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Built by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding
Corporation, the FRANKS (DD-554) was launched on 7 December 1942 and
commissioned 30 July 1943. By November 1943 she was on her way to the
Gilbert Islands to cover marine landings on Makin and Tarawa.
At 0505 on 23 November she and the
destroyers HUGHES (DD-410), MORRIS (DD-417), MAURY (DD-401), GRIDLEY
(DD-380), and HULL (DD-350) were screening the task force accompanying
the escort carrier LISCOME BAY (CVE-56) when an enemy sub broke through
and torpedoed the carrier, which sank twenty-five minutes later.
The men of the FRANKS were shaken by the
experience as they continued to patrol off the entrance to Tarawa Lagoon
until mid-December when the ship returned to Pearl Harbor.
The FRANKS was back on antisubmarine
patrol in the Marshalls on 31 January 1944. After the island of
Kwajalein was secured, she took part in close-in reconnaissance and
bombardment missions among other islands of the group, leaving the area
with a few minor battle scars from enemy shore batteries.
She went on to patrol the Solomons where
on 23 March 1944 her gunners bombarded Mussau Island, turning an enemy
gasoline dump into a blazing inferno.
In May while screening mine layers
operating in the Buka Passage, she and the HAGGARD (DD-555), HAILEY
(DD-556), and JOHNSTON (DD-557) of Destroyer Division 94 were sent on a
submarine hunt. With the memory of the LISCOME BAY fresh in their minds,
the FRANKS’ crew were eager to avenge her loss.
On the morning of 16 May the destroyers
began their search for the I-176 and at 2145, after twenty hours, the
HAGGARD made contact and loosed a spread of depth charges. At 2213 she
released another. Next it was the JOHNSTON’s turn, and then at 0015 on
17 May the FRANKS dropped a full pattern that finished the job. With
daylight, debris on the water confirmed their success.
On 18 May the FRANKS joined an amphibious
group bound for bombardment of Shortland Island in the Solomons. She
went on to the Marianas where she remained on patrol through June 1944.
Off Guam on the night of 14 July she was the target of an enemy plane
but suffered no damage from the bomb that exploded 200 yards astern. In
mid-September she was a part of the operations to secure Palau Island
and Ulithi Atoll and in October joined Task Group 77.4 to participate in
the Battle of Leyte Gulf where the JOHNSTON was sunk.
She later supported the action off Samar.
The FRANKS remained in the Philippines through November when she rescued
the survivors of three downed planes. She was reassigned to Task Force
38 to screen the carriers supporting the Mindoro occupation and in
mid-December rode out the death-dealing typhoon Cobra.
The new year took her on to support the
landings on Luzon and to screen the carriers as they launched air
strikes against targets in the South China Sea. Moving to Task Group
58.4 she screened the carriers launching strikes against the home
islands in support of the assault and occupation of Iwo Jima to the
south. During this operation the FRANKS rescued two more pilots.
On 14 March 1945 the task force was again
hitting the islands of Japan as American forces prepared for the assault
on Okinawa. At 0730 on 18 March the task force came under heavy air
attack, and the FRANKS’ guns downed one raider and assisted in splashing
three others. Her guns covered the battleships bombarding the south
coast of Okinawa on 24 March and three days later made several night
sorties to shell Daito Shima.
Late in the afternoon of 2 April the
FRANKS had just left her plane guard station astern of the YORKTOWN
(CV-10) and was headed for her regular screen position when she collided
with the battleship NEW JERSEY (BB-62). The collision demolished her
port side armament and the bridge wing and killed her captain, Commander
David R. Stephan. The following morning she retired to Ulithi for
temporary repairs and then, with the carriers CABOT (CV-28) and HANCOCK
(CV-19), headed for Pearl Harbor. She went on from there to Puget Sound
for a complete overhaul.
By 10 August the FRANKS was back in
operation, steaming for Eniwetok with the destroyers KIMBERLY (DD-521),
HALSEY POWELL (DD-686), and YARNALL (DD-541). They were underway when
they received news of the Japanese surrender on 15 August. Four days
later she and the DUNCAN (DD-874) left Eniwetok to screen the escort
carriers ATTU (ACV-102) and SITKOH BAY (ACV-86) southwest of Honshu
where she remained until 10 September.
After a brief stay at Yokosuka, she left
the Western Pacific en route to Seattle. The FRANKS was decommissioned
on 31 May 1946 and assigned to the San Diego Reserve Group. Later she
was transferred to the Bremerton Reserve Group where she was stricken
from the navy’s list on 1 December 1972 and was sold on 17 September
1973. |
