Higbee (DDR 806) - Naval Cruise Book

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v Ship,S History The U. S. S. I-IIGBEE CDDB 8061 was the first combatant vessel in the history of the U. S. Navy to be named in honor of a woman who served in the Armed Forces. This woman, Mrs. Lenah S. Higbee, was Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps during World War I, and earned the singular honor of being the only woman to receive the Navy Cross while still living. The keel of the I-IIGBFIE was laid 26 Iune 1944 at the Bath Iron Works Cor- poration in Bath Maine, and was com- missioned 27 Ianuary 1945 with Com- mander Lindsey WILLIAMSON, USN, as Commanding Officer. Immediately after being commissioned, the vessel proceeded to Boston, Massachusetts where she was converted into a radar picket destroyer, at that time a new type of naval vessel. After her shakedown cruise, the I-IIGBFFI departed from Boston for the Far East where she joined the famous Carrier Task Force 38 on 19 Iuly 1945. Six days later during a Iapanese air attack, a suicide plane narrowly missed striking her number one gun mount. The new destroyer proved her worth as a combat unit during the engagement by shooting down six enemy planes, four of them in a period of 22 minutes. Later, the HIGBBE supported the air strikes against the Iapanese mainland and was operating off Iapan when that country capitulated. Although the war was ended, floating mines in Iapanese coastal waters remained a menace to navigation, so the I-IIGBFE and other ships of the Task Force were assigned the duty of searching for mines and l exploding them with gunfire. After a brief respite in Tokyo Bay, the vessel ' . departed for San Diego, and arrived there on 11 April 1946, having been away from the United States for almost a year. Underway again on 12 September 1946-with Commander Bruce L. CARB, USN, in command- the I-IIGBEE underwent refresher training and then departed for a tour of duty in the Western Pacific. This cruise took her to various Asian ports, including I-long Kong, Okinawa, and TsingtaO- She' then departed Yokosuka on 31 Iune and after the trans-pacific cruise, moored in San DiGQO I-Iarbor on 6 Iuly 1947. Commander Iames E. I-IANSFN, USN, relieved as Commanding Officer and the ship sailed to San Francisco for an overhaul at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. The overhaul completed, the HIGBEE steamed once again for the Orient in company with the heavy cruiser TOLEDO to PGY official visits to the governments of India and Pakistan. Ports of call on this cruise included Singa- pore, Trincomalee Con the island of Ceylonl, Karachi, and Bombay. The HIGBEE returned to her home port, San Diego, in February 1949, having logged more than 43,000 miles in a little less than eight months. S The I-IIGBEFI departed in Iune 1949 in company with several other vessels on a Beserve Midship- man Training Cruise to Panama, conducting drills and maneuvers, and providing general indoctrin- ation for the officer candidates. -ZM

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DEDICATED . . . . . . to all the officers and men, past and present, who have served their country aboard the Uf.S'.,S'. HIGBEE

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' On 13 April 1950, Commander E. MOORE, USN, assumed command of the ship and shortly thereafter the HIGBEE deployed once again to take her place with the Ear Eastern Naval Forces. Enroute, word was received that fighting had broken out in Korea, and the HIGBEE was ordered to proceed to that area with all possible speed. Upon arriving she was ordered, along with the U. S. S. IAMES E. KYES, to proceed to the East Coast of Korea to act as a gun fire support ship in the amphibious invasion of Po'l-long Dong, and to act as a harbor patrol vessel as the landing progressed. On August 1950, the HIGBEE rendez- voused at sea with Carrier Task Force 77 which was engaged in launching air strikes against the forces of North Korea. She was detached from Task Force 77 on 3 September 1950 and proceeded to Sasebo, lapan for repairs and upkeep alongside a tender. On 11 September 1950, she rejoined the Task Force 77 and later proceeded to the Korean Combat Zone where she supported the historic landing of United Nations troops at lnchon on 15 Septem- ber. The l-HGBEE remained in the Ear Eastern Waters until 19 Ianuary 1951, arriving back in the United States on 26 March 1951 to proceed to the Mare lsland Naval Shipyard for a routine overhaul, returning to San Diego in luly. Cn the morning of 27 August 1951, the l-HGBEE got underway with Destroyer Divisions 31 and 72 and set course for Pearl l-larbor, arriving there 1 September. During the ship's stayin Pearl, Commander V. 1. SOBALLE, USN, relieved as commanding officer. Dest- royer Division 31, including the l-HGBEE continued on to WestPac and arrived in Yokosuka, lapan on 17 September 1951, thus commencing her second Ear Eastern tour since the outbreak of hostilities in Korea. On 20 September 1951, HIGBEE joined the Destroyer screen of Task Force 77, in the Sea of lapan. Cn the 24th, there occurred a unigue struggle between the destroyer and a denizon of the deep. A huge hammer head shark become tangled in the ship's propeller shafts, and both enQi11GS hild 'EO be backed down to disengage the intruder. The HIGBEE reported on 19 December 1951 for duty with Task Group 72.2 as one of the vessels patroling the 'Formosa Straits with orders to prevent aggression against Formosa by the forces of Communist China. Christmas Day was celebrated at sea with holiday routine and turkey dinner.. When the HIGBEE returned to Korea shortly thereafter, a l-HGBEE boarding party embarked in the ship's motor whaleboat and scored several hits with small arms on an enemy vessel. The l-llGBEE's boat was forced to withdraw when taken under fire by enemy machine gun fire. The HIGBEE cruising 3,000 yards off shore guickly silenced the machine gun with her 5 inch guns, and recovered the motor whaleboat. The boat sustained four hits, but none of the embarked were in- jured. On 20 March 1952, the HIGBEE was relieved on station and proceeded via Yokosuka east- ward across the Pacific, arriving in San Diego on 14 April 1952. Cn 29 August 1952 the HIGBEE left for Long Beach, her newly assigned home port, where she spent a well earned upkeep period. . -3-