John W. Brock

USS ''Brock'' (APD-93), ex-DE-234, was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1947.

Namesake

John Wiley Brock was born in New Brockton, Alabama, on 15 August 1914. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 12 May 1936 at Birmingham, Alabama. After basic training at the Naval Training Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia, he reported on board the battleship ) on 5 February 1937.

Transferred to Naval Air Station Norfolk on 21 May 1937, Brock was assigned to the receiving ship at Naval Operating Base Norfolk, serving as part of the detail fitting out the new aircraft carrier . During duty at Naval Air Station Norfolk which followed, he was advanced to the rate of seaman first class on 1 September 1937. On 30 September 1937, Brock was assigned to the staff of the Commander, Carrier Division 2, Rear Admiral Charles Adams Blakely. Promoted to aviation ordnanceman third class on 16 February 1938, Brock was transferred to Torpedo Squadron 6 soon afterward, on 15 April 1938.

On 13 April 1939, Brock was assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, where he underwent flight training as a naval enlisted pilot. Promoted to aviation ordnanceman second class on 16 December 1939, he rejoined Torpedo Squadron 6 on 10 May 1940, remaining in that squadron until autumn, when he received orders to Naval Training Station Norfolk. While serving there, he was advanced in rate to aviation ordnanceman 1st class on 16 November 1940. After a brief assignment to the receiving ship at Naval Base San Diego at San Diego, California, he joined the oiler on 30 June 1941, and ultimately reported to Torpedo Squadron 6 for a third time, on 2 August 1941. He was commissioned as an ensign on 21 April 1942, and attained the permanent rate of pilot first class on 30 April 1942.

During the Battle of Midway on the morning of 4 June 1942 he took off from the aircraft carrier in one of Torpedo Squadron 6s 14 Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers. In the course of the flight toward the Imperial Japanese Navys "Mobile Force" of aircraft carriers, the fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes of ''Enterprise''s attack group became separated from one another. Thus unable to carry out a coordinated attack as doctrine dictated, Torpedo Squadron 6 went in unsupported by fighters or dive bombers, and 10 of its fourteen planes were shot down.

During the melee, as Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters vigorously attacked Torpedo Squadron 6, Brock lifted the nose of his plane to bring his fixed, forward-firing machine gun to bear on a Japanese fighter, only to be shot down moments later. His TBD-1, aircraft 6-T-14, crashed into the sea, and neither Brock nor his radio-gunner, Aviation Radioman Third Class J. M. Blundell, survived. For his part in the attack carried out by Torpedo Squadron 6, Brock was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.

Construction and commissioning

''Brock'' was laid down as the ''Rudderow''-class destroyer escort USS ''Brock'' (DE-234) on 27 October 1943 by the Charleston Navy Yard and launched as such on 20 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. James W. Brock, mother of the ships namesake, Ensign John W. Brock. The ship was reclassified as a ''Crosley''-class high-speed transport and redesignated APD-93 on 17 July 1944. After conversion to her new role, the ship was commissioned on 9 February 1945.

Service history

World War II

After fitting out, ''Brock'' departed Charleston Navy Yard on 2 March 1945 bound for Cuba. Reaching Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 4 March 1945, she conducted shakedown training until 19 March 1945, when she headed for Hampton Roads, Virginia. Following post-shakedown repairs and alterations at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, ''Brock'' embarked passengers at the nearby Naval Operating Base Norfolk at Norfolk, Virginia, on 8 April 1945 and got underway for the Panama Canal Zone shortly thereafter as escort for the Pacific-bound attack cargo ships USS ''Seminole'' (AKA-104) and USS ''Mathews (AKA-96).

''Brock'' transited the Panama Canal on 14 April 1945 and, on 15 April 1945, departed for California. She reached San Diego, California, on 23 April 1945, but remained there only 18 hours before putting to sea for Hawaii with United States Marine Corps replacements embarked. She reached Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 2 May 1945 and soon thereafter conducted amphibious demolition exercises with an embarked underwater demolition team.

