USS Satterlee (DD-626)

USS Satterlee (DD-626) was a Gleaves class destroyer that served on convoy escort duties, supported the D-Day invasion and the invasion of the South of France, then moved to the Pacific, where she was used for gunnery training then air-sea rescue duties.

USS Satterlee (DD-626) in Belfast Lough, 1944

The Satterlee was named after Charles Satterlee who served in the US Navy during the First World War and was killed when his ship, the cutter Tampa, was sunk by a U-boat in the Bristol Channel in September 1918.

The Satterlee  was laid down by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash on 10 September 1941,  launched on 17 July 1942 when she was sponsored by Miss Rebecca E. Satterlee, the niece of Charles Satterlee, and commissioned on 1 July 1943.

The Satterlee 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.

Her first major duty was to escort the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious from the US west coast to the Atlantic coast, at the end of the British carrier’s short spell with the US Pacific Fleet.

On 26 August 1943 the Satterlee joined the US Atlantic Fleet. She was used on convoy escort duties, and made two crossings to Casablanca, as well as training at Casco Bay, Maine, between then and the spring of 1944.

1944

On 28 March the Satterlee and Thompson left Boston to escort the Quincy to Casco Bay for training.

In April 1944 the Satterlee formed part of the escort of the battleships Texas and Arkansas as they crossed the Atlantic to join the forces being gathered for Operation Overlord. The Satterlee was trained to help support the US Rangers in their attack on a German gun battery at Pointe du Hoc, one of the most daring Special Forces operations of the day, which would see the Rangers climbing the sea cliffs at the Pointe, and thus needing naval gun support to make up for a lack of heavy weapons.

On the night of 5-6 June the Satterlee escorted minesweepers from the British Minesweeping Flotilla 4 heading for the D-Day beaches. At 0548 she opened fire on Pointe du Hoc as planned. She worked to support the 2d and 5th Ranger Battalions as they climbed the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc to attack a German gun battery on the top.  The Satterlee’s own action report had the 2nd Rangers landing at 0708. At 0710 a machine gun opened fire on the Satterlee, and she responded by firing at a pillbox near Pointe-du-Hoc. Soon afterwards the Satterlee was ordered to close the cliffs and fire on the cliff top to disrupt the German defenders as the Rangers climbed the cliffs. At 0728 the Ranger shore fire control party made contact with the Satterlee, but as the fighting developed this party moved further inland. The Rangers left near the cliff used lights to communicate with the Satterlee. She was thus able to help them fight off a number of German counterattacks during the day. At 1839 the Thompson was ordered to swap places with the Satterlee, ending her time off the Pointe. The Rangers were able to capture the gun batteries, although the large guns that had been the target of the raid turned out to have been moved further inland, where they were found and destroyed by the Rangers.

The Satterlee and Thompson returned to England on D+2 (8 June) to replenish. The Satterlee returned to Normandy on 10 June and became the flagship of Destroyer Division 36. She remained off the Normandy beaches for forty days (with the occasional break to replenish).

She was then allocated to the forces that moved to the Mediterranean to take part in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the South of France. She supported the landings around St. Tropez on 15 August 1944, and helped defeat a night attack by five German E-boats, sinking one and rescuing twelve survivors.

In October 1944 the Satterlee returned to the US East Coast for training at Casco Bay.

1945

The Satterlee took part in the large naval operation to protect President Roosevelt as he travelled to and from the Yalta Conference on the new cruiser USS Quincy. The Satterlee took part in the first stage of the outbound voyage, searching for U-boats ahead of the main fleet from 21-23 January, the stage from New York to Bermuda. On the return voyage the Satterlee’s group met up with the President’s convoy on 24 February, and screened it into Newport News, arriving on 27 February.

On 21 April the Satterlee left New York with a group of destroyers heading for the Pacific. They passed through the Panama Canal and moved up to San Diego, before heading on to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on 16 May.

The Satterlee was retained at Pearl Harbor for the next month and a half, serving as a gunnery school ship and helping escort the carriers Saratoga, Hancock, and Wasp during night and day flight operations off Hawaii.

On 4 July the Satterlee left Pearl Harbor, and she spent the next few months on air-sea rescue patrols between Saipan and Okinawa. This role lasted for several months after the end of the war.

On 9 November she departed for the United States. She was decommissioned on 16 March 1946, struck off on 1 December 1970 and sold for scrap on 8 May 1972

Satterlee received two battle stars for her World War II service, for Normandy and the South of France. Anyone who served on her between 26 September and 7 November 1945 qualified for the Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia).

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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