Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 22 text:

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-

Page 21 text:

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-

Page 23 text:

iaisfie 0 tions approximated those of the group's support area in the coming op- eration. Sectors and reference points made up for Cape Esperance co- incided with those which would be used for Orote Peninsula and the ad- jacent shore area on the west coast of Guam. The 3659 returned to Purvis by dark and was at anchor till 24 May, proceeding then to join a transport screen off Tassafaronga, Guadalcan- al. That night shenbecame part of a cruising disposition that proceeded to Esperance, where early the next morning a simulated amphibious land- ing by two combat teams took place. Service ammunition, bombs and rockets were employed under cover of naval gunfire and air support. The strong force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers participating was essentially that which would see action at Guam. The DASHIELL returned to Tulagi on the 25th. Rehearsals completed, all ships were well acquainted with their assignments and ready for the real test. During the next ten days while she was waiting to set out for the Central Pacihc area the DASHIELL was either in Purvis Bay or screening transports off Tassafaronga. At 0930 on 4 June she formed with a large task group of transports, cruis- ers, destroyers, and smaller ships. A carrier support unit joined later. The group was enroute to the spacious anchorage at recently taken Kwa- jalein Atoll in the Marshall group, from where a large part of the Mari- anas attack would be launched. The ships arrived and anchored at Kwajalein the afternoon of the 8th, Next morning the Captain assembled all hands on the forecastle to announce the purpose and details of the operation. News of the forth- coming attack on the strongly garrisoned Mariannas-the first reconquest of American territory-had an uplifting effect. As a dramatic climax the skipper s talk was cut short by an air raid alert that sent all hands to their battle stations. No enemy planes, however, came over the atoll. The DASHIELL remained at anchor till the morning of the llth, when she was given patrol duty outside the channel entrance. Next day at 1000 she formed up with Task Group 53.2, which had gotten under- way for the Marianas. This group was part of a powerful joint expeditionary force that was to capture, occupy, and defend Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. The enemy was strengthening these bases as a barrier to our advance to the West- ern Pacific. The expeditionary force was to develop airfields on the three islands and gain control of the remaining Marianas so as to oper- f --