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The USS
BRAINE
(DD-630) was
launched on
7 March 1943
at Bath,
Maine, and
was
commissioned
on 11 May
1943. That
summer she
left the
East Coast
for Pearl
Harbor where
she
escorted
troop
transports
until
ordered to
Wake Island
for
bombardment
between 5
and 6
October
1943.
Between 1
and 3
November the
BRAINE along
with the
FULLAM
(DD-474),
GUEST
(DD-472),
BENNET
(DD-473),
HUDSON
(DD-475),
WADSWORTH
(DD-516),
TERRY
(DD-513),
SIGOURNEY
(DD-643),
CONWAY
(DD-507),
ANTHONY
(DD-515),
and RENSHAW
(DD-499),
covered the
landings of
U.S. Marines
on
Bougainville.
In February
1944 she
participated
in the Green
Island
landing and
joined the
FULLAM,
BENNETT,
GUEST,
HALFORD
(DD-480),
HUDSON,
ANTHONY,
TERRY, and
WADSWORTH at
Rabaul.
Entering the
harbor under
enemy fire
on the night
of 24
February,
they began
their
bombardment
of enemy
installations.
Also
pounding the
shore were
the WALLER
(DD-466),
PHILIP
(DD-498),
RENSHAW,
SAUFLEY
(DD-465),
CONWAY,
EATON
(DD-510),
SIGOURNEY,
and PRINGLE
(DD-477). On
20 March she
supported
landings on
Emirau
Island.
On 14 June
the BRAINE
took part in
the
bombardment
of Tinian
Island,
silencing
several
enemy
batteries.
At 0853 a
4.7-inch
shell struck
her
amidships
killing
three of her
crew and
wounding 17
others. She
received
minor damage
but
continued
operations
in the
Marianas
until 23
June. After
a month in
the United
States, she
sailed for
the
Philippines
where she
fired in
support of
the Leyte
landings on
20 October
1944 and
repelled an
enemy air
attack on 18
November.
Early in
January
1945, with
the CHARLES
AUSBURNE
(DD-570),
SHAW
(DD-373),
and RUSSELL
(DD-414),
she escorted
transports
to the
Lingayen
Gulf. At
2214 on 7
January the
destroyers
ran down an
enemy ship
and sent it
to the
bottom,
ending the
war’s last
major
surface
engagement.
The BRAINE
then
proceeded to
Manila Bay
to support
landings on
the Bataan
Peninsula
and
Corregidor
between 14
and 28
February
1945. She
served as a
radar picket
and support
ship for the
landing
forces at
Zamoanga and
subsequently
at Pollack
Harbor,
Mindanao in
March and
April. She
took part in
the Okinawa
operations
as a radar
picket ship
16-25 May.
Shortly
before 0745
on 27 May,
the BRAINE
and ANTHONY
scored hits
on an
attacking
dive bomber.
Trailing
smoke and
flame, the
VAL headed
for the
BRAINE,
coming in
over the
bow, just
above the
main deck
level. It
sheered off
a wing on
the No. 1
gun and
crashed
squarely
into the
ammunition
handling
room of No.
2 gun. The
plane’s
550-pound
bomb plunged
into the
officers’
quarters and
exploded,
causing
widespread
fires and
ammunition
explosions.
The kamikaze
claimed five
of the
BRAINE’s
officers and
35 men.
Thirty
seconds
after the
first crash,
a second VAL
swooped in
over the
bow, lost a
wing on the
starboard
boat davit
and crashed
into the
sick bay and
supply
office on
the main
deck forward
of the No. 2
smokestack.
Its
550-pound
bomb
exploded
over the
after fire
room and the
plane sliced
off the
stack and
wrapped its
remnants
around the
torpedo
tubes
amidships.
This
kamikaze
killed three
more
officers and
24 men — a
total of 67
dead within
one minute
and 103
wounded out
of a crew of
300. Over
the next
hour her
crew fought
fires and
exploding
ammunition
and tried to
control the
ship, which
had been
left
steaming in
a circle at
25 knots.
