View source for USS Downes (DD-375)

{{Short description|Mahan-class destroyer}}
{{other ships|USS Downes}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
 | Ship image=  [[File:Uss Downes DD-375.jpg|330px|The USS Downes while underway during the later 1930s]]
 | Ship caption = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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 | Ship country =United States
 | Ship flag =  {{USN flag|1945}}
 | Ship name = 
 | Ship namesake = 
 | Ship ordered = 
 | Ship builder =  [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]]
}}
{{Infobox|child=yes
| label1 = Rebuilder
| data1 = [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]]
}}{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header=yes
| Ship laid down = 15 August 1934
 | Ship launched =  22 April 1936
 | Ship commissioned =  15 January 1937
 | Ship decommissioned =  20 June 1942
 | Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
|Ship recommissioned = 15 November 1943
|Ship decommissioned = 17 December 1945
|Ship struck = 
|Ship fate = Sold for scrap 18 November 1947
|Ship notes = 
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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 | Header caption = 
 | Ship class =  {{sclass|Mahan|destroyer}}
 | Ship displacement =  1,500&nbsp;tons
|Ship length={{convert|341|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|35|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|9|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}}
 | Ship propulsion = 
 | Ship speed =  37&nbsp;knots (69&nbsp;km/h)
 | Ship range = 
 | Ship complement =  158 officers and crew
 | Ship sensors = 
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 | Ship armament =*'''As Built:'''
*1 × Gun Director above bridge
*5 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|5"(127mm)/38cal DP]] (5x1),
*12 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|21 inch (533 mm)]] T Tubes (3x4),
*4 × [[M2 Browning|.50cal (12.7mm)]] MG AA (4x1),
*2 × [[Depth Charge]] stern racks,
*'''c1944:'''
*1 × Mk37 Gun Fire Control System,
*4 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|5" (127mm)/38cal DP]] (4x1),
*12 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|21 inch (533 mm)]] T Tubes (3x4),
*2 × Mk51 Gun Directors,
*4 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors 40 mm AA]] (2x2),
*6 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|Oerlikon 20 mm AA]] (6x1),
*2 × Depth Charge roll-off stern racks,
*4 × K-gun depth charge projectors
 | Ship armor = 
 | Ship aircraft = 
 | Ship notes = 
}}
|}

'''USS ''Downes'' (DD-375)''' was a {{sclass|Mahan|destroyer}} in the [[United States Navy]] before and during [[World War II]]. She was the second ship named for [[John Downes (naval officer)|John Downes]], a US Navy officer.

==Pre-war service==

''Downes'' was launched 22 April 1936 by [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]]; sponsored by Miss S.&nbsp;F. Downes, descendant of Captain Downes; and commissioned 15 January 1937.

''Downes'' reached [[San Diego, California]] from [[Norfolk, Virginia]] 24 November 1937, and based there for exercises along the west coast, in the [[Caribbean]], and in the [[Hawaiian Islands]] until April 1940, when [[Pearl Harbor]] became her home port. In March and April 1941 she joined in a cruise to [[Samoa]], [[Fiji]], and [[Australia]], and visited the west coast later in the year.

==World War II service==
===Attack damage===
{{stack|[[File:USS Downes (DD-375), USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) in Dry Dock No. 1 at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, 7 December 1941 (306533).jpg|thumb|''Cassin'' lists and rests on a damaged ''Downes'' in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, along with the damaged ''Pennsylvania'']]}}
When the [[Japan]]ese [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]] 7 December 1941, ''Downes'' was in drydock with {{USS|Cassin|DD-372|2}} and {{USS|Pennsylvania|BB-38|2}}. The three came under heavy attack and a 250 Kg. bomb landed between the two destroyers, starting raging fires fed by oil from a ruptured fuel tank. Despite heavy strafing, the crews of the two destroyers got their batteries into action, driving off further attacks by Japanese planes. The drydock was flooded in an effort to quench the fires, but the burning oil rose with the water level and when the ammunition and torpedo warheads on board the destroyers began to explode, the two ships were abandoned. Later ''Cassin'' slipped from her keel blocks and rested against ''Downes''.  Both ship's hulls were damaged beyond repair but machinery and equipment were salvaged and sent to [[Mare Island Navy Yard]] where entirely new ships were built around the salvaged material and given the wrecked ship's names and hull numbers.{{sfn|Bartholomew| Milwee|2009 |p=59}} ''Downes'' was officially decommissioned 20 June 1942.[[File:"Pat Kemp, Pearl Harbor Casualty Receives Treatment at Oak Knoll" article on "Page 4" of issue "8 February 1947" detail, from- The Oak Leaf Vol. 6 (January 11 - June 28, 1947) (IA TheOakLeaf1947January11June28) (page 20 crop).jpg|left|thumb|USS Downes survivor article: "Pat Kemp, Pearl Harbor Casualty Receives Treatment at Oak Knoll" on page 4 of issue "8 February 1947" of '''The Oak Leaf'''|295x295px]]

