USS Anderson (DD-411)
Encyclopedia
USS Anderson (DD-411) was a in the United States Navy
. She was named for Rear Admiral
Edwin Alexander Anderson, Jr., a Medal of Honor
recipient.
Anderson was laid down on 15 November 1937 at Kearny, New Jersey
, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
; launched on 4 February 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Mertie Loraine Anderson, the widow of Rear Admiral Anderson; towed to the New York Navy Yard, and delivered there to the Navy on 18 May 1939; and commissioned on 19 May 1939, Lieutenant Commander
William M. Hobby, Jr., in command.
Flag Day
parade on 14 June 1939. Underway from her berth on 5 July, Anderson reached Newport, Rhode Island
, on 7 July, mooring to the east dock at the Naval Torpedo Station, and taking on board torpedo warheads, exploders, and test equipment before returning to the New York Navy Yard the next day, pausing there only briefly before getting underway later that afternoon for Washington, D.C.
Anchoring off Quantico
on the night of 9 July, Anderson steamed up the Potomac River
, rendering the prescribed passing honors abeam of Mount Vernon
, and arrived at the Washington Navy Yard
at 0721 on 10 July. The next day, a number of high-ranking officers informally inspected the new destroyer, the first of the Sims-class to be placed in commission, Admiral
Harold R. Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations
, accompanied by Captain
H. T. Markland; Rear Admirals Robert L. Ghormley
, Director of War Plans, and William R. Furlong, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance
, as well as Charles Edison
, the Acting Secretary of the Navy.
On 12 July, assisted by and , Anderson got underway for Yorktown, Virginia
. She loaded depth charges at the mine depot at Yorktown before moving to the Naval Operating Base (NOB) at Norfolk
before getting underway on 14 July for Wilmington, North Carolina
. Wilmington was the hometown of the man for whom the ship had been named, Admiral Anderson; and it accorded the ship a warm welcome. The local paper editorialized: "It is a pleasure to have you in port and to inspect the magnificent new destroyer named in honor of a distinguished son. The ship and its personnel are a credit to the record and memory of the man for whom your ship is named… Therefore, we bid you welcome, and if there is aught that can add to your entertainment while here, you have but to ask any resident and it is yours…" Anderson gave a tea for Mrs. Anderson, members of the late flag officer's family, and the city officials of Wilmington on the afternoon of 17 July. On the next day, assisted out into the stream by the tug Battler, the destroyer made departure from Wilmington.
Reaching NOB, Norfolk, on 19 July, Anderson shifted to the Norfolk Navy Yard that same day to take on board ammunition. After embarking six enlisted Marines
for transportation to the Marine Barracks at Guantanamo Bay
, Anderson got underway on 21 July for Cuba
n waters and the initial part of her shakedown cruise. Arriving at Guantanamo on 24 July, the destroyer disembarked her passengers before operating locally over the next few days.
Anderson then visited San Juan, Puerto Rico
(from 1–5 August); Coco Solo
, Panama Canal Zone
(8–14 August); and Hamilton, Bermuda
(19–21 August); St. John's, Newfoundland (25–28 August); before she reached Montreal
, Canada
, on the morning of 31 August. Underway on 5 September, the destroyer called briefly at Quebec
(5 to 6 September) before she headed for Newport. On 8 September, while en route, Anderson sighted a merchantman eight miles (13 km) distant, identifying her as Norwegian
by the display of national colors on ship's side. Soon thereafter, a plane, identified as "British
" (possibly Royal Canadian Air Force
) by the wing markings, circled Anderson at low altitude, obviously scrutinizing the ship thoroughly before banking away and heading for the coast.
Anderson made arrival at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport the following day, 9 September, and over the next few days served as the underway "target" for torpedo practice conducted by on the testing range in Narragansett Bay
. On the 16 September, Anderson arrived back at the New York Navy Yard, her shakedown completed, for the installation of her main battery director. After brief periods underway for testing fire control equipment (21–22 September), Anderson took departure from New York for NOB, Norfolk, arriving on 24 September.
Anderson conducted gunnery exercises on the Southern Drill Grounds off the Virginia Capes
, firing at a target towed by on 26 September before firing antiaircraft battery practice on 28 September. She arrived at the New York Navy Yard for post-shakedown availability on the morning of 1 October; these repairs and alterations continuing through the end of January 1940.
The destroyer then touched briefly at the Boston Navy Yard
before she ran her final acceptance trials off Rockland, Maine
, on 7 February 1940, with Rear Admiral H. L. Brinser, president of the Board of Inspection and Survey
, embarked. Anderson then paid a return visit to the Boston Navy Yard on 9 February before returning to New York, via the Cape Cod Canal
, Buzzards Bay
and Oyster Bay, on 12 February.
Anderson remained at the Navy Yard through the end of March, after which time she sailed for Newport, for torpedo firing tests on 10 April. At 1130 on 12 April, the destroyer embarked the Honorable John Z. Anderson, a California
Congressman and member of the House Naval Affairs Committee, and got underway shortly thereafter, reaching NOB, Norfolk, and mooring to Pier 7, at 2008 the following day, disembarking her passenger the next morning.
Underway in company with , Anderson stood out, headed for Guantanamo Bay, on the afternoon of 15 April. The next day, 14 hours out of Norfolk, the ships ran into heavy weather. At 0440 on 16 April, the strongback of the port lifeboat was reported to be cracked. Lieutenant
George R. Phelan, the executive officer
, gathered men of the deck force in the lee of the galley, amidships, as the ship steered various courses in an attempt to lessen the roll and thereby facilitate efforts to secure the port lifeboat. Between rolls, Lieutenant Phelan and his men attempted to recover the boat and make it fast, but the effort soon became too dangerous, not worth the lives of the men, and the work had to be abandoned, the boat carrying away completely at 0718. Ultimately, Anderson reached Guantanamo Bay at 0618 on 19 April.
Underway again nine hours later, Anderson, again in company with Manley, reached the submarine base at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, on 21 April. Transiting the Panama Canal
on the 23 April, Anderson proceeded independently up the west coast of Central America
, reaching Acapulco
, Mexico
, on the 27th. The next morning, following by nine hours the visit of Commander
W. M. Dillon, the naval attaché at the United States Embassy in Mexico City, Anderson sent ashore a working party to bring off "naval stores salvaged from the wreck" of (listed in the 1941 Merchant Vessel Register as "abandoned" during the previous year). Underway again four hours later, Anderson rejoined Manley on the 30 April, and reached San Diego at 0900 on 1 May 1940.
After conducting a brief harbor cruise with 85 Army
reservists embarked on 18 May, Anderson got underway to conduct a neutrality patrol
off the coast of southern California. During the course of this operation on 20 May, the destroyer sighted a tug five miles (8 km) away at 0945 and altered course to close and investigate. Closer examination revealed Ray P. Clark, towing a barge laden with horses and bales of hay and flying a distress signal. Anderson immediately called away her fire and rescue party and stopped to render assistance, help which turned out to be only giving directions to the tug which had become lost and needed the course to San Nicolas Island
. The assistance duly rendered, Anderson continued on her appointed rounds, arriving back at San Diego on the morning of the 23 May.
The warship commenced the month of June as plane guard for , as that carrier
conducted local operations out of North Island
; she later planeguarded for from 19–21 June, interspersed with type training and gunnery practices out of Pyramid Cove, San Clemente Island
. At 0900 on 22 June, as the ship prepared to sail for Hawaii
an waters, Commander Allan E. Smith reported on board and broke his pennant in Anderson as Commander, Destroyer Division 3 (DesDiv 3); Anderson subsequently took departure from San Diego on the morning of 25 June, sailing in company with Enterprise and , , , and .
During the passage to Hawaii, Anderson alternated with the other destroyers in standing plane guard duty for Enterprise and then serving as antisubmarine screen. On 28 June, during morning flight operations, a plane from Scouting Squadron (VS) 6 lost power after being catapulted from the flight deck and was forced to ditch. Hammann arrived on the scene first and rescued the pilot and his radioman, Enterprise later drew alongside the plane and recovered it. Subsequently, Anderson covered the arrival of the force at Pearl Harbor
and then followed it in, mooring on the morning of 2 July.
For the next five months, Anderson operated locally put of Pearl Harbor and Lahaina Roads
. Her operations within the Hawaiian chain took her to Palmyra
(22 July) and Christmas Island
(23 July); and included such evolutions as antiaircraft and machine gun practices; battle depth charge practices, and torpedo practices, often operating in company with destroyers, light cruisers, and battleship
s. Interspersed were periods of upkeep back at Pearl Harbor alongside between 26 and 28 October, and drydocking (28 to 29 October and again from 30 October to 4 November). The ship also patrolled assigned areas adjacent to the Lahaina Roads anchorage, off Maui
, and off Honolulu
and Pearl Harbor, intercepting and identifying many merchantmen, and local craft, such as fishing boats, as well as noting the movements of American warships. Following this intensive period of operations in Hawaiian waters, Anderson took departure from Pearl Harbor on 2 December 1940, bound for the West Coast in company with the rest of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 8.
Arriving at San Diego on the afternoon of 8 December, Anderson steamed to the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, San Pedro, California, the day after Christmas, and underwent an overhaul there through the first week of January 1941. Then, after operating locally out of Long Beach and San Diego, Anderson took departure from San Diego on the morning of 14 January and rendezvoused with Enterprise and off San Pedro. The force conducted drills and exercises en route to the Hawaiian Islands, reaching Pearl Harbor on the morning of 21 January.
Anderson resumed operations in the Hawaiian area on 12 February, conducting such evolutions as depth charge practices, night battle practice runs, and gunnery drills, until returning to Pearl Harbor on the 19 February. Underway again two days later she conducted more gunnery runs and damage control problems before returning to port that afternoon to provision from the storeship . Underway again on the morning of 22 February, Anderson patrolled off the entrance to Pearl Harbor and encountered a fishing craft trespassing in a security zone; lowering her motor whaleboat, Anderson investigated the craft and warned her owner to keep away from those waters. Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor the next morning, 23 February, before resuming the intensive schedule of operations with the other ships in her division that lasted through the end of February.
