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 ...
, was named in honor of Ensign Jean C. Witter (1921–1942), who was killed in action aboard the heavy cruiser during the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, sometimes referred to as the Third and Fourth Battles of Savo Island, the Battle of the Solomons, the Battle of Friday the 13th, or, in Japanese sources, the , took place from 12 to 15 November 1942, and was t ...
on the night of 12–13 November 1942.
''Witter'' was laid down on 28 April 1943 at
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 ...
, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Company, launched on 17 October 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Jean C. Witter, and commissioned on December 29 1943.
Service history
To the Gilbert and Solomon Islands
''Witter'' departed San Francisco on 18 January 1944 and began her
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, ...
training. During that cruise, she visited
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 ...
and then underwent post-shakedown repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard before returning to San Francisco at the end of February. On March 8, she stood out of San Francisco and steamed, via
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 ...
, to the
Gilbert Islands
The Gilbert Islands ( gil, Tungaru;Reilly Ridgell. ''Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.'' 3rd. Ed. Honolulu: Bess Press, 1995. p. 95. formerly Kingsmill or King's-Mill IslandsVery often, this n ...
, arriving in Majuro lagoon on 22 March. She departed Majuro on 26 March and after side visits to Makin,
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Abemama
Abemama (Apamama) is an atoll, one of the Gilberts group in Kiribati, and is located southeast of Tarawa and just north of the Equator. Abemama has an area of and a population of 3,299 . The islets surround a deep lagoon. The eastern part of ...
in the Gilberts, she arrived in
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census.
Geography
The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...
on 3 April. There she remained for 12 days, escorting ships into and out of the harbor at Espiritu Santo. On 15 April, the destroyer escort stood out of
Segond Channel
Canal du Segond, also known as Canal Pekoa and in English Segond Channel, literally "Second Channel," separates the island of Aore from the city of Luganville on main island of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu.
The channel was the location of the United S ...
to rendezvous at sea with ''SS William Charlie Yeager'' and escort that ship to the southern Solomons. They reached
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 ...
on 21 April, and while the merchantman put into Tulagi ''Witter'' moved on to Purvis Bay at
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 ...
.
New Guinea
On 25 April 1944, ''Witter'' departed the southern Solomons in company with Task Unit (TU) 34.9.6, bound for Cape Gloucester on the island of
New Britain
New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...
in the
Bismarck Archipelago
The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about 50,000 square km.
History
The first inhabitants o ...
. She arrived in Borgen Bay near Cape Gloucester on 28 April and remained until 1 May when she accompanied TU 34.9.6 to the Russell Islands subgroup of the Solomons. She arrived in the Russells on 3 May, but departed that same day for her primary theater of operations for the next 10 weeks, the island of
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 ...
. On 5 May, she entered
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to t ...
at the southeastern tip of New Guinea. By the time ''Witter'' reached that port, American forces had already made almost simultaneous landings at
Aitape
Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the ...
Humboldt Bay
Humboldt Bay is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, United States. It is the largest protected body of water on the West Coast between Sa ...
Persecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these term ...
. Thus, for the next several weeks, ''Witter'' drew duty escorting resupply and reinforcement convoys to the three landing areas, making stops at such intermediary places as
Cape Cretin
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
and
Cape Sudest Cape Sudest is a cape in Papua New Guinea, next to Oro Bay. There was an important U.S military base there in World War II. It was situated in Oro Province
Oro Province, formerly (and officially still) Northern Province, is a coastal province of P ...
. After the 17 May assault on the Toem–Wakde– Sarmi area located a little farther up the northern coast of New Guinea, she added that region to her itinerary. At the end of the first week in July,
Biak Island
Biak is an island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and corals.
The large ...
, located off the northern coast of New Guinea, opposite the large bay which separates the
Vogelkop
The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: ''Kepala Burung'', nl, Vogelkop) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai''), is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces ...
from the rest of the island, came within ''Witter''s sphere of operations.
The northern Solomons
In mid-month, however, the destroyer escort left New Guinea for the northern Solomons. She departed Humboldt Bay on 15 July 1944 and, after a brief stop at Cape Cretin, arrived in the northern Solomons at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, on 18 July. On 20 July, she departed Empress Augusta Bay and, that same afternoon, arrived in the Treasury Islands subgroup. For almost three weeks, she remained in the vicinity of
Blanche Harbor
Blanche Harbor is a natural harbour between Mono Island and Stirling Island of the Treasury Islands archipelago, located n the Western Province of the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands a ...
in the Treasuries, conducting
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, ...
and
anti-submarine
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 ...
warfare exercises.
