USS Heermann (DD-532)

USS Heermann (DD-532); undated wartime photo.
History
United States
Name:	USS Heermann
Namesake:	Lewis Heermann
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Francisco, California
Laid down:	8 May 1942
Launched:	5 December 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Edward B. Briggs
Commissioned:	6 July 1943 to 12 June 1946
Recommissioned:	12 September 1951
Decommissioned:	20 December 1957
Struck:	1 September 1975
Fate:	Transferred to Argentina, 14 August 1961.
History
Argentina
Name:	Almirante Brown (D-20)
Acquired:	14 August 1961
Struck:	1982
Fate:	Scrapped 1982
General characteristics
Class & type:	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,050 tons
Length:	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam:	39 ft 8 in (12.09 m)
Draft:	17 ft 9 in (5.41 m)
Propulsion:	60,000 shp (45,000 kW) 2 propellers
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range:	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	329
Armament:	5 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. guns 10 × 40 mm AA guns 7 × 20 mm AA guns 10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks
Service record
Part of:	United States Pacific Fleet
Operations:	Operation Galvanic, Landing on Emirau, Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, Philippines campaign, Battle off Samar, Okinawa campaign, Battle of Iwo Jima
Awards:	Presidential Unit Citation (United States) Presidential Unit Citation (Philippines) 9 Battle stars

USS Heermann (DD-532) was a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy, named after Fleet Surgeon Lewis Heermann (1779–1833).

Heermann was launched 5 December 1942 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co. of San Francisco, California; sponsored by Mrs. Edward B. Briggs, wife of Lieutenant E. B. Briggs, USCGR, great grandson of the namesake; and commissioned 6 July 1943, Commander Dwight M. Agnew, USN, in command. Heerman gained fame during the "last stand of the Tin-Can Sailors" in which she and several other destroyers of Task Unit 77.4.3 (Taffy 3) engaged a far superior Japanese task force during the Battle off Samar in October 1944. Heermann was the only American destroyer of Taffy 3 to survive the engagement.

World War II

After shakedown training out of San Diego, California, Heermann joined the 5th Fleet 21 October 1943 for Operation Galvanic, the assault on the Gilbert Islands, the second major offensive thrust in the Navy's conquest of Japan's far-flung Pacific empire. She arrived off Tarawa in Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill's Southern Attack Force 20 November. Her guns sank a small enemy craft inside the lagoon and the next 2 days assisted troops ashore with close-in fire support. With the island secured, she returned to Pearl Harbor for voyage repairs and training which ended 23 January when she sailed in the screen of an attack transport reserve force.

1944

The ships steamed east of Kwajalein while Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner's Joint Expeditionary Force landed on that atoll 31 January. In the ensuing 2 weeks Heermann patrolled off Kwajalein and operated in the screen of escort carriers which were launching strikes in support of troops ashore. Then she steamed to Eniwetok Atoll where she joined in the preinvasion bombardment of Japtan and Parry Islands, gave close fire support to the troops once they were ashore, and then patrolled off the atoll during mop-up operations.

Heermann reported to Commander 3d Fleet and Task Force 39, 18 March 1944 after visits to Majuro Lagoon and then Purvis Bay, Florida Island in the Solomons. For the next month she divided her time between protecting troop and resupply convoys which were occupying Emirau Island and hunting enemy supply barges along the coast of New Hanover.

Back in Port Purvis 3 June, Heermann participated in the bombardment of a tank farm on Fangelawa Bay, New Ireland, 11 June, and then searched for submarines along sealanes leading from the Solomons towards the Admiralty, Caroline, and Marshall islands until 26 June. The summer of 1944 found Heermann busy escorting Navy and Merchant shipping to rendezvous where they joined convoys bound for various ports. This duty took her to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides and Nouméa, New Caledonia.

Heermann cleared Port Purvis 6 September 1944 with Rear Admiral William Sample's escort carrier force that provided air support during the invasion of the Palau Islands. After replenishing at Seeadler Harbor, Admiralty Islands, she sortied 12 October 1944 with a fire support group for the liberation of the Philippine Islands.

