Watts (DD 567) - Naval Cruise Book

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9 The U.S.S. WATTS KDD-5671, a 2100-ton destroyer, was named for Captain John Watts, captain of the American privateer Planter which defeated a French privateer in a desperate battle on July 10, 1799. Launched December 31, 1943 the ships was commissioned at Seattle, Washington, on the twenty-ninth of April by Mrs. Judith B. Gardner, great-grand-daughter of John Watts. Her first assignment was the waters off the Japanese-held Kurile Islands, where she pounded the enemy continuously, inflicting heavy damage on the air- Gekds and instaHaHons dotnng the idand chain.. Renianung in the Kurne area untH AAarch,the shnnthen proceeded to Pead Harbor,T.H.forrnuch needed re- pairs. The Watts made one more trip to the Kuriles before heading West. Arriving at Okinawa, the men of the ship were faced with the task of helping ward off the might of the Japanese Kamikaze Corps. Six planes were accounted for by the ship and countless others were driven off. Duty with Admiral Halsey's famed fast carrier task force at Leyte Gulf was the next assignment for the WATTS. The WATTS was with the task force at the entrance of Tokyo bay when the surrender was announced. After remaining as a unit of the occupation force, the ship received orders sending her homeward on November 18, 1945. The following April, the WATTS was decommissioned in Charleston S.C. Five years later, almost to the day, she was recommissioned and her name once more placed on the U.S. Navy Navy's active list. Just 25 days after her second commissioning the WATTS reported to the Atlantic Fleet Destroyer Force. On the 7th of January, 1953 the ship left on a Mediterranean cruise where she visited Gibraltar, Augusta Bay, Piraeus and Salonica, Greece and other ports in Northern Europe. Completing a three month overhaul in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, the ship proceeded to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for refresher training on 23 July 1954. During this period she visited Santiago de Cuba and Montego Bay, Jamaica. She returned to Norfolk on the 13th of September 1954. The WATTS was transferred to the Pacific Fleet in early 1955. The ship arriv- ed at Long Beach, California, her new home base, on 28 January. On her trip to the Pacific she stopped at Guantanamo Bay and Havana, Cuba. and 381508. CGM' Zone. ,

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l l Commander OTIS C. FERRELL received his commission in the United Stall Neve! Reserve on November 14, 1940. His met assignment was aboard tl U.S.S. Minneapolis CCA-361 where he served four years in the GunnerY Depa' ment. Subsequenty, Commander Ferrell served aboard the light Criuser U-5' Bremerton KCA-1305 as Gunnery Officer, and twenty-one months aboard the U5- Charles R. Ware KDD-8657 as Executive Ofhcer. Captain FerreIl's first comma' was the U.S.S. Ingraham CDD-6943 where he served seventeen months. CO' mander Ferrell took command of the Watts in December 1954. . . . . ' tef Besides serving in the Korean War, Captain Ferrell took part In Selfen 0 World War ll campaigns, receving twelve combat stars. He holds degrees fr tl the University ot Washington, the U.S. Naval Post Graduate School, and Massachusetts institute ot Technology.