Between 9 and 12 August 1944, she voyaged back to New Guinea, stopping at
Finschhaven
Finschhafen is a district on the north-east coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port town of the same name, Finschhafen.
The port was discovered (for Europeans) in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1 ...
and Langemak Bay before returning to Blanche Harbor on the 12 August and resuming her exercise schedule in the Treasuries. On 21 August, she began a move farther north in the Solomons, arriving in the
Green Islands
The Green Islands is a small archipelago of islands in the Solomon Sea, within the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, in northeastern Papua New Guinea.
They are located at , about northwest of Bougainville Island, and about east of Rabaul ...
subgroup that same day. Three days later, she moved on again, this time to Manus in the Admiralty Islands where she stopped overnight on 26–27 August. On the latter day, the warship made the brief voyage from Manus to
Emirau Island
Emirau Island, also called Emira, is an island in the Bismarck Archipelago located at . It is currently part of the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea. The local language is a dialect of the Mussau-Emira language. Emira is part of what o ...
. She remained there for almost a month, putting to sea only once during that period, between 19 and 22 September, to rescue the crew of a downed PBJ (the Navy version of the Army's
B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...
bomber).
After returning the rescued aircrewmen to Emirau on the 22 August 1944, she returned to sea that same day on her way back to Manus. From there, she continued her voyage toward Milne Bay on 24 September. On 26 September, she paused near Porlock and Cape Nelson to help ''SS Richard H. Dana'', aground on Curtis Reef. While her boats assisted in the transfer of
Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
troops from the merchantman to the
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
, ''Witter'' patrolled to seaward to protect against possible enemy
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
attack. On 27 September, she resumed her voyage and arrived in Milne Bay that same day.
The Philippines
Between 29 September and 6 October 1944, ''Witter'' made a roundabout voyage from Milne Bay via Treasuries and back to New Guinea at Humboldt Bay. At Humboldt Bay, she reported for duty to TU 77.7.1 for the Leyte operation. Her task unit, a part of the 7th Fleet Service Force, departed Humboldt Bay on 12 October to take up replenishment station at sea some 180 miles west of the already-invested Palau Islands. At mid-month, the oilers she escorted refueled the Leyte invasion force at sea and, on the 18 October, headed for the anchorage at
Kossol Passage Kossol Roads is a large body of reef-enclosed water north of Babeldaob in northern Palau at .Kossol Roads a ...
in the Palaus. After two days in the Palaus, ''Witter'' and her charges got underway to join the main force in
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the south of the bay is Mindanao Isl ...
. They arrived in the gulf three days after October 20 assault.
The warship's visit to Leyte proved to be lively. Air attacks by the Japanese abounded. During one attack in the early evening of October 24, a Japanese torpedo bomber started a run on ''Witter'' from almost dead ahead while she was maneuvering to change anchorages just south of Samar Island. Though it appeared to be hit by her 20-millimeter fire, the plane traversed her entire length to starboard and finally burst into flames some 300 to 400 yards astern.
The air attacks continued intermittently the following day, and ''Witter'' observed many bogeys and picked up others on her radar but contributed no more downed aircraft to the American tally. For the remainder of her stay in Leyte Gulf, ''Witter'' and the oilers she screened continued underway to avoid numerous air attacks and conduct refueling operations.
On 27 October 1944, she escorted the unit out of Leyte Gulf en route to a position about 120 miles east of Leyte. Sporadic air attacks continued but diminished as Leyte receded astern. On 28 October, her charges began refueling TG 77.4 and, just before noon the following day, completed those operations and set course for Kossol Passage. They arrived in the Palaus late on 31 October but, after the oilers refueled that night and the following morning, headed back to Leyte early in the afternoon of November 1. On 3 November, however, they reversed course on orders and reentered Kossol Passage the following day. The stay proved brief. She and her charges set sail again that evening and arrived in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on the 7th. She remained there, harassed by alerts but not by attacks, until the 11th when she departed, escorting the oilers. On 14 November, ''Witter'' and her charges arrived back in Humboldt Bay.
