd, and both destroyers got under- way the same day with three merchantmen, hound this time for Milne Bay at the eastern tip of British New Guinea. The bays and mountains of New Guinea's north coast were destined to become familiar sights to the eyes of the DASHIELIYS crew. The convoy reached Milne Bay the afternoon of 7 April. Next morning the DASHIELL got underway with her squadron for Oro Bay off Buna, British New Guinea, and arrived the following afternoon. The 2659 was now assigned to the Seventh Fleet as a part of Rear Ad- miral Barbeyis amphibious Task Force 77. This force was playing a role of prominence in the rapidly mounting Southwest Pacific oiensive. Her next operation impending, the DASHIELL remained anchored in Oro Bay for a week and a half. The men found their main diversion in swimming and nightly movies as there was little chance to visit the beach. It was about tl1is time that they became acutely aware of the various fungus infections native to the South Pacific and known afec- tionately as the dry rot . The resulting discomfort, though nothing serious, was one of several factors that shattered many illusions about a carefree and idyllic way of life in the South Seas. D-day for the operation coming up was 22 April. The plan was a daring one. Our forces were to seize and occupy Aitape in British New Guinea and, further up the line, the adjacent Humbolt and Tanahmerah Bay areas of Dutch New Guinea. The goal was to establish minor air and naval facilities at Aitape, and in British New Guinea a major air base, minor naval base, and intermediate supply base for supporting further operations to the west. In the process important Japanese gar- risons to the eastward would be bypassed and isolated. The three attack groups, composed of destroyers, and amphibious craft, were to be supported by a carrier force of CVE's and destroyers and by two covering forces of cruisers and destroyers. Reinforcement units were to follow each attack group and be made up similarly. At 2100 on the night of 19 April the DASHIELL got underway with

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She was leaving New Guinea for a while to embark on an operation that would acquaint her -with many more of the Pacific's far flung isles. 2ez'a.6ea The convoy's destination was Tulagi, which was to be the DASHIELIIS operational base for the coming training exercises. On the morning of 10 May the ship moored in Purvis Bay. Reassigned to Task Force 53 of the Fifth Fleet, she got underway on the 12th to escort two LCI's to Hat- horn Sound, New Georgia. Twenty-four hours after arrival the DASH- IELL stood out for exercises with cruisers and other destroyers. For four days they engaged in practice shore bombardments of Kolombangara and Gatuki Islands, returning at night to I-Iathorn. Actually the exercises might have been called rehearsals for the dress rehearsal. An occasion- al glimpse of some Japanese ship's hull rusting along the shore gave evidence of the fighting this area had seen and perhaps caused the war- ships to pursue their training with heightened determination. The DASHIELL returned to Purvis the afternoon of the 17th. At Tulagi the men got their first real shore liberty since Efate. Facil- ities offered by tl1e little tropical island were sharply limited, but there were at least beer, ice cream, and the chance to play softball for those who could endure the scorching South Seas sun. One could also get a few souvenirs: colorful shells, cateyes, and native mats and carvings. It was soon discovered that the aborigines were indifferent to the poten- tialities of the American dollar and that it took a large cash outlay to equal the purchasing power of a few cigarettes, a bit of cloth, or enough perox- ide to transfigure an unruly shock of coal-black hair. The soft-colored cateyes picked up 011 beaches achieved instant popularity as stones for the finely machined and polished rings which were put into mass pro- duction aboard ship. i The natives encountered at Purvis Bay were from a missionary settlement that, since the coming of the Navy, had coexisted with the naval base. Their community life was clean, well ordered, and reason- ably pious. Although not typical Solomon Islands natives, they were never-the-less more representative than the G. I. elements of their dress might have suggested. On the morning of 20 May the DASHIELL was underway with Task Group 53.5 to conduct fire support practice in the Cape Esperance area of Guadalcanal. This locality had been chosen because its conforma-