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The last of the FARRAGUTs was the only one to be built at
the Philadelphia Navy Yard. USS AYLWIN (DD-355) was named for John
Cushing Aylwin, sailing master aboard USS CONSTITUTION in her action
with HMS JAVA in the War of 1812. Lieutenant Aylwin died of his wounds.
DD-355 was launched on July 10, 1934 and commissioned
on March 1, 1935.
Sailors around the world know that for whatever
reason, some vessels are "lucky ships." AYLWIN was a lucky
ship.
In the months after her commissioning ceremony, she
cruised to Europe before being reassigned as flagship of Destroyer
Division 60 (later designated DesDiv 2, DesRon 1) of the United States
Pacific Fleet. She would be found in Pearl Harbor at the time of the
Japanese attack but would get underway in a timely manner, without
damage, although she was pursued out of the harbor by her skipper. The
senior officers aboard at the time of the attack, two ensigns, decided
that the wise move would be to leave the harbor, especially after an
enemy bomb detonated less than 75 yards away from the destroyer. As
DD-355 sortied, hundreds around the stricken base were treated to the
sight of AYLWIN's commander chasing the steaming can down the channel in
a commandeered launch.
For the next forty-four months, AYLWIN found herself
in the middle of most of the major operations in the Pacific Theater.
She screened the carriers in the first offensive strikes at Rabaul. She
served at the battle of the Coral Sea with Task Force 11. She was in
YORKTOWN's screen at Midway. Her accurate fire at Holtz Bay in the
Aleutians contributed to the Army's success in securing the Aleutians.
In the Gilberts, the Marshalls, and Palau, her superb screening skills
defended carrier and transport alike, while the fire from her 5-inch
main battery supported troops ashore.
DD-355 was in every action report; her operations
could only appropriately be covered in a book. Iwo Jima saw the
silhouette of the busy AYLWIN, and she served with both the 5th and 3rd
Fleets in raids conducted to support the Okinawa invasion.
AYLWIN even survived the killer typhoon of December
1944, with the loss of two crewmen.
In August 1945, when it was obvious that the Japanese
Empire would soon fall, AYLWIN was ordered to the New York Navy Yard,
the first time the gallant vessel would visit the East Coast in almost
ten years. Like many of the FARRAGUT'S, AYLWIN would be decommissioned
at the New York Navy Yard, in DD-355's case, on October 6, 1945. She was
subsequently sold for scrapping on December 20, 1946.
USS AYLWIN earned 13 battle stars for her service in
the Pacific during World War II. |
