USS Burden R. Hastings (DE-19) was an of the United States Navy

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...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Immediately after being built, she was crewed and send 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...

 to escort convoy

Convoy

A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

s and to protect them from air and submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 attack. During her wartime service, she was credited with having sunk one Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 submarine and otherwise protecting numerous ships from danger. She was awarded four battle stars for her services in battle areas.

Originally built for the United Kingdom

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...

 under Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

, she was launched as HMS Duckworth (BDE-19) on 20 November 1942 by Mare Island Navy Yard. Taken over by the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and reclassified DE-19 on 25 January 1943, the ship was renamed Burden R. Hastings on 19 February 1943; and commissioned on 1 May 1943, Lieutenant Commander P. A. Walker, USNR, in command.

Pacific Theatre operations, 1943

During July 1943 Burden R. Hastings made a quick voyage between 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...

 and 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 return. In August she returned to Pearl Harbor and then proceeded to Baker Island

Baker Island

Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll located just north of the equator in the central Pacific Ocean about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia, and is a possession of the United States. Its nearest neighbor is Howland Island, to the north.Located at...

 where she carried out patrol and escort duties. On 12 November she arrived off Tarawa, Gilbert Islands

Gilbert Islands

The Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...

, and carried out pre-invasion bombardments of Japanese positions until the 20th, when landings were made. She remained in support of the occupation until 23 November and then departed for the newly established Advanced Naval Base at Funafuti

Funafuti

Funafuti is an atoll that forms the capital of the island nation of Tuvalu. It has a population of 4,492 , making it the most populated atoll in the country. It is a narrow sweep of land between 20 and 400 metres wide, encircling a large lagoon 18 km long and 14 km wide, with a surface of...

, Ellice Islands. During the remainder of 1943 Burden R. Hastings escorted two convoys to Tarawa and one to 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

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...

, and then returned to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 8 January 1944.

1944

Burden R. Hastings departed Pearl Harbor on 28 January 1944 and proceeded to the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

 where she supported the occupation of 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...

 (5-6 February). Returning to Pearl Harbor on 13 February, she remained in the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands

Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...

 until the 29th. Once again she returned to the Marshalls and then participated in the Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

-Yap

Yap

Yap, also known as Wa'ab by locals, is an island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Yap's indigenous cultures and traditions are still strong compared to other neighboring islands. The island of Yap actually consists of four...

-Ulithi

Ulithi

Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...

-Woleai

Woleai

Woleai is a coral atoll of twenty-two islands in the eastern Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district in Yap State in the Federated States of Micronesia and is located approximately west-northwest of Ifalik and northeast of Eauripik...

 raids (30 March-1 April). During the remainder of World War II Burden R. Hastings operated as a convoy escort, plane guard, and unit of various hunter-killer groups in the area of the Marshall, Gilbert, and western Caroline Islands

Caroline Islands

The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...

.

Sinking of the Japanese submarine RO-44

Detached from duty at 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...

 on 13 June, Burden R. Hastings headed via Eniwetok for Pearl Harbor, proceeding independently. At 0250 on 16 June, the warship's SL 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...

 picked up a surface contact 10 miles away that showed no IFF (Identification Friend or Foe

Identification friend or foe

In telecommunications, identification, friend or foe is an identification system designed for command and control. It is a system that enables military and national interrogation systems to identify aircraft, vehicles, or forces as friendly and to determine their bearing and range from the...

) signal. The small "pip" on the radar screen indicated either a surfaced submarine or a small craft, so the captain decided to close range to 5,000 yards and challenge the stranger visually. Burden R. Hastings proceeded ahead through the moderate sea while her quarry moved at 18 knots. The destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

 rang up 19.5 knots to close range and went to General Quarters

General quarters

General Quarters or Battle Stations is an announcement made aboard a naval warship to signal the crew to prepare for battle or imminent damage....

. At 0337, when the two ships were 5,000 yards apart, Burden R. Hastings challenged thrice with an Aldis lamp but received no reply. She then fired four star shells in an effort to illuminate; but, after the second burst, radar plot reported that the "pip" had disappeared from the screen.

Burden R. Hastings then began to hunt a submarine. Opening her sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

 search at 0344, she latched onto the contact at 0354, picking up a slow-moving submarine, 1,700 yards distant. Following one fruitless "hedgehog

Hedgehog (weapon)

The Hedgehog was an anti-submarine weapon developed by the Royal Navy during World War II, that was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers to supplement the depth charge. The weapon worked by firing a number of small spigot mortar bombs from spiked fittings...

" attack, Burden R. Hastings repeated the procedure after regaining contact. A heavy underwater explosion and a phosphorescent flash beneath the waves testified to the success of her second "hedgehog" run. The destroyer escort then passed over the submarine, and four depth charges splashed into her wake, drifting downward toward the target. Five seconds after the four charges exploded, a violent explosion rumbled up from the depths. The concussion knocked out Burden R. Hastings gyro compass and caused other minor damage throughout the ship. Further searching failed to disclose any other contact. At sunrise, lookouts spotted debris and a "moderate" oil slick. Burden R. Hastings launched her motor whaleboat

Whaleboat

A whaleboat is a type of open boat that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either forwards or backwards equally well. It was originally developed for whaling, and later became popular for work along beaches, since it does not need to be turned around for beaching or...

 and its crew picked up wreckage. Characters on top of a small spare part

Spare part

Spare Parts may also refer to:* Spare Parts , by Status Quo* Spare Parts is a Doctor Who audio drama.* Spare Parts , by Servotron* "Spare Parts" , by Bruce Springsteen* "Spare Parts"...

s box indicated that her victim had been . Postwar examination of Japanese records corroborated the sinking of RO-44. At 1900 on the 16th, Burden R. Hastings resumed her voyage to Pearl Harbor where she arrived on the 22nd.

