USS HIGBEE DD-806

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS HIGBEE DD-806

The Tin Can Sailor, July 1995

USS HIGBEE (DD-806), a Gearing-class destroyer built by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine was commissioned 27 January 1945, and entered the shipyards in Boston for conversion to a radar picket ship.

HIGBEE, a unit of Destroyer Squadron 37, is the only American warship named in honor of a woman. Mrs. Lenah S. Higbee was Superintendent of the Navy Nursing Corps during World War I, and for “distinguished service in the line of her profession and conspicuous devotion to duty” was awarded the Navy’s highest decoration, the Navy Cross. Mrs. Higbee was the only woman to receive that award while still living.

Following her shakedown cruise, HIGBEE sailed for the Pacific War Zone, where she joined Carrier Task Force 38 in July 1945. Six days later, a suicide plane narrowly missed striking her number one gun mount.

She proved her worth during the engagement by shooting down six enemy planes – four within a period of 22 minutes. The Battle Flag HIGBEE flew during that action was on display in the headquarters of the Navy Nurse Corps in Washington, D.C. and 3 December 1953 was presented to the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland for more permanent preservation.

After the war, HIGBEE continued in service with the Pacific Fleet and made many cruises to the Far East. When hostilities erupted in Korea, she rendezvoused with Carrier Task Force 77 in August 1950 and participated in the launching of air strikes against North Korea. After an overhaul in the States, HIGBEE returned to the Korean area and served as a gunfire support ship in the landings at Po Hong Dong and at Inchon.

Following the Korean War, HIGBEE resumed her varied peacetime duties both in the Eastern and Western Pacific. In May 1960, she deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, where she operated for 27 months as a permanent part of the U.S. Seventh Fleet. As a unit of that fleet, HIGBEE was active in fast carrier operations, amphibious exercises, joint training with many allied navies and extensive people-to-people efforts.

HIGBEE entered U.S. Naval Shipyard, San Francisco in April 1963 to undergo FRAM Mark I conversion to an antisubmarine warfare specialist.

In the waters off Vietnam, HIGBEE pioneered work as the Task Group Commander for the original Market Time patrol and, in the midst of the Pueblo Crisis in 1968, spent many days patrolling the seas off the Korean coast.

HIGBEE was among the first ships to bombard North Vietnam in Operation Freedom Train in April 1972. She is credited with sinking a North Vietnamese patrol boat in her first week of action.

HIGBEE became a bombing victim of the Vietnam conflict in the first air-surface action of the war. A direct hit by a MIG destroyed the after gun mount. Although no personnel were either killed or seriously injured, repairs were extensive. Upon termination of the Vietnam conflict, HIGBEE returned to peacetime duties of training and support as a member of Destroyer Squadron 27 homeported in Long Beach, California.

Following completion of another major overhaul and modernization in Todd Shipyard, Seattle, Washington in May 1975, HIGBEE was transferred to Destroyer Squadron 37 and homeported in Seattle – reflecting on 31 years of proud history.

HIGBEE was decommissioned at the Inactive Ship Facility, Bremerton, Washington 15 July 1979. In 1980, her hull was prepared for target ship duties and, in July 1980, she was transferred to the Pacific Missile Test Range where she served for the next six years, receiving impacts from the dummy warheads of 25 cruise missiles. The old ship succumbed to a live warhead test 26 April 1986. Her final resting place is in 1,000 fathoms of water approximately 35-40 miles SSW of San Nicholas Island, California.

VITAL STATISTICS

Keel Laid: 26 June 1944, Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.
Commissioned: 27 January 1945 – converted to Radar Picket
Destroyer (DDR).
Completed FRAM Conversion: 3 January 1964 – U.S. Naval
Shipyard, San Francisco.
Full Load Displacement: 3,378 Tons.
Overall Length: 389′ 10.5″. Beam: 41′ 2″.
Speed: 34.5 Knots.
Armament: Two 5″/38 cal. dual purpose twin gun mounts; two
anti-submarine torpedo launchers; one ASROC
anti-submarine rocket launcher.
Complement: 18 Officers – 262 Enlisted Men.
Decorations: Battle Star – Third Fleet operations against Japan
– July-August 1945; American Campaign Ribbon;
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; Victory Medal – WWII;
Navy Occupation Service Medal; China Service Medal;
National Defense Service Medal (star); Korean Service
Medal (7 stars); Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal;
Vietnam Service Medal (6 stars); United Nations Service
Medal; Phillipine Liberation Medal; Korean Presidential Unit
Citation; Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal; Combat
Action Ribbon.

