USS Herndon (DD-638), March 1943 |
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USS Herndon (DD-638) was a Gleaves class destroyer that served on convoy escort duties, supported the invasion of Sicily, the D-Day invasions and the invasion of the South of France, before moving to the Pacific, where she again served on convoy escort duties in the last months of the war.
The Herndon was named after William Lewis Herndon, who served in the US Navy from 1828 until he was lost with his ship in 1857. He was most famous as an explorer, carrying out an expedition into the Amazon that covered 4,366 miles.
The Herndon was laid down at the Norfolk Navy Yard, launched on 2 February 1942 when she was sponsored by Commander Herndon’s great-grandniece Miss Lucy Herndon Crockett, and was commissioned on 20 December 1942.
The Herndon was originally classified as a Bristol class ship, which were built with four 5in guns instead of the five installed on the Livermore/ Gleaves class. However after the fifth gun was removed from those ships all of the Bristol class ships joined the Livermore/ Gleaves class.
1943
Her shakedown took place off the coast of Maine.
From 6-9 April she helped escort a convoy of one oiler and 25 LSTs from New York to Port Royal Bay, Bermuda.
She then escorted a convoy from New York to Casablanca. She escorted a tanker back from Casablanca to New York, arriving on 14 May 1943.
On 2 June she left Norfolk with a large force of destroyers to carry out group exercises.
On 8 June she left Norfolk to move to the Mediterranean, to support the invasion of Sicily. She arrived at Algiers on 24 June.
She took part in the initial landings on 10 July 1943, operating with the forces attacking Gela. During the battle she performed anti-submarine patrol duty and operated around large parts of the Sicilian shore, providing fire support both for Patton’s 7th Army in the west and north and Montgomery’s 8th Army in the south and east.
On 12 July she replaced the Glennon as the fire support ship on the flank of the Dime assault area (around Gela).
On 22-23 July she was part of a group of destroyers that escorted the cruiser Boise from Sicily to Bizerte. On 23-24 July she helped escort the cruiser to Algiers.
On 28 July the Herndon formed part of the screen for the cruisers Philadelphia and Savannah as they moved to Palermo.
On 8 August the Herndon and Glennon escorted the attack transport Samuel Chase (APA-26) from Oran to Arzue in French Algeria. They then escorted the Morris (DD-417), attack transport Thomas Jefferson (APA-30) and US freighters Charles Piez and William Dean Howells back to Oran. The destroyers then moved on to Mers-El-Kebir.
On 9 August they formed part of the escort of a convoy of transport ships and escorted them to Casablanca, arriving on 10 August.
On 12 August they joined TG 89.6, and escorted most of the same ships back across the Atlantic, arriving at New York on 22 August.
After her return to the US the Herndon spent the next nine months on convoy escort duties from New York to Britain, mainly escorting convoys of troop ships during the build-up to D-Day.
On 5 September she left New York as part of the escort of convoy UT-2, arriving at Belfast on 14 September.
On 21 September she left Belfast as part of the escort for return convoy TU-2, arriving at New York on 1 October.
On 21 October she joined TF 69, built around the battleship Texas (BB-35), which then left New York to escort Convoy UT-4, with a mix of merchant ships and troop ships to Belfast. They arrived on 31 October.
On 7 November she left Belfast with TG 69 to escort the return convoy TU-4 back to New York, arriving on 18 November.
On 5 December she left New York as part of the escort of Convoy UT-5, arriving at Lough Larne on 14 December.
1944
On 18 January 1944 she left New York as part of the escort of Convoy UT-7, arriving at Lough Larne on 28 January.
On 29 February she joined the Glennon, Butler and Rhind, and the group took part in exercises off Maine from 3-18 March, operating with elements of the Atlantic Fleet.
On 23 March she left New York with convoy TF-63, heading to Gibraltar, arriving on 1 April. The same task force then escorted Convoy GUS-35 from Gibraltar to New York, arriving on 22 April.
From 5-14 May 1944 she crossed the Atlantic once again, this time to take part in the D-Day landings. On 15-16 May she joined a force of seven other destroyers that moved to Plymouth.
