Fletcher-class destroyer
USS
Cassin Young
(DD-793)
is a
Fletcher
-class
destroyer
of the
United States Navy
named for
Captain
Cassin Young
(1894?1942), who was awarded the
Medal of Honor
for his heroism at the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
and killed in the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
in the fall of 1942.
Cassin Young
(DD-793) was
launched
12 September 1943 by
Bethlehem Shipbuilding
,
San Pedro, Los Angeles
; sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Young; and
commissioned
on 31 December 1943.
After serving in
World War II
, including the
Battle of Leyte Gulf
and the
Battle of Okinawa
,
Cassin Young
was decommissioned, but was reactivated during the
Korean War
and continued in active service until 1960. She is preserved today as a
memorial ship
, berthed at
Boston Navy Yard
in
Massachusetts
, across from the
USS
Constitution
. She was designated a
National Historic Landmark
in 1986 as one of only four surviving
Fletcher
-class destroyers still afloat.
The
USS Cassin Young
can now be visited seasonally free of charge in the Boston Navy Yard at
Boston National Historical Park
.
Service history
[
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]
1944
[
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]
Cassin Young
arrived at
Pearl Harbor
19 March 1944 to complete her training before sailing on to
Manus
, where she joined the massive
Fast Carrier Task Force
(then called TF 58, at other times called TF 38, depending on whether the overall organization was called
5th Fleet
or
3rd Fleet
). On 28 April, this force sortied for air attacks on Japanese strongholds at
Truk
,
Woleai
,
Satawan
, and
Ponape
, during which
Cassin Young
operated as a
picket ship
, assigned to warn her group of possible enemy counterattack.
She returned to
Majuro
, and then Pearl Harbor for further training before reporting to
Eniwetok
on 11 June to join the screen of
escort carriers
assigned to covering duty in the invasion of
Saipan
four days later. In addition to radar picket and screening duty, she was also called upon for inshore fire support. As the battle for Saipan raged ashore, escort carriers of
Cassin Young
'
s group launched attacks on the island, as well as sorties to neutralize enemy air fields on
Tinian
,
Rota
, and
Guam
. Similar operations supporting the subsequent assaults on Tinian and Guam claimed the services of
Cassin Young
until 13 August, when she returned to Eniwetok to replenish.
Between 29 August and 2 October 1944,
Cassin Young
guarded the carriers of Task Group 38.3 as strikes were flown from their decks to hit targets on
Palau
,
Mindanao
, and
Luzon
in support of the assault on the Palaus, stepping-stone to the Philippines. Only four days after her return from this mission to
Ulithi
,
Cassin Young
sailed on 6 October with the same force on duty in the accelerated schedule for the Philippines assault. First on the schedule were air strikes on
Okinawa
, Luzon, and
Formosa
; these led to the furious
Formosa Air Battle
of 10 to 13 October, during which the Japanese tried to destroy the carrier strength of the imposing TF 38. On 14 October, the
cruiser
Reno
was struck by a
kamikaze
, which wounded five of
Cassin Young
'
s men with machine gun fire.
Cassin Young
aided in shooting down several aircraft in this attack.
On 18 October 1944, TF 38 took position east of Luzon to launch strikes immobilizing enemy air fields there in preparation for the
assault on Leyte
two days later. After standing by to render support if called upon during the initial landings,
Cassin Young
'
s group began to search for the enemy forces known to be moving toward
Leyte Gulf
on 23 October, and next day moved in toward
San Bernardino Strait
, ready to launch strikes. In the most vigorous and successful air attack mounted by the Japanese during the Leyte operation, at 09:38 on 24 October, an enemy bomb struck the aircraft carrier
Princeton
, and
Cassin Young
rejoined TG 38.3 for the dash northward to attack the
Japanese Northern Force
. This developed on 25 October into the
Battle off Cape Engano
, a series of air strikes in which four Japanese carriers and a destroyer were sunk.
1945
[
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]
Cassin Young
continued operations in support of the Leyte conquest, as her carriers continued to range widely, striking at enemy bases on Okinawa, Formosa, and Luzon. With Ulithi as her base, the destroyer screened carriers during the January 1945
South China Sea raid
as their aircraft pounded away at Formosa, Luzon,
Camranh Bay
,
Hong Kong
,
Canton
, and the
Nansei Shoto
in their support for the assault on Luzon. A brief overhaul at Ulithi prepared her for the operations supporting the
invasion of Iwo Jima
with air strikes on
Honshu
and Okinawa, the bombardment of
Parece Vela
, and screening off
Iwo Jima
itself during the initial assault on 19 February.
Okinawa
[
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]
Cassin Young
returned to Ulithi, where she was attached to
Task Force 54
(TF 54)
for the
invasion of Okinawa
, for which she sailed from Ulithi 22 March 1945. After screening heavy ships in the massive pre-invasion bombardment,
Cassin Young
moved inshore to support the activities of
underwater demolition teams
preparing the beaches. On invasion day itself, 1 April, the destroyer offered fire support in the assault areas, then took up radar picket duty. As the Japanese air arm had been decimated by this point in the war, the lack of trained and experienced pilots led to its most extensive deployment of
kamikaze
attacks
during this battle; on 6 April,
Cassin Young
experienced her first
kamikaze
action, rescuing the survivors of two nearby destroyers that were sunk.
