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 the Third and Fifth Fleets’ climactic campaigns of the Pacific War. It was composed of nine square-bridge ships

Destroyer Squadron 53 World War II Operations

commissioned between August 1943 and March 1944:
  • Colahan, DD 658, commissioned in August 1943

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

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, formed Destroyer Division 106.

OPERATIONS
Under Captain Harry Bean Jarrett embarked variously

Tom Cat, stack emblem of DesRon 53 ships.

in flagships Colahan, Halsey Powell and Cushing, the squadron participated in the 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.
  • The following day, 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, followed by destroyer-minesweepers Ellyson and Hambleton. 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.