USS MCDOUGAL DD-358

DAVID STOCKTON MCDOUGAL

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, August 2015

David McDougal — born in Ohio on 27 September 1809 — was appointed midshipman on 1 April 1828 and accepted his appointment on 29 May of the same year.  He received orders to report to Commodore Isaac Chauncey at the Naval School in New York in August 1830 and again to report to the Commodore for service on board the sloop of war Boston in the Mediterranean squadron in April 1831. On 4 September of the same year, McDougal reported to the frigate Brandywine where he served on the ship as it transported U.S. envoys to Naples in an attempt to recoup indemnities owed to the United States by the kingdom for seizure of U.S. ships during the Napoleonic wars. After returning to the U.S. and taking leave he returned to naval school in Brooklyn on 4 October 1833.  He sat for an examination of midshipmen at Baltimore in May 1834 and returned to New York by order of the President of the Board of Examiners.  In June 1834 he was warranted passed midshipman.

After a long stint of leave, McDougal reported on board Natchez of the West Indian squadron on 1 July 1836, and operated in the Caribbean.  While on board Natchez he dove into shark infested Pensacola harbor order to save a man who had fallen overboard. His next station was the schooner Grampus on 30 November 1838, an assignment that kept McDougal in the Caribbean. In March 1839 he was ordered to duty on board the navy receiving ship North Carolina at New York.  Following this station he reported to the brig Consort in December 1839 preparing to engage in a survey of southern harbors. He continued with these duties until October 1840 when he detached from the brig in order to construct charts from the surveys.  After completing this assignment in February 1841, McDougal earned appointment to lieutenant on 25 February.

On 19 May 1841, the new lieutenant was ordered to report to Commodore James Renshaw for duty on board the steamer Fulton.  He had a short stay on the steamer ended by orders to report to Commodore Matthew C. Perry and serve on board Falmouth on 6 December 1841.  The lieutenant stayed in the sloop of war Falmouth as she sailed with the Home Squadron until returning to New York due to ill health in March 1843.  After a short return to Falmouth, McDougal travelled north to the Great Lakes to serve in the steamer Michigan.

McDougal was still attached to Michigan when Congress declared war on Mexico on 13 May 1846.  In January 1847, the officer was detached from the lake steamer to serve on board the side-wheel frigate Mississippi of the Home Squadron. In March, Mississippi participated in the blockade and later siege of Vera Cruz when sailors manned naval guns dispatched to the Army’s siege works surrounding the city.  In late April, she also participated in the expedition against Tuxpan, destroying the fortresses near the town and recovering the earlier captured guns of the stranded and burned American brig Truxtun.  McDougal’s war ended in June 1847 with an ankle injury that sent him home.

In February 1848, Lt. McDougal reported to the sloop-of-war St. Mary but transferred to the brig Bainbridge one month later.  Bainbridge engaged in anti-slave trade patrols off the coast of Africa.  He was detached from that ship, and after a year of leave and awaiting orders, he returned to Michigan on the lakes.  From the Great Lakes, the Department of the Navy authorized him to make the long voyage to San Francisco on 6 February 1854 to take command of the station ship Warren.  McDougal ultimately reached Mare Island Navy Yard on 10 August where the ship tied up.

From February to August 1856, McDougal commanded the steam tug John Hancock.  The vessel steamed in support of the war fought by Washington Territorial Militia and U.S. Army troops against Native American tribes in the vicinity of Puget Sound. On 24 January 1857, Lt. McDougal was promoted to commander after nearly 30 years of service.

Following the outbreak of the Civil War, Cmdr. McDougal was detached from Mare Island and ordered to New York.  On 27 May 1861, the Navy named him commanding officer of the steam frigate Wyoming, a post that he assumed on 9 August.  On 16 June 1862, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles ordered the veteran officer to the Far East with Wyoming, to guard against Rebel attempts to attack trade in the Far East and the East Indies and transport the new Minister of Japan to his station.

Word of the Union ship’s subsequent appearance in Far Eastern waters spread fast and far. In the Strait of Sunda, off Java, Capt. Raphael Semmes, the commanding officer of Confederate cruiser Alabama, learned from an English brig of Wyoming’s arrival in the East Indies; and a Dutch trader later confirmed this report. On 26 October, Semmes wrote confidently in his journal that “Wyoming is a good match for this ship,” and “I have resolved to give her battle. She is reported to be cruising under sail—probably with banked fires—and anchors, no doubt, under Krakatoa every night, and I hope to surprise her, the moon being near its full.”

Although Wyoming and Alabama unknowingly came close to each other, they never met, and it would be up to another Union warship, the sloop Kearsarge, to destroy the elusive Confederate raider. Yet, despite being unsuccessful in tracking down Confederate cruisers, Wyoming did render important service to uphold the honor of the American flag in the Far East in 1863.

While the U.S. was embroiled in a Civil War, the Feudal dominions of Japan were undergoing their own internal struggle.  The Tokugawa Shogunate that had ruled Japan for over 250 years was challenged by rebellious clans that wanted to invest power in the previously apolitical Japanese Emperor, and expel all foreigners from Japanese territory.  In May 1863, Wyoming lay at the port of Yokohama, the locus for foreign trade with Japan, to protect American lives and property against anti-western agitation.

