|
Commander Charles E.
Tolman was commanding officer of the De HAVEN (DD-469) during operations
in the Solomons in February 1943. Under attack by eight dive bombers,
the ship's gunners splashed three before a bomb struck the destroyer's
navigating bridge. It brought the ship to a stop and killed Commander
Tolman. Two more hits sent Tolman's ship to the bottom within two
minutes.
Laid down as DD-740,
the TOLMAN was reclassified as destroyer minelayer DM-28 on 19 July
1944. She was launched on 13 August and commissioned 27 October 1944 as
a unit of Division 8, Mine Squadron 3. She headed for the Pacific on 13
January 1945, stopping at San Diego, before escorting the BIRMINGHAM
(CL-62) to Pearl Harbor. It was then on to Eniwetok and Ulithi. On 19
March, she left Ulithi to cover the minesweepers clearing the approaches
to the beaches of Okinawa.
Just after midnight on
28 March, the TOLMAN took on eight Japanese torpedo boats that closed
rapidly to a distance of 4,000 yards. Her gun crews opened up with
5-inch and 40-mm gunfire. As torpedoes sped in the TOLMAN's direction,
her captain called for an increase in speed to 34 knots. The Black Gang
delivered, and the ship successfully evaded the threat. The TOLMAN sank
two of the boats and the rest laid down a smoke screen for cover. Using
radar-control fire and star shells to track the remaining torpedo boats,
the TOLMAN's 5-inch gun crews opened up on them. Observers saw the last
boat slow, apparently in trouble, and then with five-inch shells
exploding all around, it sank without a trace. The DM had made a clean
sweep of the torpedo boats.
Continuing on to her
assigned duty, the TOLMAN joined minesweeping operations off Okinawa,
warning other vessels away from dangerous waters and toward the freshly
swept paths. At 1013 on the 28th, the TOLMAN was 500 yards from the
SKYLARK (AM-63) when she hit a mine. Two patrol craft sped in to pick up
the survivors, and the TOLMAN maneuvered in to pass a tow line to the
stricken ship. She was just thirty yards away when the SKYLARK hit a
second mine. The blast threw many more men into the sea, and the
minesweeper began to settle in the water. The TOLMAN backed down to
avoid the mine field and put her boats over to help the survivors. A
raging fire on board and a diesel oil surface fire added to the mine
hazard in making rescue a dangerous business. Working with the PC-1228
and PC-1179, the TOLMAN's crew rescued 105 of the SKYLARK's crew. The
DM's efficient rescue work helped keep SKYLARK's losses to only the
seven crewmen killed by the explosions and thirty-five wounded.
The next day, the
TOLMAN was in the thick of heavy air attacks. She made radar contact
with three Bettys. When they had closed to 8,000 yards, the gun crews on
the TOLMAN's 5-inch batteries began firing in radar control. One Betty
lost altitude, winged over, and crashed into the sea. Five-inch shells
chased the remaining two and one of them exploded in mid-air. The third
disappeared.
More trouble arrived at
0610 when three Vals were taken under fire by the BARTON (DD-722) and
the WILEY (DM-29) who brought down two of three raiders. The third began
its suicide dive, coming in on the TOLMAN's port bow from 11,000 yards.
The three destroyers opened up with 5-inch and 40-mm fire. Apparently in
trouble, the plane turned away at 3,000 yards, but a 40-mm shell caught
its gas tank causing the plane to plummet trailing a stream of flames.
With the skies clear for the moment, the WILEY was left to cover the
sweep units and the TOLMAN retired to Kerama Retto to transfer the
survivors of the SKYLARK to other ships. By nightfall, the TOLMAN and
the HALL (DD-583) were shelling the Yonton and Kadena airfields on
Okinawa.
On 2 April, the TOLMAN
joined the screen for Transport Division 7. At 1835, twenty-five minutes
after taking up her station with the convoy, three Bettys attacked. One
fell to the barrage of the screening ships, but another crashed into the
bridge of the GOODHUE (APA-127), and the third crashed close aboard
another transport. More enemy planes followed and they, too, were taken
under fire. At least two fired on by the TOLMAN's guns were splashed,
but in the melee, it was impossible to tell who could claim the hits.
The TOLMAN was headed
for the Hagushi beaches to provide fire support at 0343 on 19 April when
she shuddered to a halt, aground on Nagunna Reef. Efforts to back down
were fruitless. Attempts to lighten the ship by unloading ammo and
letting go the anchors also failed. First her third platform decks were
flooded, followed by the ice machine room and the bilge of the engine
and fire rooms. With rising seas, the surf was breaking over her fantail
causing fears that the ship would break up. Finally on the 25th, a pair
of tugs pulled her free of the reef and the salvage ship CLAMP (ARS-33)
towed her to Kerama Retto for repairs.
By 28 June, she was at
sea again, screening a convoy bound for Saipan, Pearl Harbor, and home.
Stateside on 20 July, she underwent extensive repairs, remaining in San
Pedro until 8 November 1945. On that day, she steamed out of San Pedro
headed west, arriving in the Far East in early December. From December
1945 to February 1946, she operated out of Sasebo and then moved on to
Pusan, Korea to continue the postwar clean-up of mines. She returned to
San Francisco on 27 May. The TOLMAN remained in San Francisco until 20
January 1947 when she steamed to San Diego to be placed out of
commission in reserve as part of the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve
Fleet on 29 January 1947. Redesignated MMD-28 in January 1969, she was
finally stricken from the navy's list on 1 December 1970.
In September 1984, Tim
Rizzuto, Curator of the KIDD (DD-661) discovered the TOLMAN at the
Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu, California, "the last port
for many fine Tin Cans." With little time to spare before the destroyer
minelayer was moved to the inactive ships facility at Mare Island,
Rizzuto arranged to salvage some of her original gear for the
restoration of the KIDD. Ultimately, he and his crew had just two days
to cut, pry, and manhandle the equipment off the ship. Their list
included four "K" guns; four roller loader dollies and release gear for
depth charge racks; thirty 5-inch/38 caliber powder cans; forty
Blue-Grey Kapok life jackets; a RAK-RAL radio receiver combination; a
5-inch mount open ring sight; ring sights from the MK 51 directors; MK
14 gun sights; the drive chain for the lathe; spare circuit breakers;
life raft racks; 36-inch carbon-arc searchlight; a MK12/12 fire control
radar antenna; and a one-foot section of the mine rails that made the
DMs unique.
Given the time and hands available, Rizzuto took as much as he could
and, in a sense, the TOLMAN lives on in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, not as
the memorial she could have been, but as a part of the restored KIDD.
She spent her remaining years at Mare Island, then on 25 January 1997
was loaded with a high-powered explosive test charge and towed sixty-one
miles off shore. At 1520, the charge was detonated and the ship's stern
plunged underwater. Eight minutes later, she slipped beneath the surface
to her final resting place 12,000 feet below. |