During March 1941, Anderson continued the rapid pace of operations out of Pearl Harbor, operating with the fleet and honing her skills in antisubmarine warfare tactics and in gunnery. She also operated for a time with Yorktown as plane guard. During flight operations on the morning of 17 March 1941, two TBD Devastator
s from Torpedo Squadron 5 collided at 1,000 feet (300 m) and crashed into the sea, 2,500 yards (2.3 km) from the carrier. Yorktowns boats recovered the bodies of the pilots, but both planes sank in 2,910 fathoms (5,320 m) of water, carrying the other four men — two in each aircraft — with them. Anderson — detailed to remain in the vicinity and continue the search — found only small parts of the planes and pieces of clothing.
These evolutions in Hawaiian waters proved to be the last for some time; Anderson got underway for the West Coast of the United States
shortly after noon on 24 March, and reached Mare Island Navy Yard on the last day of the month after first disembarking, at San Francisco, enlisted passengers transported from Pearl Harbor. The destroyer spent all of April 1941 undergoing repairs and alterations at the West Coast yard, and on 16 May got underway for her post-repair trials.
After operating briefly in San Francisco Bay
, Anderson shifted to Long Beach
on 21 May, and eight days later, took departure, ostensibly, for the Hawaiian Islands, in company with her division mates, Hammann, Mustin, and Rowan. Interestingly, the ships soon received a change of orders. They rendezvoused with on the afternoon of 30 May, and soon proceeded down the coast, bound for Panama
, as another increment of the Pacific Fleet
was withdrawn to augment the Atlantic Fleet in its undeclared war with the German
Navy in the Atlantic
.
The respite in port proved brief, however, since Anderson took departure early on the morning of 19 June. Joined by shortly thereafter, the destroyer stood down the Delaware River
, and out into the Atlantic. They joined the following morning, and, later, shortly after noon on 21 June.
Together, these ships proceeded out into the central Atlantic on neutrality patrol, cruising almost as far as the Cape Verde Islands, "safeguarding the neutrality of the United States." Their voyage took them almost to the edge of the zones defined in operations orders of April and June 1941. Anderson served as plane guard for Wasp and as antisubmarine screen for the carrier and for Tuscaloosa during the patrol that ultimately came to an end at Bermuda
on Independence Day
, 1941.
After a brief period in Bermudan waters, a break she utilized for a short stint of close range battle practice, Anderson took departure on 12 July for Norfolk, reaching her destination the following day. After getting underway from the Tidewater region for torpedo practice on 17 July, the warship sailed north for Boston
, and reached the Boston Navy Yard on the afternoon of 19 July.
Anderson then underwent repairs and alterations into early August; during her time in the yard, her number three 5 inch (127 mm) mount was removed to save topside weight and allow the fitting of additional .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, extensions to her depth charge tracks, and a "Y"-gun (depth charge projector), in addition to two dozen additional depth charges. Thus refitted to better perform the escort role needed in the developing Battle of the Atlantic, she participated in intensive antisubmarine exercises out of Provincetown, Massachusetts
, during the latter half of August 1941 before returning to Boston on the 30th. Andersons operations now carried her farther north, as she sailed for Casco Bay, Maine, on 2 September, exercising with Tuscaloosa en route.
Assigned to Task Force 15 (TF 15), Anderson steamed as part of the escort force for the first major reinforcement convoy bound for Iceland
, carrying an Army brigade to augment the Marines who had been there since July. The ships reached Reykjavík
on the evening of 15 September after a passage enlivened by two "submarine" contacts in Andersons vicinity: one summarily depth-charged by on 8 September, the other by on the 10th. Then, between 26 September and 3 October, Anderson escorted a convoy to Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.
Anderson remained at Placentia Bay for almost a week before getting underway on the 10 October as part of the antisubmarine screen for TF 14, formed around Yorktown. This force reached Casco Bay, Maine, on the afternoon of 13 October. Moving down to Provincetown, Anderson again conducted antisubmarine exercises, and as in previous practices, the ship's performance was "outstanding in detecting the presence of a submarine and carrying out a successful attack." Later, after a tender availability alongside at Casco Bay, she resumed her operations at sea with TF 14.
Standing out of Casco Bay on the afternoon of 26 October, with Task Group 14.3 (TG 14.3), , , , Yorktown, and seven destroyers as the escort for a convoy of six British cargo ships bound for the British Isles, Anderson, in the inner anti-submarine screen, plane guarded for the carrier as she conducted flight operations covering the convoy as it moved out into the Atlantic.
On 30 October, 700 mi (1,125 km) from St. John's, Newfoundland, Yorktown had just completed recovering planes and was proceeding ahead to refuel when, at 1219, Anderson made an underwater contact, 1300 yards (1,188.7 m) distant. Anderson went to general quarters immediately and proceeded ahead to develop the contact dropping a standard pattern of six depth charges at 1225. Five minutes later, dropped an "embarrassing barrage". Other ships in the vicinity, however, began sighting porpoises and blackfish, leading Commander Frank G. Fahrion, Commander, DesDiv 3 in Anderson, to report over the high-frequency radio (TBS) to Morris that, in view of the fish sightings, the contact was a false one.
Soon thereafter, however, Andersons men saw an oil slick and lowered a bucket that, when drawn up, contained a mixture of oil, water, and burnt TNT. At 1305, the destroyer picked up a propeller noise and attacked with a second pattern of six depth charges. Soon thereafter, , also in on the "hunt", picked up a contact and requested Anderson to develop it. The latter dropped another pattern at 1409.
Anderson secured from general quarters at 1421, and then, in company with Hughes, tried to develop further contacts or to obtain concrete evidence of a "kill." Unfortunately, it appeared that their quarry had escaped.
After securing from the search at 1503, Anderson remained with TF 14 until detached on 6 November. At 1637 on that same day, while steaming in company with Hammann, Anderson sighted an unidentified ship which instituted radical course changes when she apparently sighted the two American destroyers. As Hammann parted company, Anderson investigated the stranger, finding her to be , steaming singly from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Halifax, Nova Scotia
. The destroyer then trailed the tanker for a time until securing from the effort at 2246.
Reaching Hvalfjörður
on 7 November and fueling from upon arrival, Anderson then spent the next month operating in Icelandic waters, out of Hvalfjörður ("Valley Forge") and Reykjavík ("Rinky Dink"). The ship's last "peacetime" operations consisted of a sweep, in company with Idaho and from Reykjavík across the southern end of the Denmark Strait
, between Iceland and Greenland
, between 1 and 6 December 1941.
ese attack
upon the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, halfway across the globe, Anderson reached the Norfolk Navy Yard on 17 December, tarrying only a short time before taking departure at 0537 on 18 December for Charleston, South Carolina
in company with Hammann, Mustin, and Morris, and reaching their destination the following morning. Unloading ammunition the following day, Anderson spent the rest of 1941 undergoing repairs and alterations at the Charleston Navy Yard, including the replacement of her .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns with 20 mm antiaircraft guns.
Three days into 1942, Anderson sailed for Norfolk, Virginia and after calibrating her degaussing
gear on the Wolf Trap degaussing range, near Norfolk, the destroyer arrived at NOB, Norfolk, on the morning of 5 January. mi Once again, the respite in port proved brief, and at midday on 6 January, Anderson cleared Hampton Roads in company with Morris and Hammann, ultimately taking a screening position on the port beam of Mississippi in the force escorting the battlewagons of BatDiv 3 back to the Pacific Ocean
.
. Reaching Cristobal on the morning of 11 January, Anderson transited the Panama Canal during the day, mooring at Balboa
that afternoon. After taking on fuel, the destroyer was underway once more, that evening, bound for San Diego, California
. On the second leg of the voyage, all ships remained alert. Within two days of departure from Panama, Andersons lookouts reported a torpedo track at 0113 on 13 January. Over the next four days, the ships sighted, challenged and identified two ships, both of which proved to be friendly: the British-registry Ocean Voice and the American-registry Kishacoquillas, on 15 and 17 January, respectively.
During the passage, the ships honed up their gunnery skills, and OS2U Kingfisher
s simulated dive, torpedo, and high-level bombing attacks on the convoy. Off San Francisco Bay, the submarine jitters struck again, this time as Hammann reported a contact on the morning of 22 January and depth charged the "contact" with negative results. The odyssey from the East Coast completed, Anderson moored in a nest at Pier 54
, San Francisco, at 1250 on 22 January 1942.
Anderson subsequently unmoored on the morning of 25 January, after having undergone a brief tender availability in a nest alongside and stood out of San Francisco Bay, bound for a rendezvous with Convoy 2019.
Hampered by the typical foggy conditions surrounding the bay area, assembly took some time, but ultimately, with all units present and accounted for, the convoy set out for the Hawaiian Islands. Anderson covered the entry of the ships into the Pearl Harbor channel shortly before noon on 2 February.
Anderson spent the next two weeks either at, or operating locally from, Pearl Harbor. Her underway periods included a turn at the Pearl Harbor entrance patrol (11–12 February) and duty screening as that ship conducted gunnery exercises on 14 February.
Underway at 0817 on 16 February, Anderson stood out to sea, joining up with Task Force 17 (TF17), consisting of Yorktown, , Louisville, Hammann, Sims, and Walke, under Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
, later that afternoon. The next two weeks found the Yorktown task force working its way toward the southwest Pacific. On 6 March 1942, TF 17 rendezvoused with TF 11 under Vice Admiral Wilson Brown
, to raid the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul
.