After an availability that extended to 4 July, she spent the next three days screening as the escort carrier conducted carrier qualifications in the Hawaiian operating area. On 9 July, Burden R. Hastings and four other destroyer escorts left Pearl Harbor to escort a large convoy of troopships to Eniwetok. Reaching that atoll on the 17th, she cleared the Marshalls the same day, on her way back to Hawaii in company with , , , and . The formation arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 23rd. The next day, Burden R. Hastings commenced a tour of duty under Commander, Submarine Training, Pacific (ComSubTrainPac). On 23 August, Burden R. Hastings sailed for San Francisco, escorting SS Philippa. Arriving on the last day of August, the destroyer escort unloaded ammunition and moored at the Hunters Point Naval Drydocks

San Francisco Naval Shipyard

The San Francisco Naval Shipyard was a United States Navy shipyard in San Francisco, California, located on of waterfront at Hunters Point in the southeast corner of the city...

 for a yard overhaul.

On 26 October, the destroyer escort took on ammunition, and spent the next few days engaged in post-overhaul trials. On 6 November, Burden R. Hastings sailed for Hawaii as part of the escort for a 16-ship convoy and arrived at Pearl Harbor ten days later. After an availability, the warship set course for the Marshalls on the 26th and arrived at Eniwetok on 4 December. For the remainder of December 1944 and for most of January 1945, Burden R. Hastings escorted convoys between Eniwetok and Ulithi, in the Western Carolines.

1945

During her stay at Ulithi on 12 January 1945, the Japanese submarine I-36 launched a kaiten

Kaiten

The Kaiten were manned torpedos and suicide craft, they were used by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the final stages of World War II.-History:...

 (manned torpedo) attack against the anchorage. At 0654 that morning, one of the torpedoes struck and damaged the ammunition ship at anchor in Ulithi lagoon. Since the deed was thought to be the work of a midget submarine

Midget submarine

A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...

, all ASW-equipped ships - Burden R. Hastings included - conducted a thorough, but futile, search until late in the afternoon. Two weeks later, wreckage of what resembled the afterbody of a torpedo washed up on one of the islands ringing the lagoon.

Leaving the Marshalls on 24 January 1945 with , Burden R. Hastings touched at Roi, Kwajalein, and Majuro where the Army transport picked up troops bound for Hawaii. After arriving at Pearl Harbor on 2 February, the destroyer escort commenced four months of work with carriers and submarines, planeguarding and participating in the training of the "fleet boats" as they worked up in Hawaiian waters. During the course of her planeguarding, she picked up the crews of several planes that had crashed. On 22 June, Burden R. Hastings departed Pearl Harbor with the rest of CortDiv 10, the first time that the ships had operated together as a unit, escorting a convoy of transports to the Marshall Islands. Upon reaching Eniwetok on the 30th, the ship embarked upon a series of convoy-escort runs between Eniwetok and Ulithi, a routine which she maintained through July and into the first part of August. While returning from Ulithi to Eniwetok on 14 August, she learned of Japan's acceptance of the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration

Potsdam Declaration

The Potsdam Declaration or the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender is a statement calling for the Surrender of Japan in World War II. On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S...

 and agreement to surrender to the Allies

Surrender of Japan

The surrender of Japan in 1945 brought hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent...

.

End-of-War deactivation

Reaching Eniwetok on 17 August 1945, Burden R. Hastings remained inactive in the Marshalls until receiving orders to return to the United States for decommissioning. In company with and two other destroyer escorts, she sailed for Kwajalein on 11 September, rendezvoused there with the rest of the division, and left the Marshalls on 14 September bound for Pearl Harbor. Reaching Hawaii five days later, the destroyer escort pushed on to San Pedro, California. Reporting to the Commandant, 11th Naval District, for disposition on 29 September 1945, Burden R Hastings was decommissioned on 25 October 1945 at Terminal Island

Terminal Island

Terminal Island is an island located in Los Angeles County, California between Los Angeles Harbor and Long Beach Harbor. Originally a mudflat known to the Spanish as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, and later called Rattlesnake Island, it has officially been Terminal Island since 1918...

, California; and her name was struck from the Navy List

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 13 November 1945. She was sold to the National Metal and Steel

National Metal and Steel

National Metal and Steel Corporation was engaged in ship dismantling operations at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California. Operations ceased on 1 January 1986 when the company lost its harbor facility....

 Corp., of Terminal Island, and was delivered to her purchaser on 1 February 1947.

Awards

	Combat Action Ribbon Combat Action Ribbon The Combat Action Ribbon is a personal military decoration of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard which is awarded to those who, in any grade including and below that of a Captain in the Navy and Coast Guard , have actively participated in ground or...  (retroactive)
	American Campaign Medal American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal was a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal is a service decoration of the Second World War which was awarded to any member of the United States military who served in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945 and was created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was...  (with four service star Service star A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service... s)
	World War II Victory Medal