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The USS DE
HAVEN
(DD‑469) was
launched on
28 June 1942
by the Bath
Iron Works
in Bath,
Maine, and
was
commissioned
on 21
September
1942 with
Commander C.
E. Tolman at
the helm.
She was in
the Pacific
by November
1942
escorting a
troop convoy
to relieve
the marines
who had been
embattled
since August
on
Guadalcanal.
The island
was as hard
to hold as
its code
name,
“Cactus.”
The DEHAVEN
remained off
Guadalcanal,
screening
the
transportsand
patrolling
to intercept
the Tokyo
Express's
nightly runs
to resupply
the Japanese
troops still
fighting on
the islands.
As part of
the Cactus
striking
force, which
included the
DDs
NICHOLAS,
O'BANNON,
and RADFORD
and the
cruisers
NASHVILLE
and HELENA,
she
participated
in
bombarding
the enemy
airfield at
Kolombangara
on 24
January
1943. A week
later the
DEHAVEN,
FLETCHER,RADFORD,
and NICHOLAS
escorted six
LCTs and a
seaplane
tender to
Marovo. The
landing
early on 1
February was
a success,
and the
destroyers
headed back
to Tulagi
with the
unloaded
LCTs. They
split into
two groups;
the DEHAVEN
and NICHOLAS
with two of
the landing
craft
steamed
southeast of
Savo Island;
the FLETCHER
and RADFORD,
the rest of
the LCTs,
and the
available
air cover
were en
route
northwest of
Cape
Esperance.
Early in the
afternoon of
the first,
the
destroyers
were warned
that a
flight of
enemy
planeswere
looking for
targets. The
destroyers'
gunners and
those on the
LCTs stood
ready, The
Japanese
failed to
see the
FLETCHER
group, but
more than a
dozen
bombers
found the
DEHAVEN,
NICHOLAS,
and their
charges. The
destroyers'
radar picked
up the
approaching
planes and,
when they
were in
range,
opened fire.
At 1457 nine
dive bombers
managed to
break
through the
American
vessels'
antiaircraft
fire, and
six of them
zeroed in on
the DEHAVEN.
Her guns
brought down
three of the
attackers,
but not
before all
six had
dropped
their bombs.
The
destroyer
was rocked
by three
direct hits,
one of which
demolished
her
superstructure,
killing
Commander
Tolman and
those who
were with
him on the
bridge. A
near miss
crushed the
destroyer's
bow speeding
her
demise.She
was dead in
the water
and nosing
downward as
her crew
struggled to
escape. Only
four
officers and
146 men
survived and
39 of those
were
injured. One
hundred
sixty‑seven
were
lost.The
DEHAVEN
became the
fifteenth
destroyer
lost in the
Guadalcanal
campaign she
sank in
"Iron Bottom
Bay."
As the LCTs
rescued
survivors,
the NICHOLAS
fought off
eight more
bombers, and
in the
battle lost
two of her
crew and
suffered
some damage
from a near
miss. The
DEHAVEN
received one
battle star
for her
World War II
service. |