While Brown's and Fletcher's ships were en route to that area, however, Australian reconnaissance planes detected a Japanese invasion force moving toward the settlements of Lae
and Salamaua
, on the eastern coast of New Guinea
. Both fell with little resistance, but the incipient enemy base, and the airfields at both places, presented the Allies with a fine new target, and a chance to get back at the enemy at his most vulnerable time — before he had consolidated his beachhead. The raid on Rabaul was shelved.
To provide security for the carriers' operations in the Gulf of Papua
, Brown detached a surface force to remain in the waters of the Louisiade Archipelago
, near Rossel Island, to intercept any enemy thrust toward Port Moresby
and cover the arrival of Army troops scheduled to arrive at about that time at Nouméa, New Caledonia
. He placed this force, Astoria, , Louisville, , Anderson, Sims, Hammann, and Hughes, under Rear Admiral John G. Grace, Royal Navy
. While the patrol proved uneventful for Grace's ships, which rejoined TF 11 on 14 March, the Lae-Salamaua raid carried out by planes from Yorktown and Lexington forced the Japanese to husband carefully their amphibious resources, already on the proverbial "shoestring", for their planned operations in the Solomon Islands
.
Anderson, operated with Yorktown through late April, patrolling the Coral Sea
as the sole barrier against Japanese expansion in that region, putting into Tongatapu
, in the Tonga
(or "Friendly") Islands, late that month. With intelligence data indicating that the postponed movement against Tulagi
, in the Solomons, was imminent—confirmed by the Japanese landing men and supplies there on 29 April and establishing a seaplane base on the heels of the retreating Australian garrison, TF 17 moved north to deal with this threat.
On 4 May, Anderson, her men "anxious to get a chance to attack" the enemy, screened Yorktown as she launched three attacks on the incipient base at Tulagi, the carrier's planes sinking a destroyer and some small auxiliaries, at the relatively modest cost of only three aircraft (whose crews were later recovered).
Reinforced on 6 May by Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch's TF 11, Fletcher planned to meet the Japanese in the Coral Sea on 7 May, to stop the enemy thrust toward Port Moresby. On that day, each side attempted to strike blows with carrier aircraft; the Americans enjoying more success in that planes from Yorktown and Lexington sank . Japanese planes, attempting to strike the Americans, could not find them in the gathering darkness, and a twilight encounter between the returning Japanese air groups and American fighters robbed the enemy of experienced crews as well as virtually irreplaceable aircraft. Anderson, assigned to the Air Group (TG 17.5), operated in the screen of Lexington.
The Japanese Striking Force, however, formed around and was, on 7 May, well south of Guadalcanal
. The same day that American planes had dispatched Shōhō, planes from the enemy carriers sank Sims and damaged so severely that she had to be sunk later.
The next morning some 170 mi (275 km) separated the two forces. The Americans struck first, crippling Shōkaku; anti-aircraft fire and combat air patrol aircraft soon decimated Zuikakus air group. Meanwhile, the American carriers had taken divergent courses as the incoming Japanese strike neared them, Yorktown, Lexington, and their respective screens drawing three or four miles apart; Anderson continued to screen Lexington. About 1116 on 8 May, the first of the Japanese planes came in on the attack, which lasted until 1200. During the attack, Anderson maintained station on Lexington, constantly firing at the enemy, but scoring no hits. With the exception of one burst of machine gun
fire, the destroyer was not attacked, the enemy concentrating his attack on Lexington.
"Lady Lex" took two hits on the port side. Then, Aichi D3A
"Val" dive bombers punctured her with near misses and staggered her with two direct hits. A bomb smashed into the port forward gun gallery, and another exploded inside the carrier's funnel. During the afternoon her fires were brought under control and her list corrected. But the explosions had ruptured her gasoline pipes, and about 1445 a series of explosions occurred, setting off internal fires. Anderson stood by to render assistance and pick up survivors as the big carrier was abandoned, and rescued 377 men. Eventually, had to sink Lexington with torpedoes.
The first battle fought with neither side sighting the other except from the cockpits of their respective aircraft, the engagement in the Coral Sea stopped the Japanese thrust toward Port Moresby. It was a strategic victory for the Allies
, but a tactical one for the enemy, since the Japanese had inflicted heavier damage on the American carriers. Besides the loss of Lexington, Yorktown had been badly damaged.
On 10 May, Anderson transferred the 377 Lexington sailors to , and, the following day, put into Nouméa
, New Caledonia, where she transferred five torpedoes to Phelps, which had expended torpedoes in attempting to sink Lexington. She sailed thence to Tongatapu, where she rejoined TF 17. On 28 May, she reached Pearl Harbor. Her rest, however, was to prove short, for forces were needed to thwart a new Japanese thrust, this one directed at Midway Island to draw out the United States fleet in a decisive battle. Anderson sortied again with TF 17 on 30 May, again in the screen for Yorktown, which had been hastily repaired.
On 4 June, Japanese planes struck the island of Midway with little opposition, and returned to their carriers to re-arm for a second strike. Confusion on the Japanese side as to what forces they found themselves facing proved fatal, as the American air attack from Yorktown, Enterprise, and caught the enemy at a vulnerable moment. While torpedo planes from the three carriers successively drew off the combat air patrols, dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise wrought mortal damage on three of the four enemy carriers engaged.
Planes from , the one enemy aircraft carrier that had escaped destruction that morning, soon sought out the Americans and located TF 17. Although decimated by TF 17's combat air patrol, "Val" dive bombers managed to score damaging hits on Yorktown, causing her to go dead in the water. Andersons gunners claimed two Japanese planes downed as they retired from the scene. Yorktown, however, was underway again two hours later, her fires put out and power restored, and commencing to launch fighters when a second attack wave, this time composed of Nakajima B5N
"Kate" torpedo planes, showed up. In the developing melee, Anderson shot down one "Kate" before it had a chance to launch its torpedo
, but others managed to penetrate the terrific barrage and drop their ordnance, scoring two hits on the carrier's port side amidships.
Andersons gunners claimed one of the retiring planes with a direct hit. As Yorktown, mortally wounded, slowed to a halt for the second time that day, Anderson picked up Ensign
Milton Tootle, IV, USNR, a pilot from Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3) who had been shot down attacking a Japanese torpedo plane. The destroyer then closed Yorktown and picked up 203 more men.
While TF 17 gathered Yorktowns men and then cleared the area, the ship remained stubbornly afloat. When it became evident that the carrier would not sink immediately and might be saved, Admiral Fletcher ordered a salvage party put on board. Under tow by and with a salvage party on board composed of volunteers from the various ship departments, Yorktown appeared to be on the threshold of salvage
. The arrival of , however, changed all that, and the gallant carrier was torpedoed on 6 June, along with Hammann. The latter sank immediately; Yorktown lingered until the following morning when she, too, sank.
Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June. From 8–15 July she escorted to Midway, and from 22–27 July, she escorted to Palmyra Island and back to Pearl Harbor.
On 17 August, Anderson sortied from Pearl Harbor with TF 17, en route to the Solomons area, where she sighted and joined TF 61 on 29 August. Anderson was assigned as screen for Hornet in TG 61.2. The Battle of the Eastern Solomons
, which had taken place on 24 August, had turned back a major Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal. Enemy submarines, however, still lurked in the waters east of Guadalcanal. On 31 August, , in TG 61.1, was torpedoed and damaged, and forced to retire to Tongatapu. On 14 September, six transports carrying reinforcements and supplies for Guadalcanal departed Espiritu Santo
, with the task groups formed around and Hornet in support.
Enemy submarines, however, again made their deadly presence felt. On 15 September, torpedoed Wasp. At that time, Anderson was screening Hornet, about six miles (10 km) northeast of Wasp. A few minutes later, torpedoes were spotted racing toward Hornet, which maneuvered to avoid them. They passed ahead, one smashing into and the other into . Anderson was ordered to stand by the damaged battleship, and escorted her to Tongatapu on 19 September.
During the remainder of September 1942, Anderson escorted a Dutch
convoy to Dumbea Bay
, New Caledonia, then on 3 October sortied with TF 17 en route to launch an air attack against enemy vessels in the Buin-Faisi area. On 3 October, Anderson was detached to proceed to the rescue of a downed pilot. The pilot was not found, and since the task force was by that time too far away to enable her to rejoin before the mission was accomplished, she proceeded singly to Nouméa.
She rejoined TF 17 on 8 October, and on 15 October, received orders to proceed north to the Guadalcanal area to strike enemy forces in order to relieve pressure there. Hornet launched strikes on 16 October, and on 24 October the force joined with TF 16 to form TF 61. On 26 October, the American ships engaged a numerically superior Japanese striking force in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
. Contact between the two opposing forces, as at Coral Sea, was almost simultaneous. During the day planes from Enterprise and Hornet damaged two enemy carriers, a cruiser, and two destroyers. American ship casualties, however, were considerably heavier.
At 1010 on that morning some 27 planes attacked Hornet. Anderson opened fire, scoring hits on two planes, and splashing one. One bomb hit Hornets flight deck, then a "Val" crashed the ship. A moment later two "Kates" swept in, launching torpedoes which hit the carrier's engineering spaces. As she slowed to a halt, she was hit by three more bombs and another "Val". During this melee, Anderson succeeded in downing another torpedo plane, scored hits on several others, and took one machine gun bullet hit causing a small crack and dent in her side plating amidships.
At noon, attempted to take Hornet in tow, but at 1815, another flock of enemy dive-bombers and torpedo planes roared in to attack the crippled carrier. A veritable sitting duck, she took a torpedo and a bomb hit, and abandoned ship. Anderson moved in to pick up survivors, taking on board 247 men. was ordered to sink the hulk, and scored three torpedo hits, but Hornet remained stubbornly afloat. Anderson was ordered to finish the job and slammed six torpedoes into the target, but she still remained afloat. Anderson and Mustin shelled Hornet, but the arrival of Japanese destroyers on the horizon forced the two American destroyers to take a hurried departure. On the morning of 27 October, Japanese destroyers performed the final rites for Hornet with four torpedoes.
