Dashiell (DD 659) - Naval Cruise Book

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.J-5 American and Australian ships of nearly every type, was an arresting sight. Yet this was only a part of the naval forces involved. On the night of 19-20 October the forces passed through Surigao Strait. Task Group 78.3 effected its rendezvous and proceeded in the early morning south to Panaon. At'0720 the formation was attacked by a Japanese fighter that narrowly missed one of the LCI's with a bomb. The DASHIELL had her battery masked at the time and could not open fire. At 0825 the ship took her fire support station and commenced inves- tigating the southern point of Leyte. The troop landing being unopposed, there was no call for naval gunfire support. Soon afterwards the DASH- IELL took a new station to furnish anti-aircraft support for the group. At sunset some Japanese planes, possibly three in number, succes- sively approached the formation. Gathering darkness made identification as to type and number difficult. All aircraft were driven oif by gunfire from the DASHIELL and the other ships. At 1900 the task group left the area, proceeding for Surigao Strait. Reconquest of tl1e Philippines was of course one of the major goals of the Pacific strategy. Hence the crew had looked forward to the expedi- tion with keen anticipation. Loyal Filipinos had likewise awaited it. When Task Group 78.3 arrived off Panaon it was greeted by numbers of enthusi- astic natives who aswarmed out to visit each ship in tiny crafts of every description. Such gay cries of welcome as HO. K. Joelw and '4You hunt 'em .lappolw were answered boisterously by the DASHIELUS crew. Wo- men accompanying the natives were a principal object of interest. In the evening when attention was directed to an approaching enemy plane a peace-loving gunner remarked, HTO hell with the plane! There's a female on the other sidew. As events showed, however, even a local belle could not distract him from his target. On 23 Uctober while enroute back to Hollandia the DASHIELL made a submarine contact and attacked immediately. Oil traces and air bubbles were observed soon after. The group commander told her to stay with the contact till sunset and request a hunter-killer group. Con- tact was retained throughout the afternoon, five more attacks being made. Further oil traces were observed. At 204-5 the DASHIELL, her depth charges expended, was relieved by the U. S. S. Schroeder. She proceeded to rejoin her formation and arrived in Humbolt Bay on the 25th. At Hollandia, the ship was granted much needed tender availability before she again left port on the afternoon of 3 November with a Central

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Mg, 1 iw! 2.431 , liz 4-M. 'I' rx 'fit , yi . ' it' T . 11, .if ff . P'-'FII 1 A I ig:-5'?if1e'. . - .Sf 'iv a ssi, 1 '28, .kQ2'y'1 'fs A. Q A? , ' f ,b?:1.'!iAE1L. , , . asm' s ' attacks were made, as it was believed friendlyg this was confirmed in the morning. The ship anchored in Humbolt at noon of the 5th. Now that the offensive had been successfully carried west to the Dutch Indies, the strategists could turn their eyes toward the Philippines. In preparation for future operations the DASHIELL conducted ex- ercises with PT boats, in company with ships of her division, on the afternoon of 8 October, with simulated torpedo attacks taking place that night. On 10 October the DASHIELL stood out to rehearse a landing op- eration for the invasion of the Philippines, which was to take place later that same month. The rehearsal took place at Tanahmerah Bay, already familiar to the DASHIELL. Upon arrival the 'G659 took station in her assigned fire support station while the transports conducted a practice landing. The group returned to Hurnbolt late in the afternoon. The scope of the coming operation was comparable to that of some of the most ambitious invasions of the war. The attack force was to trans- port, protect, land, and support elements of the Sixth Army for the pur- pose of assisting in the occupation and development of the Leyte Gulf area in the Philippines. D-Day was to be 20 October. On D minus 3 Rang- er units would land on Homonhon and Dinagat Islands to seize control of the harbor entrance. Then on D-Day there were to be simultaneous landings. The northern attack force, Task Force 78, would land in the San Ricardo - Palo area of Leyte, while the southern one, Task Force 79, would land in the Dulag area. The landings were to be assisted by bombardment, fire support, minesweeping, close covering and escort car- rier groups and followed up by reinforcement groups. The group with which the DASHIELL had rehearsed fTask Group 78.31 was an element of the northern attack force called the Panaon Attack Group. It was to land assault forces in the area of a 200 yard wide strait separating the southern tip of Leyte from Panaon Island. Control of this strait was essential to prevent the Japanese movements against our shipping and to afford a passage for our own forces in subsequent operations. On the afternoon of 13 October the DASHIELL was underway with ships of Task Force 78 bound for the Philippine Islands. It was signifi- cant that the invading forces were all operating from bases acquired from the .Iapanese during the past year. The entire Task Force rendezvoused on the 15thg the resulting disposition, formed by scores and scores of 75'

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Philippines resupply group. A stopover was made in Maiiin Bay, Dutch New Guinea, from the 4th to the 6th, and for two days the crew made use of Army facilities for beer and soft ball parties. Boat crews had to be carefully instructed as to which side of an important little fence their liberty parties were to be deposited on, for it was assumed that the ball players did not want to take a busman's holiday and challenge a nine from Yokahama. At night it was strange to see the Army's projectiles screech by overhead enroute to nearby Japanese encampments, but the DASHIELL merely posted a double sentry watch and went on with her movies. The task group entered Leyte Gulf the early morning of the 12th. By the time it reached San Pedro Bay an LST in the formation had al- ready shot down an enemy plane. At noon the DASHIELL went along- side a tanker to fuel. The proceedings were brusquely interrupted when nearby firing called attention to 3 low-flying Japanese planes. So sudden was the attack that the ship's alert machine-gun battery disposed of one plane which had strafed the fueling group before the main battery could be brought to bear. Two nearby ships fared less well, however, for a lib- erty ship and an LST were crashed by the second and third planes. It came as something of a shock when the DASHIELL's crew realized that the enemy pilots were intentionally using their planes for double duty as aircraft and projectile. It was good that the men accepted the Divine VWinds with defiance, for the unfortunate tendency of Japanese airmen to use U. S. destroyers in lieu of the conventional airstrip was in the fu- ture months to be held more and more emphatically to their notice. On being attacked the 3659 got underway immediately to patrol the bay, returning to anchor for the night. Next day she got underway with two other destroyers to meet another resupply echelon and reinforce it during the last stage of its trip to Leyte. The first night out a Japanese bomber made several passes over the formation. It was not taken under fire and the plane, having no point of aim, retired after forty-five min- utes. The three ships rendezvoused with the convoy the following day and arrived in San Pedro Bay on the 15th without further incident. On the afternoon of 16 November the DASHIELL got underway with a convoy bound for Hollandia. At dusk some LST's joining the formation were strafed by an enemy float plane. It was taken under fire by the DA- SHIELL and other ships but escaped unharmed. The DASHIELL and a DE were detached from the task unit on the 20th to escort three of the fi