Submitted by A. C. Edmunds
USS HIGBEE (DD-806), 1945-1946

USS HIGBEE DD-806 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, January 2020

Higbee (DD-806) was launched 13 November 1944 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. A. M. Wheaton, sister of the late Mrs. Lenah S. Higbee; and commissioned 27 January 1945, Comdr. Lindsay Williamson in command.

Higbee immediately sailed to Boston, where she was converted to a radar picket destroyer. After shakedown in the Caribbean, she sailed for the Pacific 24 May, joining the famed Carrier Task Force 38 less than 400 miles from Tokyo Bay 19 July. “Leaping Lenah,” as she had been dubbed by her crew, screened the carriers as their planes launched heavy air attacks against the Japanese mainland until the end of hostilities 15 August. She helped clear Japanese mine fields and supported the occupation forces for the following 7 months, finally returning to San Diego 11 April 1946. The post-war years saw Higbee make two peacetime Western Pacific cruises as well as participate in fleet exercises and tactical training maneuvers during both these cruises and off the West Coast. On her second WestPac cruise, Higbee escorted the heavy cruiser Toledo as they paid official visits to the recently constituted governments of India and Pakistan in the summer of 1948.

When Communist troops plunged into South Korea in June 1950, Higbee, redesignated DDR-806 18 March 1949. was immediately deployed to the Korean coast with the 7th Fleet. Most of her Korean War duty came in screening the Fast Carrier Task Force 77 as their jets launched raids against Communist positions and supply lines. On 15 September she formed part of the shore bombardment and screening group for the brilliant amphibious operation at Inchon. Higbee returned to San Diego 8 February 1951. In two subsequent stints in Korea, she continued to screen the carrier task force and carry out shore bombardment of enemy positions. In order to protect against the possibility of Communist invasion of Nationalist China, Higbee also participated in patrol of Formosa Straits. Returning to the States 30 June 1953, she entered the Long Beach yard for a 6-month modernization which saw major structural alterations made, including an enlarged Combat Information Center, new height-finding radar, and an improved antiaircraft battery.

The radar picket destroyer’s peacetime duty then fell into a pattern of 6-month WestPac cruises alternating with upkeep and training out of San Diego. Operating with the 7th Fleet on her WestPac cruises, Higbee visited Australian and South Pacific ports frequently as well as engaging in fleet maneuvers with units of SEATO navies. Her home port was changed to Yokosuka, Japan, 21 May 1960. From there Higbee continued to cruise in the Pacific and along the China coast to strengthen American force in Asia and show her determination to protect democracy against the inroads of Communism. After 2 years duty in Japan, Higbee returned to her new home port, San Francisco, 4 September 1962. On 1 April 1963 the destroyer entered the shipyard there for a fleet rehabilitation and modernization overhaul designed to improve her fighting capabilities and lengthen her life span as an active member of the fleet. Higbee was redesignated DD-806 on 1 June 1963.

Ready for action 3 January 1964, Higbee trained on the West Coast until departing for Japan 30 June and reached her new homeport, Tokosuka, 18 July. During the Tonkin Gulf Incident in August, the destroyer screened carriers of Task Force 77 in the South China Sea. In February 1965 Higbee supported the 9th Marine Brigade at Danang, Vietnam. In May she participated in Gemini recovery in the Western Pacific. On 1 September Higbee helped to rescue the crew from Arsinoe after the French tanker had grounded off Scarborough Shoals in the South China Sea. The remainder of September was spent in naval gunfire support off South Vietnam.

While operating northeast of Luzon in late January 1966, Higbee sighted Russian hydrographic ship Gidrifon. Returning to South Vietnam in April, Higbee bombarded enemy positions near Cape St. Jacques and the mouth of the Saigon River. On 17 June she departed Tokosuka for the West Coast, arrived Long Beach, her new home port, 2 July and operated out of there into 1967.

Higbee earned one battle star for her service in World War II and seven battle stars for her service in the Korean War.