During the Japanese attack on Hornet, the Enterprise group over the horizon had not gone unscathed. was sunk inadvertently by torpedo from a Japanese submarine while rescuing a downed pilot; Enterprise suffered three bomb hits; was severely damaged by a suicider; and both and suffered minor damage from bomb hits. Although the American forces had suffered heavier damage, they had succeeded in stopping the Japanese thrust toward Guadalcanal.
In November 1942, Anderson participated in further operations in the waters off Guadalcanal, screening a transport group landing troops in Lunga Roads and providing call fire during landings on 4 to 6 November, and screening Enterprise during strikes against enemy shipping at Guadalcanal on 13–14 November.
From December 1942 to 23 January 1943, the ship operated with TF 16 out of Espiritu Santo on antisubmarine patrol and training. Between 23 January and 3 February, she escorted Task Unit 62.4.7 (TU 62.4.7), a merchant ship convoy, to Guadalcanal to unload, and returned to Espiritu Santo. While in the Solomons, she conducted a photographic reconnaissance and bombardment of enemy-held beaches on northern coast of Guadalcanal on 29 January in company with .
Anderson, continued to operate out of the New Hebrides Islands on hunter-killer missions, and escort runs for a fueling rendezvous with TF 67 and TF 68 until 7 March 1943. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 22 March and received onward routing back to the United States. From 9 April to 8 June, she lay at San Francisco undergoing overhaul and repairs.
Following an escort run to Pearl Harbor and back in June, Anderson departed San Francisco on 11 July with TG 96.1 en-route to Kodiak, Alaska
, arriving on 21 July. Joining TG 16.17 on 30 July, she participated in bombardments of Kiska
on 2 August and 15 August 1943. The ship remained in the Aleutians on patrol duty until 21 September, when she departed for Pearl Harbor.
From 14 October to 1 November, Anderson lay at Wellington
, New Zealand
, staging with the transports for the next operation. With TF 53, she arrived at Tarawa Atoll
on 19 November 1943. As a part of Fire Support Group No. 3, she took station off the eastern end of Betio
on D-day, 20 November, and began conducting bombardments of assigned targets. Betio was captured by 24 November, but Anderson remained in the general area on radar
picket patrol and rendered intermittent call fire until 29 November, when she departed for Pearl Harbor.
By 21 December 1943, she was back in San Diego to escort the 4th Marine Division to Kwajalein
. En route, Anderson was one of the units designated to conduct a diversionary strike at Wotje on 30 January 1944. As one of the leading destroyers she opened the bombardment at 0642 and began to maneuver to avoid enemy return fire. At 0646, a shell hit in her combat information center (CIC), killing the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John G. Tennent, III, two ensigns, and three enlisted men, and wounding 14 others. Her executive officer immediately assumed command and kept her firing until she could maneuver to seaward to act as antisubmarine screen until completion of the Wotje bombardment at noon. The next day, Anderson approached the objective islands of Roi and Namur
, Kwajalein Atoll, and screened to seaward as the heavy units began the bombardment. On 1 February, while transferring her wounded, she struck an uncharted pinnacle and had to be towed to Pearl Harbor.
Following the completion of repairs on 15 June, the destroyer sailed to the southwest Pacific. Following an escort run to Oro Bay
, New Guinea, Anderson arrived off Cape Sansapor, New Guinea, on 1 August with TG 77.3. During the landing operations she operated on antisubmarine station between Amsterdam Island and Cape Opmarai, then conducted patrols off Woendi Harbor, and Cape Sunsapor until 25 August. During the Morotai
landings on 15 September 1944, the ship rendered call fire and conducted patrols off White beach.
On 12 October, Anderson departed Seeadler Harbor
with TG 78.2 for the landing operations at Leyte Gulf
. Arriving in the area on 20 October, she took up patrol during the initial assault and until she joined TG 77.2 on 25 October. This group was under enemy air attack and Anderson fired on several planes without results. On 1 November, enemy air attacks were intense. The ship scored hits on several planes, splashing one. At 1812 on that day, an Nakajima Ki-43
"Oscar" fighter crashed into the ship's port side, aft of the break in the deck. Anderson suffered 14 dead and 22 wounded. Two of the wounded later died.
Departing Leyte on 3 November 1944 and steaming via Hollandia, Manus
, and Majuro
, Anderson arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 November 1944. There she received orders to proceed to San Francisco, where she moored on 9 December to begin repairs.
On 11 May 1945, she arrived at Attu Island
, Alaska
where she was assigned to TG 92.2. Eight days later, Anderson took part in a bombardment of Suribachi Wan and a sweep in the Sea of Okhotsk
. From 10–12 June, she participated in the bombardment of enemy shore installations on Matsuwa To, Kuril Islands
, and another anti-shipping sweep in the Sea of Okhotsk. While the remainder of the task group entered that body of water to intercept an enemy convoy headed south from Paramushir
from 23–25 June, Anderson, Hughes, and established a patrol east of the Kurils to thwart any attempt of the convoy to escape into the Pacific. From 15–22 July, Anderson conducted a patrol east of the Kurils, an anti-shipping sweep in the Sea of Okhotsk, and another bombardment of Suribachi Wan, Paramushiru To, Kuriles. Another sweep was made in the Sea of Okhotsk, coupled with another bombardment of Matsuwa To, Kuriles, on 11–12 August 1945.
Anderson remained with the Northern Pacific Force for the remainder of the war, and departed Alaskan waters for Japan on 27 August. She reached Ominato, Japan, on 8 September, and supported the occupation of northern Honshū
through 30 October. She departed Japanese waters on that date, bound for the United States, and arrived at San Diego on 1 December. She was earmarked for retention in an inactive status in view of the experimental tests to which she would be subjected. Two days after Christmas, she got underway for Hawaiian waters.
. She reached her ultimate destination on 30 May 1946.
On 1 July 1946, the bomb used in Test "Able" Operation Crossroads
sank Anderson in Bikini lagoon. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
on 25 September 1946.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
. She was named for Rear Admiral
Rear admiral (United States)
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...
Edwin Alexander Anderson, Jr., a Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
recipient.
Anderson was laid down on 15 November 1937 at Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny, New Jersey
Kearny is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It was named after Civil War general Philip Kearny. As of the United States 2010 Census, the town population was 40,684. The town is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark....
, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1949. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at...
; launched on 4 February 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Mertie Loraine Anderson, the widow of Rear Admiral Anderson; towed to the New York Navy Yard, and delivered there to the Navy on 18 May 1939; and commissioned on 19 May 1939, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
William M. Hobby, Jr., in command.
Inter-War Period
Anderson remained at the New York Navy Yard through June, fitting out, during which time she contributed a landing party of sailors to march in the New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Flag Day
Flag Day
A flag day is a flag-related holiday—either a day designated for flying a certain flag , or a day set aside to celebrate a historical event such as a nation's adoption of its flag....
parade on 14 June 1939. Underway from her berth on 5 July, Anderson reached Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, on 7 July, mooring to the east dock at the Naval Torpedo Station, and taking on board torpedo warheads, exploders, and test equipment before returning to the New York Navy Yard the next day, pausing there only briefly before getting underway later that afternoon for Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Anchoring off Quantico
Quantico, Virginia
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there are 561 people, 295 households, and 107 families living in the town. The population density is . There are 359 housing units at an average density of .-Racial composition:...
on the night of 9 July, Anderson steamed up the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
, rendering the prescribed passing honors abeam of Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon (plantation)
Mount Vernon, located near Alexandria, Virginia, was the plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style, and the estate is located on the banks of the Potomac River.Mount Vernon was designated...
, and arrived at the Washington Navy Yard
Washington Navy Yard
The Washington Navy Yard is the former shipyard and ordnance plant of the United States Navy in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is the oldest shore establishment of the U.S. Navy...
at 0721 on 10 July. The next day, a number of high-ranking officers informally inspected the new destroyer, the first of the Sims-class to be placed in commission, Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Harold R. Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
, accompanied by Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
H. T. Markland; Rear Admirals Robert L. Ghormley
Robert L. Ghormley
Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley was an admiral in the United States Navy, serving as Commander, South Pacific Area, during the Second World War.-Biography:...
, Director of War Plans, and William R. Furlong, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance
Bureau of Ordnance
The Bureau of Ordnance was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.-History:...
, as well as Charles Edison
Charles Edison
Charles Edison was son of Thomas Edison to Mina, businessman, Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd Governor of New Jersey.-Biography:...
, the Acting Secretary of the Navy.
On 12 July, assisted by and , Anderson got underway for Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
. She loaded depth charges at the mine depot at Yorktown before moving to the Naval Operating Base (NOB) at Norfolk
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
before getting underway on 14 July for Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
. Wilmington was the hometown of the man for whom the ship had been named, Admiral Anderson; and it accorded the ship a warm welcome. The local paper editorialized: "It is a pleasure to have you in port and to inspect the magnificent new destroyer named in honor of a distinguished son. The ship and its personnel are a credit to the record and memory of the man for whom your ship is named… Therefore, we bid you welcome, and if there is aught that can add to your entertainment while here, you have but to ask any resident and it is yours…" Anderson gave a tea for Mrs. Anderson, members of the late flag officer's family, and the city officials of Wilmington on the afternoon of 17 July. On the next day, assisted out into the stream by the tug Battler, the destroyer made departure from Wilmington.
Reaching NOB, Norfolk, on 19 July, Anderson shifted to the Norfolk Navy Yard that same day to take on board ammunition. After embarking six enlisted Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
for transportation to the Marine Barracks at Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
, Anderson got underway on 21 July for Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n waters and the initial part of her shakedown cruise. Arriving at Guantanamo on 24 July, the destroyer disembarked her passengers before operating locally over the next few days.
Anderson then visited San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
(from 1–5 August); Coco Solo
Coco Solo
Coco Solo was a United States Navy submarine base established in 1918 on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Panama Canal Zone, near Colón, Panama....
