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The first of the MAHANs to be built at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard would also be the second destroyer named for Stephen Cassin,
whose remarkable service while captain of USS TICONDEROGA at the Battle
of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812 earned him a gold medal from
Congress. Capt. Cassin passed away in 1857.
USS CASSIN was laid down on October 1, 1934 and
launched almost four hundred days later. The new destroyer would be
commissioned on August 21, 1936. CASSIN required more than five months
of alterations before becoming fully operational, so the new vessel did
not enter full fleet service until the spring of 1937.
Following a cruise through the Caribbean to Brazil,
CASSIN was ordered to the Pacific. In the years prior to the beginning
of World War II, DD-372 would participate in fleet exercises and
function as a school ship with the torpedo and gunnery schools in San
Diego.
Long in need of an overhaul, USS CASSIN was caught
sharing Dry dock 1 with USS DOWNES (DD-375) and the battleship
PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38) when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the
morning of December 7, 1941. At about 8:50 AM, the second wave of
Japanese attackers began to concentrate on both USS NEVADA (BB-36),
which at the time was attempting to sortie from the harbor, and the
ships docked in the navy yard. Between ten and fifteen dive-bombers and
high level bombers concentrated on the area around Dry dock 1. The first
bomb to hit DD-372 penetrated the relatively thin skin of the destroyer
and exploded on the dry dock floor, immediately starting a fire. Power
and water connections were soon lost when a new rain of bombs exploded
on the huge dock walls. A second bomb, probably weighing nearly five
hundred pounds, penetrated the hull somewhere forward of the bridge.
Exploding on the dock floor, the weapon ripped open the fuel tanks of
both destroyers. By the end of the attack, CASSIN was aflame from stem
to stern, with torpedo air flasks, warheads, and ammunition beginning to
"cook off." Depth charges, still in their stern racks, seemed
likely to go next. Yard officials decided to flood the dock to quench
the flames, but the unstable nature of the badly damaged ship coupled
with inadequate blocking support for the hull, caused CASSIN to list to
starboard, coming to rest on the mauled DOWNES. By the end of the day,
salvage crews had decided that CASSIN was a total loss. Highly effective
recovery techniques and a patriotic zeal proved the initial estimate to
be wrong.
There was little question that CASSIN would require
extensive repair; the initial plan was to refloat the destroyer merely
to clear the dock for more immediate use. Someone developed a novel
idea, however. A survey suggested that far more than half of the vessel
was in condition for further use. Officials at the Mare Island shipyard
suggested that usable items be stripped from DD-372, carefully labeled,
and transported to their facility for use in a new hull. All agreed. USS
CASSIN was refloated on February 18, 1942 and moved to the Pearl Harbor
Navy Yard for dismantling. By October, the remnants of CASSIN that could
not be used were scrapped. Simultaneously, a "new" CASSIN was
arising, like the Phoenix, from the ashes of the Pearl Harbor attack.
With her new hull and modernized "British"
bridge, the ship that was recommissioned on February 5, 1944 cut a
dashing figure. Her fighting spirit never diminished, however.
DD-372 returned to the war just in time to take part
in the final thrusts past Saipan and Tinian toward the Philippines. Her
expert gun crews blasted caves on Tinian, then on Marcus Island. Her
services were next required to screen the carrier task groups
approaching the Philippines, where her effective screening and shore
bombardment techniques were utilized again and again. The Marines on Iwo
Jima had occasion to thank the ship builders at Mare Island as well.
CASSIN's accurate fire support contributed significantly to the success
of the landings on that hotly contested island as well.
The Japanese were not CASSIN's only enemy. On June 6,
1945, DD-372 was caught in a typhoon that took the life of one crewman
and tore away the vessel's motor whaleboat. Less than a month after that
ordeal, the re-doubtable tin can was again on station, providing gunfire
support at Iwo Jima.
The end of the war in the Pacific found USS CASSIN
guarding the air evacuation of prisoners of war from Japan.
DD-372 returned to Norfolk on November 1, 1945 and was
decommissioned at the Virginia base in December. CASSIN was sold for
scrapping on November 25, 1947.
USS CASSIN earned six battle stars for her service in
World War II.
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