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USS BLUE was the second Navy-designed small single stack
destroyer to be laid down in the new building programs of the 1930s. Her
superficial resemblance to the four Bethlehem designed and built 1,500
tonners cause many sources to label her as a GRIDLEY, but her design,
hull, building site, and power plant clearly establish her parentage as
a BAGLEY sister ship.
DD-387 was named for RADM Victor Blue, whose service
first as intelligence operative during the Spanish-American War then as
Chief of the Bureau of Navigation and commander of the battleship TEXAS
(BB-35) during World War I marked him as a leader in the emerging
world-class United States Navy.
USS BLUE was launched at the Norfolk Navy Yard on May
27, 1937 and commissioned less than four months later. Her commissioning
was followed by a year-long series of shakedown and training cruises in
the Atlantic and Caribbean areas before her reassignment to the Pacific
fleet. She arrived in San Diego in August, 1938 to become flagship of
DESDIV 7, a part of the Pacific battle force.
The Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 found USS BLUE
moored in the heart of the sprawling navy base. With four ensigns as
senior officers aboard, USS BLUE's firemen were able to raise steam and
sortie from the harbor, making the destroyer among the first major naval
vessels to become operational after the attack.
After patrol and convoy duties around the Hawaiian
Islands at the beginning of the war, BLUE was transferred to the
swirling battles around Guadalcanal. Japanese forces planned to use the
large island as a stepping stone in the invasion of Australia. Control
of Guadalcanal became critical to the entire Pacific war.
In the early morning hours of August 22, 1942, USS
BLUE was patrolling the waters of Ironbottom Sound, escorting a convoy
in the company of two of her sister ships. A Japanese destroyer,
slipping into the Sound behind a group of attack transports (APDs),
launched two torpedoes at the destroyer. Emergency maneuvers proved to
be too late. Critically wounded on her starboard side, her after
steering room devastated, both propeller shafts damaged, and electrical
power lost, USS BLUE was in danger. But damage control aboard BLUE was
superb. BLUE was kept afloat until USS HELM (DD-388) could pass a towing
line to the stricken tin can and begin the slow trip to a safe
anchorage. Unfortunately, the rescue was doomed to failure.
A large Japanese force was spotted steaming down
"The Slot" northwest of the Sound. Given the likelihood that
the enemy would capture BLUE, orders were given to take off her crew and
scuttle the ship. All of the water lines were opened and the watertight
doors undogged. On August 22, 1942, USS BLUE sank beneath the waves of
Ironbottom Sound.
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