USS ''Hemminger'' (DE-746) 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 and from 1950 to 1958. In 1959, she was transferred to

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, where she serves as HTMS ''Pin Klao'' ( th, เรือหลวงปิ่นเกล้า). She is the only still in service.

History

United States Navy (1944-1958)

USS ''Hemminger'' was named in honor of Cyril Franklin Hemminger who was killed 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 cam ...

. The ship was launched on 12 September 1943 by the Western Pipe and Steel Company,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California; sponsored by Mrs. Sue Frances Hemminger, widow; and commissioned on 30 May 1944.

World War II

With the ship's

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, ...

completed, ''Hemminger'' reached

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 R ...

in August 1944 to train submarines for war patrols. She also patrolled between Pearl and

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with i ...

and worked in hunter-killer

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 ...

operations. On 28 February 1945 while on a HUK mission with and

CortDiv The structure of the United States Navy consists of four main bodies: the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the operating forces (described below), and the Shore Establishment. Office of the Chief of ...

53, the destroyer escort was diverted to participate in the fruitless search for Lieutenant General Millard F. Harmon, Commander Army Air Forces Pacific, whose plane had disappeared. After patrol duty in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...

, ''Hemminger'' sailed on 30 April to escort a resupply convoy to

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 ...

, where battle still raged. From 16 May to 20 June, she acted as screen for a carrier group engaged in neutralization of

Sakishima Gunto The (or 先島群島, ''Sakishima-guntō'') ( Okinawan: ''Sachishima'', Miyako: ''Saksїzїma'', Yaeyama: ''Sakїzїma'', Yonaguni: ''Satichima'') are an archipelago located at the southernmost end of the Japanese Archipelago. They are part o ...

and supported ground forces on

, as well as the air attack on Kyūshū. ''Hemminger'' joined

53 and for further hunter-killer patrol around

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 ...

and

until sailing for 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 ...

on 27 September. Detached from the Pacific Fleet, ''Hemminger'' reached Norfolk, Virginia, on 2 December via Saipan,

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 eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, California, and 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 condui ...

. Training out of

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is named after the portio ...

, occupied ''Hemminger'' until she decommissioned there on 17 June 1946 and went into reserve.

Cold War

After a period of duty with the reserve training program, ''Hemminger'' recommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on 1 December 1950. In the following years her career assumed a pattern of local operations along the coast punctuated by reserve training cruises to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the Caribbean. One reserve cruise in June 1952 took ''Hemminger'' to Lisbon, Portugal, while others saw her at

Rouen, France Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population o ...

; Barranquilla, Colombia; Cadiz, Spain, and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Louisiana. ''Hemminger'' also participated in several fleet exercises and worked with the in August 1954. Departing

Little Creek, Virginia Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, on 23 November 1957 she reported to

New York Naval Shipyard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a ...

for inactivation.

Royal Thai Navy (1959-present)

''Hemminger'' decommissioned there on 21 February 1958 and joined the

Atlantic Reserve Fleet The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the maintenance activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and s ...

. She was loaned to

on 22 July 1959 under the

Military Assistance Program The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on 6 October 1949. For US Foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to Eu ...

, and serves the

Royal Thai Navy The Royal Thai Navy ( Abrv: RTN, ทร.; th, กองทัพเรือไทย, ) is the naval warfare force of Thailand. Established in 1906, it was modernised by the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse (1880–1923) who is known a ...

as HTMS ''Pin Klao'' (DE-1/DE-3/413).

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hemminger (DE-746) Cannon-class destroyer escorts of the United States Navy Ships built in San Francisco 1943 ships World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Royal Thai Navy