USS Gwin (DD-433)

USS Gwin (DD-433) was a Gleaves class destroyer that took part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan, the invasion of Guadalcanal and New Georgia, and was the only US destroyer to survive her part of the naval battle of Guadalcanal, before being sunk at the battle of Kolombangara.

The Gwin was named after William Gwin, who served in the US Navy during the American Civil War, and was fatally wounded during the battle of Haines Bluff on the Yazoo River late in 1862.

USS Gwin (DD-433) newly commissioned, 1941

The Gwin (DD-433) was on launched 25 May 1940 by the Boston Navy Yard when she was sponsored by Mrs. Jesse T. Lippincott, second cousin of Lt. Comdr. Gwin and commissioned at Boston on 15 January 1941.

The Gwin was originally classified as a Livermore class ship, but became a Gleaves class ship when the two classes were merged because the two Gleaves class ships were given the same more powerful engines as the Livermore class.

After her shakedown cruise and final alterations at Boston she joined the neutrality patrol on the Carribean.

From 25 June-8 July the Gwin and Meredith escorted the Philadelphia and Savannah on a 3,415 mile neutrality patrol that began and ended at Bermuda.

From 25 August-10 September the  Savannah, Gwin and Meredith escorted the Wasp on a neutrality patrol that reached Trinidad and the Martin Vaz Islands before returning to Bermida. The same task group then moved north, reaching Argentia in Newfoundland on 23 September.

On 28 September 1941 she joined the forces operating from Iceland, with a new base at Hvalfjordur, Iceland.

1942

On 24 January 1942 the coast guard cutter Alexander Hamilton was heading to Iceland after escorting a convoy from the US to the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point when she was diverted  to help the store ship Yukon, which had developed engine problems while attempting to join Convoy ON-57. On 25 January the Gwin joined the two ships and they moved slowly towards Reykjavik. By just after 1pm on 29 January they were only eight miles from safety when the Alexander Hamilton was hit by a torpedo from U-132. Although she stayed afloat for some time, most of the crew were taken ashore on Icelandic trawlers. By 1447 she was dangerously down at the stern and had no power, so her captain, Commander Arthur G. Hall gave the order to abandon ship. The Gwin picked up the last remaining crew. The Alexander Hamilton still refused to sink, and attempts were made to tow her to safety. Howeer on the following day she finally capsized and these were abandoned.

Soon after this it was decided to transfer the Gwin to the Pacific. On 4 March the Gwin left the Hampton Roads as part of TF 18, built around the Hornet, heading for the Pacific. This force passed through the Panama Canal on 11 March and reaches San Diego on 20 March.

USS Gwin (DD-433) underway, 1941

The Hornet was chosen to carry the sixteen US Army B-25 bombers that were to carry out General Jimmy Doolittle’s famous raid on Tokyo. The Gwin escorted the Hornet throughout the operation, and was close by when the B-25s were launched on 18 April from a point 600 miles to the east of Tokyo. The task force then withdrew to Pearl Harbor.

The Gwin then had a spell of narrowly missing battles. The Hornet group left Pearl Harbor on 30 April in an attempt to join the Yorktown and Lexington in the South Pacific, but missed the battle of the Coral Sea. The Gwin returned to Pearl Harbor on 21 May. On 23 May she left to carry Marine reinforcements heading to Midway, returning to Pearl Harbor on 1 June. As a result she missed the main part of the battle of Midway, only arriving on the scene on 5 May. She joined the screen of the damaged carrier Yorktown, and where present when a Japanese submarine hit the Yorktown and sank the Hammann. She sent a salvage party onto the Yorktown but they had to be withdrawn when it became clear the carrier couldn’t be saved. The Gwin carried 162 men from the Yorktown and Hammann back to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 10 June 1942.

The Gwin left Pearl Harbor on 15 July to join the forces taking part in the invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on 7 August 1942. Over the next few months she escorted convoys carrying reinforcements and supplies and patrolled the ‘slot’ in the middle of the Solomon Chain as part of efforts to stop the Japanese ‘Tokyo Express’ getting their reinforcements into the islands.

On 15 October Japanese air attacks sank the destroyer Meredith as they were attempting to tow a fuel barge to Guadalcanal. During the action the crew of the fleet tug Vireo (AT-144) were ordered to abandon ship in the belief their ship was too slow to possibly survive the incoming air attack. The Vireo wasn’t actually sunk, but she drifted away, leaving the survivors from the Meredith and Vireo stranded on their rafts. The Grayson (DD-435) and Gwin rescued 88 survivors from the two ships. The Vireo was found, and reached Espiritu Santo on 23 October escorted by the Gwin and Grayson.