Gradually
they reduced
her speed to
eight knots,
but until
then the
ANTHONY and
four LCSs
could not
move in to
help fight
the fires or
take off the
wounded.
Many of the
BRAINE’s
crew were
either blown
into the
water or
were forced
to jump to
escape the
fires.
Others
jumped to
help the
wounded. As
the other
vessels
chased the
out-of-control
destroyer,
they
struggled to
pick up
those dead,
injured, or
adrift in
the water.
As the
BRAINE
slowed, the
LCSs and the
ANTHONY were
able to
bring their
firefighting
equipment
and
high-pressure
hoses to
bear and
send damage
control
parties
aboard the
stricken
ship. At
1430 the
navy tug UTE
arrived to
tow the
disabled
ship to
Kerama Retto
for
temporary
repairs. The
BRAINE left
for home on
19 June, and
reached
Boston on 21
July.
Following
repair, she
proceeded to
the
Charleston
Navy Yard
for transfer
to the
reserve
fleet on 26
July 1946.
Recommissioned
on 6 April
1951, the
destroyer
operated in
the
Atlantic,
Caribbean,
and
Mediterranean
through 1953
and then
moved her
home port to
San Diego in
November
1954.
January 1955
found her en
route to the
Far East for
duty in
Japanese
waters and
off Formosa.
She
alternated
between the
West Coast
and Western
Pacific
between 1956
and November
1959 when a
typhoon
damaged
Mount 51,
bending the
gun port
seal and gun
shield. She
returned
home in
January
1960. Her
routine was
interrupted
again in
November
1962 when
she was
ordered to
the Panama
Canal Zone
during the
Cuban
Missile
Crisis. She
returned to
alternating
West Coast
and WestPac
duty through
1965.
September
1966 saw her
underway for
Vietnam
where in
November,
she served
with a
special task
unit
interdicting
enemy
logistic
craft,
destroying
or damaging
many of
them. At
noon on 4
November
1966 the
BRAINE and
PERKINS
(DD-877)
came under
fire from
shore
batteries
while
patrolling
35 miles
southeast of
Dong Hoi.
Both
destroyers
returned
fire and
maneuvered
to avoid the
incoming
shells. In
the action,
the BRAINE
sustained
slight
shrapnel
damage. Air
strikes were
called in at
1300 after
which the
two ships
resumed
shelling
enemy
positions.
She
completed
her Far East
deployment
in 1967.
With the
HORNE
(DLG-30),
STODDARD
(DD-566),
and
INGERSOLL
(DD-652) of
DesRon 21
she set out
for WestPac
in May 1968.
On 7 July
she entered
the Tonkin
Gulf en
route to the
PIRAZ life
guard
station with
the LONG
BEACH
(CGN-9) and
BIDDLE
(DLG-34). At
various
times, she
served as
plane guard
for the
AMERICA
(CVA-66),
CONSTELLATION
(CVA-64),
INTREPID
(CVS-11),
and BON
HOMME
RICHARD
(CVA-31). On
25 August
she
recovered
the only
survivor of
an F-4
Phantom II
that had
crashed on
takeoff from
the
CONSTELLATION.
In October,
while
returning to
Vietnam from
Japan, a
member of
the BRAINE’s
crew was
killed while
attempting
repairs on
the weather
deck during
extremely
rough seas.
Arriving on
Yankee
Station, she
began night
and day
shore
bombardment
in and
around
Danang
Harbor. In
November she
steamed for
San Diego
via
Australia.
Operations
out of San
Diego took
the BRAINE
into
November
1969 when
she
transferred
to naval
reserve
training
duties
homeported
in Portland,
Oregon. The
BRAINE was
still
engaged in
reserve
training in
the summer
of 1971 when
on 17 August
she was
stricken
from the
navy’s list
and
transferred
to the
Argentine
navy as the
ALMIRANTE
DOMECQ
GARCIA. She
served in
that navy
until 1983. |
