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The USS
DREXLER
(DD-741 ),
an ALLEN M.
SUMNER-class
destroyer,
was launched
on 3
September
1944, at the
Bath Iron
Work in
Bath, Maine.
The ship’s
sponsor was
the mother
of Ensign
Henry C.
Drexler, who
died in a
desperate
attempt to
save the
lives of
twenty
shipmates in
a gun turret
accident on
the cruiser
TRENTON
(CL-11). The
DREXLER was
commissioned
on 14
November
1944, with
Commander
Ronald L.
Wilson at
the helm.
She and the
SHURBRICK
(DD-639)
sailed from
Norfolk on
23 January
1945 to
escort the
BON HOMME
RICHARD
(CV-31) to
Trinidad
and, from
there, to
proceed to
San Diego.
On 13
February,
she got
underway for
Pearl Harbor
and soon
after her
arrival was
engaged in
antiaircraft
and shore
bombardment
exercises
with the
MORRISON
(DD-560) and
MASSEY
(DD-778).
Ten days
later, she
and the
MASSEY
sailed with
the escort
carriers
SUWANEE
(CVE-27) and
CHENANGO
(CVE-28) to
Ulithi, the
staging area
for the
upcoming
Okinawa
invasion.
The DREXLER
left Ulithi
on 27 March,
bound for
Okinawa with
Support
Carrier Unit
3 to cover
the
landings. On
Easter
Sunday, 1
April 1945,
she
participated
in the
initial
bombardment
and, then,
went to work
clearing
mines with
fire from
her
automatic
weapons.
Also during
the battle
for Okinawa,
she rescued
ten aviators
who had been
shot down.
On 2 May the
DREXLER
became a
part of Task
Group 51.5
as a picket
support ship
. With her
was the
WADSWORTH
(DD-516),
which served
as radar
picket ship.
From the
battle’s
beginning,
destroyers
on picket
stations and
combat air
patrol
fighters
covering
them from
above were a
critical
early-warning
system
around the
island.
They took
the brunt of
concentrated
kamikaze
attacks that
accounted
for most of
the thirteen
destroyers
lost off
Okinawa.
At 0831 on 4
May, an
enemy plane
attacked the
WADSWORTH
and between
AA gunners
of the two
ships they
brought the
plane down.
This was the
DREXLER’s
first kill.
She left the
picket line
briefly for
duty as
chief
bombardment
ship for the
invasion of
Tori Shima.
She
returned to
radar picket
station 15
where she
was picket
support ship
for the
GAINARD
(DD-706).
Three nights
in a row,
the Japanese
attacked
non-stop for
four hours
at a time.
The DREXLER
shot down
one
twin-engine
bomber and
assisted in
splashing
two other
planes. She
later served
as support
ship with
the radar
picket AMMEN
(DD-527) and
shot down
two suicide
planes and
possibly one
or more
during night
attacks and
assisted in
destroying
three
others.
Over the
fifteen days
she served
as a radar
picket ship
she had to
retire twice
before the
usual five
days on
station were
up because
she was
running out
of
ammunition.
On 27 May
she was on
duty as an
antiaircraft
screen
fighting in
the
transport
area in
Okinawa. The
Japanese
maintained
continuous
attacks,
which hit
destroyers
and small
craft on
radar picket
station 5
and two APDs
in the
transport
screen.
Finally, at
0130 on 28
May 1945,
she was
ordered back
to picket
station 15
where she
faced her
final
battle.
With the
LOWRY
(DD-770),
which was
radar
picket, she
arrived on
station at
0400 to
relieve the
BOYD
(DD-544) and
AMMEN. The
two
destroyers,
then, began
steaming in
a column at
15 knots.
With them
were two
support
craft, the
“small boys”
LCS (L) 55
and LCS (L)
56. At 0643
the
DREXLER’s SC
radar picked
up a bogey
at 28 miles,
and the crew
went to
general
quarters.
The LOWRY
sent her
combat air
patrol (CAP)
to
investigate,
and they
shot the
plane down
before it
reached the
ships.
At 0700 Lt.
Cdr. Wilson,
the
DREXLER’s
captain,
sighted a
second enemy
plane,
“sharp on
the
starboard
bow,”
elevation
about 2,000
feet, range
about seven
miles. The
twin-engine
“Nick” was a
type of
bomber known
for the
speed of its
dives and
the
punishment
it could
absorb. “He
was already
in his low,
shallow
glide,
circling
toward the
head of our
column,”
recalled the
late
Commander
Wilson. The
DREXLER came
left and
with the
LOWRY opened
fire. The
diving
bomber
appeared to
be aiming at
the LOWRY
but,
instead, the
pilot pulled
his plane
up, passed
over the
destroyer,
and
continued on
as if to
splash
between the
two ships.
