Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

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At 0955 she ceased fire and our troops started their push five minutes lat- er, eventually taking possession of the whole peninsula and its valuable airstrip. The ship fired on pillboxes and other targets throughout the day, joining the transport screen at sunset. The crew did not have a long respite from general quarters, for at 0345 on 25 July a sound contact was made that was soon evaluated as a submarine. At 0420 a full pattern attack was made, followed by three reattacks. After the last charges went off an underwater explosion was heard, with traces of oil and debris appearing on the surface. Contact was not regained, and the area was turned over to another ship of the screen when at 0730 the DASHIELL was ordered back to her fire support area. Owing to the successful advance of our troops call fire was not required that day, and at sunset the ship resumed her patrol duties. After fueling next morning she rendezvoused with a task unit of transports and escorts bound for Eniwetok. On 30 July the unit entered Eniwetok lagoon. S 77czcd,4dc0 cmd -4 1 The DASHIELL remained only a day at Eniwetok, getting underway the 31st to leave the Marshalls and the Central Pacific in company with trans- ports and other escorts. On 3 August Neptunus Rex put in his third ap- pearance aboard the DASHIELL to initiate another consignment of polly- wogs to the mysteries of his aquatic realm. The unit put into port at Esp- iritu Santo on the afternoon of 6 August, the 6659,, receiving tender availability. Espiritu was more commodious than most of the bases encountered. The pre-war sight of a large plantation, its ordered rows of palms were pleasing to the eye. There were adequate recreation facilities for naval personnel in addition to the Red Cross units established for servicemen. Overlooking Segond Channel was a small, neatly kept French missionary settlement whose peaceful environs afforded momentary escape from the turnult of military life. On two nights during the DASHIELUS stay there was the added attraction of a Bob Hope show. Oblivious to the ele- ments, thousands of sailors, soldiers, and marines stood in the rain and deep mud to hear the comedian and gape at the appealingly dressed girls who accompanied him. For DASHIELL men it was welcome reassurance that somewhere female beauty still thrived. 4, :A Y. 5 4 5' -I 4' 1, ii 'V diff ,. , sa, ,- , g, ...Hits- 4, 5,1 if V v , Hifi its ,gt f ..:.e 'fQ:, 1.f , a fiuf' X ff V ,gif ,,,.v,. V - . T11 7 -2 42 11:5-'mfs g ' M' iw: '

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K columns of four ships with the destroyers and minesweepers as an anti- submarine screen and two CV'E's operating astern in a carrier area. At daybreak of 21 July the coast of Guam was sighted. Simultaneously with 53.2's landing of troops, the northern group landed on the other side of Orote Peninsula. The DASHIELL was desig- nated to form a fire support unit with the U. S. S. Murray. At 0400 the ship went to general quarters, commencing prearranged fires on targets below Agat two hours later. For ten minutes before the first landing wave at 0836 the rate of fire was increased from one salvo every two or three minutes to 10 rounds per gun per minute. The umbrella of naval gunfire was largely responsible for the success of the landings. The DASHIELL continued tiring in her assigned area throughout the morn- ing. At 1100 she neutralized Japanese mortar positions on the slope of Mt. Alafan. Soon thereafter contact was established with the shore fire control party, and during the afternoon various enemy strongpoints in the line of advance were neutralized. Most of the firing was conducted at a range of 5000 to 8000 yards from the beach. The only casualty re- ported was a small fire on the forecastle caused by burning cork which was quickly extinguished. That night the DASHIELL was assigned to the transport screen. At 0700 next morning the ship was back in her fire support area. She delivered effective call fires against enemy artillery, tanks, emplace- ments, and other targets until 1600, at which time she replenishd her dwindling ammunition supply from an LST. Upon return to the area she delivered more salvos, then furnished starshell illumination till 0200. In the morning the 2659 proceeded to F acpi Point for a fire mission. She returned to her assigned area at 1600, having liquidated numerous Japanese troops and tanks. During the night 23-24 July she furnished illumination and harassing fire in the Mt. Alafan area. At 0800 next morning the DASHIELL'S second change of com- mand took place under the dramatic circumstances of action against the enemy Lieutenant Commander Barham, now assigned to a shore sta tion after nine years of active sea duty was relieved by Commander D L Cordlner, who had come aboard at Emwetok All this time the DASHIELL S men had been closely following the reports of our advancing front lines By the morning of the 24th the north ern and southern troops had joined and were closing 1n on the mam body of the enemy trapped on Orote Peninsula The DASHIELL now took under fire a specific enemy strongpomt that was holding up the advance f , . . I I 0 Q . , . , fl A ' 0 0 ., , W 9 0 ' Q , I . . , 0 I U . . Q . . O O I 0 O ' a I 0 O . . ., if . , . , . , . an 1 QI, g 3 X' n . v Q g,12g.Lg A 2 15 J . 5 , 'S fr aims: .

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1? fm. Q1 iv. n 1 VS . X... .. Q ii:.1-f .I vs .. -. .- -ape -vs., H. . M 5554 ' M1 193 ,-+1 M fs: ' At 0840 on 14 August the DASHIELL was underway again with two other destroyers and six transports, bound north for the Solomons. 48 hours later the escorts were detached oH Guadalcanal and proceeded to Purvis Bay. On the morning of 17 August the DASHIELL stood out of Purvis, headed this time for Humboldt Bay, Dutch New Guinea, in company with the U. S. S. Stevens. Hollandia, in whose occupation the 659 had participated only four months before, was now firmly estab- lished as an American supply base, and already other New Guinea bases to the westward had been wrested from the Japanese. The two destroyers reached Humboldt at 0730 on the 21st, the DASHIELL reporting for duty to the Commander Seventh Amphibious Force. Hollandia had been transformed since April. Men who went ashore saw scenes comparable to pioneer days in America. Everywhere the un- tiring C. B.'s and Army Engineers were working miracles in the midst of a primeval forest. A rough pathway leading inland through hills and wilderness to the airstrip had taken the Japanese many hours to travel. This was now a two-lane thoroughfare, as busy as any highway at home, over which the trip could be made in less than an hour. DASHIELL men who traveled it were amazed at the buildings and camps sprung up from' nowhere that housed tens of thousands of troops. Stories of the occupation were legion: - - of the starved enemy who sneaked out of the woods into our chow lines, of the American troops who subsisted on K rations and Japanese cigarettes, of the Japanese who waited to see the end of an American movie from his place of concealment before giving himself up. Souvenir hunting reached its zenith. The DASHIELL's crew had to comb already well searched areas or buy at substantial prices from C. B.'s and soldiers. However they managed to bring back to the ship Japanese cigarettes, uniforms, flags, post cards, airplane parts, pay records, candy, and invasion currency as well as native spears and boat models. The DASHIELL was at anchor till noon of the 27th, when she pro- ceeded to Alexishafen, British New Guinea, to pick up an LST that she escorted to Manus Island. At Manus she took on fuel and supplies and was underway at 1630 on 30 August. Enroute back to Humbolt she suc- cessfully conducted a full power run and arrived on the 31st. During the next two weeks the ship made three sorties from Humbolt Bay for training purposes. At 1630 on 13 September the DASHIELL got underway for her r'- 6 f ig? . 1 ' g ' F954 ii-Y stew' V 1 ug. 1 111't.f. . f , -:if ,