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Launched on 19
November 1941 at Staten Island, New York, DD-491 was commissioned on 2
April 1942. By August she was part of the screen for the WASP (CV-7) as
the carrier launched air strikes to support the marines on Guadalcanal.
As flagship for DesRon 12, the FARENHOLT escorted ships carrying
reinforcements to Guadalcanal. During an attack by two enemy submarines
on 15 September, she rescued 143 survivors of the torpedoed WASP and
carried them to Espiritu Santo before joining the BUCHANAN (DD-484) and
LAFFEY (DD-459) to screen transports headed for Funafuti.
In October 1942 she
and the DUNCAN (DD-485), LAFFEY, BUCHANAN, and McCALLA (DD-488) joined
the task force ordered to prevent the reinforcement of Guadalcanal. On
the night of 11-12 October, the American and Japanese forces met in the
Battle of Cape Esperance. The FARENHOLT and DUNCAN were caught between
two opposing cruiser columns when they opened fire. The DUNCAN was so
badly damaged that she had to be abandoned and sunk the next day. The
FARENHOLT was also seriously damaged. Three of her crew were killed and
43 were wounded; her torpedo tubes were inoperative; and flooding from
waterline holes gave her a port list. To keep the ship afloat, oil,
water, and movable topside weight were shifted causing her to list to
starboard bringing the shell holes out of the water. In the darkness and
confusion, she retired from the scene of battle, but without functioning
navigational instruments or communications equipment, she was soon far
off course. The rest of the task force thought that she’d been sunk
until four the next afternoon when one of her signals got through thanks
to radio Honolulu. A day later the AARON WARD (DD-483) arrived to escort
her to Espiritu Santo and from there to Pearl Harbor for permanent
repairs.
The “Old Overholt”
returned to Espiritu Santo in March 1943 and began escort operations in
the Solomons in early April. Off Lunga Point on the night of 6 April,
she engaged enemy bombers, and the next day, with the WOODWORTH (DD-460)
and STERRETT (DD-407), escorted six vessels eastward through Sealark
Channel. At 1518, 14 torpedo bombers attacked. She splashed one and a
near miss wounded one of her crew. Escort missions to the Solomons
continued into May when on the 13th she drove off a bomber attack that
wounded another one of her crew. From 0706 to 1455 on 30 June she
engaged shore batteries on Munda Point as troops landed on Rendova. At
1550, 24 torpedo planes attacked the FARENHOLT and six other destroyers.
The “Old Overholt” splashed three, successfully dodged two torpedoes,
but could not evade a third, which fortunately was a dud. Two of her
crew were injured in the battle, which also claimed the McCAWLEY
(APA-4). The DD-491 took McCAWLEY survivors aboard and carried them to
Guadalcanal. During this period the ship acquired a mascot, a hound pup
they named Oscar. With the captain’s eventual approval, Oscar proved to
be a great morale booster and, many believed, brought the ship good
luck.
As the New Georgia
operation continued, the FARENHOLT escorted support ships, fired shore
bombardment, made anti-enemy shipping sweeps, and brought troops and
supplies to Vella Lavella. Following a visit to Australia in October,
she returned to screen the carrier strike force off Bougainville. The
FARENHOLT continued her operations in support of the Bougainville and
New Britain operations, escorting reinforcements to Empress Augusta Bay,
searching for enemy shipping, and bombarding Choiseul and other targets.
Bombardment operations in the Shortland Islands began in January 1944.
While covering landings on Green Island on 14 February, she fought off a
dive bomber attack and splashed at least one plane.
On the night of
17-18 February her squadron made a daring dash down St. George Channel
to fire on shipping in Blanche Bay and bombard Rabaul, sinking two
merchantmen and inflicting much damage on shore installations. A similar
attack on Kavieng on 25 February provoked heavy counter fire from shore.
At 0705 the FARENHOLT and BUCHANAN were hit simultaneously by 6-inch
shells. The FARENHOLT was holed at the waterline on her starboard side
flooding the after fire room, but her crew used skill and determination
to control the flooding and keep the power up and her guns firing. After
temporary repairs at Purvis Bay, she steamed for the West Coast and
overhaul at Mare Island.
She was back in the
war on 21 July screening transports for the assault on Guam. Her next
major operation was Palaus. Through the summer she screened carriers
during air strikes on Palaus and the southern Philippines, bombarded a
radar station on Cape San Augustine, Mindanao, supported landings at
Morotai and Angaur, screened carriers as they launched raids on Manila
and Leyte. En route to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the FARENHOLT’s
squadron was detached to escort the CANBERRA (CA-70) and HOUSTON
(CL-81), damaged in air battles off Taiwan, to Ulithi.
In January 1945, the
FARENHOLT was station ship at Ulithi and Kossol Passage heading the
Western Carolinas and Marianas Patrol and Escort Group. She and her
squadron escorted convoys until 5 May 1945. Three days later she was off
Okinawa and for the next month, bombarded shore targets, plane guarded
carriers, screened shipping, and rescued downed pilots and survivors of
damaged and sunken ships, among them the OBERRENDER (DE-344). She moved
north to San Pedro Bay in mid-June to support carriers during their air
strikes against the Japanese home islands. On 28 July the FARENHOLT
returned to Okinawa for screening duties and with the end of
hostilities, sailed with the U.S. Army general assigned to accept the
surrender of the islands in the southern Ryukyus and in the Sakishima
Gunto. Following escort duty between Buckner Bay, Okinawa, and Sasebo,
Japan, she headed for San Diego and then, Charleston, South Carolina,
arriving in December. She was placed out of commission in reserve at
Charleston on 26 April 1946. She was struck from the navy’s list on 1
June 1971 and sold for scrap on 22 November 1972.
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