Instead, he
attempted to
recover and,
at 0702,
plowed into
the DREXLER
“between the
main deck
and the
waterline,”
Wilson
reported,
“just a
little
forward of
the
starboard
quadruple
40-mm mount
at frame
114. This
plane
sprayed us
with
gasoline as
he hit,
which
started
fires, and
it broke
steam lines
in the after
fire room
and in both
engine
rooms. The
after
engineering
plant was
put out of
commission
entirely,”
and “all
electrical
power aft
was lost.”
The
exploding
plane also
damaged the
plot room,
the lower
handling
rooms, the
magazines,
and mount 3.
With one
exception,
none of the
men at these
stations
escaped. The
exception
was the
mount
captain who
was blown
out of the
hatch atop
mount 3 and
somehow
ended up in
the water
where he was
rescued.
Damage
control
parties
quickly
extinguished
the gasoline
fires.
Because of
the rapid
loss of
steam,
Wilson
ordered the
DREXLER to
be slowed
from 25
knots to
two-thirds
speed to
conserve
what steam
remained,
but she
couldn’t
even
maintain
that and
quickly came
to a halt.
Thirty
seconds
after the
first plane
hit, a
second
bomber dove
on the
LOWRY, which
was off the
DREXLER’s
starboard
beam. The
DREXLER’s
guns hit the
incoming
plane
repeatedly
causing it
to crash
astern of
the LOWRY.
At this
point, the
ship lost
all power in
her forward
section,
just as
another
bomber
appeared
some 10,000
yards off
the
DREXLER’s
starboard
bow,
circling to
come in from
dead ahead.
Two F4U
Corsairs of
the combat
air patrol
followed
close
behind,
ignoring the
deadly hail
of the
DREXLER’s
antiaircraft
fire, which
hit one of
the American
fighters. He
didn’t crash
but had to
give up the
chase and
was seen
trailing
smoke as he
peeled away.
The Japanese
pilot seemed
to be aiming
for the
bridge, but
was thrown
off course
by the heavy
fire from
the
remaining
Corsair and
the
destroyer’s
40- and
20-mm guns
that riddled
his plane.
As a result,
he ran down
the port
bow, passing
directly
over the
ship just
aft of the
No. 2 stack,
and it
looked
certain his
smoking
plane would
crash. But
it didn’t.
The pilot
was able to
level off
and circle
around,
diving on
the ship
again from
ahead and
again with
the Corsair
close
behind.
Again, the
kamikaze
missed the
DREXLER’s
bridge, but
at 0704 he
clipped the
signal
halyards and
mast and
crashed into
the
superstructure
deck at the
amidships
passageway.
The bomber’s
load, an
estimated
2,000
pounds,
caused a
tremendous
explosion
that rocked
the ship and
knocked
people off
their feet.
The blast
“threw parts
of the ship
hundreds of
feet in all
directions,”
Wilson
recalled,
“and started
a large oil
fire that
shot several
hundred feet
up into the
air.” The
DREXLER,
which was
already
listing from
the previous
hit, rolled
rapidly onto
her
starboard
side in a
sea of
burning oil
and sank
stern first.
She was gone
in just 49
seconds
after the
plane
struck.
Because of
the damage
from
explosion
and fires
and the
speed with
which she
sank, many
men were
trapped
below and
casualties
were heavy;
150 enlisted
men and
eight
officers
were killed
or missing
and
fifty-four
were
wounded. The
DREXLER’s
skipper was
among the
wounded. The
LCS 114 was
closest when
the
destroyer
went down
and picked
up 120
survivors,
making her
way through
fiery,
debris-strewn
waters to
rescue the
men of the
DREXLER.
Among them
was Lt. Cdr.
R.G. Bidwell,
the
DREXLER’s
executive
officer,
who
remembered
that the men
she picked
up “were
given old
clothes and
shoes and a
bit of
alcoholic
beverages to
warm them
up.” The
rest of the
199
survivors
were rescued
by LCS 55
and LCS 56.
The landing
craft
transferred
the
survivors to
the PAVLIC
(APD-70),
which
carried them
to the
anchorage at
Hagushi to
be put
aboard the
CRESCENT
CITY
(APA-21) an
attack
transport
that had
been
converted to
a temporary
hospital
evacuation
ship for the
Okinawa
operation.
In most
cases the
wounded
were, then,
transferred
to the
hospital
ship HOPE
(AH-7) or
other
vessels for
evacuation.
Those who
were not
wounded were
put aboard
the
LAUDERDALE
(APA-179),
the
receiving
ship for
uninjured
survivors of
ships that
were sunk
for
processing. |
