USS ''Jarvis'' (DD-393), was a and the second of three

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ships to be named after James C. Jarvis, a U.S. Navy

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

who was killed at the age of 13 during the Quasi-War with France. She saw service in the Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and participated in the

invasion of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and Code name, codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalca ...

. The destroyer was sunk to the south of

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

on 9 August 1942, with all hands - one of only two American major surface warships to be lost in World War II with no survivors.

Construction and service history

The second ''Jarvis'' (DD-393) was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

by Puget Sound Navy Yard,

Bremerton, Washington Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerto ...

on 21 August 1935 and launched on 6 May 1937; sponsored by Mrs Thomas T Craven, wife of Vice Admiral Craven. ''Jarvis'' was commissioned on 27 October 1937. Clearing

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

on 4 January 1938, ''Jarvis'' operated along the

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

coast and in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

until 1 April 1940 when she departed

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

for fleet exercises off the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

. She arrived at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

on 26 April, patrolled the Pacific to Midway and

Johnston Island Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States, currently administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Johnston Atoll is a National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine Nation ...

s and steamed to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, arriving on 8 February 1941 for an overhaul. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 17 April to commence more than seven months of maneuvers as part of Destroyer Division Eight (DesDiv 8) of Destroyer Squadron Four, she put into Pearl Harbor on 4 December following exercises off

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

Island.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Three days later the Japanese executed an

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

. Moored next to in berth B6 of the Navy yard for minor repairs, ''Jarvis'' opened fire with 5-inch guns and machine guns and made preparations to get underway. Her gunners claimed four aircraft destroyed, as the first wave of

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s attacked

Battleship Row Battleship Row was the grouping of eight U.S. battleships in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941. These ships bore the brunt of the Japanese assault. They were moored next to Ford Island when the attack co ...

with torpedoes and bombs. Ensign W. F. Greene made the following entry in ''Jarvis'' Deck Log: "0758 Hostilities with Japan commenced with an air raid on Pearl Harbor. Went to General Quarters." Emerging from the attack with no loss of crew and only superficial damage, ''Jarvis'' sortied that morning with several

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

s and destroyers to conduct surveillance and

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

(ASW) patrols.

First war cruises

On 16 December she cleared Pearl Harbor with the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

and joined Task Force 14, steaming to relieve the beleaguered defenders on

Wake Atoll Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

. The task force was recalled to Pearl Harbor on 23 December after the rescue mission was aborted. ''Jarvis'' returned to Pearl Harbor on 29 December to resume ASW patrols. While operating with the carrier and her screening cruisers, ''Jarvis'' help rescue 182 survivors of the fleet oiler six hours after she was torpedoed on 23 January 1942. ''Jarvis'' departed Pearl Harbor on 5 February to escort a convoy to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia. Following her return on 27 March, the destroyer sailed on 8 April for San Francisco to undergo alterations with the other ships of DesRon Four. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 18 May escorting 13 ships and proceeded five days later via

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. Arriving on 18 June, ''Jarvis'' commenced convoy escort and ASW patrols from Australia to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, continuing with this duty until she was tasked to participate in the invasion of

Guadalcanal campaign

Sailing from Sydney on 14 July, ''Jarvis'' arrived in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand, on 19 July to join Task Force 62. The task force sailed on 22 July for the Solomons. After conducting rehearsal landings in the Fiji Islands from 28 to 30 July, the invasion force of 84 ships and 20,000

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

steamed for Guadalcanal on 31 July. Protected from Japanese search planes by rain and heavy mist, the force arrived off the landing beaches at dawn on 7 August. Following naval and air bombardment of enemy defenses, the first amphibious operation of the war commenced at 0650. ''Jarvis'' patrolled as part of the protective screen while Marines established a beachhead. As landing operations progressed, the Allied forces expected the Japanese to strike at the transports with land-based aircraft. However, during the two attacks that occurred that afternoon, the American ships sustained only minor damage and claimed to have destroyed 14 attacking aircraft. Following a night patrol off the southern end of Savo Island, ''Jarvis'' returned to

Lunga Point Lunga Point is a promontory on the northern coast of Guadalcanal, the site of a naval battle during World War II. It was also the name of a nearby airfield, later named Henderson Field. is also the name of a United States Navy escort carrier ...

to screen the unloading transports. The warning of an impending air attack suspended these operations and the transports and their protective screen deployed in the body of water between Guadalcanal and

Florida Island The Nggela Islands, also known as the Florida Islands, are a small island group in the Central Province of Solomon Islands, a sovereign state (since 1978) in the southwest Pacific Ocean. The chain is composed of four larger islands and about ...

, soon to be called " Ironbottom Sound". When enemy torpedo bombers appeared around noon on 8 August, they met by heavy

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

fire. Only 9 of the 26 planes penetrated the defensive fire, but they set the attack transport on fire and torpedoed ''Jarvis'' as she maneuvered between the heavy cruiser . Although anti-aircraft fire destroyed the aircraft, its torpedo exploded against ''Jarvis'' starboard side near the forward fireroom, stopping her dead in the water and killing 14 crewmen. Her crew jettisoned the port torpedoes and brought the fires under control. The destroyer towed her to shallow anchorage off

and after the attack, she crossed to

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...

, where she transferred her seven wounded and conducted temporary repairs. Despite a gash in her side, she was considered seaworthy and ordered to proceed under cover of darkness to Efate,

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

, escorted by the

destroyer minesweeper Destroyer minesweeper was a designation given by the United States Navy to a series of destroyers that were converted into high-speed ocean-going minesweepers for service during World War II. The hull classification symbol for this type of ship was ...

. Unaware of this order as her radios had been disabled, her commanding officer, Lt. Comdr. William W. Graham Jr, decided to steam to Sydney, Australia, for repairs from the destroyer tender . Unnoticed by her own ships, ''Jarvis'' departed Tulagi at midnight on 9 August and moved slowly westward between Savo Island and

Cape Esperance Cape Esperance () is the northernmost point on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. History The Battle of Cape Esperance, one of several naval engagements fought in the waters north of the island during the World War II Guadalcanal campaign, took its n ...

. At 0134 she passed northward of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Mikawa's attacking cruiser force, as they commenced the Battle of Savo Island. Mistaking her for a cruiser of the New Zealand ''Achilles'' class, the destroyer briefly engaged her with gunfire and torpedoes, without effect. The destroyer, continuing to retire westward, had little speed, no radio communications, and few operational guns but she refused aid from the destroyer upon being sighted at 0325. After daybreak a ''Saratoga''-based scout plane sighted her 40 miles off Guadalcanal, trailing fuel oil and down by the bow.

Loss of ''Jarvis''

The Japanese, still mistaking ''Jarvis'' for an escaping cruiser, dispatched 31 planes from

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

to search out and destroy her. Once discovered, the badly damaged destroyer was no match for bombers raking the ship with bullets and torpedoes. According to Japanese records, ''Jarvis'' "split and sank" at 1300 on 9 August. None of her 233 remaining crew survived. ''Jarvis'' received three battle stars for World War II service.

References

Roll of HonorInterview with Lester Hartley USS ''Jarvis'' about the attack on Pearl Harbor at YouTube

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis (DD-393) Bagley-class destroyers World War II destroyers of the United States Ships built in Bremerton, Washington Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor Shipwrecks in Ironbottom Sound 1937 ships Destroyers sunk by aircraft Warships lost in combat with all hands Maritime incidents in August 1942 Ships sunk by Japanese aircraft