|
USS ''Bryant'' (DD-665) was a ''Fletcher''-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral Samuel W. Bryant (1877–1938). ''Bryant'' was launched 29 May 1943 by Charleston Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. Samuel W. Bryant, widow of Rear Admiral Bryant; and commissioned 4 December 1943, Commander Paul Laverne High in command. == 1944 == After fitting out at the Charleston Navy Yard, ''Bryant'' conducted a month-long shakedown cruise near Bermuda before returning to the Charleston Navy Yard on 28 February 1944 for a 10-day, post-shakedown availability. The destroyer then set sail for the Boston Navy Yard and arrived there on the 13th. Two days later, she and got underway for the Pacific as escorts for . The trio transited the Panama Canal on the 20th and then steamed north for a one-day replenishment stop at San Diego before heading on toward Hawaii. On 3 April, ''Bryant'' entered Pearl Harbor and, following three days of exercises there, devoted the remainder of April and the beginning of May to a yard availability to repair leaks in her reduction gear and fireroom hull. Her repairs completed, the warship conducted antisubmarine warfare patrols and participated in landing and bombardment exercises near Pearl Harbor during the latter half of May. She got underway on 29 May for Eniwetok, the staging area for the invasion of the Marianas. On 11 June, she set out for Saipan in the Northern Attack Force and spent D-Day, the 15th, in the transport screen. For the next month and a half, the destroyer patrolled the waters surrounding Saipan and Tinian on radar picket station, occasionally providing fire support and illuminating fire to help troops fighting ashore. ''Bryant'' returned to Eniwetok Atoll on 5 August and settled in alongside for 10 days of engineering repairs. Following a six-day tender availability at Purvis Bay, she stood out to sea on 6 September for the Palaus. During the morning watch of the 12th, ''Bryant'' approached Peleliu in the destroyer screen of Task Group 32.5 (TG 32.5), which consisted of the flagship , , , and . When firing positions had been achieved, the roar of the battlewagons’ guns heralded the opening of a three-day long pattern of rotating bombardment by air and sea. Daily, ''Bryant'' took leave of her screening duties with the capital ships to close the beach and dump 40-millimeter rounds on enemy positions which threatened the operations of the underwater demolition teams (UDTs). On 16 September, the day after the initial landings on Peleliu, Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson received Admiral William F. Halsey's order to "seize Ulithi as early as practicable…with resources at hand." ''Bryant'' served as part of the screen for the 323rd Regimental Combat Team tasked with occupying the atoll, needed as an advance base for operations to liberate the Philippines. The landings, which took place on 23 September, encountered no opposition because the Japanese garrison had already abandoned the islets and moved to Yap. A decision by the American high command to cancel the landings at Yap and Mindanao in favor of accelerating the timetable for operations against Leyte and Luzon afforded ''Bryant'' little time to replenish her depleted supply of fuel and ammunition. On 24 September, she departed Ulithi, made a brief stop at Kossol Roads, and reached Seeadler Harbor on the 28th for two weeks of voyage repairs, drills, and recreation. On 11 October, she "topped off" her fuel and commenced a week-long passage to Leyte Gulf. During the early morning hours of 20 October, ''Bryant'' stood off Leyte approximately from Catmon Hill conducting indirect fire in support of the troops landing with the Southern Attack Force near Dulag. Later in the day, she helped to silence a mortar position which had earlier damaged with a near miss. On the 21st, she joined TG 77.2 and readied herself to meet a Japanese attempt to force through Surigao Strait and destroy the American transports in Leyte Gulf. Surigao Strait — a waterway bracketed by Leyte and Panaon Islands to the north and west and by Mindanao and Dinagat Islands to the south and east — constitutes the southern approach to the gulf. Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf deployed his battleships and cruisers across the northern mouth of the strait and arrayed his destroyers on either flank. The Japanese strike force under Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura — composed of the battleships and , the heavy cruiser , and four destroyers — steamed into the strait from the south during mid-watch on the 25th. Deployed to the east side of the strait, ''Bryant'', , and comprised one of the three destroyer sections assigned to screen Rear Admiral Oldendorf's left-flank cruisers. By the time ''Bryant'' closed within range of the enemy column, many of his ships had been sunk or were burning as a consequence of the right-flank destroyers’ torpedo attack and the gunfire of the battleships and cruisers in the battle line. At 03:39, under the cover of salvos from the battleships and cruisers, the trio commenced their attack to the starboard side of the enemy battle line as it pressed northward. ''Bryant'' closed to and loosed a spread of five torpedoes, none of which found their target, and then retired unscathed to a position near Hibuson Island. After receiving word that American escort carriers had come under fire in the Battle off Samar, TG 77.2 discontinued pursuit of Nishimura's force and steamed to aid the baby flattops. When the task group arrived too late to influence events near Samar, it dispatched ''Bryant'' to a radar picket station between Suluan and Dinagat Islands. Although the majority of 7th Fleet units returned to Ulithi at the end of October to rest after the nearly-continuous operations of the summer, ''Bryant'', three battleships, four cruisers, and 12 other destroyers remained in Surigao Strait lest the Japanese attempt another thrust through that entrance to Leyte Gulf. No surface threat materialized, but the task group endured repeated air attacks on 1 November which, according to the destroyer's war diaries, the Japanese pilots pressed home with "fanatic determination." Though ''Bryant'' splashed one of the enemy dive bombers, the kamikaze suicide planes wreaked havoc on the destroyers, damaging five and sending to the bottom. After two more weeks of uneventful patrols in Surigao Strait, she departed those dangerous waters and headed for the Admiralty Islands, tallying an enemy plane en route. She reached Seeadler Harbor on 21 November and promptly commenced a much-needed six days of voyage repairs and replenishment. The destroyer set sail on the 28th, fueled from at sea, and reached Leyte Gulf on 2 December. She patrolled off Leyte for two weeks before anchoring in San Pedro Bay. There, ''Bryant'' joined the first resupply echelon bound for Mindoro since that island had been invaded on the 15th. The supply convoy departed late on the 19th with ''Bryant'', the primary fighter director for the convoy, responsible for coordinating combat air patrol (CAP). Two days into the voyage, she stood a severe test on that capability. Following an inconsequential dawn raid by two Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" Army fighters, the Japanese fell upon the convoy that evening with a tenacious attack involving approximately 30 planes. As the enemy pilots pressed toward the landing ships located in the center of the formation, antiaircraft fire from ''Bryant'' felled one enemy flier and assisted in the splashing of another. However, three "Oscars" broke through the screen and crashed into ''LST-460'', ''LST-749'', and the Liberty ship ''Juan de Fuca'', sending both of the amphibious ships to the bottom. The next morning, the convoy reached Mindoro, and the destroyers formed a circular screen about five miles (8 km) from the beach to cover the unloading of the remaining landing ships. At 09:45, as ''Bryant'' waited on station, her commanding officer sighted a Mitsubishi A6M "Zeke" fighter at . The pilot commenced a suicide run, and the destroyer maneuvered furiously to unmask her battery to starboard. Despite hits from ''Bryants 20-millimeter and 40-millimeter guns, the kamikaze seemed destined to strike her at the number 2 stack. However, the plane overshot the target, the right wing narrowly clearing a 40-millimeter mount, and splashed away just even with the bridge. As the plane disappeared beneath the waves, it exploded, showering the agile warship with fragments of the tail assembly. These punctured her portside shell plating in numerous places and injured one of her crewmen. That evening, after the LSTs unloaded, the convoy reformed and returned to Leyte where ''Bryant'' anchored for the remainder of the year. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Bryant (DD-665)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|