Battle off Samar: October 1944

Heermann screened transports and landing ships safely to the beaches of Leyte under the command of recently promoted Commander Amos T. Hathaway, then joined Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague's Escort Carrier Group (Task Group 77.4) which was made up of three escort carrier task units, known as the "Three Taffies" because of their voice calls: "Taffy 1", "Taffy 2", and "Taffy 3". Destroyers USS Hoel (DD-533) and USS Johnston (DD-557) joined her in screening Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's unit, "Taffy 3" which also included his flagship USS Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70) and five other escort carriers.

Dawn of 25 October 1944 found "Taffy 3" east of Samar steaming north as the Northern Air Support Group. "Taffy 2" was in the central position patrolling off the entrance to Leyte Gulf, and "Taffy 1" covered the Southern approaches to the Gulf some 130 miles (210 km) to the southeast of Heermann's "Taffy 3". At 06:45 "Taffy 3"'s lookouts observed antiaircraft fire to the northward and within 3 minutes, were under heavy fire from Japanese Admiral Takeo Kurita's powerful Center Force of four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. The Battle off Samar was joined.

The only chance for survival of the little group of light American ships lay in slowing the advances of the enemy warships while withdrawing toward Leyte Gulf and hoped-for assistance. The carriers promptly launched their planes to attack the Japanese vessels, and the escorts set to work generating smoke to hide the American ships.

Heermann, in a position of comparative safety on the disengaged side of the carriers at the start of the fight, steamed into the action at flank speed through the formation of "baby flattops" who, after launching their last planes, formed a rough circle as they turned toward Leyte Gulf. Since smoke and intermittent rain squalls had reduced visibility to less than 100 yards (91 m), it took alert and skillful seamanship to avoid colliding with friendly ships during the dash to battle. She backed emergency full to avoid destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) and repeated the maneuver to miss destroyer Hoel as Heermann formed column on the screen flagship in preparation for a torpedo attack.

As she began the run, dye from enemy shells daubed the water nearby with circles of brilliant red, yellow, and green. Heermann replied to this challenge by pumping her 5-inch (130 mm) shells at one heavy cruiser, Chikuma, as she directed seven torpedoes at another, Haguro. When the second of these "fish" had left the tube, Heermann changed course to engage a column of four battleships whose shells began churning the water nearby. She trained her guns on Kongō, the column's leader, at whom she launched three torpedoes. Then she quickly closed Haruna, the target of her last three torpedoes, which were launched from only 4,400 yards (4,000 m). Believing that one of the "fish" had hit the battleship, she dodged the salvos that splashed in her wake as she retired. Japanese records claim that the battleship successfully evaded all of the torpedoes from Heermann, but they were slowed in their pursuit of the American carriers. The giant Yamato, with her monstrous 18.1-inch (460 mm) guns, was forced out of the action altogether when, caught between two spreads, she reversed course for almost 10 minutes to escape being hit. She successfully evaded the two spreads, but did not rejoin the battle.

Heermann sped to the starboard quarter of the carrier formation to lay more concealing smoke and then charged back into the fight a few minutes later, placing herself between the escort carriers and a column of four enemy heavy cruisers. Here she engaged the Japanese cruiser Chikuma in a duel which seriously damaged both ships. A series of 8-inch (200 mm) hits flooded the forward part of the destroyer, pulling her bow down so far that her anchors were dragging in the water. One of her guns was knocked out, but the others continued to pour a stream of 5-inch (130 mm) shells at the cruiser, which also came under heavy air attack during the engagement. The combined effect of Heermann's guns and the bombs, torpedoes, and strafing from carrier-based planes was too much for Chikuma, which tried to withdraw but sank during her flight.

As Chikuma turned away, the heavy cruiser Tone turned her guns on Heermann, which replied until she reached a position to resume laying smoke for the carriers. At this point, planes from Rear Admiral Felix Stump's "Taffy 2" swooped in to sting Tone so severely that she too broke off action and fled. The attacks of the destroyers and aircraft thus saved the outgunned task groups.

