USS ''Plunkett'' (DD-431), a , is the only ship of 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 ...
Charles Peshall Plunkett
Rear Admiral Charles Peshall Plunkett (15 February 1864 – 24 March 1931) was an officer of the United States Navy who served in the Spanish–American War and World War I.
Biography
Plunkett was born in Washington, D.C., and was appointed to ...
.
''Plunkett'' 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 ...
on 1 March 1939 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.,
Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 40,684,launched on 7 March 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Charles P. Plunkett, widow of Rear Admiral Plunkett. The ship was commissioned on 17 July 1940.
Service history
Atlantic service
Prior to 7 December 1941, ''Plunkett'' operated in the Western Atlantic and in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
Neutrality Patrol
On September 3, 1939, the British and French declarations of war on Germany initiated the Battle of the Atlantic. The United States Navy Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) established a combined air and ship patrol of the United States Atlantic coa ...
. Initially in the latter area, she joined other Neutrality Patrol vessels off
Tampico
Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...
to prevent the departure of several German steamers, then cruised off
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
,
French Antilles
The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label= Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean:
* The two overseas departments of:
** Guadeloup ...
to prevent the dispatching of warships, equipment, and gold to the
Vichy government
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
. Patrol and convoy missions in the North Atlantic followed, and, on 7 December 1941, she was en route from
Reykjavík
Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...
to
Argentia
Argentia ( ) is a Canadian commercial seaport and industrial park located in the Town of Placentia, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is situated on the southwest coast of the Avalon Peninsula and defined by a triangular shaped headland which r ...
.
''Plunkett'' continued such duty until joining Task Force 39 (TF 39) on 20 March 1942. Six days later she departed the east coast for Scapa Flow and arrived in Orkney on 4 April to commence operations with the
British Home Fleet
The Home Fleet was a fleet of the Royal Navy that operated from the United Kingdom's territorial waters from 1902 with intervals until 1967. In 1967, it was merged with the Mediterranean Fleet creating the new Western Fleet.
Before the First ...
. Employed on
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
run, she was relieved, by , in mid-May and assigned to escort the battleship back to the United States. Coastwise and Caribbean escort duty followed and in August she returned to the North Atlantic to accompany UK-bound convoys. On 2 November, she departed New York On her first escort run to
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
. Delayed en route to allow time for the clearance of wreckage from her port of destination, her group delivered its charges with their reinforcement troops and equipment to Casablanca on the 18th. Then, after patrolling off the Moroccan coast she returned to New York and local operations off southern
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
.
Another transatlantic convoy to Casablanca preceded shore bombardment exercises in
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
, after which she escorted coastal convoys until May, 1943. On the 10th she sailed for Oran,
, with TF 60; and, between the end of May and July, she was employed on hunter-killer (HUK),
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 ...
(ASW), and
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
escort assignments in North African waters.
On 6 July, she cleared Mers-el-Kebir as a unit of the Western Task Force for the
Allied invasion of Sicily
The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...
. During the invasion, she screened the merchant ships and minelayers of Task Group 80.5 (TG 80.5), then patrolled off the
Gela
Gela (Sicilian and ; grc, Γέλα) is a city and (municipality) in the Autonomous Region of Sicily, Italy; in terms of area and population, it is the largest municipality on the southern coast of Sicily. Gela is part of the Province of Ca ...
anchorage and covered minelaying operations. On 12 July, she departed the assault area, returning on 17 July, to Scoglitti, and on 31 July, to Palermo, with convoys. During August, she participated in numerous landings on the Sicilian coast and, in September, joined TG 81.6 to screen the troop transports and landing craft for the assault on the
Axis
An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis
* Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...
boot at Salerno. Early on the morning of 13 September, she aided bombed and burning British
hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. I ...
. The struggle to save the ship continued for over 36 hours, but, in the evening of 14 September, ''Plunkett'', on orders, fired on and sank the hulk.
North Africa–Naples convoys, interspersed with fire support missions, continued until 21 January 1944, when she sailed to escort the follow-up assault group to Cape Anzio. After delivering the craft, she remained in the area to screen the transports. On 24 January she fell victim to one of the numerous air attacks which, previously, she had helped to drive off. At 17:38 condition red was sounded. A few minutes later the attack was launched with two glider bombs coming in on the port beam, and two Ju 88s closing in from up ahead. Speed was increased; maneuvering was radical. The glider bombs finally dropped, at distance, but more planes had joined the foray to commence a sustained 17 minute battle. It ended at 17:57 as ''Plunkett'' took a bomb and caught fire. The bomb killed 23, left 30 missing, with as many, and more, wounded, and caused extensive damage to her fire control apparatus, armament, and port engine. By 18:21, all fires were out and the destroyer proceeded, on one engine, to Palermo. Temporary repairs enabled her to reach Casablanca and, finally, New York, where repairs were completed.
On 5 May 1944, she again departed New York for European waters. Arriving at
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
on 14 May, she remained until 3 June, then sailed toward the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
to join the armada staging for the
invasion of France
France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans.
* the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...
. On 6 June, she screened the transports off Omaha beach. Fire support and patrol duties followed until 9 June, when she sailed back to England. Returning to the French coast a few days later, she added shore bombardment to her duties at the Bombardment of Cherbourg in Task Force 129.
On 13 June ''Plunkett'' was involved in a 'friendly fire' incident; she attacked the British cable laying ship (1890)HMTS Monarch (1916), HMTS ''Monarch'' and its Canadian escort, the Canadian corvette , killing ''Monarch''s first mate and a seaman and wounding most of the bridge personnel. More than thirty were wounded, including the ship's Master. ''Trentonian'', though fired upon, was not hit and rescued survivors in the water and treated wounded. ''Monarch'' was severely damaged and the cable was cut and lost disrupting installation of critical communications cables to Normandy.
In July, ''Plunkett'' returned to the Mediterranean to prepare for another assault landing, and on 13 August, she sailed from Naples to support Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France. During that operation she carried officials to and from the beaches in addition to performing her screening duties. She next added fire support and shore bombardment off St. Tropez, Port de Bouc, and Marseilles to her mission, and continued those duties, particularly on the Italian-French border, until 23 November. She then sailed for Oran, whence she escorted a convoy back to the United States, arriving at New York, 16 January 1945.
Convoys escorted
Pacific service
''Plunkett'' engaged in training exercises, ASW patrols, and experimental testing until early May, when she resumed transatlantic escort work. The war in Europe ended before she reached the UK, but hostilities in the Pacific still raged. On 27 May she returned to the east coast, underwent extensive alterations and refresher training, and got underway for the Pacific 6 August. She transited 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 ...
on 13 August and was en route to
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 ...
the day the war ended. In September she escorted occupation forces from the U.S. to Japan; then, in October and November, assisted in ferrying more from 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 ...
. Later in November, she sailed northeast to the
Aleutians
The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large vo ...
, where she operated until ordered back to the east coast for inactivation.
''Plunkett'' earned five
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 ...
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 remained there until reactivated and transferred, under the loan provisions of the Military Assistance Program, to the Nationalist Chinese government, 16 February 1959.
Renamed ROCS ''Nan Yang'' (DD-17), she served in the
Republic of China Navy
The Republic of China Navy (ROCN; ), also called the ROC Navy and colloquially the Taiwan Navy, is the maritime branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces (ROCAF).
The service was formerly commonly just called the Chinese Navy during World W ...
until 1975, when she was stricken from the Navy list and scrapped. Her name and pennant number were reassigned to the ex-, an acquired in May 1974.