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The USS
BLACK
(DD-666) was
launched on
28 March
1943 by the
Federal
Shipbuilding
and Dry Dock
Company of
Kearny, New
Jersey, and
was
commissioned
on 21 May
1943. By
late
November,
she was
headed for
the Pacific
and Tarawa.
She was
assigned
screening
duty off the
entrance to
Tarawa
Lagoon and
escorting
transports
until 22
January
1944. An
interruption
came on 15
January
1944, when
the BLACK
was sent to
rescue the
survivors of
two downed
PBY aircraft
50 miles
south of
Jaluit.
Escaping
detection by
enemy
destroyers
prowling the
crash area,
she rescued
22 crew
members from
the two PBYs
and carried
them to
safety.
Her first
combat duty
came during
the invasion
of Majuro
Atoll in the
Marshall
Islands from
29 January
to 8
February
1944 and
between 22
April and 7
May, she
supported
the landings
at Aitape
and
Hollandia,
New Guinea.
On 11 June,
she took
part in the
invasion of
Saipan
where, on
the 15th,
she fought
off an air
attack,
dodging two
torpedoes in
the process.
She
subsequently
took part in
the capture
of Guam and,
on 24 July,
took aboard
nineteen men
wounded when
their
landing ship
was struck
by mortar
fire and
transferred
them to a
hospital
ship. She
was in the
thick of the
Leyte
operation in
October and
November,
providing
screening
and shore
bombardment.
While
delivering
night
harassing
fire on 21
October, she
was grazed
by friendly
fire but
suffered no
serious
damage to
ship or
personnel.
The
destroyer
returned to
San
Francisco
for an
overhaul,
which lasted
until
February
1945 and
sailed again
for the
Pacific in
March. With
Task Force
58 on 18
March, she
screened
carriers
during air
strikes
against
mainland
Japan and
crashed an
enemy
bomber. She
was one of
seven
destroyers
assigned to
escort the
damaged
carrier
FRANKLIN
(CV-13)
under tow by
the
PITTSBURG
(CA-72) out
of the area.
Her charge
delivered,
she
proceeded to
Okinawa and
on 26 March
began picket
duty and her
group’s
constant
battle
against
kamikaze
attacks. En
route to her
station, she
was targeted
by a lone
bomber which
was downed
by the
CHAUNCEY
(DD-667).
That was
just the
beginning.
At 0935 on
16 April an
enemy bomber
dove on the
BLACK,
crashing ten
yards off
her bow.
Shrapnel
rained on
her decks
but
inflicted no
damage. The
next day,
the BLACK
damaged one
attacker and
crashed
another.
After a
stint with
the carriers
launching
raids on
southern
Japan, she
was back off
Okinawa
until 30
May.
Following a
return to
the Leyte
Gulf, she
took part in
the Third
Fleet’s
advances
against
Japan from
10 July 1945
to the end
of
hostilities.
The BLACK
served with
occupation
forces off
Japan,
Korea, and
China until
10 November
1945 when
she returned
to the
United
States.
The BLACK
was out of
commission
from 5
August 1946
to 18 July
1951 when
she began
operations
along the
eastern
seaboard and
in the
Caribbean.
She was on
her way to
the Pacific
in January
1953 and
arrived in
the Korean
war zone on
4 March. On
the bomb
line off
Korea’s
Nando
Island, she
provided
call fire
for U.S.
Marine
spotters,
monitored
Korean boat
traffic, and
shelled
enemy
positions
ashore. Her
Korean
operations
ended in
June 1953
when she
headed for
Norfolk via
the Suez
Canal.
Training,
fleet
operations,
and plane
guard duties
along the
East Coast
and in the
Caribbean
occupied her
until
January
1955.
She, then,
transferred
to Long
Beach and
the Pacific
fleet with
the OWEN
(DD-536),
PRITCHETT
(DD-561),
COWELL
(DD-547),
CUSHING
(DD797),
JARVIS
(DD-799),
WATTS
(DD-567),
and TRATHEN
(DD-530).
Over the
ensuing
years, she
alternated
operations
along the
West Coast
with tours
of the
Western
Pacific
where she
earned the
nickname
“Steaming
Demon”.
February
1965 found
the BLACK
escorting
units of an
amphibious
force off
the mouth of
the Saigon
River.
Beginning in
mid-March,
she and the
HIGBEE
(DD-806)
spent eighty
percent of
the their
seven-month
deployment
at sea as
the first
U.S.
warships to
use the
infiltration
surveillance
methods that
came to be
known as
Operation
“Market
Time”.
The BLACK
spent the
months of
June and
July 1965
shelling
Vietcong
positions
and was one
of the first
ships to
demonstrate
the
effectiveness
of naval
call fire by
airborne
spotters.
Back home
for overhaul
at year’s
end, she was
off South
Vietnam in
July 1966,
this time on
Dixie
Station
screening
the INTREPID
(CV-11) as
she launched
strikes
against
targets in
the Mekong
Delta
region. She
later
provided
fire support
during an
assault
against
Vietcong
infiltration
in the III
Corps area
and moved up
the Dong Son
tributary of
the Saigon
River to
bombard
supply and
infiltration
routes and
enemy
positions.
In early
August 1966,
the
destroyer
moved on to
Yankee
Station in
the Tonkin
Gulf to
screen the
FRANKLIN D.
ROOSEVELT
(CVA-42) as
she launched
strikes
against
enemy
positions in
North and
South
Vietnam. In
mid-August,
the BLACK
conducted
gunfire
support
missions in
the Vung
Xuan Dai
area
inflicting
considerable
material and
personnel
damage on
the enemy.
At one
point,
during
refueling
operations
with the
ROOSEVELT,
the BLACK
successfully
diverted a
Soviet
intelligence-gathering
trawler, the
GIDROFON,
away from
the U.S.
formation.
November
found her
homeward
bound,
escorting
the ORISKANY
(CV-34),
crippled by
a fire on
her hangar
deck that
claimed 44
of her crew.
Upon her
arrival in
San Diego,
she began
routine
operations
until her
decommissioning
in 1969. The
BLACK was
stricken
from the
navy’s list
on 26
September
1969 and
sold for
scrap on 17
February
1971.
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