, Panama Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
(8–14 August); and Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
(19–21 August); St. John's, Newfoundland (25–28 August); before she reached Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, on the morning of 31 August. Underway on 5 September, the destroyer called briefly at Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
(5 to 6 September) before she headed for Newport. On 8 September, while en route, Anderson sighted a merchantman eight miles (13 km) distant, identifying her as Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
by the display of national colors on ship's side. Soon thereafter, a plane, identified as "British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
" (possibly Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
) by the wing markings, circled Anderson at low altitude, obviously scrutinizing the ship thoroughly before banking away and heading for the coast.
Anderson made arrival at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport the following day, 9 September, and over the next few days served as the underway "target" for torpedo practice conducted by on the testing range in Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. Covering 147 mi2 , the Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago...
. On the 16 September, Anderson arrived back at the New York Navy Yard, her shakedown completed, for the installation of her main battery director. After brief periods underway for testing fire control equipment (21–22 September), Anderson took departure from New York for NOB, Norfolk, arriving on 24 September.
Anderson conducted gunnery exercises on the Southern Drill Grounds off the Virginia Capes
Virginia Capes
The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America....
, firing at a target towed by on 26 September before firing antiaircraft battery practice on 28 September. She arrived at the New York Navy Yard for post-shakedown availability on the morning of 1 October; these repairs and alterations continuing through the end of January 1940.
The destroyer then touched briefly at the Boston Navy Yard
Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...
before she ran her final acceptance trials off Rockland, Maine
Rockland, Maine
Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,297. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination...
, on 7 February 1940, with Rear Admiral H. L. Brinser, president of the Board of Inspection and Survey
Board of Inspection and Survey
The Board of Inspection and Survey is a U.S. Navy organization whose purpose is to inspect and assess material condition of Naval vessels.The Board is currently headquartered at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia.- INSURV teams :...
, embarked. Anderson then paid a return visit to the Boston Navy Yard on 9 February before returning to New York, via the Cape Cod Canal
Cape Cod Canal
The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway traversing the narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to mainland Massachusetts.Part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the canal is roughly 17.4 miles long and connects Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south...
, Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay (bay)
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles long by 8 miles wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since 1914, Buzzards Bay has been connected to Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod Canal...
and Oyster Bay, on 12 February.
Anderson remained at the Navy Yard through the end of March, after which time she sailed for Newport, for torpedo firing tests on 10 April. At 1130 on 12 April, the destroyer embarked the Honorable John Z. Anderson, a California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Congressman and member of the House Naval Affairs Committee, and got underway shortly thereafter, reaching NOB, Norfolk, and mooring to Pier 7, at 2008 the following day, disembarking her passenger the next morning.
Underway in company with , Anderson stood out, headed for Guantanamo Bay, on the afternoon of 15 April. The next day, 14 hours out of Norfolk, the ships ran into heavy weather. At 0440 on 16 April, the strongback of the port lifeboat was reported to be cracked. Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
George R. Phelan, the executive officer
Executive officer
An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...
, gathered men of the deck force in the lee of the galley, amidships, as the ship steered various courses in an attempt to lessen the roll and thereby facilitate efforts to secure the port lifeboat. Between rolls, Lieutenant Phelan and his men attempted to recover the boat and make it fast, but the effort soon became too dangerous, not worth the lives of the men, and the work had to be abandoned, the boat carrying away completely at 0718. Ultimately, Anderson reached Guantanamo Bay at 0618 on 19 April.
Underway again nine hours later, Anderson, again in company with Manley, reached the submarine base at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, on 21 April. Transiting the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
on the 23 April, Anderson proceeded independently up the west coast of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
, reaching Acapulco
Acapulco
Acapulco is a city, municipality and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay and has been a port since the early colonial period of Mexico’s history...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, on the 27th. The next morning, following by nine hours the visit of Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
W. M. Dillon, the naval attaché at the United States Embassy in Mexico City, Anderson sent ashore a working party to bring off "naval stores salvaged from the wreck" of (listed in the 1941 Merchant Vessel Register as "abandoned" during the previous year). Underway again four hours later, Anderson rejoined Manley on the 30 April, and reached San Diego at 0900 on 1 May 1940.
After conducting a brief harbor cruise with 85 Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
reservists embarked on 18 May, Anderson got underway to conduct a neutrality patrol
Neutrality Patrol
At the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 started the hostilities in Europe, President Franklin D...
off the coast of southern California. During the course of this operation on 20 May, the destroyer sighted a tug five miles (8 km) away at 0945 and altered course to close and investigate. Closer examination revealed Ray P. Clark, towing a barge laden with horses and bales of hay and flying a distress signal. Anderson immediately called away her fire and rescue party and stopped to render assistance, help which turned out to be only giving directions to the tug which had become lost and needed the course to San Nicolas Island
San Nicolas Island
San Nicolas Island is the most remote of California's Channel Islands. It is part of Ventura County. The 14,562 acre island is currently controlled by the United States Navy and is used as a weapons testing and training facility, served by Naval Outlying Field San Nicolas Island...
. The assistance duly rendered, Anderson continued on her appointed rounds, arriving back at San Diego on the morning of the 23 May.
The warship commenced the month of June as plane guard for , as that carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
conducted local operations out of North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
; she later planeguarded for from 19–21 June, interspersed with type training and gunnery practices out of Pyramid Cove, San Clemente Island
San Clemente Island
San Clemente Island is the southernmost of the Channel Islands of California. It is owned and operated by the United States Navy, and is a part of Los Angeles County. Defined by the United States Census Bureau as Block Group 2 of Census Tract 5991 of Los Angeles County, California, it is long and...
. At 0900 on 22 June, as the ship prepared to sail for Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
an waters, Commander Allan E. Smith reported on board and broke his pennant in Anderson as Commander, Destroyer Division 3 (DesDiv 3); Anderson subsequently took departure from San Diego on the morning of 25 June, sailing in company with Enterprise and , , , and .
During the passage to Hawaii, Anderson alternated with the other destroyers in standing plane guard duty for Enterprise and then serving as antisubmarine screen. On 28 June, during morning flight operations, a plane from Scouting Squadron (VS) 6 lost power after being catapulted from the flight deck and was forced to ditch. Hammann arrived on the scene first and rescued the pilot and his radioman, Enterprise later drew alongside the plane and recovered it. Subsequently, Anderson covered the arrival of the force at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
and then followed it in, mooring on the morning of 2 July.
For the next five months, Anderson operated locally put of Pearl Harbor and Lahaina Roads
Lahaina Roads
Lahaina Roads, also called the Lahaina Roadstead is a channel of the Pacific Ocean in the Hawaiian Islands. The surrounding islands of Maui, and Lānai make it a sheltered anchorage....
. Her operations within the Hawaiian chain took her to Palmyra
Palmyra
Palmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
(22 July) and Christmas Island
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
(23 July); and included such evolutions as antiaircraft and machine gun practices; battle depth charge practices, and torpedo practices, often operating in company with destroyers, light cruisers, and battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s. Interspersed were periods of upkeep back at Pearl Harbor alongside between 26 and 28 October, and drydocking (28 to 29 October and again from 30 October to 4 November). The ship also patrolled assigned areas adjacent to the Lahaina Roads anchorage, off Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, and off Honolulu
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
and Pearl Harbor, intercepting and identifying many merchantmen, and local craft, such as fishing boats, as well as noting the movements of American warships. Following this intensive period of operations in Hawaiian waters, Anderson took departure from Pearl Harbor on 2 December 1940, bound for the West Coast in company with the rest of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 8.
Arriving at San Diego on the afternoon of 8 December, Anderson steamed to the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, San Pedro, California, the day after Christmas, and underwent an overhaul there through the first week of January 1941. Then, after operating locally out of Long Beach and San Diego, Anderson took departure from San Diego on the morning of 14 January and rendezvoused with Enterprise and off San Pedro. The force conducted drills and exercises en route to the Hawaiian Islands, reaching Pearl Harbor on the morning of 21 January.
Anderson resumed operations in the Hawaiian area on 12 February, conducting such evolutions as depth charge practices, night battle practice runs, and gunnery drills, until returning to Pearl Harbor on the 19 February. Underway again two days later she conducted more gunnery runs and damage control problems before returning to port that afternoon to provision from the storeship . Underway again on the morning of 22 February, Anderson patrolled off the entrance to Pearl Harbor and encountered a fishing craft trespassing in a security zone; lowering her motor whaleboat, Anderson investigated the craft and warned her owner to keep away from those waters. Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor the next morning, 23 February, before resuming the intensive schedule of operations with the other ships in her division that lasted through the end of February.
During March 1941, Anderson continued the rapid pace of operations out of Pearl Harbor, operating with the fleet and honing her skills in antisubmarine warfare tactics and in gunnery. She also operated for a time with Yorktown as plane guard. During flight operations on the morning of 17 March 1941, two TBD Devastator
TBD Devastator
The Douglas TBD Devastator was a torpedo bomber of the United States Navy, ordered in 1934, first flying in 1935 and entering service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced aircraft flying for the USN and possibly for any navy in the world...
s from Torpedo Squadron 5 collided at 1,000 feet (300 m) and crashed into the sea, 2,500 yards (2.3 km) from the carrier. Yorktowns boats recovered the bodies of the pilots, but both planes sank in 2,910 fathoms (5,320 m) of water, carrying the other four men — two in each aircraft — with them. Anderson — detailed to remain in the vicinity and continue the search — found only small parts of the planes and pieces of clothing.
These evolutions in Hawaiian waters proved to be the last for some time; Anderson got underway for the West Coast of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
shortly after noon on 24 March, and reached Mare Island Navy Yard on the last day of the month after first disembarking, at San Francisco, enlisted passengers transported from Pearl Harbor. The destroyer spent all of April 1941 undergoing repairs and alterations at the West Coast yard, and on 16 May got underway for her post-repair trials.
