USS HARADEN DD-585

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS HARADEN DD-585

The Tin Can Sailor, July 2001

Launched by the Boston Navy Yard on 19 March 1943, the HARADEN was commissioned on 16 September 1943 and in November steamed out of Boston with the destroyers DORTCH (DD-670) and GATLING (DD-671) to escort the carrier INTREPID (CV-11) to the Pacific. They arrived in Hawaii on 21 January 1944.

Attached to Task Force 53, the HARADEN got underway on 30 January to escort the main attack group for the assault on the Marshall Islands. During the initial assaults, the destroyer provided covering fire and screened the battleships and cruisers on 31 January. As troops landed on Ennubir Island, the HARADEN fired in direct support, destroying an ammunition dump on Ennagannet Island with a tremendous explosion. On 1 February she provided fire support and antisubmarine patrols during the landings on Roi and Namur. She continued her patrols off Kwajalein and Eniwetok until 29 February. Over the next two months she made several voyages escorting fleet oilers and other ships between Pearl Harbor and the Marshalls. She also patrolled the Marshall Islands and took part in the blockade of several of the smaller atolls still occupied by the Japanese.

Arriving off Saipan on 22 June 1944, she screened the escort carriers NATOMA BAY (CVE-62) and MANILA BAY (CVE-61) as they launched air strikes. While refueling alongside the NATOMA BAY, the ships were subject to a surprise attack during which the HARADEN narrowly missed being sunk when straddled by four aerial bombs. She subsequently returned to Pearl Harbor for training exercises and maneuvers in preparation for the invasion of the Philippines. On 2 October she arrived in Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island in the Admiralties and twelve days later was en route as an escort for the transports carrying invasion forces to the Leyte Gulf.

At 1000 on the morning of 20 October, the first assault waves hit the beaches of Leyte Gulf, and for the next few days, the HARADEN’s gun crews began a long and grueling job covering the transports from almost continuous air attacks. Once the beachhead was secure, the HARADEN left the Leyte area for Manus Island. She arrived on 1 November and twelve days later was headed to Palau to cover the convoys traveling to and from the Philippines. She then joined the screen of a carrier force en route to Mindoro.

Entering the Sulu Sea, on the morning of 13 December, the HARADEN and the escort carriers were attacked by four enemy planes. She assisted in downing three of the raiders, but the fourth banked left, gained altitude, and dove on the HARADEN, whose 40-mm and 20-mm guns opened fire. Although hit and trailing smoke, the plane continued on course and crashed into the starboard side of the destroyer. It hit the forward stack and exploded on impact, spraying bomb fragments over the ship. The crash demolished the forward stack and put the forward fire and engine rooms out of commission, leaving the ship dead in the water and without communications. The destroyer TWIGGS (DD-591) came alongside to assist her repair and fire-fighting parties and the HARADEN was soon underway on her own power, bound for San Pedro Bay and emergency repairs. There, also, she transferred her casualties—fourteen dead and twenty-four wounded. On 19 December, she steamed out of San Pedro Harbor for the Puget Sound Navy Yard and permanent repairs.

Entering the Bremerton yard, she was not alone. She and the LAMSON (DD-367), badly damaged by a kamikaze at Ormoc Bay, both limped into Puget Sound on 14 January 1945. Within a few hours they were berthed side by side in the same dry dock and were subsequently dubbed “the twins” by shipyard workers who rushed to get the two ships back to the war.

By April 1945 they were again ready for duty, and in May the HARADEN got underway for San Pedro Bay. Between May and July, she escorted amphibious craft to and from various islands in the southern Philippines and participated in training operations until she received word of the Japanese surrender. On 28 August she joined Task Group 71.1 for patrol duty and a show of force in the Yellow and North China Seas and remained there until December 1945.

Returning to the states in January 1946, the HARADEN was decommissioned at San Diego on 2 July 1946. She remained in the reserve fleet until struck from the navy’s list on 1 November 1972 when she was transferred to the Naval Missile Center at Point Magu. The veteran destroyer was sunk when targeted by a Harpoon missile during tests in November 1973.

USS HARADEN DD-585 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, July 2015

The second Haraden was launched by Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Mass., 19 March 1943; sponsored by Miss Caroline E. Derby, great-great-grandniece of Captain Jonathan Haraden; and commissioned at Boston 16 September 1943, Comdr. H. C. Allen, Jr., in command.

