| Above: DesRon 53’s Twining and Wedderburn standing out of Sagami Wan en route to toward Tokyo Bay, 28 August 1945. Tom Cat, stack emblem of DesRon 53 ships. |
Destroyer Squadron 53 was one of several squadrons of 2,100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers that joined the war after the Solomon Islands campaign and figured in Third Fleet’s climactic campaigns of the Pacific War. It was composed of nine square-bridge ships commissioned between August 1943 and March 1944:
• Colahan, DD 658, commissioned in August 1943 and the first flagship, was built at Bethlehem Steel, Staten Island, New York.
• Halsey Powell, DD 686, Uhlmann, DD 687, Benham, DD 796 and Cushing, DD 797, also from Bethlehem Staten Island, were commissioned in sequence between October 1943 and January 1944 and initially formed Destroyer Division 105.
• Twining, DD 540, Yarnall, DD 541, Stockham, DD 683 and Wedderburn, DD 684, the last four 2100-tonners from Bethlehem Steel, San Francisco, commissioned between December 1943 and March 1944, Destroyer Squadron 53
Mid-1944 | USS Colahan, DD 658, flagship
Destroyer Division 105
USS Halsey Powell, DD 686
USS Uhlmann, DD 687
USS Benham, DD 796
USS Cushing, DD 797
Destroyer Division 106
USS Twining, DD 540
USS Yarnall, DD 541,
USS Stockham, DD 683
USS Wedderburn, DD 684 |
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formed Destroyer Division 106.
Under Captain Harry Bean Jarrett, embarked in flagships Colahan, Halsey Powell and Cushing, the squadron participated in the Marshalls, Marianas, Palau, Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa operations, concluding with a prominent role for DesDiv 106 in events leading to the formal surrender of Japan:
• On 27 August 1945, Stockham was operating with Third Fleet Admiral William Halsey’s Flagship Task Group, battleships Missouri and Iowa with three destroyers of Squadron 21 and converted destroyer escort Gosselin (APD 126), approaching Japan and anchoring in peace in Sagami Wan.
• 28 August was a beautiful day with bright sun, a brisk breeze, smooth water and majestic Mt. Fuji to the west (see photo, top of page). Minesweepers Revenge (AM 110), Token (AM 126), Tumult (AM 127) and Pochard (AM-375) led the way north through the Uraga Suido into Tokyo Bay. Astern in column order were Southerland (DD 743), Twining (DD 540), San Diego (CL 53), Gosselin and Wedderburn (DD 684), the first warships of the Occupation Forces to anchor in Tokyo Bay. | |
