USS Jeffers (DD-621/ DMS-27)

USS Jeffers (DD-621) was a Gleaves class destroyer that took part in the occupation of French North Africa, the invasions of Sicily, Normandy and the South of France, then moved to the Pacific to take part in the Okinawa campaign, support the carrier raids on Japan and carry out post-war minesweeping.

The Jeffers was named after William Nicholson Jeffers who served in the US Navy during the Mexican War and the US Civil War.

The Jeffers (DD-621) was laid down by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co of Kearny, N.J on 25 March 1942, launched on 26 August 1942 when she was sponsored by Mrs. Lucie Jeffers Lyons, the great-granddaughter of Commodore Jeffers and commissioned on 5 November 1942

The Jeffers 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

The Jeffers carried out her shakedown cruise and training in Casco Bay, Maine. She then briefly operated along the US East Coast.

USS Jeffers (DMS-27) at sea, 23 July 1941

On 18 February she departed from the US as part of the escort for a convoy heading to Casablanca, returning on 14 April.

She then patrolled off Argentia, Newfoundland, for one week, before moving to Norfolk to prepare for the invasion of Sicily.

On 2 June the Jeffers left Norfolk to take part in a series of destroyer exercises.

On 8 June she left Norfolk again, this time as part of Task Force 65, escorting Convoy UFG-9 across the Atlantic to North Africa, part of the build-up for the invasion of Sicily. She reached Oran, Algeria, on 22 June. She was then used to patrol along the coast of North Africa, shooting down a German bomber during a Luftwaffe attack on Bizerte on 6 July.

On 8 July she sailed with Rear Admiral Hall’s force, heading for Gela. On the night of 9-10 June she guarded the transports preparing for the invasion. On 10 June, D-Day for Operation Husky, she was given the take of shooting out shore based searchlights and general fire support. She continued to carry out fire support missions for the next two days.

On the morning of 10 July the Boise and Jeffers were placed on the right flank of the invasion force heading to Gela. At 0826 they opened fire on German tanks that were advancing towards the beachhead.

On the morning of 11 July the Jeffers was replaced as the shore fire support destroyer for the Dime assault area by the Glennon.

On the evening of 12 July the Glennon, Nelson and Jeffers formed the anti-submarine screen for TF 81.2, heading back to Algiers. The fleet reached Algiers early on 15 July. She briefly returned to Sicily on 17 July, but then departed for Bizerte on 18 July.

She returned to Sicily again on 31 July, escorting a convoy of cargo ships to Palermo, but she departed for Oran on the following day.
 
In mid August the Jeffers departed for the US as part of TG 89.6, arriving at New York on 22 August. She underwent brief repairs at New York.

Between 5 September 1943 and 22 April 1944 the Jeffers made five trans-Atlantic voyages escorting convoys bringing men and materials to Britain to take part in Operation Overlord (three in 1943 and two in 1944).

On 5 September she left New York as part of the escort of Convoy UT-2, reaching Northern Ireland on 14 September.

On 21 October, on day that the second of those convoys, UT-4, left New York, she rescued the survivors from the destroyer Murphy, which had been cut in two after a tanker collided with her, and then helped salvage the stern of the Murphy. Remarkably the Murphy was repaired and returned to service with a new forward section.

On 7 November she departed from Belfast as part of the escort of west-bound convoy TU-4, heading to New York, arriving on 18 November.

On 2 December the Jeffers was part of a force of destroyers that left Long Island to carry out gunnery exercises, before arriving at the New York Navy Yard on 3 December.

On 5 December she joined the escort of Convoy UT-5, heading for Northern Ireland, arriving on 14 December.

In late December she formed part of the escort of the return convoy, TU-5. On 25 December heavy wings caused some ships in the convoy to straggle, and the Glennon, Jeffers and Earle had to stay with the stragglers and make sure they returned to the convoy. The force reached New York on 31 December.

1944

On 18 January 1944 she left New York as part of the east-bound convoy UT-7, which reached Northern Ireland on 28 January. On 30 January she departed for Greenock, and on 3 February she sailed as part of the escort of west bound convoy TU-7. This reached New York on 13 February.

On 23 March she left the US as part of the escort for the Gibraltar bound convoy TF-63, arriving on 1 April.  She then returned to the US as part of the escort of convoy GUS-35, arriving on 22 April.

On 5 May the Jeffers left New York to join the forces gathering for the invasion of Normandy. She reached Belfast Lough on 14 May, then moved to Plymouth of 15-16 May.

On 23 May she took part in training exercises off Slapton Sands, practising shore bombardment.

On 24 May the Jeffers, Murphy and Glennon escorted the Augusta (CA-31) from Plymouth to Portland.

The Jeffers was part of Admiral Deyo’s Bombardment Group A, assigned to Utah Beach. On 26 May she moved to Belfast Lough, then on 31 May to Ardrossan, Scotland, to take part in anti-E-boat exercises. On 3 June the force left Northern Ireland, to escort Convoy U1A (Texas, Arkansas (BB-33), Nevada and the French light cruisers Montcalm and George Leygues). News of the delay from 5 to 6 June reached them on 4 June, so the convoy spent 12 hours steaming on a reverse course. She then turned south, and joined the rest of Force U to the south of the Isle of Wight.