The Gwin took part in part of the naval battle of Guadalcanal. On 13 November she joined a task force built around the battleships Washington and South Dakota, which had been stripped from the escort of the Enterprise and sent to Guadalcanal under the command of Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee. Their task was to intercept a powerful Japanese transport and bombardment force under Admira Kondo which was heading to Guadalcanal. Lee organised his fleet with the four destroyers in front (Gwin at the rear of the column), then a 5,000 yard gap, and then his battleships.

The two forces clashed on the evening of 14-15 November. Kondo had the battleship Kirishima, four cruisers, eleven destroyers and four transports. Kondo split this force into three – the bombardment group and screen group would pass to the west of Savo Island while a sweep group would head east to find the Americans. The battle began with a clash between the Americans and the Japanese sweep and screen forces in which the Preston was sunk. The Gwin was hit by two shells in the aft engine room, and the shock also caused several torpedoes to slip overboard. She then had to take evasive action to avoid the Preston. At about the same time the Walke was sunk by a long lance torpedo. Several of her depth charges exploded as she sank, killing many survivors and shaking the Gwin. The Gwin continued to fire on the Japanese as long as they were in range, but the South Dakota soon suffered serious damage, and with one battleship damaged, two destroyers damaged and two lost, Lee decided to withdraw. The South Dakota and the two destroyer were ordered to withdraw, while Lee on the Washington moved west and then south, drawing the Japanese away from the retreating ships. During the retreat it became clear that the Benham was going to sink. Her crew were evacuated to the Gwin in small boats. The Gwin then attempted to scuttle her with a spread of four torpedoes, but all of them failed (one exploded too soon, one missed ahead, one missed to the stern and one ran erratically) and she had use her 5in guns to complete the job. The Gwin emerged from the battle relatively lightly damaged, with six dead and no wounded. She reached Noumea in New Caledonia on 20 November and was then sent back to the Mare Island Navy Yard for an overhaul.

Her commander, John Benjamin Fellows Jr, was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the battle of Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of 14-15 November.  

1943

The Gwin returned to the south-west Pacific on 7 April 1943 and resumed her activities escorting US reinforcements and attempting to block Japanese transport efforts.

On 30 June she was part of Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner’s fleet during the invasion of New Georgia. She supported the landings on the north coast of Rendova Island, 5 miles away from the major Japanese base at Munda. Soon after the first wave of troops landed the Gwin was one of four destroyers sent to patrol in the Blanche Channel, separating the two places. Japanese guns at Munda opened fire on these destroyers. Their second salvo hit the Gwin, killing three, wounding seven and stopping the aft engine. However the Gwin and her fellow destroyers were soon able to silence these guns, and laid down a smoke screen to protect the transports as they unloaded on Rendova. She also claimed three aerial victories when Japanese aircraft attacked later. Fellows was awarded the Silver Star for his actions off New Georgia.

On 5-6 July the Gwin and Radford helped suppress Japanese shore batteries as US troops carried out another landing on New Georgia, at Rice Anchorage, on the north-western coast of the island.

Although she was part of the same force, commanded by Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth, the Gwin didn’t take part in the battle of Kula Gulf (6 July 1943), fought between the US forces and Japanese forces also carrying reinforcements. During this battle the cruiser Helena was sunk, and the Gwin rescued 87 of her survivors.

The Gwin’s luck finally ran out at the battle of Kolombangara. Once again she was serving under Rear Admiral Ainsworth, who was attempting to intercept the ‘Tokyo Express’ as it attempted to land troops on Vila. The battle began early on 13 July, and started well for the Americans, who sank the cruiser Jintsu. However soon afterwards Admiral Ainsworth ordered his cruisers to turn so they could use all of their main guns against a force of give Japaense destroyers. However these destroyers had already launched a spread of 31 torpedoes at the US fleet. The cruisers Honolulu and St Louis were both hit but survived. The Gwin was hit amidships in the engine room, triggering an explosion. She didn’t sink immediately, and stayed afloat long enough for damage control efforts to begin. However it soon became clear that these were hopeless, and her crew were taken off by the Ralph Talbot. The Gwin was then scuttled. Two officers and 59 men were killed during the battle.

Gwin received live battle stars for service in World War II, for Midway, the Guadalcanal Landings, Gaudalcanal campaign, naval battle of Guadalcanal and the New Georgia campaign. Anyone who served on her between 23 September and 7 December 1941 qualified for the American Defense Service Medal

U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, Norman Friedmann . The standard history of the development of American destroyers, from the earliest torpedo boat destroyers to the post-war fleet, and covering the massive classes of destroyers built for both World Wars. Gives the reader a good understanding of the debates that surrounded each class of destroyer and led to their individual features.

Help - F.A.Q. - Contact Us - Search - Recent - About Us - Privacy