After operating briefly in San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, Anderson shifted to Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
on 21 May, and eight days later, took departure, ostensibly, for the Hawaiian Islands, in company with her division mates, Hammann, Mustin, and Rowan. Interestingly, the ships soon received a change of orders. They rendezvoused with on the afternoon of 30 May, and soon proceeded down the coast, bound for Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, as another increment of the Pacific Fleet
United States Pacific Fleet
The United States Pacific Fleet is a Pacific Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources under the operational control of the United States Pacific Command. Its home port is at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii. It is commanded by Admiral Patrick M...
was withdrawn to augment the Atlantic Fleet in its undeclared war with the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Navy in the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
Atlantic Neutrality Patrols
Transiting the Panama Canal on the night of 8–9 June, Anderson, her hull number and name painted out for security reasons, passed the Cristobal breakwater at 0125 on 9 June, en route to Guantanamo Bay. Fueling there on 11 June, Anderson got underway the same afternoon, quickly taking up antisubmarine screening station off the port bow of , which she escorted up the eastern seaboard to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, arriving there on 15 June.The respite in port proved brief, however, since Anderson took departure early on the morning of 19 June. Joined by shortly thereafter, the destroyer stood down the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, and out into the Atlantic. They joined the following morning, and, later, shortly after noon on 21 June.
Together, these ships proceeded out into the central Atlantic on neutrality patrol, cruising almost as far as the Cape Verde Islands, "safeguarding the neutrality of the United States." Their voyage took them almost to the edge of the zones defined in operations orders of April and June 1941. Anderson served as plane guard for Wasp and as antisubmarine screen for the carrier and for Tuscaloosa during the patrol that ultimately came to an end at Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
on Independence Day
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
, 1941.
After a brief period in Bermudan waters, a break she utilized for a short stint of close range battle practice, Anderson took departure on 12 July for Norfolk, reaching her destination the following day. After getting underway from the Tidewater region for torpedo practice on 17 July, the warship sailed north for Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, and reached the Boston Navy Yard on the afternoon of 19 July.
Anderson then underwent repairs and alterations into early August; during her time in the yard, her number three 5 inch (127 mm) mount was removed to save topside weight and allow the fitting of additional .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, extensions to her depth charge tracks, and a "Y"-gun (depth charge projector), in addition to two dozen additional depth charges. Thus refitted to better perform the escort role needed in the developing Battle of the Atlantic, she participated in intensive antisubmarine exercises out of Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,431 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2007 population of 3,174...
, during the latter half of August 1941 before returning to Boston on the 30th. Andersons operations now carried her farther north, as she sailed for Casco Bay, Maine, on 2 September, exercising with Tuscaloosa en route.
Assigned to Task Force 15 (TF 15), Anderson steamed as part of the escort force for the first major reinforcement convoy bound for Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
, carrying an Army brigade to augment the Marines who had been there since July. The ships reached Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
on the evening of 15 September after a passage enlivened by two "submarine" contacts in Andersons vicinity: one summarily depth-charged by on 8 September, the other by on the 10th. Then, between 26 September and 3 October, Anderson escorted a convoy to Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.
Anderson remained at Placentia Bay for almost a week before getting underway on the 10 October as part of the antisubmarine screen for TF 14, formed around Yorktown. This force reached Casco Bay, Maine, on the afternoon of 13 October. Moving down to Provincetown, Anderson again conducted antisubmarine exercises, and as in previous practices, the ship's performance was "outstanding in detecting the presence of a submarine and carrying out a successful attack." Later, after a tender availability alongside at Casco Bay, she resumed her operations at sea with TF 14.
Standing out of Casco Bay on the afternoon of 26 October, with Task Group 14.3 (TG 14.3), , , , Yorktown, and seven destroyers as the escort for a convoy of six British cargo ships bound for the British Isles, Anderson, in the inner anti-submarine screen, plane guarded for the carrier as she conducted flight operations covering the convoy as it moved out into the Atlantic.
On 30 October, 700 mi (1,125 km) from St. John's, Newfoundland, Yorktown had just completed recovering planes and was proceeding ahead to refuel when, at 1219, Anderson made an underwater contact, 1300 yards (1,188.7 m) distant. Anderson went to general quarters immediately and proceeded ahead to develop the contact dropping a standard pattern of six depth charges at 1225. Five minutes later, dropped an "embarrassing barrage". Other ships in the vicinity, however, began sighting porpoises and blackfish, leading Commander Frank G. Fahrion, Commander, DesDiv 3 in Anderson, to report over the high-frequency radio (TBS) to Morris that, in view of the fish sightings, the contact was a false one.
Soon thereafter, however, Andersons men saw an oil slick and lowered a bucket that, when drawn up, contained a mixture of oil, water, and burnt TNT. At 1305, the destroyer picked up a propeller noise and attacked with a second pattern of six depth charges. Soon thereafter, , also in on the "hunt", picked up a contact and requested Anderson to develop it. The latter dropped another pattern at 1409.
Anderson secured from general quarters at 1421, and then, in company with Hughes, tried to develop further contacts or to obtain concrete evidence of a "kill." Unfortunately, it appeared that their quarry had escaped.
After securing from the search at 1503, Anderson remained with TF 14 until detached on 6 November. At 1637 on that same day, while steaming in company with Hammann, Anderson sighted an unidentified ship which instituted radical course changes when she apparently sighted the two American destroyers. As Hammann parted company, Anderson investigated the stranger, finding her to be , steaming singly from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. The destroyer then trailed the tanker for a time until securing from the effort at 2246.
Reaching Hvalfjörður
Hvalfjörður
Hvalfjörður is situated in the west of Iceland between Mosfellsbær and Akranes. The fjord is approximately 30 km long and 5 km wide....
on 7 November and fueling from upon arrival, Anderson then spent the next month operating in Icelandic waters, out of Hvalfjörður ("Valley Forge") and Reykjavík ("Rinky Dink"). The ship's last "peacetime" operations consisted of a sweep, in company with Idaho and from Reykjavík across the southern end of the Denmark Strait
Denmark Strait
The Denmark Strait or Greenland Strait |Sound]]) is an oceanic strait between Greenland and Iceland...
, between Iceland and Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
, between 1 and 6 December 1941.
Atlantic
Underway from Hvalfjörður, Iceland, on the morning of 9 December 1941, two days after the JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
upon the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, halfway across the globe, Anderson reached the Norfolk Navy Yard on 17 December, tarrying only a short time before taking departure at 0537 on 18 December for Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
in company with Hammann, Mustin, and Morris, and reaching their destination the following morning. Unloading ammunition the following day, Anderson spent the rest of 1941 undergoing repairs and alterations at the Charleston Navy Yard, including the replacement of her .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns with 20 mm antiaircraft guns.
Three days into 1942, Anderson sailed for Norfolk, Virginia and after calibrating her degaussing
Degaussing
Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field. It is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, an early researcher in the field of magnetism...
gear on the Wolf Trap degaussing range, near Norfolk, the destroyer arrived at NOB, Norfolk, on the morning of 5 January. mi Once again, the respite in port proved brief, and at midday on 6 January, Anderson cleared Hampton Roads in company with Morris and Hammann, ultimately taking a screening position on the port beam of Mississippi in the force escorting the battlewagons of BatDiv 3 back to the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
.
Pacific
Over the next four days, the destroyers guarded New Mexico, Mississippi, and as they headed down the East Coast of the United States and across the Gulf of MexicoGulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. Reaching Cristobal on the morning of 11 January, Anderson transited the Panama Canal during the day, mooring at Balboa
Balboa, Panama
Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.- History :The town of Balboa, founded by the United States during the construction of the Panama Canal, was named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish conquistador credited with discovering the Pacific Ocean...
that afternoon. After taking on fuel, the destroyer was underway once more, that evening, bound for San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. On the second leg of the voyage, all ships remained alert. Within two days of departure from Panama, Andersons lookouts reported a torpedo track at 0113 on 13 January. Over the next four days, the ships sighted, challenged and identified two ships, both of which proved to be friendly: the British-registry Ocean Voice and the American-registry Kishacoquillas, on 15 and 17 January, respectively.
During the passage, the ships honed up their gunnery skills, and OS2U Kingfisher
OS2U Kingfisher
The Vought OS2U Kingfisher was an American catapult-launched observation floatplane. It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest, because of its light engine...
s simulated dive, torpedo, and high-level bombing attacks on the convoy. Off San Francisco Bay, the submarine jitters struck again, this time as Hammann reported a contact on the morning of 22 January and depth charged the "contact" with negative results. The odyssey from the East Coast completed, Anderson moored in a nest at Pier 54
Pier 54
Pier 54 in New York City is a former Cunard Line pier that is associated with the 1912 RMS Titanic and 1915 RMS Lusitania maritime disasters. It is now part of Hudson River Park.-Chelsea Piers:...
, San Francisco, at 1250 on 22 January 1942.
Anderson subsequently unmoored on the morning of 25 January, after having undergone a brief tender availability in a nest alongside and stood out of San Francisco Bay, bound for a rendezvous with Convoy 2019.
Hampered by the typical foggy conditions surrounding the bay area, assembly took some time, but ultimately, with all units present and accounted for, the convoy set out for the Hawaiian Islands. Anderson covered the entry of the ships into the Pearl Harbor channel shortly before noon on 2 February.
Anderson spent the next two weeks either at, or operating locally from, Pearl Harbor. Her underway periods included a turn at the Pearl Harbor entrance patrol (11–12 February) and duty screening as that ship conducted gunnery exercises on 14 February.
Underway at 0817 on 16 February, Anderson stood out to sea, joining up with Task Force 17 (TF17), consisting of Yorktown, , Louisville, Hammann, Sims, and Walke, under Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher was the operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral Sea and of Midway. He was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher.-Early life and early Navy career:Fletcher was born in Marshalltown, Iowa...