On D-Day, 6 June, Force U supported the troops landing on Utah Beach. She provided fire support for the troops on D-Day.

On 7 June she suffered slight damage from German gunfire.

On the night of 8-9 June the Jeffers was anchored on the Banc de Cordonnet in the Baie de la Seine when the Luftwaffe attacked with Henschel Hs 293 radio controlled glide bombs. At 0125 lookouts on the Jeffers reported a missile flying overheat at 5,000 ft. At 0130 a second missile flew over 1 1,500ft and hit the sea 3,000 yards from the Jeffers. The Jeffers fired two 5in salvoes at a twin engined aircraft as it flew over, possibly a Heinkel He 177. The ship’s electronic countermeasures operators reported jamming another three attempts to control glide bombs. However the already damaged Meredith was the subject of a near miss that opened up existing damage. Her crew abandoned ship at 0230 and by 0445 she was drifting towards a German occupied part of the French coast. The Jeffers was ordered to try and save her. She went alongside, put some men onboard and then took her in tow. The Meredith was safely moved to the assault area, and at 0903 on 9 June the Jeffers moved off to relieve the Herndon as a naval gunfire support ship in Fire Support Station 1. The Meredith began to break in half at 1010 and sank soon afterwards.

The Jeffers remained off Normandy until 29 June. She then spent two weeks escorting transports moving from Belfast to Utah Beach with reinforcements and supplies.

She departed for the Mediterranean on 16 July to take part in the invasion of the South of France. She joined the screen of the escort carriers supporting the invasion. On 12 August she left Malta to join her carriers. On 15 August she screened the carriers as the troops landing. She remained off the coast of France until 28 September.

She then departed for New York, arriving on 7 October. She was then prepared for duty in the West Pacific. She was converted into a destroyer-minesweeper and reclassified at DMS-27 on 15 November.

1945

The Jeffers departed to the Pacific on 3 January 1945, arriving at San Deigo on 17 January. She spent the rest of January training, before moving to Pearl Harbor in February, then onto Ulithi to join the forces preparing for the invasion of Okinawa.

The Jeffers formed part of the preliminary minesweeping group, and reached Okinawa on 24 March, one week before the invasion. She helped with the massive minesweeping operation carried out before the invasion, as well as marking clear lanes. During the actual attack on 1 April she was used on air defence and anti-submarine patrols. During the large Japanese air attack of 6 April she claimed one twin-engine bomber.

On 12 April she was attacked by a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka jet powered suicide flying bomb. The Ohka was launched from a Nakajima Ki-49 ‘Helen’ at a range of 14,000 yards and dropped slowly away. It then accelerated quickly to 450 knots before dipping towards the end of its run. It was shot down by 20mm anti-aircraft fire when only 50 yards from the Jeffers, but the resulting explosion still caused significant damage to the Jeffers. She stayed in place to rescued survivors of the Mannert T. Abele, which had been sunk by an Ohka, but then retired to Kerama Retto for repairs.

The Jeffers was repaired by 16 April when she joined the screen of a carrier group operating off Okinawa. However on 3 May she departed for Guam and full repairs.

On 26 June she left Guam and sailed to Kerama Retto, where she spent six weeks on minesweeping duties to the north of Okinawa. She was anchored off Okinawa when news arrived of the Japanese surrender on 15 August.

The Jeffers entered Tokyo Bay on 29 August and was present for the surrender ceremonies on 2 September. She then spent three months on minesweeping duties around Japan, before departing for the US on 5 December.

Post-war

She arrived at San Diego on 23 December 1945 then continued on to Norfolk, arriving on 9 January1946. She moved to Charleston on 12 June and spent most of the rest of 1946 based there.

In 1947 she took part in manoeuvres in the Caribbean in April-May, and in exercises along the US East Coast.

In 1948 she visited a number of East Coast ports on training duties.

Early in 1949 she visited the Caribbean. On 6 September she left Charleston heading to the Mediterranean for the first time. She took part in manoeuvres around Malta, before returning to the US on 13 October.

Most of 1950 was spent in Charleston, apart from a training cruise to Guantanamo Bay in March.

On 9 January 1951 she departed for the Mediterranean for the second time, visiting Oran, Palermo, Athens and Naples as part of the US 6th Fleet. She returned to Charleston on 17 May 1951 and took part in minesweeping and anti-submarine exercises.

From 5 June-13 October 1952 she operated with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean once again.

The first half of 1953 was spent training off the Virginia Capes. On 16 September she left Norfolk to take part in exercises with the carrier Bennington and the Royal Canadian Navy in the Mediterranean.

She was back at Charleston on 3 February 1954. From then until 23 May 1955 she operated along the US East Coast and in Cuban waters. She was reclassified as DD-621 on 15 January 1955

She was decommissioned into the reserve at Charleston on 23 May 1955. She was struck off on 1 July 1955 and sold for scrap on 25 May 1973.

Jeffers received seven battle stars for World War II service, for North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, the South of France, Okinawa, Third Fleet Operations against Japan and Pacific Minesweeping.

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.

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