They were designed to be the best…
they met enemies face to face, endured tragedies and enjoyed victories…
they went down in history due to the bravery of their crews…
they are the ships that deserve to be called “Naval Legends!”
Naval Legends
In this episode:
USS The Sullivans, the second life of the heroic brothers
When speaking of World War II naval battles in the Pacific Theater,
we cannot neglect to mention the most widely-produced surface vessels of that time-destroyers,
and above all, the well-proven U.S. Fletcher-class.
The Fletcher class was designed in 1939,
and 175 Fletcher-class destroyers were commissioned from March 1941 to September 1944,
more than any other destroyer class in the global shipbuilding industry.
The Fletchers proved to be excellent combat vessels, and perhaps the best destroyers in World War II.
The Fletchers were a good combination of sea-keeping
and capability and the basic design became modified over time to make the Gearing and Sumner-class vessels as well.
The Fletchers hung around in service until the mid-to late 1960s and three of them are preserved now.
One of the remaining Fletchers is now anchored in Buffalo, New York.
The DD-537 has quite an unusual name: for the first time in the history of the U.S. Navy,
a ship was named in honor of several people- the five Sullivan brothers...
This is one of the most dramatic stories of any American family during World War II.
The five Sullivan brothers enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942,
with the stipulation that they serve together, despite the policy of separating siblings exercised by the Navy.
They were assigned to the light cruiser USS Juneau.
On November 13, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Juneau was sunk by a Japanese submarine.
The rescue operation to search for those who survived the attack was arranged only eight days later.
By that time, only ten sailors were still alive.
Unfortunately, none of the Sullivan brothers survived:
three of them died instantly, in the explosion of Juneau, and two drowned later, while waiting for rescue.
President Franklin Roosevelt sent a condolence letter to the parents of the brothers,
and eventually the Sole Survivor Policy was adopted in the USA.
This policy was designed to protect members of a family
from the draft or from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service.
In October 1942, in honor of the Sullivan brothers who lost their lives in action,
a destroyer originally laid down as Putnam was renamed The Sullivans.
On April 4, 1943, the ship was officially launched, in the presence of Alleta Sullivan, the mother of the brothers.
The Sullivans was commissioned in September 1943.
Total displacement: 2,924 t
Length: about 380 ft / 115 m (376 ft, 6 in /114. 76 m)
Beam: 39 ft / 12 m (39 ft, 8 in /12.09 m)
Draft: more than 13 ft / 4 m (13 ft, 1.5 in /4 m)
Armament:
5x5-in (127 mm) Mk.12 dual-purpose guns in five turrets
2x21-in (533 mm) quintuple torpedo tubes
6xK-gun depth charge throwers and depth charge tracks
Anti-aircraft artillery:
5x40-mm (5x56 caliber) twin Bofors guns
7x20-mm (7x78 caliber) Oerlikon cannons
Maximum speed: 35 knots
Range: 6,500 nautical miles at 15 knots
The living conditions on board this destroyer were very spartan by American standards.
Ice cream and soda, enjoyed by crews of battleships and aircraft carriers, would rarely be found on The Sullivans.
The crew members were housed in narrow crew quarters and small cabins, with virtually no privacy.
Compared to the crews of larger vessels, the ship's company of a destroyer faced much greater danger.
In battle, these ships would be the first line of defense, protecting the aircraft carriers, battleships, and transport ships.
However, the Fletcher-class destroyers could boast favorable survivability and other respectable characteristics…
The Fletchers were originally designed for ocean communications.
The Sullivans could get to San Francisco from Tokyo across the Pacific Ocean without refueling.
This was quite favorable self-sustainability: these vessels could escort battleships and aircraft carriers thousands of miles away from their bases.
Emergency diesel generators located in the bow and stern areas could be operated as alternatives to the main power plant in case of its breakdown.
All Fletcher-class destroyers were equipped with the standard armament.
However, the number of weapons, especially of the anti-aircraft artillery, changed many times.
There were no two equally armed Fletchers-their armament depended on the time period, the purpose of the destroyer, and its action area…
Destroyers found equal service in the Atlantic and in the Pacific.
Of course, in the Atlantic the primary threat was the U-boat, so at that point the most important weapon became ASDIC or sonar and the depth charges.
In the Pacific, of course, it's different.
The primary threat there was the aircraft.
So destroyers finding themselves in the Pacific often found themselves sprouting additional anti-aircraft weaponry to deal with this unique threat.
To fight against enemy submarines in the Atlantic Ocean,
the Fletcher-class destroyers were equipped with K-gun depth charge throwers
on the sides and stern depth charge racks with special rails.
At the end of the war, the destroyers were equipped with Hedgehog anti-submarine mortars.
The bombs exploded on contact with the hull of the submarine.
Sonars were used to search for submarines…
This was… perfection of the sonar came a long way during World War II.
It was very difficult to detect the submarine once it had dived under the surface,
and by sending out sound waves, if it did detect the submarine, these waves would be bounced back to the receiver.