1945

Heermann retired to Kossol Passage for temporary repairs before getting underway for Mare Island and overhaul, which was completed 15 January 1945. She then returned to the Western Pacific to join fast carrier task forces in raids against the Japanese mainland which helped to demoralize the Japanese people and to prepare them for surrender. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Heermann supported operations ashore by radar and antisubmarine picket duty. On 20 March 1945 she sank a small surface vessel and rescued seven of her crew after she went down. Seven days later she took part in the night bombardment of Minami Daito Jima. During the Okinawa campaign she took several enemy planes under fire as she guarded carriers that provided air support for troops ashore. On 18 April with the assistance of destroyers USS Mertz (DD-691), USS McCord (DD-534), USS Collett (DD-730), and USS Uhlmann (DD-687) and planes from aircraft carrier USS Bataan (CVL-29), Heermann sank the Japanese submarine I-56, a carrier of the dreaded kaitens—human-guided suicide torpedoes. She continued to support carrier operations off Okinawa until retiring to Leyte Gulf for replenishment and voyage repairs late in June. On 1 July she helped to screen the fast carrier force that devoted the ensuing 5 weeks to almost continuous air strikes and bombardment.

On 15 August 1945 Heermann was on radar picket station some 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Tokyo when, several hours after the announcement of the end of hostilities, a suicide plane emerged from a cloud bank and began to dive in Heermann's direction—only to be splashed by the destroyer's alert gunners in one of the final naval actions of World War II. In the following weeks Heermann operated in the screen of the fast carrier task force providing air cover and air-sea rescue service while General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz were preparing to occupy Japan. She entered Tokyo Bay 16 September 1945 and remained in the area to support the occupation forces until 7 October when she sailed for the United States. She decommissioned at San Diego 12 June 1946.

1951–1957

Heermann remained in reserve at San Diego until re-commissioning 12 September 1951. After training in local waters and upkeep in San Francisco, she departed San Diego 4 January 1952 for her new base, NS Newport, Rhode Island, where she arrived 23 January. She spent the year 1952 training in waters stretching from the New England coast to the Virginia Capes, followed by intensive antisubmarine warfare and fleet problems during winter cruising in the Caribbean. She returned to Newport to resume operation along the Northeastern seaboard. After a voyage to Plymouth, England, in June and July 1953, she participated in antisubmarine maneuvers between Newport and the Virginia Capes.

Heermann departed on a world cruise 3 December 1953. First she sailed for Yokosuka, Japan, by way of the Panama Canal, San Diego, and the Hawaiian Islands. After a 2-day replenishment in Yokosuka, she set course for Okinawa where she acted as part of the escort for 3d Marine Division amphibious warfare landings and conducted barrier patrol in support of the exercise. After more maneuvers took her to Korea, Iwo Jima, and the South Coast of Japan, she returned to Yokosuka which she cleared 22 May 1954 to resume her world cruise, calling at Hong Kong and Singapore on her way to the Suez Canal. In the Mediterranean she visited Port Said, Naples, Villefranche, and Barcelona before returning to Newport 17 July 1954.

For the next year and a half Heermann participated in training exercises along the Atlantic coast. On 1 February She sailed to join the 6th Fleet in exercises along the coast of Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. In April she was invited by Prince Rainier to be in port for his wedding to Miss Grace Kelly 19–24 April 1956. Heermann furnished a 40-man honor guard for the occasion. From Monaco she joined the 6th Fleet off Greece, and then departed for Fall River, Massachusetts, where she arrived 28 May 1956. Heermann operated out of Newport until 6 November, when she sailed for the Mediterranean where she proved to be a first-rate antisubmarine ship in joint exercises with the Italian Navy.

After revisiting Monaco at the invitation of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, she returned to Fall River 20 February 1957. She served as gunnery school-ship out of Newport until 30 June when she joined USS Charles J. Badger (DD-657) in the screen of antisubmarine warfare carrier USS Leyte (CV-32) for 2 weeks of air operations for the training of Naval Academy midshipmen. She decommissioned at Boston 20 December 1957 and was assigned to the Boston Group of the U.S. Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

ARA Almirante Brown (D-20)

For other ships with the same name, see ARA Almirante Brown.

On 14 August 1961 Heermann was transferred on a loan basis to the government of Argentina under terms of the Military Assistance Program. She served in the Argentine Navy under the name Almirante Brown (D-20).

Awards

In addition to the United States Presidential Unit Citation, Heermann received the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation and nine battle stars for World War II service.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of Heermann at NavSource Naval History
• hazegray.org: USS Heermann
• The Battle Off Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf website by Robert Jon Cox