O Brien (DD 725) - Naval Cruise Book

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. 1 .L 5 99721 . its., iw?v5'ii 7, I ,' f f iii' I. 1 V22-5 jf . fl f Y 'U,?A , 14133, Q g f 2,1 gf 1,27 1,4f,5,,, uma ' ,. 4.1, , I ?af',f'fF gl4f-... W. 2,25 A 4. I' ,flirt--4 1215: . ., ,ga ,Q , ,L ,,f, F 5-,,. SSQUUZRIE LUlil 1939 The third O'BRIEN DD-415 was launched in Boston in 1939. She served with the Atlantic Fleet until the entry of the United States in the Second World War. On 15 January 1942, she was ordered to the Pacific. Four days after her arrival in San Francisco, she put to seawithaconvoyg a collision with the USS CASE forced her back to Mare Island for repairs to her port side. Once again ready for sea, O'BRIEN went to San Diego where Com- mander Destroyer Division Four broke his flag on O'BRIEN. In the spring of 1942, the ship helped evacuate civilian personnel from Midway Island, patrolled the seas around French Frigate Shoals escorted vessels in the vicinity of Pago Pago Samoa, and su pported the occupation of Wallis 1942 Island. On the afternoon of 15 September 194215 O'BRIEN was in the joint task force Wlt Uss HORNET and Uss WASP southeasf0f the Solomons. The Japanese submarlnes I-15 and I-19 attacked, sinking WAS? damaging the USS NORTH CAROLINA, ag delivering one torpedo to O'BRIEN. f explosion did little damage that w-QS lm mediately evident. Temporary repairs were made so the ship could make the long voyage to repair facilities in San Franciige and Pearl Harbor. During the trip, 19 hull weakened considerably. On 800 September, she sank approximately 2 S miles from the point where She Wa torpedoed. V 1

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55? if I '5 I.. ' 3 J J -'Q X b .J AA wa is X' - YK I l 'Y' in W 1 N5 3 J A - V , 1 USS 0'BRIE DD 1 1914 In American Naval History, the name O'BRIEN dates from the opening months of the Revolutionary War. In the weeks fol- lowing the outbreak of hostilities at Concord, British sympathizers in Boston began to realize the necessity to improve the city's fortifications. Lumber was scarceg the obvious source was the wooded shores of what now is the State of Maine. Under the excort of H.M.S. MARGARETTA, two small lumber sloops were dispatched to the village of Machias. The belligerent manner in which the negotiations for lumber were made aroused the ill-will of many villagersg irate citizens seized the sloops. Meanwhile others who had taken a position overlooking the British warships, opened fire. Forced to slip her moorings, the MARGARETTA dropped out of range. In one of the lmnber sloops, the UNITY, townsman Jeremiah O'BRIEN assumed command. Accompanied by his four brothers and forty men armed with guns, swords, axes, and pitch forks, they sailed in pursuit. Pressing on all sail, and jettisoning her boats, the British tried desperately to out-run O'BRIEN and his men. The colonials soon overtook the warship. After a brief battle in which two of the villagers and five of the British were killed, H.M.S. MARGARETTA struck her colors to O'BRIEN. She was the first naval vessel to surrender to an American ship in a battle at sea. One hundred and twenty-five years later, The United States Navy named its first 1922 ship in honor of the gallant O'BRIEN brothers. On 24 September 1900 USS O'BRIEN, Torpedo Boat 30, was launched in the Crescent Ship yard at Elizabethport, New Jersey. The ship was struck from the Navy list on 3 March 1909 and used as a target. The .next O'BRIEN, DD51, was built by William Cramp and Sons at Philadelphia. Laid down on 8 September 1913, she was launched ten- and a half months later on 20 July 1914. DD51 served throughout the First World War guarding merchant vessels against the constant peril of U- boat attacks. While escorting the British steamer ELYSIA in the coastal waters of Ireland, lookouts aboard O'BRIEN sighted a periscope 800 yards on the starboard bow. Heading directly for the rapidly disappearing periscope at twenty knots, the ship moved in for the attack. The foretop lookout reported that he saw the submerged U-boat pass close along the starboard side. He clearly saw the submarine and watched it until it was almost to the after deck house. At this moment a depth charge was dropped. Circling around the spot, O'BRIEN saw no evidence of damage. A few hours later a British destroyer, passing through the same area, reported large patches of oil on the surface, No wreckage was sighted. DD51 was placed out of commission in 1922. She was stricken from the Navy List and sold in 1935.

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'i Q I E' i N 8 . A? w 'x 3 ntl -Q! The latest O'BRIEN joined the Fleet on 25 February 1944, She saw her first action while escorting landing craft at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Later at the bombardment of Cherbourg, she operated close inshore, protecting mine-sweeps and bombarding German shore batteries with her five inch guns. Behind her the battleship TEXAS was pouring sixteen inch projectiles into the same batteries, O'BRIEN's fire was so effective that German guns concentrated their fire on the destroyer rather than the battleship. It was only a matter of time before the little ship was hit. In spite of heavy damage on the after part of the bridge and the loss of thirteen men, she stayed on long enough to lay a protecting smoke- screen around TEXAS. Following repairs at Boston she was ordered to the Pacific. In Ormoc Bay, she was with the USS WARD when that ill fated ship was hit by suicide planes. Salvage crews from O'BRIEN desperately tried to save the WARDg the impossibility of salvage was shortly seen and WARD was sunk by O'BRIEN guns. Three years earlier O'BRIEN's Captain, W. W. OUTERBRIDGE, had had command of WARD when she had sunk a Japanese submarine off Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Then the ship went on to participate in the invasion of Mindoro and the pre-invasion bom- bardment of Lingayen Gulf. Here in January 1945, she was hit by a Zeke fsingle engine suicide planeb which left a gaping hole in her port side. Quick repairs were made, O'BRIEN headed north for the first raid on Tokyo. As an advance picket, she approached within ninety miles of the Japanese capital. Following these raids, the gallant destroyer headed south for the action at Iwo Jima. At Kerama Rhetto, off Okinawa, a Japanese suicide plane hit the ship just aft of the bridge, explodingamagazine. Twenty-eight men were killed, twenty-two missing and one hundred were injured. The ship re- turned to Mare Island for repairs. In July 1947, O'BRIEN was placed in the reserve fleet. At the outbreak of the Korean War, she was reactivated and placed under the command of CDR C, W, NIMITZ, Jr. In March 1951, she arrived in Korean waters as flagship of Destroyer Division 132, participating at the seige of Chongjin, the Battle of the Buzzsaw, and various bombardment missions along the Korean coast line. During these activities, both Radio Moscow and Radio Peiping reported O'BRIEN sunk by the North Korean Peoples Navy. 1961 brought an extensive overhaul through the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization program. O'BRIEN became a member of Destroyer Division 232 in April 1963. y