A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History
USS LAFFEY DD-459
The Tin Can Sailor, October 2004
The USS LAFFEY (DD‑459) was built at Bethlehem Steele’s San Francisco yard and launched on 30 October 1941. Lt. Cdr. William E. Hank took command at her commissioning on 31 March 1942.After training along the West Coast, the LAFFEY headed for the South Pacific in August. Her destination was the Solomon Islands and the campaign to wrest Guadalcanal from Japanese control. The LAFFEY steamed toward the fray where she joined the task force led by the carriers WASP (CV‑7) and HORNET (CV-12) to escort a convoy of reinforcements and fuel to the U.S. Marines defending Henderson Field. On 15 September, a Japanese submarine torpedoed the WASP, which couldn’t be salvaged and was sunk by the LANSDOWNE (DD-486). In the meantime, the LAFFEY rescued survivors and returned them to Espiritu Santo. She, then, became part of Task Force 64.2, led by the cruisers SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38), SALT LAKE CITY (CL-25) BOISE (CL-47), and HELENA (CL-50). Their mission was to derail the “Tokyo Express” that was reinforcing the Guadalcanal garrison and to ensure that badly needed supplies and reinforcements reached the beleaguered marines.
On the night of 11 and 12 October 1942, the campaign for the Solomons reached its climax in the Battle of Cape Esperance. Task Force 64.2 lay in wait at the entrance to Savo Sound, where the destroyers formed a single column. The FARENHOLT (DD-491), DUNCAN (DD-485), and LAFFEY were in the van, the BUCHANAN (DD-484) and MCCALLA (DD-488) in the rear. At 2325, the HELENA’s radar picked up the approaching enemy, and the task force commander ordered the column to reverse direction and block the pass between Cape Esperance and Savo Island. They would thus cut across the head of the oncoming Japanese ships.
The leading American destroyers were slow in making the turn, and had to race back along the column to regain their lead position. As a result, they were strung out between the U.S. cruisers and the enemy when the firing began. The U.S. cruisers’ big guns battered the cruiser FURUTAKA and a destroyer and were joined by the main battery guns of the American tin cans. The LAFFEY managed to avoid being hit, but the FARENHOLT and DUNCAN were not as lucky. The FARENHOLT was blasted by friendly fire and had to withdraw to Espiritu Santo. The DUNCAN, however, was struck repeatedly by both American and Japanese shelling. She was fatally damaged and sank the next day. In the final accounting, the DUNCAN was the only American ship lost in the battle. The SALT LAKE suffered minor damage; the FARENHOLT and BOISE required major repair. As for the Japanese, they lost the cruiser FURUTAKA and destroyer FUBUKI. The force’s flagship, the cruiser AOBA, was badly damaged and its commander mortally wounded.
After Cape Esperance, the LAFFEY rendezvoused at Noumea with Task Group 67.4 to escort a convoy of transport and cargo ships to Lunga Point. The group included the heavy cruisers SAN FRANCISCO and PORTLAND (CL-33), the light cruiser HELENA, and the antiaircraft cruisers JUNEAU (CL-52) and ATLANTA (CL-51), flagship of task group commander Admiral Norman Scott. The other destroyers in the group were the AARON WARD (DD-483), BARTON (DD-599), MONSSEN (DD-436), FLETCHER (DD-445), CUSHING (DD-376), STERETT (DD-407), and O’BANNON (DD-450). On 11 November, they arrived at Lunga Point where they covered the ships unloading supplies and disembarking troops for Henderson Field.
That morning, enemy bombers attacked the transport and cargo ships, but did little damage to the auxiliaries before they were driven off with the loss of several of their number. The task group resumed unloading at Lunga Point. The following day, they got underway with Task Group 67.4 bound for Savo Sound to intercept an enemy striking force advancing on Guadalcanal and the critical air base at Henderson Field. The enemy strike force included the battleships HIEI and KIRISHIMA, a cruiser, and fourteen destroyers.
The American task force steamed west through the night and into Savo Sound to confront the Japanese ships approaching from the opposite direction in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Once again, the LAFFEY was in the van. With her were the STERETT and O’BANNON. Early on Friday morning, the 13th of November, the two formations merged and in the dark and confusion could seldom distinguish friend from foe. Early on, the Japanese launched an all-out attack on the ATLANTA, destroying her bridge, killing Admiral Scott and all but one of his staff, and leaving her dead in the water.
Elsewhere in the melee, torpedoes sank the BARTON, which took most of her crew with her to the bottom. Meanwhile, the battleship HIEI, flagship of Admiral Abe, enemy strike force commander, bore down on the CUSHING, LAFFEY, O’BANNON, and STERETT. The CUSHING had already suffered heavy shelling and was making little headway when the HIEI descended upon her. Her skipper managed to launch six torpedoes, and three appeared to strike the big ship’s hull, but no explosions followed. Soon after the HIEI passed unscathed, an enemy searchlight lit up the CUSHING, and their shelling turned her deck into a heap of twisted wreckage. Those who could, abandoned the burning ship, which became a funeral pyre for some sixty men as she drifted away. That afternoon, exploding magazines sank her.
Following the CUSHING, the LAFFEY barely escaped being run down by the HIEI. Lt. Cdr. Hank turned the destroyer out of the battleship’s path and unleashed a pair of torpedoes. They hit, but were so close they had no time to arm. As the HIEI crossed her stern, the LAFFEY’s gunners opened fire, shattering the battleship’s bridge. The satisfying results were short-lived as she was raked by fire from several enemy destroyers, followed by a salvo from the HIEI’s 14‑inch guns that swamped her. Simultaneously, a torpedo tore into her stern, causing extensive flooding aft. With her power plant destroyed and fires burning uncontrolled amidships, her captain ordered the crew to abandon ship, but they found no safety in the water. The destroyer’s depth charges exploded, ripping her apart and raining burning debris that killed many of the men in the sea around her. Many more were pulled down with the LAFFEY when she sank. Most of her crew were lost, including Lt. Cdr. Hank, her first and only skipper.
The LAFFEY was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for her gallant performance in the South Pacific and three battle stars for World War II service.
