|
USS BALCH was the last of the PORTER-class flotilla
leaders to be built by Bethlehem's Quincy yard. She was laid down on May
16, 1934 and launched in March of 1936. Her commissioning followed eight
months later.
DD-363 was the second vessel to be named for George
Beall Balch, a Rear Admiral who had served both as Superintendent of the
Naval Academy and commander of the Pacific fleet during almost fifty
years of service.
USS BALCH began her Navy career assigned to the Chief
of Naval Operations. For almost a year, the new destroyer trained
extensively, perfecting her skills while naval tacticians reviewed the
potential of the new class. Finally, BALCH was reassigned to the Pacific
fleet.
As part of the Battle Force, United States Pacific
Fleet, DD-363 served as the flagship of DESRON 12 and later, DESRON 6. A
busy schedule of training cruises and fleet exercises occupied the big
leader in the years before World War II.
Assigned to Task Force 8 prior to the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor, the destroyer was on duty, screening her charges far
from the base when the surprise attack hit.
American naval forces were spread thin in the early
months of the war, so DD-363 found herself ranging the Pacific, blocking
enemy moves and harassing Japanese troop concentrations. BALCH's service
record reads like an outline of the Pacific conflict. She blasted
Japanese installations in the Marshals, screened carriers in a raid on
Wake Island, and rescued 545 survivors from the YORKTOWN (CV-5) when the
mighty flaftop finally succumbed to her multitude of wounds after the
battle of Midway. DD-363 was seen off Guadalcanal in the South Pacific
and Attu and Kiska in the cold waters of the Aleutians. She dashed back
thousands of miles to lend her accurate gunfire to the landings on the
north coast of New Guinea.
BALCH was transferred to Atlantic operations in the
summer of 1944. The flotilla leader completed five convoy assignments,
protecting supply ships on the North African run.
Reassigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for an
extensive overhaul, the destroyer was subsequently deactivated. BALCH
was decommissioned on October 19, 1945 and scrapped in 1946.
|
