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The second flotilla leader to be built at Bethlehem's
Quincy, Massachusetts, yard was laid down on January 2, 1934 and
launched on October 15, 1935. Her commissioning followed in May of 1936.
USS CLARK was named after Charles E. Clark, who gained
national fame as captain of the battleship OREGON (BB-3) during the
Spanish-American War. Steaming in the Pacific at the outbreak of the
war, USS OREGON raced around Cape Horn in time to engage the Spanish
fleet around Cuba. Captain Clark broke records during the cruise and
helped to convince America of the need for a Panama Canal.
After participating in operations off the Atlantic
coast and in Caribbean waters, the newly completed USS CLARK transferred
to the Pacific fleet, like many of her sisters. DD-361 lay in the San
Diego yard, being overhauled when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
The big, new leader would be assigned one of the most difficult jobs in
the Pacific.
For the next year, USS CLARK would defend the fleet's
logistical support facilities. From Pago Pago to San Francisco, from San
Diego to Wellington, wherever important convoys ventured into hostile
waters, DD-361 led the way. Sailing out of Noumea, USS CLARK helped to
protect fleet oilers charged with resupplying the nation's fast carrier
task forces. By December 1942, DD-361 had earned the role for which she
had been designed. USS CLARK became flagship for the Commander,
Southeast Pacific Force.
The Southeast Pacific Force was assigned to protect
the western coast of South America, along with the approaches to the
Panama Canal. USS CLARK's methodical dedication to duty once again
defended the vital choke points of American Pacific commerce. Records do
not show a single ship lost to Japanese submarines in DD-361's patrol
area while the flotilla leader was on watch.
After an overhaul in Charleston, USS CLARK was
assigned to protect north Atlantic convoys in the final months of the
Allied drive to Berlin. New generations of U-boats now stalked the
American merchants, so DD-361's services were particularly valued. Six
convoys were escorted across the North Atlantic battle zone by the big
destroyer.
By the time USS CLARK returned to American waters in
June 1945, the war was winding down. In the summer of 1945, the tin can
operated out of Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on October
23, 1945. DD-361 was scrapped in March of 1946.
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