USS HILARY P. JONES DD-427

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS HILARY P. JONES DD-427

The Tin Can Sailor, July 1997

USS HILARY P. JONES was the first BENSON class destroyer to be constructed at Charleston Navy Yard in South Carolina. The destroyer, built to Bethlehem Shipbuilding design, was launched on December 14, 1939 and commissioned on September 6, 1940.

DD-427 was named for ADM Hilary P. Jones. The culmination of ADM Jones’ career was assignment as Commander In Chief, U.S. Fleet, in 1922 after almost forty years of continuous service. His service as a member of the General Board marked the beginning of the Navy as a post-World War I force. He also served as a naval advisor to the American delegation at both the Geneva Disarmament Conference and the London Naval Conference.

Like her sisters, USS HILARY P. JONES was pressed into service as a convoy escort on the neutrality patrol both in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean. On one mission to Iceland, she was responsible for rescuing eleven survivors from USS REUBEN JAMES (DD-245) after her loss to a German submarine more than a month before war became “official.” DD-427’s career as a convoy escort would continue, with brief interruptions, for the next two years, taking the vessel across the North and Central Atlantic dozens of times in all types of weather and against all forms of opposition. The valiant destroyer faced wolf packs while protecting tankers off the Azores and troop transports in the North Atlantic.

As significant numbers of destroyer escorts became available for escort service, larger destroyers were freed from convoy work for other assignments and in January 1944, the veteran escort was transferred to operations in the Mediterranean. DD-427’s first major assignment was to screen USS PHILADELPHIA (CL- 41) in a fire support role off the embattled Anzio beachhead in Italy. The destroyer alternated between convoy duty between the naval anchorage at Naples and the Anzio area south of Rome. It was not unusual for USS HILARY P. JONES to trade shots with German shore batteries along the way.

Enemy submarines and aircraft had exacted a toll on Allied shipping that was particularly galling during the early spring of 1944 and escort resources in the Mediterranean were collected to end the threat. CAPT A. F. Converse was given command of a squadron of eight veteran destroyers to hunt the undersea marauders. USS HILARY P. JONES helped drive the prey into a waiting net, then aided in containing the raider while USS HAMBLETON (DD-455), USS ELLYSON (DD- 454), and USS RODMAN (DD-456) finished off the Nazi.

Preparations were being made for the invasion of Southern France, and USS HILARY P. JONES sped north and lent her expertise in shore bombardment to the effort. With new equipment, DD-427 was able to provide electronic jamming against German robot bombs, certainly a useful adaptation in the maelstrom off northern Italy and southern France. In her role as a fire support vessel for the First Airborne Division along the French-Italian border, the destroyer was credited with the destruction of bridges, gun emplacements, railroad emplacements, and coastal vessels. One German E-boat, the Nazi equivalent of a PT, made the mistake of attempting an attack on the destroyer. The enemy craft was destroyed by gunfire. Even human torpedoes, launched from the coast, failed to deter DD-427.

Mediterranean forces began to be transferred to Pacific operations in the fall of 1944, and USS HILARY P. JONES sailed for New York, arriving in January, 1945. Soon she would face a new enemy, and a refit, along with additional training, vital to success. She would finally leave the East Coast for her new assignment in April.

Initially, DD-427 would operate from Pearl Harbor in both a patrol and convoy escort role, before being transferred to operations in the Caroline chain. The surrender of Japan found her at the Ulithi anchorage. USS HILARY P. JONES would escort 8th Army occupation troops to Japan and be present at the formal surrender of Japanese forces in Tokyo Bay On September 2, 1945.

DD-427 would return to the United States and be decommissioned at Charleston, South Carolina on February 6, 1947. She would remain with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until loaned to the Nationalist Chinese Government in February, 1954. She would serve as HAN YANG (D-15) with the Taiwanese Navy for more than twenty years. The former HILARY P. JONES would be scrapped by Taiwan in 1975.