She was anchored in Humboldt Bay until 2 December 1944 when she got underway in the escort of a convoy bound for Seeadler Harbor at Manus. ''Witter'' and her charges entered the harbor the following day, and the destroyer escort remained there until mid-month, conducting tactical exercises in the vicinity until her departure. Between 15 and 23 December, she made a round-trip voyage from Manus to Ulithi and back. Following an availability and more exercises at Manus during the last week of 1944 and the first week of 1945, she repeated her voyage to Ulithi and back between 6 and 14 January 1945. Another such run late in the month was followed by an availability at Manus which included a period in
drydock
A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
. During February 1945, she made two voyages from Manus, one to Majuro between 5 and 20 February, and the other to Humboldt Bay between 21 and 23 February.
The Mariana Islands and Okinawa
On 28 February 1945, ''Witter'' stood out of Seeadler Harbor, bound for the Central Pacific. Steaming first to Ulithi, where she joined a convoy headed for the
Marianas
The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
, the warship arrived at
Guam
Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
on 7 March. After three days of patrols around Guam and
Saipan
Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...
, she departed the Marianas to return to Ulithi to prepare for the
invasion of Okinawa
The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
. The destroyer escort entered the lagoon at Ulithi on the 11th and spent the next 10 days patrolling the anchorage and its entrances. On 21 March, she stood out of Ulithi with
Task Force 54
Task may refer to:
* Task (computing), in computing, a program execution context
* Task (language instruction) refers to a certain type of activity used in language instruction
* Task (project management), an activity that needs to be accomplished ...
(TF 54), bound for the
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...
and the last great amphibious operation of World War II. On the 25 March she rendezvoused with a minesweeping unit about six miles south of
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 ...
and began screening it as well as the heavy units of
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
Oldendorf's TF 54 bombardment group, while both performed their preliminary functions.
For the next 12 days, ''Witter'' performed her anti-submarine screening duties for various units of the fleet off Okinawa. Though subjected to intermittent air attack and forced to witness several ''
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
'' and ''Shinyo'' motorboat suicide attacks, she escaped unscathed until 6 April. Her primary duty throughout the period remained anti-submarine patrols at various points around the island of Okinawa. During that time, she made several sonar contacts but made no
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
attacks.
Hit by a Kamikaze
At about 16:11 on the afternoon of 6 April 1945, while off the southeastern coast of Okinawa, she sighted two enemy aircraft about eight miles distant approaching her from the south-southwest. The warship went to
general quarters
General quarters, battle stations, or action stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed ...
, rang up 23 knots, and began radical maneuvers to evade them. Within five minutes, both Japanese planes showed smoke, evidence of hits registered by her guns. One of the intruders splashed into the sea, but his colleague pressed home his own attack and crashed into ''Witter'' at the waterline on the starboard side at frame number 57. His bomb exploded in the number 1 fireroom, opening that and several other compartments to the sea. Six crew members were killed.
''Witter'' lost control briefly but from the help of Captain George "Tim" Herrmann III, it was restored again almost as quickly. Damage control took the situation well in hand, and soon ''Witter'' was proceeding under her own power at 10 knots. With the assistance of , , , and the tug , the destroyer escort limped toward Kerama Retto. ''Morris'' left the formation at 17:15, and at 18:19, also suffered a suicide crash. ''Richard P. Leary'' then also dropped out of the group to assist ''Morris'' while ''Arikara'' and ''Gregory'' continued on with ''Witter''. The little flotilla entered the anchorage at Kerama Retto at a little after 21:30, and ''Arikara'' towed the damaged destroyer escort to a waiting berth. ''Witter'' remained at Kerama Retto until late June, undergoing temporary repairs and dodging sporadic air attacks by constantly shifting from anchorage to anchorage – a process which slowed repairs considerably.
Return to the United States
Finally, on 25 June 1945, she appeared seaworthy enough to attempt the voyage home and departed the Ryukyu Islands. Steaming by way of Saipan, Eniwetok, and Pearl Harbor, she arrived in San Diego, California, on 24 July. Two days later, she resumed her travels and headed, by way of 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 ...
, for the East Coast of the United States. The warship arrived in the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 16 August, shortly following the cessation of hostilities. She immediately began permanent repairs and conversion to a
High speed transport
High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, the ...
, which she had been so designated the day before her arrival. The end of the war, however, brought a quick halt to her conversion. On 22 August, the work, hardly begun, was ordered stopped. She was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
on 1 September and was decommissioned there on 22 October 1945. Because of the extent of damage and the excess of ships of her type, she was deemed to be excess to fleet needs.
Her name 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 author ...
on 16 November 1945, and almost 13 months later on 2 December 1946, her hulk was sold to the Northern Metals Company of Philadelphia.
Awards
''Witter'' earned two
battle star
A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...