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The WALKE
was launched
on 27
October 1943
at Bath,
Maine, by
the Bath
Iron Works
and was
commissioned
at the
Boston Navy
Yard on 21
January
1944. By
mid-May she
was underway
for the
Normandy
invasion.
During the
landings, on
7 and 8
June, she
conducted
shore
bombardments,
destroying
blockhouses
and
machine-gun
positions as
well as
helping to
repulse a
counterattack
by German
armored
units. On
the 23d and
24th, she
covered
minesweeping
operations
at Cherbourg
while
trading fire
with enemy
shore
batteries.
In July, the
WALKE
returned to
Boston and
the
following
month was
screening
carriers
during air
strikes in
the
Philippines.
By November,
she was
underway
with DesRon
60 to
support the
landings at
Ormoc Bay.
When the
MAHAN
(DD-364) was
hit by three
kamikazes,
the WALKE
rescued a
number of
her crew
before
sinking the
stricken
destroyer
with a
torpedo and
gunfire. The
next day,
she helped
splash an
enemy
aircraft.
During the
assault on
Mindoro on
15 December,
she turned
her guns on
the grounded
Japanese
destroyer
WAKABA and
drove off
several
enemy
planes. On 2
January
1945, she
was underway
for the
invasion of
Luzon where
she covered
minesweepers
clearing the
way into the
Lingayen
Gulf. There,
on 6
January,
four
kamikazes
dove on her,
approaching
low over the
water. She
succeeded in
splashing
the first
two
attackers,
but the
third broke
through and,
though hit
several
times,
managed to
crash into
WALKE’s
bridge. The
destroyer
lost all
communications,
radars, gyro
repeaters,
and
electricity
throughout
the
superstructure
and suffered
extensive
damage to
the bridge
itself as
well as to
her gun and
torpedo
directors.
The plane’s
250-pound
bomb didn’t
explode but
passed
completely
through the
ship near
the combat
information
center.
Two minutes
after the
first
kamikaze
hit, the
last of the
four came in
on the
destroyer’s
starboard
quarter. Her
5-inch
number-3 gun
and
starboard
40- and
20-mm guns
brought the
plane down
in flames
before it
could hit
the ship.
Though
mortally
wounded, her
captain,
Cdr. George
F. Davis,
continued to
conn his
ship until
the fires
were under
control and
his ship was
out of
danger. He
died several
hours later
and
posthumously
received a
Medal of
Honor. He
was further
honored with
a new
destroyer,
DD-937,
bearing his
name.
The WALKE
remained on
duty until
10 January
1945 when
she got
underway for
home and
repairs at
Mare Island.
She was en
route to the
war zone
again by 4
April and on
10 May,
began
serving on
radar picket
stations
around
Okinawa. In
early July,
she left the
Ryukyus, and
she and the
BARTON
(DD-722)
operated
with TF 38
until the
war ended.
Back home in
September,
she operated
along the
West Coast
and out of
Pearl Harbor
until May
1946 when
she left for
the Bikini
Atoll and
atomic bomb
tests. She
ended the
year in San
Diego. In
January
1947, she
left for
Pearl Harbor
and special
duty with
the TARAWA
(CV-40) and
SHANGRI-LA
(CV-38).
Upon her
return to
San Diego,
she was
decommissioned
on 30 June
1947.
The WALKE
was
recommissioned
on 5 October
1950, and in
January 1951
left for the
Far East and
the Korean
War. Over
the next six
months, she
screened the
carriers and
delivered
close-in
bombardment
of Yondae
Gap, Wonsan,
Songjin,
Chongjin,
and
Chuminjin.
On 12 June,
some 60
miles off
the Korean
coast, the
WALKE struck
a floating
mine, which
severely
damaged her
hull on the
port side,
killed 26
men, and
wounded
another 40.
Following
repairs and
overhaul at
the Mare
Island
shipyard,
the WALKE
was back off
Korea in
June 1952,
alternating
screening
duty with
shore
bombardment.
In January
1953, she
returned to
Long Beach
and, then,
returned to
Korea in
July,
screening
carriers
until the
armistice
ending her
combat
operations.
Between July
1953 and
1964, the
WALKE
deployed six
times to the
Orient,
usually
screening
the fast
carriers of
TF 77 and
patrolling
the Taiwan
Straits. In
1961, she
received a
FRAM II
overhaul.
With
increasing
hostilities
in South
Vietnam, the
WALKE’s Far
East
deployments
after 1965
involved
combat duty,
including
SEATO
exercises in
the
Philippines
and Taiwan
Strait
patrols.
August 1965
found her on
duty as a
picket ship
on Yankee
Station in
the Tonkin
Gulf. In
early
September,
she joined
the gun
line, then,
returned to
Yankee
Station
before
heading
home.
On 9 June
1966, the
WALKE was
leaving Long
Beach for
the Western
Pacific,
when fire
broke out in
her after
fire room.
Damage
control
efforts
extinguished
the blaze,
but, while
under tow,
the line
broke, and
she ran
aground.
Late on the
10th, she
was back in
Long Beach
for repairs
to her hull
and main
propulsion
plant. She
finally set
out for the
Far East and
a six month
deployment
that
included
tours on
Yankee
Station and
gunfire-support
duty
interspersed
with Taiwan
Strait
patrols and
SEATO
exercises.
The
destroyer
began her
next WestPac
deployment
in September
1967, and on
23 October,
arrived in
the Gulf of
Tonkin.
Following
SEATO
exercises,
she was back
on Yankee
Station,
then, on 11
December,
her guns
supported
troops in
the I Corps
combat zone
and near the
demilitarized
zone into
January
1968.
Following an
overhaul,
the WALKE
got underway
in March
1969 for her
last WestPac
tour. On 5
May, she
resumed her
schedule of
screening
carriers on
Yankee
Station,
duty on the
gun line,
and Taiwan
Strait
patrols. In
the fall,
she
supported
troops in
the I Corps
and Danang
areas,
steaming
homeward in
November.
On 30
November
1970, she
was
decommissioned
at the Puget
Sound Naval
Shipyard and
joined the
Pacific
Reserve
Fleet. On 1
February
1974, her
name was
struck from
the navy
list and she
was sold on
16 April
1975 for
scrapping. |
