| USS CHEVALIER was the third FLETCHER-class destroyer to be built at the Bath iron works facility in Bath Maine. She was laid in April 1941 and launched almost a year later. The new destroyer was commissioned on 09 July 20, 1942.DD-451 was the first warship to be named for Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, the seventh naval aviator to be appointed. During his career, LCDR Chevalier would be the first Pilot to catapult from a battleship and the first pilot to land on the deck of USS LANGLEY (CV-1), the Navy’s first carrier. LCDR Chevalier would die of injuries sustained in an airplane crash in 1922.
By the time DD-451was commissioned, the East Coast of the United States was under siege by Nazi submarines, so the new destroyer was assigned to convoy duty protecting tankers and cargo vessels. She also screened one of the first reinforcement convoys to cross the Atlantic in support of the North African “TORCH” landings. Prior to the end of December, however, CHEVALIER was ordered to the Pacific.
The waters around Guadalcanal seemed a magnet for the early FLETCHERS and CHEVALIER was no exception. Action has shifted to northward and Kula Gulf, which separates new Georgia and Kolombangara. Bordered by dense jungle and imposing rock cliffs on three sides, the Gulf is almost twenty miles wide at the mouth, narrowing to about seven miles at the base. The nearly twenty-five-mile-long Gulf provided a perfect amphitheater for small naval action. DD-451 knew Kula Gulf well.
USS CHEVALIER escorted mine layers into the Gulf many times, helping to provide a “fence” of explosives to contain Japanese naval forces steaming down the narrow water passage to Guadalcanal and using the Gulf as a refuge. The destroyer quickly be came a familiar sight in the area, providing convoy escort, adding her prodigious fire-power to anti-aircraft umbrellas protecting troop transports, and covering landing beaches.
On another foray into Kula Gulf, DD-451, supported by USS STRONG (DD-467) and USS O’BANNON (DD-450), was attacked by three Japanese destroyers. STRONG received a torpedo, opening her hull amidships on both the port and starboard sides. Ignoring fire from the shore, CHEVALIER intentionally rammed her bow into the mortally wounded STRONG, allowing two-hundred-forty-seven of the STRONG’s survivors to crawl across to safety while O’BANNON provided covering fire, Moments after the loaded destroyer pulled free, STRONG went down. CHEVALIER and O’BANNON succeeded in returning to Espiritu Santo, DD-451 with a twenty square foot hole torn in her bow. CHEVALIER returned to action in July.
DD-451 would continue devastating attacks on the Japanese barge reinforcement effort. Frequently, the patrols also included clashes with escorting Japanese destroyers. Sometimes, those destroyers were too numerous.
Japanese troops on Vella Lavelia were cut off by October 1943, and the decision was made in Tokyo to attempt to evacuate the garrison, so nine destroyers and destroyer transports were sent to effect the removal. Three American destroyers stood in their way.
DD-451, along with O’BANNON and SELFRIDGE (DD-357), uncovered the attempt and attacked immediately, although the Americans were greatly outnumbered. The American destroyers began the action by firing half of their torpedoes, then blasting away with every weapon that would bear on the Japanese force. The enemy did likewise.
A Japanese 24-inch “Long Lance” torpedo smashed into CHEVALIER, tearing off her bow just forward of the bridge. She immediately went out of control. O’BANNON, following the stricken destroyer closely, was unable to maneuver out of the way in time and sliced into CHEVALIER’s after engine room. In an effort to lighten the ship, a final spread of torpedoes was fired at the Japanese. The crew of CHEVALIER were encouraged by seeing a bright flash coming from the direction of the Japanese destroyer YUGUMO. She blew up shortly afterward.
CHEVALIER’s damage was too extensive for even her experienced crew to control. The vessel was abandoned after several hours of fruitless salvage efforts. O’BANNON removed the ship’s crew, then stood off while USS LA VALLETTE (DD-448) sank the valiant destroyer with a torpedo and gunfire. Her bow, floating a mile to the west, was sunk with depth charges. CHEVALIER suffered ninety casualties in her last action.
For her service in World War II, USS CHEVALIER earned three battle stars. |