On 31 May-1 June she took part in a sizable naval gunfire support exercise in Dundrum Bay, Northern Ireland.
On 3 June she left Northern Ireland with a mixed force of American and British warships, heading for Normandy. They were forced to turn into Weymouth Bay when bad weather meant D-Day was postponed by one day.
On D-Day the Herndon formed part of the bombardment force for Omaha Beach, taking part in the initial shore bombardment before the landings. After D-Day she served on fire support, screening and anti-submarine duties.
On 7 June she took part in the rescue efforts after the destroyer Meredith (DD-726) hit a mine. Despite repeated efforts to save her the Meredith finally broke in two and sank early on 9 June.
At 0903 on 9 June she was replaced as the naval gunfire support vessel in Fire Support Station 1 by the Jeffers.
She remained off Normandy until 19 June when the great storm forced her back to Britain. After the storm she returned to Normandy, and continued on screening duties until 11 July.
On 11 July she arrived at Belfast to begin training for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the South of France. She then returned to the Mediterranean, and on 15 August formed part of the screen for the carriers that provided air support for the invasion. She remained in the Mediterranean until 3 September, when she departed for New York.
After her return to New York she spent two weeks taking part in experimental operations in Chesapeake Bay for the Naval Research Laboratory.
Herndon headed back toward the Mediterranean as a convoy escort 14 October.
In October 1944 Albert Thomas Church took over as her commanding officer, holding that post until May 1946. His previous post had been as executive officer on USS Gatling (DD-671), so he was familiar with destroyer work.
On 14 October she departed for the Mediterranean on convoy escort duty, returning to the US on 12 November.
After battle exercises in Casco Bay she began to escort convoys along the Atlantic coast.
1945
In late January 1945 the Herndon formed part of the extensive escort for President Roosevelt as he crossed the Atlantic on the first stage of his voyage to Yalta, to meet with Churchill and Stalin. In late February she formed part of the escort for the President on the last stages of his return trip.
On 21 April the Herndon was one of six destroyers that left New York to head to the Pacific. On the way they visited San Diego, before reaching Pearl Harbor on 15 May.
At Pearl Harbor she took part in training exercises, and acted as a carrier plane guard.
On 12 July she departed for Eniwetok, and she spent the rest of the war escorting convoys in what had now become the rear areas around Eniwetok, Guam and Saipan.
After the formal Japanese surrender on Tokyo Bay on 2 September the Herndon moved to China to implement the surrender. She reached Dairen in Manchuria on 10 September, then moved onto Tsingtao, China, arriving on 16 September.
On the same day Vice Admiral Kanako signed the surrender documents for all Japanese controlled combatant and merchant vessels in the Tsingtao area on the forecastle of the Herndon. This amounted to six destroyers and minesweepers and six merchant ships. The Herndon remained at Tsingtao until 22 September.
She then moved to Jinsen, Korea, where she took the surrender of six Japanese warships on 24 September, and remained in command of them until 27 September.
Post-war
The Herndon spent the autumn and winter of 1945 escorting Japanese prize vessels, helping repatriate Japanese soldiers and supporting the movement of Chinese Nationalist troops.
She then took part in Operation Magic Carpet, the return of US veterans from the Pacific to the US. She was assigned to this duty on 5 December and reached San Diego on 27 December. Some of the veterans onboard departed at San Diego, while others remained on board all the way to New York, where she arrived on 15 January 1946.
She arrived at Charleston on 28 January 1946 and was decommissioned into the Atlantic Reserve Fleet on 8 May. She was sunk as a target off Florida on 24 May 1973.
Herndon received three battle stars for World War II service, for Sicily, Normandy and the South of France.
Displacement (standard) |
1,630t design |
Displacement (loaded) |
2,395t |
Top Speed |
35kts design |
Engine |
2-shaft Westinghouse turbines |
Range |
6500nm at 12kt design |
Length |
348ft 3in |
Width |
36ft 1in |
Armaments |
Five 5in/38 guns |
Crew complement |
208 |
Laid down |
26 August 1941 |
Launched |
2 February 1942 |
Commissioned |
20 December 1942 |
Struck off |
1 June 1971 |
Sunk as target |
24 May 1973 |
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.