USS HILARY P. JONES DD-427 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, July 2015

Hilary P. Jones (DD-427) was launched by the Charleston Navy Yard 14 December 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Hilary P. Jones, widow of Admiral Jones; and commissioned 6 September 1940 at Charleston, Lt. Comdr. S. R. Clark in command.

Following shakedown in the Charleston area and exercises off Newport, Hilary P. Jones departed 11 December for duty with the Neutrality Patrol in the Caribbean. She performed escort duties in those waters until 11 March 1941, when she returned to Hampton Roads. Training exercises off New England followed until 28 April, when the destroyer departed New York as a convoy escort. She steamed to Newfoundland, and for the next dangerous months before Pearl Harbor escorted cargo ships and transports in the North Atlantic. During one of these voyages to Iceland, 31 October 1941, Reuben James, the first naval vessel to be lost in the war, was torpedoed and sunk. Hilary P. Jones rescued 11 survivors of the attack before arriving Reykjavik 3 November.

The destroyer continued the hazardous North Atlantic convoy duty after America’s entry into the war, battling both German submarines and the elements to bring sorely needed troops and supplies to the Allies. Hilary P. Jones transferred to Mediterranean duty in January 1944 as production of escort vessels and frigates allowed the larger destroyers to be used for other assignments. The destroyer departed with her squadron 16 January 1944 to screen cruiser Philadelphia off Anzio. She alternated at the bitterly contested Anzio beachhead with convoy duty between there and Naples until 20 March, often exchanging fire with German shore batteries off Anzio. After a brief respite the ship returned to her gunfire support duties at Anzio during April and early May, occasionally engaging in escort and antisubmarine patrol operations. With three escort vessels the destroyer detected and attacked U-S16 off Algeria May 1944, sending it to the bottom after a lengthy battle 17 May.

During June and July Hilary P. Jones acted as escort ship for vital Mediterranean convoys and took part in training for the invasion of southern France. She departed Naples 13 August in convoy with French and British ships for the invasion, arriving 3 days later. The destroyer not only provided gunfire support missions during the assault, but also acted as electronic jamming vessel in the successful attempt to prevent radio-controlled bombs from harassing the area. In the weeks that followed she continued to range up and down the coast in support of the First Airborne Task Force destroying bridges, gun emplacements, railroad facilities and coastal vessels. She was attacked by a German “E-boat” 21 August, but destroyed the craft with gunfire. Neither these deadly boats nor submarine, nor human torpedoes stopped Hilary P. Jones from performing her vital missions, and for her outstanding record during this period the ship received the Navy Unit Commendation.

Detached from her coastal support duties 1 October 1944, the destroyer continued convoy duties in the Mediterranean until returning to New York 12 January 1945. Following overhaul and training off Casco Bay, Maine, she sailed with her last transatlantic convoy 26 February 9 April 1945. Hilary P. Jones was then designated for Pacific Fleet, and departed New York 24 April for the Canal Zone and Pearl Harbor.

Operating at Pearl Harbor from 18 May 1945, until 2 June, she then sailed for the advance base at Ulithi. Upon her arrival 13 June Hilary P. Jones joined the surface patrol forces in the Carolines, making occasional escort voyages to Okinawa, as Navy amphibious units moved ever closer to victory. At Ulithi when Japan surrendered, she steamed 18 August to Okinawa, Subic Bay, and then Tokyo. As an escort unit for 8th Army occupation troops, she entered Tokyo Bay 2 September as the surrender document was being executed on board Missouri. Subsequently, she made two more voyages with occupation groups to Japan before ending her long war service and departed for the United States 5 November.

Hilary P. Jones sailed to Charleston via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal and decommissioned there 6 February 1947. She was placed in the Charleston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet until being loaned to the Republic of China under the Military Assistance Program 26 February 1954. She serves the Nationalist Chinese Navy as HanYan (DD-15).

Hilary P. Jones received four battle stars for World War II service, in addition to her Navy Unit Commendation.