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USS GLEAVES was launched at the Bath Iron Works yard in
Bath, Maine, on December 9, 1939, the first of her type to be built to
the "original" specifications with a Gibbs & Cox power
plant arrangement. Six months later, the new destroyer was placed in
commission at the Boston Navy Yard.
DD-423 was named after ADM Albert Gleaves, a visionary
in naval technology whose experiments with torpedoes made them an
effective weapon for the U.S. Navy in World War I. He went on to command
the Cruiser and Transport Force during the "Great War" and
wrote two biographies of prominent naval officers.
Following an extensive period of training along the
East Coast, GLEAVES was assigned to convoy duty. DD-423 departed for
Iceland on June 23, 1941, delivering her first convoy safely to the
island. She returned to U.S. waters in July after briefly patrolling the
shipping lanes. Four convoy assignments would follow, to such varied
destinations as Iceland, the British Isles, and North Africa. Convoy
battles became more frequent. Wolf packs commonly slashed into the
streams of merchantmen crossing the Atlantic by the thousands. Escorts
were presented with an almost impossibly frustrating task.
In May, 1942, GLEAVES found herself leading Group A3,
composed of herself, the Coast Guard cutter USS SPENCER (WPG-36), and
four Royal Canadian Navy corvettes. The assignment was to protect a
slow-moving collection of ships, code-named ONS 92, plodding westward.
Unfortunately, a "wolf pack" patrol line of eight German
submarines, Group HECHT, blocked the route. Despite the efforts of the
escort group, including hours of depth charge attacks, five ships were
lost to the raiders.
Within a year, DD-423 would be in the Mediterranean
with many of her sisters hard at work wresting the Italian peninsula
from Axis forces. GLEAVES contributed her accurate gunfire to the
landings in Sicily and, with USS PLUNKETT (DD-431), accepted the
surrender of the Italian garrison on the small island of Utica. In the
complex actions that swirled along Italy's western coast, GLEAVES would
called upon to protect the Palermo anchorage from the ravages of Nazi
Boats, provide fire support for the advancing Allied armies, and ward
off Luftwaffe air assaults. She would even participate in an
anti-submarine sweep that would net U-616. GLEAVES would rescue the
survivors of the undersea raider on May 17, 1944.
GLEAVES had established an enviable reputation as a
fire support vessel, and she certainly proved her worth over the next
several months. The destroyer was called upon to land U.S. Army Rangers
in southern France, then bombard shore installations in support of the
invasion fleet that was to follow. With the landing area secured, she
was transferred south again this time off the coast of the Italian town
of San Remo, just over the border from France. GLEAVES rampaged along
the coast, blasting shore installations, destroying two cargo ships in
the harbor of Oneglio, and sinking an explosives-packed German motor
launch which was attempting an attack on Allied forces. Two other boats
were chased away by the intimidating destroyer. It was only the
beginning.
Within hours, the boats had returned in strength.
GLEAVES was faced with six of the small speedboats. Each was eighteen
feet long and armed with a 500-pound explosive charge. A single helmsman
operated the craft; the plan was for the operator to set the boat's
course, then drop over the side to a waiting raft. The boat would smash
into the side of a target ship, releasing the main charge which was
fused to explode under the speedboat’s victim. GLEAVES had her work
cut out for her.
DD-423 maneuvered wildly as the boats attacked in
pairs. One set came in from the port side, barely missing the tin can.
Two more passed within fifty yards of GLEAVES, then changed heading and
roared up her wake. With all guns firing and flank speed reached, the
destroyer was still losing the race. GLEAVES seemed doomed until LCDR W.
M. Klee, DD-423’s skipper, tried a liberal application of depth
charges. The combination of small arms fire and the massive explosion of
the depth charges did the job. The following morning, GLEAVES returned
to the site of the action to find the remains of five speedboats. The
destroyer was also able to capture a disabled boat and two operators.
The enemy craft was lifted aboard the destroyer for later examination by
a naval intelligence team. GLEAVES would remain off the coast in her
role of protector until February 1945.
The war in Europe was moving toward Germany and
experienced destroyers were needed in the final push toward Japan.
DD-423 was ordered back to the States for a much-needed refit. By the
time necessary work was completed and GLEAVES sailed for the Pacific,
the war was over.
The multi-talented destroyer was selected for new
duties. She supported occupation forces in Nagasaki, Japan, then
provided rescue and repair services in the wake of a deadly typhoon
which thundered across the Philippine Sea in the late fall of 1945. In
November, GLEAVES was called upon to deliver smallpox vaccine to the
Lykes Liner S.S. ADABELLE LYKES in mid-Pacific, allowing the vessel to
safely proceed to port.
Following service returning troops from the Pacific,
GLEAVES was ordered first to Charleston navy yard, South Carolina, for
decommissioning, then to Pennsylvania, to be placed reserve. She was
later moved to Orange, Texas where she remained until 1969. She was
stricken from the Navy List almost thirty years after her launching.
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