On 12 May 1945, ''Brock'' sailed for the Marshall Islands in company with high-speed transport USS ''Kane'' (APD-18) and the attack transports USS ''Garrard'' (APA-84) and USS ''Sevier'' (APA-233). She reached Eniwetok on 21 May 1945 and, on 22 May 1945, sailed for Ulithi Atoll in the western Caroline Islands. Entering Ulithi lagoon on 24 May 1945, ''Brock'' dropped anchor; her officers and enlisted men enjoyed liberty at Mog Mog.

On 31 May 1945, ''Brock'' left that Ulitihi Atoll in her wake, bound for the Philippines, and reached San Pedro Bay, Leyte, in the Philippine Islands on 3 June 1945. Pausing there for four days, Brock joined company with ''Kane'' once more and departed on 7 June 1945 to escort a convoy to the Ryukyu Islands. Upon reaching Kerama Retto on 12 June 1945, ''Brock'' drew duty on a screening station off the southeastern coast of Okinawa, where the Okinawa campaign was drawing to a close. She operated in those waters until 19 June 1945, when she switched to a station between Ie Shima and Okinawa.

On the evening of 23 June 1945, orders sent ''Brock'' 20 nautical miles (37 kilometers) to seaward to rescue a downed pilot, who turned out to be First Lieutenant Gustave T. Broberg, USMCR, a former all-American basketball player from Dartmouth College. The former Ivy Leaguer had been forced down while returning from a mission over Formosa and uninjured, had been in the water two hours.

On 26 June 1945, ''Brock'' encountered the enemy. While steaming independently on antisubmarine screening station E-23, approximately two nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) northeast of Ie Shima, ''Brock'' detected an unidentified radar contact, or " bogey," at 01:13 hours, 15 nautical miles (28 kilometers) away and closing. As she tracked the intruder, ''Brock''s commanding officer ordered her speed cut to five knots (9.25 kilometers per hour) to reduce her wake and to permit rapid acceleration if necessary and had the helmsman steer directly into the moon to reduce her silhouette. The barrels of ''Brock''s after 40-millimeter antiaircraft guns followed the "bogey"—itself apparently unaware of ''Brock''s presence—as it flew within 1,000 yards (914 meters) of ''Brock''. Suddenly, the Japanese pilot detected ''Brock'' and veered off sharply toward her starboard quarter. ''Brock''s starboard 20-millimeter and 40-millimeter guns aft opened fire at point-blank range, "positively and unmistakably"This quote, from the ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b9/brock-i.htm) is unattributed. hitting the plane, which observers identified as a Mitsubishi J2M "Jack" single-engine Imperial Japanese Navy fighter. The "Jack" paralleled ''Brock''s course until her forward 40-millimeter guns could no longer depress to fire. When the "Jack" reached a point about 1,500 yards (1,372 meters) ahead of ''Brock'', it started a turn back toward the ship, perhaps intending to crash into her, but then went out of control and crashed, leaving only a burning gasoline slick to mark its resting place.

On 1 July 1945, ''Brock'' departed Okinawa bound for the Philippines in company with three other high-speed transports, USS ''Osmond Ingram'' (APD-35), USS ''Crosley'' (APD-87) and USS ''Joseph E. Campbell'' (APD-45) and two submarine chasers, USS ''SC-1012'' and USS ''SC-1474''. Arriving in San Pedro Bay at Leyte on 6 July 1945, ''Brock'' reported for duty with the Philippine Sea Frontiers forces and carried out local patrols for the remainder of World War II, which ended on 15 August 1945.

Postwar

Winding up her Philippine Sea Frontier duty, ''Brock'' set course for Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea, on 20 August 1945 and crossed the equator for the first time on 23 August 1945; in the traditional " Neptune Ceremonies," her 33 " shellbacks" duly initiated nearly 200 " pollywogs," including the commanding officer and 10 of the 12 officers on board. Later that day, ''Brock'' dropped anchor in Humboldt Bay, New Guinea. On 27 August 1945, she set a return course for the Philippines, and she reached Leyte on 31 August 1945.

Heading for Manila on Luzon on 1 September 1945, ''Brock'' reached Manila on 3 September 1945. Underway again on 7 September 1945, ''Brock'' and destroyer escort USS ''Ebert'' (DE-768) sailed for Japan, escorting 22 attack transports which bore United States Eighth Army

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