Haraden departed Boston 9 October 1943 for shakedown training off Bermuda, and after its completion joined carrier Intrepid at Boston 30 November for the voyage to the Pacific. She transited the Panama Canal and arrived San Diego 21 December to join Rear Admiral Oldendorf’s Northern Support Group for the epic invasion of the Marshall Islands.

Escorting the main attack group of transports, Haraden arrived in the Marshalls 30 January, and was detached to form a screen for the battleships and cruisers during the heavy bombardments of 31 January. As troops landed under the devastating fire on Ennubir Island, Haraden shifted to direct flre support, turning her guns on an ammunition dump on Ennagannet Island that soon blew up with a tremendous explosion. That night she conducted anti-submarine patrol and 1 February continued fire support and patrol functions during the landings on Roi and Namur. The destroyer departed the Kwajalein area briefly for an escort volage to the Ellice Islands 6-15 February, but returned to provide anti-submarine patrol for units off Kwajalein and Eniwetok until 29 February.

Haraden arrived Pearl Harbor 8 March 1944, and after a brief period of upkeep steamed back to the Marshalls with two fleet oilers carrying vital fuel. Arriving 1 April, she engaged in various duties in support of the operations there, including fire support and anti-submarine patrol, until departing for Pearl Harbor with escort carrier Bataan 18 May. At Pearl Harbor Haraden was reassigned to escort carriers Natoma Bay and Manila Bay and repair ship Hector for the next major operation in the epic sweep through the Pacific, the Marianas.

Arriving east of Saipan 22 June 1944, Haraden screened her escort carriers during the launching of aircraft 22-24 June; while refueling alongside Natoma Bay she narrowly missed being sunk by four aerial bombs in a surprise attack. Two bombs fell some 200 yards to port and two astern. Haraden returned to Pearl Harbor, arriving 8 July, until 15 September participated in training exercises and maneuvers in Hawaiian waters in preparation for the invasion of the Philippines.

Haraden arrived Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands, 2 October 1944, and 12 days later departed as an escort unit for the large group of transports carrying invasion forces. They arrived off Leyte 20 October and Haraden began a long and grueling job of covering the transports during and after the main assault. Japanese airplanes began almost continuous raids on the landing group the afternoon of 20 October, with Haraden acting as part of the antiaircraft screen, protecting the transports with her gunfire.

The afternoon of 26 October Haraden formed with an escort carrier group in Leyte Gulf and steamed for Manus, arriving Seeadler Harbor 1 November 1944. Remaining there until 12 November, the ships sailed to Palau, arriving the 18th, and from there provided air support to convoys bound to and from the Philippines until 28 November. The carrier force, with Haraden in the screen, departed 10 December for the Sulu Sea, en route to the invasion of Mindoro.

Haraden and the escort carriers entered the Sulu Sea 13 December, and were attacked that day by four Japanese aircraft. Haraden assisted in downing three of the raiders, but the fourth banked left and dived for the destroyer. Trailing smoke from hits by Haraden’s gunners, she crashed into the destroyer’s side, putting her forward engine room out of commission and severely damaging her topside. As Haraden lay dead in the water, destroyer Twiggs came alongside to help and the destroyer was soon underway on her own power. She arrived at San Pedro Bay 14 December 1944 and transferred her casualties-14 killed and 24 wounded. Steaming on toward the United States via Hawaii, she arrived at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash., 14 January 1945 for battle repairs.

Repairs and training completed, Haraden departed again for the Pacific 19 April from San Francisco, arriving Pearl Harbor 25 April. She performed escort duties for amphibious convoys in the Western Pacific until 6 July, when she commenced a series of training exercises off Subic Bay, Philippine Islands.

Haraden next participated in the operations off the China coast following the surrender of Japan. She got underway 28 August with units of the 7th Fleet and made a show of force at Tsingtao and along the China coast to help stabilize the tense situation there. She arrived at Jinsen, Korea, 8 September and after another voyage down the coast of China and back, departed Jinsen with the North China occupation forces 29 September. She stood by to support the amphibious landings of occupation forces off Taku Bay 30 September-6 October, and visited Chefoo, Shanghai, Taku, and Tsingtao in support of the occupation. Underway from Tsingtao 13 December 1945, she steamd by way of Pearl Harbor to San Francisco, arriving 3 January 1946. Later moved to San Diego, she remained inactive until decommissioned there 2 July 1946. Haraden entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet, San Diego Group, where she remains.

Haraden received five battle stars for her service in World War II.