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USS ''Marsh'' (DE-699) was a of the United States Navy, named after Ensign Benjamin R. Marsh, Jr., USNR, who was killed on board the battleship during the attack on Pearl Harbor. ''Marsh'' was laid down on 23 June 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan. She was launched on 25 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ben R. Marsh, mother of Ensign Marsh; and commissioned on 12 January 1944, with Lieutenant Commander P. M. Fenton in command. == World War II == Following a Bermuda shakedown cruise, ''Marsh'' conducted training exercises and escorted convoys along the northeast coast. On 25 March, she steamed from New York, heading for Plymouth, England, on her first trans-Atlantic convoy. She returned to the East Coast on 1 May, and on 23 May, sailed for the coast of North Africa. The destroyer escort accompanied two more convoys between those coasts before being assigned to the Mediterranean Theater. Entering the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar on 9 July, ''Marsh'' escorted convoys between North Africa, Malta, and southern Italy until mid-August. On 14 August, she sailed from Naples with the assault forces for "Operation Dragoon", the invasion of Southern France. She remained in the Mediterranean for the next month providing gunfire support and convoying supplies in the area. With the successful establishment of another major crack in the crumbling front of the Third Reich, ''Marsh'' was reassigned to the Pacific. She departed Mers El Kébir, Algeria, on 28 September, transited the Panama Canal in mid-October, and arrived at Eniwetok on 20 December. For the next five months, she escorted convoys to Guam, Saipan, Ulithi, and Iwo Jima. In May 1945, ''Marsh'' joined in the active pacification of bypassed islands in the Marianas. Broadcasting propaganda messages in Japanese and Okinawan, she sailed among the various islands of that group, including Asuncion, Anatahan, Alamagan, Sarigan, Maug, and Agrihan, taking on prisoners as they surrendered. Where the broadcasts were not successful, she escorted landing parties and provided gunfire support for the completion of their missions. By mid-July, resistance on some islands remained stiff. ''Marsh'', flagship of the Northern Marianas Expeditionary Force, continued to lead her small force against the holdouts in order to provide safe-ditch areas for pilots returning to Allied bases from raids on the enemy's home islands. With the securing of the islands, weather stations and aircraft beacons were set up to further aid the pilots. On 11 August, ''Marsh'' detached from the Expeditionary Force, and sailed for Okinawa. Resuming escort duties, she steamed back to the Marianas and then on to Tokyo. Departing Tokyo on 31 August, she sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 24 September. Then she took on equipment which transformed her into a mobile power unit. In this conversion, an electric generator and power cables replaced her torpedo tubes. With this new asset, she returned to Guam on 26 October to provide ship-to-shore power services until the end 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 Marsh (DE-699)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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