, later that afternoon. The next two weeks found the Yorktown task force working its way toward the southwest Pacific. On 6 March 1942, TF 17 rendezvoused with TF 11 under Vice Admiral Wilson Brown
Wilson Brown (admiral)
Wilson Brown, Jr. was a Vice Admiral of the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II...
, to raid the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
.
While Brown's and Fletcher's ships were en route to that area, however, Australian reconnaissance planes detected a Japanese invasion force moving toward the settlements of Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
and Salamaua
Salamaua
Salamaua was a small town situated on the north-eastern coastline of Papua New Guinea part of Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland...
, on the eastern coast of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Both fell with little resistance, but the incipient enemy base, and the airfields at both places, presented the Allies with a fine new target, and a chance to get back at the enemy at his most vulnerable time — before he had consolidated his beachhead. The raid on Rabaul was shelved.
To provide security for the carriers' operations in the Gulf of Papua
Gulf of Papua
The Gulf of Papua is a 400 kilometer wide region on the south shore of New Guinea. Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River and Purari River, flow into the gulf, making it a large delta. While the western coast is characterized by swampy tidal...
, Brown detached a surface force to remain in the waters of the Louisiade Archipelago
Louisiade Archipelago
The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread over an ocean area of between the Solomon Sea to the north and the Coral Sea to...
, near Rossel Island, to intercept any enemy thrust toward Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
and cover the arrival of Army troops scheduled to arrive at about that time at Nouméa, New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. He placed this force, Astoria, , Louisville, , Anderson, Sims, Hammann, and Hughes, under Rear Admiral John G. Grace, Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. While the patrol proved uneventful for Grace's ships, which rejoined TF 11 on 14 March, the Lae-Salamaua raid carried out by planes from Yorktown and Lexington forced the Japanese to husband carefully their amphibious resources, already on the proverbial "shoestring", for their planned operations in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
.
Anderson, operated with Yorktown through late April, patrolling the Coral Sea
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the northeast coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands...
as the sole barrier against Japanese expansion in that region, putting into Tongatapu
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with approximately 71,260 residents , 70.5% of the national population...
, in the Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
(or "Friendly") Islands, late that month. With intelligence data indicating that the postponed movement against Tulagi
Tulagi
Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida Island. The town of the same name on the island Tulagi, less commonly Tulaghi, is a small island (5.5 km by 1 km) in the Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Florida...
, in the Solomons, was imminent—confirmed by the Japanese landing men and supplies there on 29 April and establishing a seaplane base on the heels of the retreating Australian garrison, TF 17 moved north to deal with this threat.
Battle of the Coral Sea
On 4 May, Anderson, her men "anxious to get a chance to attack" the enemy, screened Yorktown as she launched three attacks on the incipient base at Tulagi, the carrier's planes sinking a destroyer and some small auxiliaries, at the relatively modest cost of only three aircraft (whose crews were later recovered).
Reinforced on 6 May by Rear Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch's TF 11, Fletcher planned to meet the Japanese in the Coral Sea on 7 May, to stop the enemy thrust toward Port Moresby. On that day, each side attempted to strike blows with carrier aircraft; the Americans enjoying more success in that planes from Yorktown and Lexington sank . Japanese planes, attempting to strike the Americans, could not find them in the gathering darkness, and a twilight encounter between the returning Japanese air groups and American fighters robbed the enemy of experienced crews as well as virtually irreplaceable aircraft. Anderson, assigned to the Air Group (TG 17.5), operated in the screen of Lexington.
The Japanese Striking Force, however, formed around and was, on 7 May, well south of Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
. The same day that American planes had dispatched Shōhō, planes from the enemy carriers sank Sims and damaged so severely that she had to be sunk later.
The next morning some 170 mi (275 km) separated the two forces. The Americans struck first, crippling Shōkaku; anti-aircraft fire and combat air patrol aircraft soon decimated Zuikakus air group. Meanwhile, the American carriers had taken divergent courses as the incoming Japanese strike neared them, Yorktown, Lexington, and their respective screens drawing three or four miles apart; Anderson continued to screen Lexington. About 1116 on 8 May, the first of the Japanese planes came in on the attack, which lasted until 1200. During the attack, Anderson maintained station on Lexington, constantly firing at the enemy, but scoring no hits. With the exception of one burst of machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
fire, the destroyer was not attacked, the enemy concentrating his attack on Lexington.
"Lady Lex" took two hits on the port side. Then, Aichi D3A
Aichi D3A
The , Allied reporting name "Val") was a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy . It was the primary dive bomber in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and participated in almost all actions, including Pearl Harbor....
"Val" dive bombers punctured her with near misses and staggered her with two direct hits. A bomb smashed into the port forward gun gallery, and another exploded inside the carrier's funnel. During the afternoon her fires were brought under control and her list corrected. But the explosions had ruptured her gasoline pipes, and about 1445 a series of explosions occurred, setting off internal fires. Anderson stood by to render assistance and pick up survivors as the big carrier was abandoned, and rescued 377 men. Eventually, had to sink Lexington with torpedoes.
The first battle fought with neither side sighting the other except from the cockpits of their respective aircraft, the engagement in the Coral Sea stopped the Japanese thrust toward Port Moresby. It was a strategic victory for the Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
, but a tactical one for the enemy, since the Japanese had inflicted heavier damage on the American carriers. Besides the loss of Lexington, Yorktown had been badly damaged.
On 10 May, Anderson transferred the 377 Lexington sailors to , and, the following day, put into Nouméa
Nouméa
Nouméa is the capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island's European, Polynesian , Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians,...
, New Caledonia, where she transferred five torpedoes to Phelps, which had expended torpedoes in attempting to sink Lexington. She sailed thence to Tongatapu, where she rejoined TF 17. On 28 May, she reached Pearl Harbor. Her rest, however, was to prove short, for forces were needed to thwart a new Japanese thrust, this one directed at Midway Island to draw out the United States fleet in a decisive battle. Anderson sortied again with TF 17 on 30 May, again in the screen for Yorktown, which had been hastily repaired.
Battle of Midway
On 4 June, Japanese planes struck the island of Midway with little opposition, and returned to their carriers to re-arm for a second strike. Confusion on the Japanese side as to what forces they found themselves facing proved fatal, as the American air attack from Yorktown, Enterprise, and caught the enemy at a vulnerable moment. While torpedo planes from the three carriers successively drew off the combat air patrols, dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise wrought mortal damage on three of the four enemy carriers engaged.
Planes from , the one enemy aircraft carrier that had escaped destruction that morning, soon sought out the Americans and located TF 17. Although decimated by TF 17's combat air patrol, "Val" dive bombers managed to score damaging hits on Yorktown, causing her to go dead in the water. Andersons gunners claimed two Japanese planes downed as they retired from the scene. Yorktown, however, was underway again two hours later, her fires put out and power restored, and commencing to launch fighters when a second attack wave, this time composed of Nakajima B5N
Nakajima B5N
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Bridgwater, H.C. and Peter Scott. Combat Colours Number 4: Pearl Harbor and Beyond, December 1941 to May 1942. Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Guideline Publications, 2001. ISBN 0-9539040-6-7....
"Kate" torpedo planes, showed up. In the developing melee, Anderson shot down one "Kate" before it had a chance to launch its torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
, but others managed to penetrate the terrific barrage and drop their ordnance, scoring two hits on the carrier's port side amidships.
Andersons gunners claimed one of the retiring planes with a direct hit. As Yorktown, mortally wounded, slowed to a halt for the second time that day, Anderson picked up Ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
Milton Tootle, IV, USNR, a pilot from Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3) who had been shot down attacking a Japanese torpedo plane. The destroyer then closed Yorktown and picked up 203 more men.
While TF 17 gathered Yorktowns men and then cleared the area, the ship remained stubbornly afloat. When it became evident that the carrier would not sink immediately and might be saved, Admiral Fletcher ordered a salvage party put on board. Under tow by and with a salvage party on board composed of volunteers from the various ship departments, Yorktown appeared to be on the threshold of salvage
Marine salvage
Marine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...
. The arrival of , however, changed all that, and the gallant carrier was torpedoed on 6 June, along with Hammann. The latter sank immediately; Yorktown lingered until the following morning when she, too, sank.
Anderson returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June. From 8–15 July she escorted to Midway, and from 22–27 July, she escorted to Palmyra Island and back to Pearl Harbor.
Guadalcanal
On 17 August, Anderson sortied from Pearl Harbor with TF 17, en route to the Solomons area, where she sighted and joined TF 61 on 29 August. Anderson was assigned as screen for Hornet in TG 61.2. The Battle of the Eastern Solomons
Battle of the Eastern Solomons
The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons (also known as the Battle of the Stewart Islands and, in Japanese sources, as the , took place on 24–25 August 1942, and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign...
, which had taken place on 24 August, had turned back a major Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal. Enemy submarines, however, still lurked in the waters east of Guadalcanal. On 31 August, , in TG 61.1, was torpedoed and damaged, and forced to retire to Tongatapu. On 14 September, six transports carrying reinforcements and supplies for Guadalcanal departed Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo
Espiritu Santo is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of . It belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region of Melanesia. It is in the Sanma Province of Vanuatu....
, with the task groups formed around and Hornet in support.
Enemy submarines, however, again made their deadly presence felt. On 15 September, torpedoed Wasp. At that time, Anderson was screening Hornet, about six miles (10 km) northeast of Wasp. A few minutes later, torpedoes were spotted racing toward Hornet, which maneuvered to avoid them. They passed ahead, one smashing into and the other into . Anderson was ordered to stand by the damaged battleship, and escorted her to Tongatapu on 19 September.
During the remainder of September 1942, Anderson escorted a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
convoy to Dumbea Bay
Dumbéa Bay
Dumbéa Bay or Baie de la Dumbéa is a bay in southwestern New Caledonia. It lies to the northwest of Noumea.To the north is Gadji Bay. This bay has major historical importance related to the naval history of New Caledonia and the Pacific, especially during World War II...