Outside of Yokohama, however, the situation was worsening for foreigners in Japan.  The Daimyo, or feudal lord, of the Mori clan who ruled the Choshu domain was among the most ardent supporters of the Emperor and expulsion.  The Choshu domain also held a commanding position on the northern bank of the Shimonosheki Straits, an important waterway for navigation from the west to China, Korea and east to the Japanese inland sea and the wider Pacific.  When the Emperor issued a decree expelling all foreigners from Japan, the Daimyo resolved to deny the straits to foreign ships.

At 0100 26 June 1863, one day after the decree to expel foreigners took effect, Choshu vessels illegally flying the colors of the Shogunate fired on the U.S. merchant steamer Pembroke in the straits.  No one was injured on the vessel and she escaped, continuing to Shanghai.  Choshu forces using shore batteries and American-gifted vessels later fired on French and Dutch warships, driving the western vessels from the straits.  The news of the attack on Pembroke reached Yokohama from Shanghai on 10 July.  Cmdr. McDougal conferred with the U.S. minister resident to Japan, and they agreed that the offense to the American colors should be avenged and further aggression deterred by a show of force.  Wyoming stood out for the straits on 13 July arriving at the eastern end on the morning of 16 July.

At 10:45 a.m., Wyoming entered the straits, greeted by an alarm raised from a signal gun. Choshu batteries began firing when she came within range as Wyoming ran up her colors.  The Daimyo’s strength soon presented itself, six batteries of artillery on shore and three vessels, a steamer, a brig and a bark preparing to get underway close to shore.  The intrepid sloop steamed directly for the enemy vessels under fire from both sea and shore.  She returned fire at the batteries along the way and inflicted damage on several.

McDougal took a treacherous route through the straits, ordering his ship close to shore in order to foil the Choshu batteries trained on the typical mid-channel route.  The wisdom of this decision was readily apparent by the torn up rigging above the her deck. After aggressively maneuvering between the brig and bark on the starboard side and the steamer on the port, the risky course seemed to backfire when after trading broadsides with the brig, Wyoming ran aground.

With the American caught in the shallows, the Japanese steamer began to get underway to join the battle.   The U.S. vessel freed herself from her predicament in time to put two 11-inch shells and a 32-pound shot into the steamer, exploding her boiler, disabling her and leaving her in sinking condition.  The gun crews also placed several shots into the bark causing serious damage as the crippled brig slowly settled into the water.  With the steamer and brig in sinking condition and the bark effectively rendered harmless, Wyoming steamed back past the weakened batteries and out of the channel.

The battle lasted seventy minutes, four sailors on board Wyoming died and seven were wounded, at least one who later died of his wounds. The ship was hulled 11 times and there was extensive damage to the rigging and smokestack.  The steam sloop’s guns, however, had delivered a serious blow to the Daimyo as the first foreign ship to take the offensive to uphold treaty rights in Japan. Commander McDougal wrote in his report to Gideon Welles on 23 July, “the punishment inflicted and in store for [the Daimyo] will, I trust, teach him a lesson that will not soon be forgotten.”  While the Daimyo had cause to remember McDougal’s actions, many in the U.S. took little notice with the Civil War at its height.

Wyoming continued to search for Alabama and other Confederate raiders throughout the Pacific without any success. During this epic search he was commissioned captain from 2 March 1864. By February 1864 the worn state of Wyoming’s boilers compelled the ship to return to the East Coast for repairs, arriving in Philadelphia 13 July 1864.  The commandant at Philadelphia ordered the weary crew back to sea immediately to search for the CSS Florida, reported off the East Coast.  After five days, however, the ship’s leaky boilers forced the sloop back to Philadelphia on 19 July.  Capt. McDougal was detached from Wyoming the following day.

On 26 July 1864, McDougal obtained permission from the Navy to return to California.  After a period of leave he again took command of the Navy Yard at Mare Island.  He was relieved of this duty in the summer of 1865 and took command of the steamer Pensacola of the North Pacific squadron in April 1867.  McDougal detached from Pensacola on 17 July 1867.  He was in command of the Sloop Jamestown at Sitka, Alaska, on 18 October 1867, when the Russian flag was hauled down at the Government House and replaced by the Stars and Stripes in a ceremony attended by troops and dignitaries of both nations.  The action signified the transfer of the former Russian colony to the U.S. as the Department of Alaska.

On 14 January 1868. McDougal assumed command of the side wheel steam frigate Powhatan, Rear Adm. John Dahlgren’s flagship of the South Pacific Squadron, and on 12 June 1869, he was promoted to commodore.  In December of the same year, he relieved Dahlgren and took command of the South Pacific Squadron.  On 27 September 1871, he was placed on the retired list.  Detached from command of the South Pacific Squadron and returned to his residence in Oakland, Calif.  On 5 July 1876, he was commissioned rear admiral on the retired list.

On 7 August 1882, McDougal died at his residence in South Park, San Francisco, and was buried in the Mare Island cemetery, later moved to the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.