USS ''Mack'' (DE-358) was a in service with the

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 ...

from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1973.

Namesake

Harold John Mack was born on 29 December 1917 in

LeMars, Iowa Le Mars is the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. It is located on the Floyd River northeast of Sioux City, Iowa, Sioux City. The population was 10,571 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Le Mars is part ...

. He enlisted in the United States Navy on 18 May 1938. He reported to on 14 September 1938 after completing training at

Great Lakes, Illinois Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center ...

. During the

Battle of Savo Island The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as the Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a naval battle of the Solomon Islands ca ...

on 9 August 1942,

Gunner's Mate The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard occupational rating of gunner's mate (GM) is a designation given by the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS) to enlisted sailors who either satisfactorily complete initial Gunner's Mate "A" scho ...

2/c Mack was incapacitated by severe wounds in both legs. In spite of his injuries he continued to fulfill his duties as gun captain until ordered to abandon ship. After the loss of the ship, Mack was reported missing in action and was declared dead on 10 August 1943. He was posthumously awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

History

The warship was launched on 11 April 1944 by

Consolidated Steel Consolidated Steel Corporation (formed 18 December 1928) was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created in 1929 by the merg ...

Corp., Shipbuilding Division at

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Houst ...

, sponsored by Mrs. Gertrude Mack, mother of the ship's namesake. The destroyer escort was commissioned on 16 August 1944.

Pacific Theatre operations

After initial

shakedown Shakedown may refer to: * Shakedown (continuum mechanics), a type of plastic deformation * Shakedown (testing) or a shakedown cruise, a period of testing undergone by a ship, airplane or other craft before being declared operational * Extortion, ...

exercises off the

U.S. East Coast The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard ...

, ''Mack'' assembled with ComCortDiv 82 at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, 17 to 20 October 1944, and departed on 21 November for the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

en route to the Pacific Ocean. Becoming a unit of the U.S. 7th Fleet ''Mack'' escorted convoys between Hollandia,

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Kossol Roads Kossol Roads is a large body of reef-enclosed water north of Babeldaob in northern Palau at .Kossol Roads
a ...

Palau Islands Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

, and

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

until March 1945. On 2 March she commenced

antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

patrols in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

off the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Investigating

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...

contact on 13 March, ''Mack'' grounded on an uncharted shoal in

Mangarin Bay Mangarin Bay is a bay of the South China Sea, on the west coast of Mindoro island, in Occidental Mindoro Province of the Philippines. The bay is shoal, and sheltered from the wind by Mangarin Point to the east and by Ilin Island. Magarin Poin ...

, damaging both screws and tall shafts. Towed to Hollandia for repairs, which lasted from 14 April to 4 June, she returned to escort duty between Hollandia and

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

on 14 June. A month later ''Mack'' commenced working for the port director, Manila, escorting ships to San Fernando,

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, until 3 August when she was placed under the authority of the port director, Subic, and escorted a convoy of

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. Pr ...

from

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Subi ...

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

End-of-war activity

Two days after the signing of the surrender terms, ''Mack'' began

air-sea rescue Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...

patrols between the Philippines and the

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

s, returning to escort duty on 16 August to accompany a slow tow through the “

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

belt" to

. Completing that assignment, she commenced air sea rescue patrols east of

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

Philippine Islands The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Relieved of this duty on 6 December, ''Mack'' got underway for Okinawa and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

on 8 December, returning to

on 27 December.

Collision at sea

While standing by for escort duty at San Fernando, 10 January 1946, ''Mack'' answering a distress call from ''FS-74'', proceeded through heavy weather to the disabled ship's position. In the course of passing much needed food and water to the crew of ''FS-74'', the two ships collided, causing damage to ''Mack''s bow (11 January). ''Mack'' returned to San Fernando and escorted the waiting ships to

, remaining at Subic for three weeks undergoing repairs and holding drills.

Operations in the China area

Departing Subic Bay 11 February, ''Mack'' joined

Escort Division The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, 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 worl ...

33 and set course for

Tsingtao Qingdao (, also spelled Tsingtao; , Mandarin: ) is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city's name in Chinese characters literally means " azure island". Located on China's Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt ...

, China, where the U.S. 7th Fleet was lending support to the U.S.-China policy; standing by to protect, if necessary, American interests during the fighting between the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

forces and the

Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

. Arriving on 20 February, ''Mack'' took part in training exercises off the China coast and made brief trips to

and

Taku Taku may refer to: Places North America * the Taku River, in Alaska and British Columbia ** Fort Taku, also known as Fort Durham and as Taku, a former fort of the Hudson's Bay Company near the mouth of the Taku River ** the Taku Glacier, in Ala ...

before departing Chinese waters on 15 April, for

to take on naval passengers en route to the United States. Arriving at

San Pedro, Los Angeles San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

on 11 May 1946 ''Mack'' debarked her passengers, unloaded her ammunition and began undergoing a period of inactivation and preservation.

Post-war decommissioning

''Mack'' was placed out of commission in reserve on 11 December 1946 at

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 ...

, California. She was placed in the Pacific inactive Fleet, berthed at

Mare Island, California Mare Island ( Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the eas ...

. On 15 March 1972 she was struck from the

Navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...

, and, on 13 June 1973, she was sold for scrap.

References

External links

NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive - USS ''Mack'' (DE-358)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mack John C. Butler-class destroyer escorts World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Ships built in Orange, Texas 1944 ships