O Brien (DD 725) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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