A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History
USS DAVIS DD-395
The Tin Can Sailor, July 2000
Named for Civil War veteran, Admiral Charles H. Davis, the DD-395 was the third to bear the admiral’s name. On 30 July 1938, more than 8,000 spectators gathered to see the launch of the DAVIS, the second 1,850-ton first line destroyer built by the Bath Iron Works. She was commissioned on 9 November 1938.
The DAVIS was one of the first ships to join the Neutrality Patrol in the cold, storm-swept North Atlantic after war broke out in Europe on 1 September 1939. On 13 November, stormy weather followed her when the DAVIS sailed from Boston for Galveston, Texas, with the JOUETT (DD-396), BENHAM (DD-397), ELLET (DD-398), and LANG (DD-399). Patrols and training exercises in the Gulf of Mexico were followed by duty in West Coast and Hawaiian waters from 11 March 1940 to 26 April 1941. She returned to the Caribbean for patrol and escort duty, operating mainly with the MEMPHIS (CL-13), OMAHA (CL-4), JOUETT, and WARRINGTON (DD-383).
Following the Pearl Harbor attack, the DAVIS sailed on patrol and convoy duty off Recife, Brazil, sailing at various times with the OMAHA, SOMERS (DD-381), JUNEAU (CL-52), EBERLE (DD-430), MARBLHEAD (CL-12), MILWAUKEE (CL-5), MEMPHIS, and CINCINNATI (CL-6). On 26 May 1942, the DAVIS was in San Juan, Puerto Rico, when she was ordered to sea to assist the BLAKELEY (DD-150), which had been torpedoed by an enemy submarine. She got underway so fast that nine of her crew were left behind. The next day, she escorted the damaged ship to safety.
On the afternoon of 19 July 1942, her crew sighted the sails of two life rafts and took aboard ten survivors of the British sailing ship GLACIER, sunk by gunfire from an unidentified submarine. Direct contact with a submarine came on 16 September off Trinidad. That morning, in company with the EBERLE, she sighted the sub, which immediately dove. Later, as the DAVIS’s 20-mm gunners fired on a small piece of wreckage, shells from the number two gun hit the spray shield, causing minor injuries to the commanding officer, communications officer, and four crew members. Finally, at 1305, the destroyer made contact with a submarine and five minutes later attacked with depth charges. An hour later, she and the EBERLE dropped more depth charges. Planes joined in the depth-charge attack, and at 1431, the DAVIS dropped a third array. Although both ships and planes reported a large air bubble breaking the surface, they saw no other evidence of damage. The DAVIS and EBERLE went on their way to rendezvous with the MERVINE (DD-489), BEATTY (DD-640), and QUICK (DD-490), but at 1809, spotted a submarine silhouetted by moonlight dead ahead. The two destroyers fired two 5-inch rounds, causing the submarine to dive between them. Abandoning the rendezvous, the DAVIS and EBERLE conducted a futile search for the mysterious sub and then went on to Trinidad, arriving on 17 September.
Continuing patrols for submarines and blockade runners took the DAVIS into 1943, and after a summer overhaul at the Charleston Navy Yard, she returned to Recife, Brazil, in August. Following an Atlantic crossing to Freetown, West Africa, in December, the destroyer was headed back to Recife on 7 January 1944, when she intercepted a life boat with thirty-one survivors from the German blockade runner BURGENLAND sunk earlier by the OMAHA and JOUETT. After taking the men aboard, she sank the boat with gunfire and delivered the prisoners to authorities at Recife on the 9th.
The DAVIS left the Caribbean for New York in April 1944 and sailed for England on 14 May as a convoy escort with the SOMERS and JOUETT. They arrived at Plymouth 25 May. On 5 June, she was underway from Milford Haven, Wales, to join a convoy en route to Baie de la Seine for the invasion of Normandy. The DAVIS arrived 7 June with the Reserve Fire Support Group, and five days later, while on patrol, at 0116, fired on an enemy torpedo boat. During her patrols, her gunners also fired on two enemy planes. Following a brief return to England, she was headed back to the French coast on 21 June with British war correspondents aboard, when she struck what was probably an acoustic mine. Although no one aboard was hurt, the ship was heavily damaged by the explosion close off her port quarter. After emergency repairs, the DAVIS left two days later for England. Powered by a single engine, she began a slow journey to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving 11 August for permanent repairs.
On 26 December 1944, the DAVIS returned to escort duty with a thirty-ship convoy bound for the United Kingdom. Tragedy struck on 16 February 1945 when heavy seas swept three of her crew overboard. Though their shipmates scoured the seas for seven hours, their search failed to recover the lost sailors. Through 21 June 1945, DD-395 made four voyages between New York and English and French ports. By mid July, she was in the Norfolk Naval Yard to begin an upgrade of her armament before her transfer to the Pacific theater. Work ceased with news of Japan’s surrender. She remained at Norfolk until she was decommissioned on 19 October 1945. The DAVIS was sold for scrap on 24 November 1947.
