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The
GLEAVES-class
destroyer
BALDWIN
(DD-624) was
launched on
14 June 1942
by the
Seattle-Tacoma
Shipbuilding
Company of
Seattle,
Washington.
She was
sponsored by
Mrs. Ida E.
Crawford,
daughter of
Acting
Master’s
Mate
Baldwin, a
Civil War
Medal of
Honor
recipient
and the
ship’s
namesake.
She was
commissioned
on 30 April
1943 and
reported to
the Atlantic
Fleet.
Between 13
August 1943
and 25
January 1944
the BALDWIN
made three
transatlantic
convoy
escort
crossings to
Casablanca,
French
Morocco.
With DesRon
18, she also
acted as a
fire
support,
patrol, and
escort
vessel
during the
landings at
Omaha Beach
between 5
June and 15
July 1944.
On 6 June,
she was
close
inshore
firing on
Nazi
positions
when she was
hit and
slightly
damaged by
two small
caliber
shells from
enemy guns
on the
bluffs.
As flagship
of ComDesDiv
36, she had
moved out to
the “Dixie
Line”
screening
the Western
Area off
Utah Beach
on the night
of 8–9 June.
In her
immediate
vicinity
were DesRon
18’s
flagship,
the
FRANKFORD,
and the
HAMBLETON
when at
0036, the
FRANKFORD’s
radar picked
up three
E-boats
advancing
toward Utah
Beach and
began
firing. By
0052 one
boat was
believed
sunk and the
others fled
under a
smoke
screen. In
the
meantime,
the BALDWIN
and
HAMBLETON
chased the
two fleeing
E-boats. The
destroyers
continued
their search
for the
E-boats and,
at 0110, the
BALDWIN and
FRANKFORD
routed a
pair of
would-be
attackers
with their
gunfire.
Four miles
north of the
“Dixie Line”
the BALDWIN
and
HAMBLETON
found
another
target and
at about
0200 sent it
to the
bottom. By
0240 the
E-boat
attack had
ended.
From 13
August to 25
September,
the BALDWIN
was with the
Allied
forces as
they moved
from the
beaches of
Normandy to
those of
Southern
France in
Operation
Anvil. At
0830 on 15
August, the
assault on
the naval
base at
Toulon began
with the
5-inch and
40-mm guns
of the
BALDWIN,
HAMBLETON,
ELLYSON,
RODMAN,
EMMONS,
HOBSON,
MACOMB,
FITCH, and
FORREST
firing in
support. By
29 August,
Toulon, the
port of
Marseilles,
and the
Riviera had
been taken.
The German
defenses
along the
Riviera were
on the verge
of collapse
and Nazi
defeats on
land and sea
continued
through the
fall. Those
at the
highest
levels of
the Allied
command were
preparing
for the end.
Between 21
January and
27 February
1945, the
BALDWIN
escorted the
QUINCY
(CA-71),
which was
carrying
President
Roosevelt to
the Yalta
Conference
to discuss
the final
phase of the
war with
Churchill
and Stalin.
Upon her
return to
the states,
the BALDWIN
stood plane
guard and
carried out
patrols
along the
East Coast
until July
1945, when
she left for
the Pacific.
Between
August 1945
and January
1946 she was
the flagship
for the
minesweeping
operations
off the
coasts of
Korea and
China. She,
then,
returned to
the East
Coast where
she was
decommissioned
in reserve
at
Charleston,
South
Carolina, on
20 June
1946.
The BALDWIN
does not
appear in
naval
records
again until
1961 when
she was
being towed
from Boston
to Orange,
Texas, by
the tug USS
KEYWADIN
(ATA-213).
They were
off Montauk
Point, Long
Island, on
16 April
1961, when
the cable
broke. The
BALDWIN
drifted
ashore where
she
grounded. It
took six
weeks of
concerted
effort by
ships and
men to free
her after
which she
was struck
from the
navy’s list
on 1 June.
The KEYWADIN
towed her
out to sea
where she
was used for
target
practice and
sunk on 5
June 1961. |
