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Ironically enough, USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE, a ship whose
function, among others, was to hunt submarines, was named after a
submariner.
George K. MacKenzie was born in Brooklyn, New York on
May 30, 1910, attending local schools until his admission to the Naval
Academy. Upon graduation with the class of 1931, MacKenzie was assigned
to the "silent service" after serving in USS RALEIGH (CL-7)
and representing the United States on the Navy’s Olympic track team.
Following training at the Submarine School in New
London, Connecticut, which included instruction in deep diving and
submarine rescue techniques, MacKenzie served aboard USS BONITA (SS-165)
and USS PLUNGER (SS-179). As commanding officer of USS FALCON, MacKenzie
was instrumental raising the ill-fated USS SQUALUS (SS-192), which sank
during a practice dive in the summer of 1939.
A highly qualified submarine commander, MacKenzie
achieved command status early in World War, II. He was given command of
USS TRITON
(SS-201), a TAMBOR class fleet submarine. On March 15,
1943, TRITON reported chasing two convoys between the Shortland Basin
and Rabaul. Another sub operating in the area, USS TRIGGER (SS-237),
reported hearing Japanese destroyers depth charging a sub in the
distance. TRITON was never heard from again. MacKenzie was awarded the
Navy Cross "for extraordinary heroism and courageous devotion to
duty as commanding officer of the USS TRITON . . ."
USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE (DD-836) was launched by Bath
Iron Works, Bath, Maine on May 13, 1945, and placed in commission two
months later. Lieutenant Commander MacKenzie’s daughter, Donna,
sponsored the ship.
DD-836 was a GEARING class destroyer, one of a
proposed class of 105 state-of-the-art super destroyers; improvements
over the fourteen foot shorter ALLEN SUMNER’s that they succeeded.
Although all were not completed, GEARING class "cans" were to
form the mainstay of U.S. destroyer forces well into the 1970’s.
As launched, USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE was 391’0"
long, with a beam of 40’10" and a draft of 23’. Her designed
displacement was 3,160 tons, but her standard displacement at
commissioning, 2,450 tons, was more representative of her
"true" weight; heavier than some World War I cruisers. Her
offensive fire-power included 6 - 5" 38 cal. "naval
rifles" in three twin mounts. Anti-aircraft protection was provided
by sixteen 40mm, three in "quad" mounts and two in twins,
along with ten twin 20mm weapons. She still carried 5 - 21" torpedo
tubes in a single mount, amidships, between her twin stacks. Six
"K" guns and two depth charge "racks" composed her
anti-submarine capability.
By the time the MAC had completed her shakedown cruise
off Cuba, World War II was over, so, like most of her sisters, she
settled into a series of training tours, interleaved with "showing
the flag." MAC participated in Navy Day celebrations in October
Force, where she conducted training cruises until 1948. In January of
that year, DD-836 left on a "goodwill tour" to South America,
spending most of her time at Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Returning to Norfolk, MAC resumed her career as an
educator and Cold War diplomat. Frequent, relatively short, cruises out
of Norfolk throughout the early spring were replaced by a Midshipman
cruise in June to Portugal, Italy, North Africa, and Cuba. By October,
she was back in the Mediterranean, this time supporting the United
Nations Palestine Patrol and screening allied forces engaged in
occupying Trieste. The MAC returned to the United States in time for
Christmas, this time to be celebrated in Newport, RI. DD-836’s crew
became familiar with Fall River, MA, as a "liberty port"
during this period; moored at a buoy within sight of Newport’s Naval
War College, most of the crew seemed to enjoy the change of scene that
the Spindle City afforded.
Following an overhaul in Boston, when hedgehog
projectors were added to the 01 level slightly forward of the bridge,
DD-836 continued her service as a training vessel on the East Coast,
with a second Med cruise in the winter of 1950.
North Korean forces surged across the border into the
south in the spring of 1950, plunging the United States in a
"police action" which became typical of the post-war world. By
July 1, 1950, the MAC had been transferred to Pearl Harbor to prepare
for service in Korean waters.
Destroyers have always been multi-purpose ships, and
the GEORGE K. MACKENZIE proved true to that tradition in Korea. In her
first tour, DD-836’s duties alternated between fire missions and
screening and plane guard duties for the fast attack carriers of her
task group. After a short repair period in San Diego, she returned to
action.