[2]
12 April Kamikaze damage
[
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]
On 12 April, a massive wave of
kamikazes
came in at midday.
Cassin Young
'
s accurate gunfire had aided in shooting down five aircraft, but a sixth crashed high-up into her foremast, exploding in midair only 50 feet (15 m) from the ship. Surprisingly only one man was killed, TM3cT Robert Dean "Bobby" Moore, 19, of Enid, Oklahoma. 58 were wounded, many seriously.
Cassin Young
, although damaged, made it to
Kerama Retto
under her own power.
[3]
After repairs there and at Ulithi, she returned to Okinawa on 31 May, and resumed radar picket duty.
29 July Kamikaze strike
[
edit
]
As the
kamikaze
attacks continued,
Cassin Young
had respite only during two brief
convoy
escort voyages to the
Marianas
. On 28 July, her group was again a prime target for the Japanese, with one destroyer sunk and another badly damaged by
kamikazes
. During the engagement,
Cassin Young
assisted in shooting down two enemy aircraft, and rescued survivors from the sunken ship. The next day, she was struck for the second time, when a low-flying aircraft hit her starboard side, striking her fire control room. A tremendous explosion amidships was followed by fire, but the crew managed to restore power to one engine, get the flames under control, and had the ship underway for the safety of Kerama Retto within 20 minutes. Twenty-two men were killed and 45 wounded. For her determined service and gallantry in the Okinawa radar picket line she was awarded the
Navy Unit Commendation
.
1946
[
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]
Cassin Young
cleared
Okinawa
8 August and headed home for repairs. Arriving home in San Pedro, California she was fully repaired, and then decommissioned and placed in reserve in
San Diego
on 28 May 1946.
[4]
1951?1960
[
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]
Recommissioned 8 September 1951, she cleared San Diego on 4 January 1952 for her new home port,
Newport, Rhode Island
. In September 1952 she entered Dry Dock #1 in the
Boston Navy Yard
for the first of four major overhauls she would undergo in this shipyard. At this time the ship was updated to its current configuration. Two
Hedgehog
anti-submarine (ASW) launchers and two torpedo carriages for the
Mark 32 torpedo
were added, with one
21 inch (533 mm)
quintuple torpedo tube mount removed. Also, four
40 mm Bofors
twin mounts were replaced by two quadruple mounts. The forward pole mast was replaced by a tripod mast to accommodate improved radar and electronics systems. Local operations and refresher training in the Caribbean preceded a period of antisubmarine exercises off
Florida
from 7 May to 12 June 1953. Her first tour of duty with the
6th Fleet
in the Mediterranean took place from 16 September to 30 November 1953. After another period of local operations, and exercises in the Caribbean Sea early in 1954, she cleared Newport on 3 May for a round-the-world cruise, which included exercises with the
7th Fleet
in the western Pacific, patrols off
Korea
, and good-will visits to Far Eastern and Mediterranean ports. She returned to Newport on 28 November 1954. Her operations from that time until 1960 included training exercises in the Caribbean and off the eastern seaboard as well as tours of duty in the Mediterranean in 1956, winter 1956?57, and 1959, and a round of visits to ports of northern Europe in 1958. During that last overseas deployment an issue was discovered with her rudder that put her into dry dock in France. At that point the repair costs outweighed retaining the aging ship. Consequently, on 6 February 1960 she arrived at
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
to be decommissioned. The ship was put into long-term storage at the
Philadelphia
Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility
29 April 1960.
[4]
1974?present
[
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]
Cassin Young
was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register
on 1 December 1974. The US Navy has permanently loaned
Cassin Young
to the
National Park Service
, to be preserved as a floating memorial ship berthed at the Boston Navy Yard, part of the
Boston National Historical Park
(BNHP) in Boston, Massachusetts, across from
Constitution
. She arrived on 15 June 1978 and was opened to the public in 1981. The ship is maintained and operated by the National Park Service
[4]
and Cassin Young Volunteers.
[5]
She was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
and designated a
National Historic Landmark
in 1986, as a well-preserved example of the
Fletcher
-class destroyer, the most numerous class of destroyer produced by the United States during World War II.
[1]
[6]
In late July 2010,
Cassin Young
closed to the public in preparation for dry-docking. On 9 August 2010, she was moved into Historic Dry Dock #1 in BNHP for the first time in 30 years for some much needed repairs to her hull. On 4 September 2012, the ship was closed to the public to allow contractors to make final repairs to the hull. She returned to her position at Pier 1 on 14 May 2013. On 4 June 2013, she was moved to the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston while repairs were made to her berth in Charlestown.
[
citation needed
]
By September 2013, she had returned to her museum berth.
Three other
Fletcher
-class ships are preserved as memorials:
Awards
[
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]
Gallery
[
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]
-
In dry dock December 2012
-
Bow with anchors aweigh
-
"Battery 51" (most forward 5"/38 gun turret)
-
Batteries "51" and "52" (Note Mk 25 fire control radar atop turret)
-
DESRON 30 emblem on forward stack; note torpedoes aft of AA guns
-
40 mm Bofors AA guns
-
Bell and lifebuoy
-
Awards
-
Batteries "54" and "55" (aft most 5"/38 gun turret)
-
Inside a Mark 12 5"/38 caliber gun turret
-
Depth charges
-
Operating room
-
Office
-
Repair Locker (for Damage Control)
-
Galley
See also
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References
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Bibliography
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External links
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