, New Caledonia, then on 3 October sortied with TF 17 en route to launch an air attack against enemy vessels in the Buin-Faisi area. On 3 October, Anderson was detached to proceed to the rescue of a downed pilot. The pilot was not found, and since the task force was by that time too far away to enable her to rejoin before the mission was accomplished, she proceeded singly to Nouméa.
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
She rejoined TF 17 on 8 October, and on 15 October, received orders to proceed north to the Guadalcanal area to strike enemy forces in order to relieve pressure there. Hornet launched strikes on 16 October, and on 24 October the force joined with TF 16 to form TF 61. On 26 October, the American ships engaged a numerically superior Japanese striking force in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or in Japanese sources as the , was the fourth carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and the fourth major naval engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial...
. Contact between the two opposing forces, as at Coral Sea, was almost simultaneous. During the day planes from Enterprise and Hornet damaged two enemy carriers, a cruiser, and two destroyers. American ship casualties, however, were considerably heavier.
At 1010 on that morning some 27 planes attacked Hornet. Anderson opened fire, scoring hits on two planes, and splashing one. One bomb hit Hornets flight deck, then a "Val" crashed the ship. A moment later two "Kates" swept in, launching torpedoes which hit the carrier's engineering spaces. As she slowed to a halt, she was hit by three more bombs and another "Val". During this melee, Anderson succeeded in downing another torpedo plane, scored hits on several others, and took one machine gun bullet hit causing a small crack and dent in her side plating amidships.
At noon, attempted to take Hornet in tow, but at 1815, another flock of enemy dive-bombers and torpedo planes roared in to attack the crippled carrier. A veritable sitting duck, she took a torpedo and a bomb hit, and abandoned ship. Anderson moved in to pick up survivors, taking on board 247 men. was ordered to sink the hulk, and scored three torpedo hits, but Hornet remained stubbornly afloat. Anderson was ordered to finish the job and slammed six torpedoes into the target, but she still remained afloat. Anderson and Mustin shelled Hornet, but the arrival of Japanese destroyers on the horizon forced the two American destroyers to take a hurried departure. On the morning of 27 October, Japanese destroyers performed the final rites for Hornet with four torpedoes.
During the Japanese attack on Hornet, the Enterprise group over the horizon had not gone unscathed. was sunk inadvertently by torpedo from a Japanese submarine while rescuing a downed pilot; Enterprise suffered three bomb hits; was severely damaged by a suicider; and both and suffered minor damage from bomb hits. Although the American forces had suffered heavier damage, they had succeeded in stopping the Japanese thrust toward Guadalcanal.
In November 1942, Anderson participated in further operations in the waters off Guadalcanal, screening a transport group landing troops in Lunga Roads and providing call fire during landings on 4 to 6 November, and screening Enterprise during strikes against enemy shipping at Guadalcanal on 13–14 November.
From December 1942 to 23 January 1943, the ship operated with TF 16 out of Espiritu Santo on antisubmarine patrol and training. Between 23 January and 3 February, she escorted Task Unit 62.4.7 (TU 62.4.7), a merchant ship convoy, to Guadalcanal to unload, and returned to Espiritu Santo. While in the Solomons, she conducted a photographic reconnaissance and bombardment of enemy-held beaches on northern coast of Guadalcanal on 29 January in company with .
Anderson, continued to operate out of the New Hebrides Islands on hunter-killer missions, and escort runs for a fueling rendezvous with TF 67 and TF 68 until 7 March 1943. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 22 March and received onward routing back to the United States. From 9 April to 8 June, she lay at San Francisco undergoing overhaul and repairs.
Following an escort run to Pearl Harbor and back in June, Anderson departed San Francisco on 11 July with TG 96.1 en-route to Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak, Alaska
Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...
, arriving on 21 July. Joining TG 16.17 on 30 July, she participated in bombardments of Kiska
Kiska
Kiska is an island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska located at . It is about long and varies in width from - Discovery :...
on 2 August and 15 August 1943. The ship remained in the Aleutians on patrol duty until 21 September, when she departed for Pearl Harbor.
From 14 October to 1 November, Anderson lay at Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, staging with the transports for the next operation. With TF 53, she arrived at Tarawa Atoll
Tarawa Atoll
Tarawa is an atoll in the central Pacific Ocean, previously the capital of the former British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. It is the location of the capital of the Republic of Kiribati, South Tarawa...
on 19 November 1943. As a part of Fire Support Group No. 3, she took station off the eastern end of Betio
Betio
Betio is an island and a town at the extreme southwest of South Tarawa in Kiribati. The main port of Tarawa Atoll is located there.-Overview:...
on D-day, 20 November, and began conducting bombardments of assigned targets. Betio was captured by 24 November, but Anderson remained in the general area on radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
picket patrol and rendered intermittent call fire until 29 November, when she departed for Pearl Harbor.
Battle of Kwajalein
By 21 December 1943, she was back in San Diego to escort the 4th Marine Division to Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
. En route, Anderson was one of the units designated to conduct a diversionary strike at Wotje on 30 January 1944. As one of the leading destroyers she opened the bombardment at 0642 and began to maneuver to avoid enemy return fire. At 0646, a shell hit in her combat information center (CIC), killing the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John G. Tennent, III, two ensigns, and three enlisted men, and wounding 14 others. Her executive officer immediately assumed command and kept her firing until she could maneuver to seaward to act as antisubmarine screen until completion of the Wotje bombardment at noon. The next day, Anderson approached the objective islands of Roi and Namur
Roi-Namur
Roi-Namur is an island in the northern part of the Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands.Occupied by Japanese forces prior to World War II, it was the target of the U.S. 4th Marine Division in the Battle of Kwajalein, in February 1944....
, Kwajalein Atoll, and screened to seaward as the heavy units began the bombardment. On 1 February, while transferring her wounded, she struck an uncharted pinnacle and had to be towed to Pearl Harbor.
Following the completion of repairs on 15 June, the destroyer sailed to the southwest Pacific. Following an escort run to Oro Bay
Oro Bay
Oro Bay is a bay in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, located southeast of Buna. The bay is located within the larger Dyke Ackland Bay. A port is operated by PNG Ports Corporation Limited with limited wharf facilities.-History:...
, New Guinea, Anderson arrived off Cape Sansapor, New Guinea, on 1 August with TG 77.3. During the landing operations she operated on antisubmarine station between Amsterdam Island and Cape Opmarai, then conducted patrols off Woendi Harbor, and Cape Sunsapor until 25 August. During the Morotai
Morotai
Morotai Island Regency is a regency of North Maluku province, Indonesia, located on Morotai Island. The population was 54,876 in 2007.-History:...
landings on 15 September 1944, the ship rendered call fire and conducted patrols off White beach.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
On 12 October, Anderson departed Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II...
with TG 78.2 for the landing operations at Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...
. Arriving in the area on 20 October, she took up patrol during the initial assault and until she joined TG 77.2 on 25 October. This group was under enemy air attack and Anderson fired on several planes without results. On 1 November, enemy air attacks were intense. The ship scored hits on several planes, splashing one. At 1812 on that day, an Nakajima Ki-43
Nakajima Ki-43
The Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa was a single-engine land-based tactical fighter used by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in World War II...
"Oscar" fighter crashed into the ship's port side, aft of the break in the deck. Anderson suffered 14 dead and 22 wounded. Two of the wounded later died.
Departing Leyte on 3 November 1944 and steaming via Hollandia, Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
, and Majuro
Majuro
Majuro , is a large coral atoll of 64 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The atoll itself has a land area of and encloses a lagoon of...
, Anderson arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 November 1944. There she received orders to proceed to San Francisco, where she moored on 9 December to begin repairs.
Duty off Japan
On 11 May 1945, she arrived at Attu Island
Attu Island
Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, making it the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska and the United States. It was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on the incorporated territory of the United States ,...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
where she was assigned to TG 92.2. Eight days later, Anderson took part in a bombardment of Suribachi Wan and a sweep in the Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...
. From 10–12 June, she participated in the bombardment of enemy shore installations on Matsuwa To, Kuril Islands
Kuril Islands
The Kuril Islands , in Russia's Sakhalin Oblast region, form a volcanic archipelago that stretches approximately northeast from Hokkaidō, Japan, to Kamchatka, Russia, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. There are 56 islands and many more minor rocks. It consists of Greater...
, and another anti-shipping sweep in the Sea of Okhotsk. While the remainder of the task group entered that body of water to intercept an enemy convoy headed south from Paramushir
Paramushir
Paramushir , is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is separated from Shumshu by the very narrow Second Kuril Strait in the northeast , from Antsiferov by the Luzhin Strait to the southwest, from Atlasov in the...
from 23–25 June, Anderson, Hughes, and established a patrol east of the Kurils to thwart any attempt of the convoy to escape into the Pacific. From 15–22 July, Anderson conducted a patrol east of the Kurils, an anti-shipping sweep in the Sea of Okhotsk, and another bombardment of Suribachi Wan, Paramushiru To, Kuriles. Another sweep was made in the Sea of Okhotsk, coupled with another bombardment of Matsuwa To, Kuriles, on 11–12 August 1945.
Anderson remained with the Northern Pacific Force for the remainder of the war, and departed Alaskan waters for Japan on 27 August. She reached Ominato, Japan, on 8 September, and supported the occupation of northern Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
through 30 October. She departed Japanese waters on that date, bound for the United States, and arrived at San Diego on 1 December. She was earmarked for retention in an inactive status in view of the experimental tests to which she would be subjected. Two days after Christmas, she got underway for Hawaiian waters.
Operation Crossroads
Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 3 January 1946, Anderson was assigned to Joint Task Force 1 on 15 May, and was slated to be utilized in the tests of the atomic bomb at Bikini AtollBikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
. She reached her ultimate destination on 30 May 1946.
On 1 July 1946, the bomb used in Test "Able" Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
sank Anderson in Bikini lagoon. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 25 September 1946.