===Return to service===
Recommissioned at Mare Island on 15 November 1943, ''Downes'' sailed from [[San Francisco, California]] 8 March 1944 to escort [[convoy]]s to Pearl Harbor and on to [[Majuro]], arriving 26 March. She was assigned to [[blockade]] the bypassed Japanese stronghold, [[Wotje Atoll]], until 5 April, then after replenishing at Pearl Harbor, arrived at [[Eniwetok]] 6 May for service as harbor entrance control vessel and task unit commander for the offshore patrol. During this duty she rescued a pilot in the lagoon at Eniwetok and four crewmen off [[Pohnpei|Ponape]], [[Caroline Islands]]. In July ''Downes'' began convoy duty from Eniwetok to [[Saipan]] in support of the [[Marianas Islands]] operation, then patrolled off [[Tinian]] during its [[Battle of Tinian|invasion]]. She gave fire support at Marpi Point, Tinian, and bombarded [[Aguiguan|Aguijan Island]]. On 9 October she took part in the bombardment of [[Marcus Island]] as a diversion for carrier air strikes on the [[Nansei Shoto]].

''Downes'' sailed from Saipan 14 October to join TG&nbsp;38.1 2 days later in a search for Japanese ships which [[Admiral]] [[William F. Halsey]] hoped to lure into the open with damaged cruisers {{USS|Canberra|CA-70|2}} and {{USS|Houston|CL-81|2}}. The task group returned to [[Leyte Island|Leyte]] to support the landings there 20 October. ''Downes'' sailed the same day for [[Ulithi]] but was recalled to screen the carriers during the air strikes on the Japanese Fleet in the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]]. She was detached again 27 October and sailed to Ulithi for replenishment.

Continuing to Pearl Harbor for overhaul, ''Downes'' returned to Ulithi 29 March 1945 escorting a convoy, then sailed for [[Guam]]. From 5 April to 5 June she operated in the Marianas on patrol, air-sea rescue, submarine training, and escort duty. She served at [[Iwo Jima]] on similar duty from 9 June. With the end of the war, ''Downes'' was ordered to return to the United States and sailed from Iwo Jima 19 September with homeward-bound servicemen on board. She touched at [[San Pedro, California]], called at [[Beaumont, Texas]], for [[Navy Day]] celebrations and arrived at Norfolk 5 November.

''Downes'' was decommissioned 17 December 1945, and sold for scrap 18 November 1947.

==Recognition==
''Downes'' received four [[battle star]]s for World War II service.

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last1=Bartholomew |first1=Charles A. |last2=Milwee |first2=William I. Jr. |year=2009 |title=Mud, Muscle, And Miracles—Marine Salvage in the United States Navy |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command/Naval Sea Systems Command |isbn=978-0-945274-60-5 |lccn=2009014668 |url=https://archive.org/details/MudMuscleAndMiracles |url-access=registration }}
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/downes-ii.html}}
*Daniel Madsen's ''Resurrection-Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor''. U. S. Naval Institute Press. 2003, for a detailed account of her salvage.

{{Mahan class destroyer}}
{{December 1941 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes (DD-375)}}
[[Category:Mahan-class destroyers]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Attack on Pearl Harbor]]
[[Category:1936 ships]]
[[Category:Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1941]]
[[Category:Ships built in Portsmouth, Virginia]]