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Admiral Cary T. Grayson was the personal physician and aide to President
Woodrow Wilson during World War I. The DD-435 was launched on 7 August
1940 and commissioned on 14 February 1941. Her first assignment took her
to Guantanamo Bay and Caribbean waters. Then, in October, she headed
north for ten months on patrol and escort duty steaming between
Newfoundland and Iceland.
Early in the spring of 1942, the GRAYSON was ordered to the Pacific. She
sailed from San Diego in April 1942 as part of the escort for the HORNET
(CV-8), which carried sixteen B-25s under the command of General 'Jimmy'
Doolittle whose raid on Tokyo on 18 April brought war home to the enemy
for the first time.
The
GRAYSON’s next assignment found her escorting the carrier ENTERPRISE
(CV-6) bound for 'Operation Watchtower,' the invasion of Guadalcanal.
One of the screening destroyers for the carriers ENTERPRISE, SARATOGA
(CV-3), and WASP (CV-7), she was part of the Air Support Force for the
upcoming invasion. On 7 and 8 August 1942, the carriers launched their
planes and the GRAYSON and the rest of the screening ships turned their
guns skyward to stop a flight of Japanese bombers that swooped down on
the marines landing on Guadalcanal. By the afternoon of the 8th, the
First Marine Division had taken the airstrip—later named Henderson
Field—and with the aid of fire from navy ships and airplanes, had driven
the Japanese to ground.
The
GRAYSON continued operations in the area with the ENTERPRISE and Task
Force 16 to block Japanese reinforcements from getting through to their
troops on the islands. At 1700 on 24 August, the task force engaged
enemy Zeros and bombers northeast of the lower Solomons. In an
action-filled half-hour that saw the GRAYSON’s gunners down two planes
and damage a third, the ENTERPRISE was hit by three bombs and retired
from the war zone. With the ENTERPRISE headed for Pearl Harbor for
repairs, her task group dispersed. The GRAYSON joined Task Force 11,
built around the carrier SARATOGA. Action soon followed. Sighting a
Japanese submarine on the surface on 25 August, the GRAYSON closed in
for the kill. After expending her entire supply of forty depth charges
in a series of five attacks, the destroyer’s crew finally had the
satisfaction of seeing a huge air bubble and oil slick rise to the
surface indicating the death of another Imperial submarine.
The
battle-proven ship and her crew remained in the bitterly contested
waters around Guadalcanal for nearly eight months, convoying
troop transports, patrolling the 'Slot,' serving as a radar picket ship,
and performing vital search and rescue work. On 18 October 1942, the
destroyer’s crew picked up seventy-five survivors from the destroyer
MEREDITH (DD-434), sunk by aerial torpedo on 15 October. They
then helped escort the tug VIREO (ATO-144) and its barge loaded with
desperately needed fuel and ammunition to Guadalcanal.
After an extensive overhaul in the United States, the GRAYSON returned
to the Pacific theater on 24 September 1943. On the night of 1 October,
she joined a destroyer strike force to attack the stream of Japanese
barges evacuating the garrison at Vella Lavella and Kolombangara. The
GRAYSON’s gun crews accounted for at least four and possibly two more
Japanese barges loaded with evacuees during three nights of action.
Concluding the year with three months of patrol duty, she steamed east
for an overhaul at Puget Sound.
Returning to the Pacific in February 1944, she patrolled the Solomons,
Carolines, and Marshalls, and at the end of March, her gunners provided
fire support for the U.S. Army’s initial assault landings on Pityiliu in
the Admiralty Island chain. By then, American forces were sweeping
through the southwestern Pacific. From 22 to 24 April, the GRAYSON was
the fighter-director ship for the landings at Tanahmerah Bay, Dutch New
Guinea. She then moved on to shell Biak Island near the western end of
New Guinea on 27 May.
On 1 September 1944, the GRAYSON joined Task Group 38, part of an
eight-hundred-ship fleet steaming toward the Palau Islands. The
15-September invasion called for an all-out fire-support effort from the
DD- 435 and the other destroyers involved. Less than three weeks later,
she was part of another major strike, this time against Formosa and the
Philippines. The Japanese struck back. On 15 October 1944, their torpedo
planes scored hits on the American cruisers CANBERRA (CA-70) and HOUSTON
(CL-81). The GRAYSON was on hand to rescue 194 men from the HOUSTON and
then escort the cruiser as she was towed to Ulithi. From Ulithi, the
destroyer sailed to Saipan for radar picket and lifeguard duty. She was
in Seattle when the war ended, and after a brief return to Pearl Harbor,
sailed for the East Coast and Charleston, S.C. in the fall. For her
service in the war, the GRAYSON had earned thirteen battle stars. On 27
October 1945, the battle-scarred 'tin can' hosted over 5,000 visitors—a
grateful Navy-Day tribute. The GRAYSON remained at Charleston until she
was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Orange, Texas, on 4 February
1947. She remained in reserve until 1 June 1971 when she was struck from
the navy’s list. The GRAYSON was sold on 22 November 1972. |