It would show the ship the direction of the submarine and also the distance.
The Sullivans was assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
Her primary tasks in the squadron included torpedo attacks against enemy ships,
defending against enemy aircraft, and escorting battleships and aircraft carriers.
They could find themselves zigzagging through the large battery gunshots of cruisers
and battleships in order to attempt to make a torpedo attack.
With ten torpedo tubes, a single salvo from a Fletcher class ship
would be a serious threat to any capital ship of the opposing side.
And of course destroyers were never going around on their own.
There would always be a swarm of these little destroyers trying to get within range
and attacking from different angles making it almost impossible to evade torpedo attacks.
Torpedo armament was as important for destroyers as their main guns.
At first, the Mk.15 torpedoes had very low efficiency:
in some cases they did not explode even when they achieved a direct hit on the target.
However, by the time when The Sullivans was commissioned
and joined the Pacific Fleet, U.S. engineers had managed to dramatically increase the efficiency of torpedoes.
One of the great problems when dealing with the Japanese counterparts,
especially in the surface duel, was the range and quality of the American torpedoes.
The Japanese had a far superior weapon system-the Long Lance,
which was a massive ship killer, had huge range.
However, with the advantages of fire control system,
they could at least attack the enemy at night,
and, all of a sudden, by the end of the war the balance of power amongst
surface action duels at night had reverted back to the U.S. Navy.
And of course, right at the front, with the first radar system of the entire fleet in the area
that the Japanese would meet would be a destroyer.
The story was the same with detection of enemy aviation.
The balance of power shifted after the installation of improved radar systems on U.S.warships…
Before radars, when you were at sea you had to depend on eyesight.
The one who could see the target best at the beginning had the edge.
They would develop fine optics, telescopes and put them in the fire control instruments…
The Japanese had better optics at the beginning and they could see us before we could see them.
When we had radar, we could see them before they could see us.
…and on Fletchers it was a very important part of their three-pronged systems that they could use to attack targets,
cause they could use them for land targets, sea targets, and air targets.
And that was the whole mission of a ship like this,
full of various weapon systems; it had to bring it into contact with the enemy.
And then, you know, the weapons would be able to, you know, fulfill their purpose.
From the moment The Sullivans joined the Pacific Fleet until the end of World War II,
she actively participated in combat operations.
The ship protected the main fleet forces during the liberation of the Marshall Islands,
fought off Japanese aircraft during the assault of Roi and Namur Islands, and fired at western fortifications on Iwo Jima.
The Sullivans proved herself against the elements as well:
in 1944 she was battered by a powerful storm near Ulithi atoll.
In October, 1944, The Sullivans was escorting aircraft carriers that had participated in raids on Formosa and Ryukyu.
In the evening of October 12, the destroyer's radar detected enemy aircraft approaching from the north.
Less than an hour later, U.S. ships were attacked by five Japanese squadrons-approximately 60 aircraft.
As darkness fell, Japanese planes used illuminating flares burning with a ghostly light.
Their fire and smoke and the explosions of falling planes lit the battle with a sinister, flickering glow.
The Sullivans kept maneuvering, changing speed and course, while constantly firing at the enemy.
The first aircraft they shot down was a Mitsubishi G4M torpedo bomber,
the type the Americans nicknamed “Betty”.
In total, during the six-hour battle, the destroyer chalked up six enemy planes.
The next day the aircraft carriers again launched successful strikes on Formosa.
After retaliation from Japanese aviation, The Sullivans had to return to base,
screening a so-called “crippled division” consisting of two badly damaged cruisers.
On their way home the convoy came under attack once again -
the Japanese were determined to finish off the U.S. cruisers at any cost.
During this engagement The Sullivans shot down two “Frances” aircraft,
but only after one of them managed to score another torpedo hit against USS Houston.
After the battle, the crew of the destroyer rescued more than one hundred sailors
from the heavily damaged Houston and provided medical care to the wounded.
For his part in this operation, the ship's commander received his first Silver Star,
while The Sullivans was awarded one of her nine Battle Stars.
The end of the war found The Sullivans at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California,
where she was undergoing an overhaul.
With the return of peace, the Navy's need for warships was greatly reduced.
For this reason, at the beginning of 1946, soon after the repairs,
The Sullivans was decommissioned and mothballed.
The Sullivans remained mothballed at San Diego until the beginning of the Korean War.
On July 6, 1951, she was recommissioned.
For her combat actions near the Korean coast,
the ship received another two Battle Stars.
Later, in 1958 the destroyer supported the landing of U.S. Marines at Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.
In 1962 she joined U.S. forces blockading Cuba.
During the three subsequent years The Sullivans served as a training ship for the U.S. Navy.
A destroyer of the latest Arleigh Burke-class has now the glorious name The Sullivans.
As for the legendary DD-537, since 1977 she has been a part of the “third fleet of the world” -
an international association of museum ships.
The ship is currently anchored at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park
and anyone interested in naval history is welcome to come aboard.
Find out more about world of warships at our official website.