Once again, the MAC took up her duties as a
combination "big gun-good Samaritan." On the "bomb
line", off Wonsan, the MAC fired 3,533 five inch projectiles in
slightly less than a month; as Cliff Boyd, ex-chief of CIC points out,
"an average of roughly one every ten minutes" as a part in the
longest naval bombardment in American military history. Yet, the same
crew of the MAC also contributed six hundred pounds of clothing to North
Korean orphans. Nineteen United Nations pilots also owed their lives to
the skill of the "mighty MAC’S" crew.
The USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE was responsible for
successfully directing helicopters in the rescue of ten pilots, while
vectoring seven other airmen to emergency fields. One pilot was picked
up by USS GREGORY (DD-802) after being directed by the MAC, and
Lieutenant Joseph Pendergast of the carrier USS ESSEX (CV-9) was fished
out by DD-836 herself. The end of the Korean War did not mark the close
of operations for DD-836. The MAC completed nine tours of duty in the
Far East between 1953 and 1959. Cruises included training voyages and a
stint with the Taiwan patrol.
By 1960, the MAC, then home-ported in Yokusuka, Japan,
took up a role in Southeast Asian "power politics", serving as
a screen for a carrier task force "showing the flag" in the
waters near Laos. That time, pressure worked, and in 1963, DD-836 was
rotated home for a Type 1 FRAM rebuilding as a part of the largest
reconstruction program ever undertaken by the Navy.
The vast fleet of FLETCHER, ALLEN SUMNER, and GEARING
class destroyers built during World War II were in dire need of repair
and modernization. Fiscal restraints made the construction of an entire
new fleet impractical, however, so selected hulls were extensively
modified.
The MAC’s "upper works" were stripped at
the Brooklyn Navy Yard and rebuilt along different lines using lighter
weight materials. One five inch turret and all secondary anti-aircraft
armament disappeared; the "traditional" torpedo tubes
amidships were replaced by ASROC, an anti-submarine rocket-launched
torpedo; and two triple "high tech" torpedo tubes were added
to the 01 level, forward of the remodeled bridge. Gone were the
"K" guns, hedgehog batteries, and "roller racks" of
"ash cans" which destroyers had carried since the First World
War. A large hanger and raised platform dominated the waist of the ship,
providing facilities for the MAC’s DASH helicopter.
DASH was to be the answer to the threat presented by
the newer, faster, and quieter Soviet submarines. The small,
remotely-controlled helicopter could carry two torpedoes or a nuclear
depth charge well beyond the range of MAC’s more
"conventional" weapons, extending a screen of safety for many
miles around the vulnerable carriers of a 1960’s task group.
Unfortunately, DASH proved to be unreliable. Within three years of
extensive fleet deployment, more than half of the DASH’s were out of
operation. The MAC’s hanger and landing deck were neither sizable
enough nor strongly built enough, to service manned helos, so DD-836
suddenly had a fine movie theater. By the time the GEORGE K. MACKENZIE
and her crew became adept at handling the new technology, the
"Mighty MAC" was scheduled for another war.
For the next several years, DD-836 alternated between
Japanese waters and a new "bomb line," screening carriers and
adding her firepower to another fight, this time in Vietnam. Once again,
GEORGE K. MACKENZIE’s five-inch weapons supported Army and Marine
actions along the Southeast Asian coast. She was also instrumental in
rescuing downed fliers and helping to fight an extensive flight deck
fire on USS FORRESTAL (CVA-59). Escorting the FORRESTAL back to Subic
Bay for repairs was one of her last duties in the Far East.
Like most of her kind, DD-836 was relegated to the
Naval Reserve Training fleet after the Vietnam War. Many GEARINGS served
on with foreign navies, going to Turkey, Pakistan, Portugal, and other
American "friends." FRAMing had been a success; their useful
service had been extended to nearly forty years, truly a remarkable
longevity. For the GEORGE K. MACKENZIE, however service was not to be.
After extensive inspection, Bureau of Ships decided the MAC was
"worn out " On October 1, 1976, the "mighty MAC" was
stricken from the active service list and ended her life as a target for
the missiles, bombs, and guns of the US fleet.
USS GEORGE K. MACKENZIE gallantly served her country
CONTINUOUSLY for more than thirty-one years, a tribute to the ship and
to her dedicated crew.
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