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USS CHEVALIER was the third FLETCHER-class destroyer to
be built at the Bath iron works facility in Bath Maine. She was laid in
April 1941 and launched almost a year later. The new destroyer was
commissioned on 09 July 20, 1942.
DD-451 was the first warship to be named for Godfrey
DeCourcelles Chevalier, the seventh naval aviator to be appointed.
During his career, LCDR Chevalier would be the first Pilot to catapult
from a battleship and the first pilot to land on the deck of USS LANGLEY
(CV-1), the Navy's first carrier. LCDR Chevalier would die of injuries
sustained in an airplane crash in 1922.
By the time DD-451was commissioned, the East Coast of
the United States was under siege by Nazi submarines, so the new
destroyer was assigned to convoy duty protecting tankers and cargo
vessels. She also screened one of the first reinforcement convoys to
cross the Atlantic in support of the North African "TORCH"
landings. Prior to the end of December, however, CHEVALIER was ordered
to the Pacific.
The waters around Guadalcanal seemed a magnet for the
early FLETCHERS and CHEVALIER was no exception. Action has shifted to
northward and Kula Gulf, which separates new Georgia and Kolombangara.
Bordered by dense jungle and imposing rock cliffs on three sides, the
Gulf is almost twenty miles wide at the mouth, narrowing to about seven
miles at the base. The nearly twenty-five-mile-long Gulf provided a
perfect amphitheater for small naval action. DD-451 knew Kula Gulf well.
USS CHEVALIER escorted mine layers into the Gulf many
times, helping to provide a "fence" of explosives to contain
Japanese naval forces steaming down the narrow water passage to
Guadalcanal and using the Gulf as a refuge. The destroyer quickly be
came a familiar sight in the area, providing convoy escort, adding her
prodigious fire-power to anti-aircraft umbrellas protecting troop
transports, and covering landing beaches.
On another foray into Kula Gulf, DD-451, supported by
USS STRONG (DD-467) and USS O'BANNON (DD-450), was attacked by three
Japanese destroyers. STRONG received a torpedo, opening her hull
amidships on both the port and starboard sides. Ignoring fire from the
shore, CHEVALIER intentionally rammed her bow into the mortally wounded
STRONG, allowing two-hundred-forty-seven of the STRONG's survivors to
crawl across to safety while O'BANNON provided covering fire, Moments
after the loaded destroyer pulled free, STRONG went down. CHEVALIER and
O’BANNON succeeded in returning to Espiritu Santo, DD-451 with a
twenty square foot hole torn in her bow. CHEVALIER returned to action in
July.
DD-451 would continue devastating attacks on the
Japanese barge reinforcement effort. Frequently, the patrols also
included clashes with escorting Japanese destroyers. Sometimes, those
destroyers were too numerous.
Japanese troops on Vella Lavelia were cut off by
October 1943, and the decision was made in Tokyo to attempt to evacuate
the garrison, so nine destroyers and destroyer transports were sent to
effect the removal. Three American destroyers stood in their way.
DD-451, along with O'BANNON and SELFRIDGE (DD-357),
uncovered the attempt and attacked immediately, although the Americans
were greatly outnumbered. The American destroyers began the action by
firing half of their torpedoes, then blasting away with every weapon
that would bear on the Japanese force. The enemy did likewise.
A Japanese 24-inch "Long Lance" torpedo
smashed into CHEVALIER, tearing off her bow just forward of the bridge.
She immediately went out of control. O'BANNON, following the stricken
destroyer closely, was unable to maneuver out of the way in time and
sliced into CHEVALIER's after engine room. In an effort to lighten the
ship, a final spread of torpedoes was fired at the Japanese. The crew of
CHEVALIER were encouraged by seeing a bright flash coming from the
direction of the Japanese destroyer YUGUMO. She blew up shortly
afterward.
CHEVALIER's damage was too extensive for even her
experienced crew to control. The vessel was abandoned after several
hours of fruitless salvage efforts. O'BANNON removed the ship's crew,
then stood off while USS LA VALLETTE (DD-448) sank the valiant destroyer
with a torpedo and gunfire. Her bow, floating a mile to the west, was
sunk with depth charges. CHEVALIER suffered ninety casualties in her
last action.
For her service in World War II, USS CHEVALIER earned
three battle stars.
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