USS Hank

Career
USS Hanks
Ordered:
Laid down:	17 January 1944
Launched:	21 May 1944
Commissioned:	28 August 1944
Decommissioned:	1 July 1972
Struck:	1 July 1972
Fate:	To Argentina 1 July 1972, renamed Segui. Stricken and broken up for scrap in 1983.
General characteristics
Displacement:	2,200 tons
Length:	376 ft 6 in (114.8 m)
Beam:	40 ft (12.2 m)
Draft:	15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Propulsion:	60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed:	34 knots (63 km/h)
Range:	6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt
Complement:	336
Armament:	6 × 5 in./38 guns (12 cm), 12 × 40mm AA guns, 11 × 20mm AA guns, 10 × 21 in. torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks
Motto:

USS Hank (DD-702), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was named for Lieutenant Commander William Hank.

Hank was launched 21 May 1944 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey; sponsored by Mrs. William Edwin Hank, widow of Lt. Cmdr. Hank ; and commissioned 28 August 1944, G. M. Chambers in command.

World War II

After completing her Caribbean shakedown 18 October, Hank joined battleships Missouri (BB-63), Texas (BB-35), and Arkansas (BB-33) at New York and then sailed for the Pacific reaching Pearl Harbor 6 December via the Panama Canal and San Francisco. Hank reported to Ulithi 28 December and sortied 2 days later as part of the screen for Task Force 38, a fast carrier force under Vice Admiral John S. McCain, Sr.. The primary mission of the carriers was to conduct air strikes against strategic Japanese positions along the China coast and on Formosa and Luzon to distract enemy attention and to divert Japanese ships from the landings at Lingayen Gulf which were to begin 9 January 1945. The day after the invasion was launched, Task Force 38 moved into the South China Sea to conduct a series of devastating raids on targets along the China Coast and in Indochina. After launching one final raid against Okinawa, the carriers and escorts, Hank included, returned to Ulithi 26 January 1945.

Joining Task Force 58, a reorganized fast carrier strike force under the command of Admiral Marc Mitscher, Hank sortied 10 February. Carrier planes launched massive raids against airfields, aircraft factories, and shipping in the Tokyo area 16 and 17 February in paralyzing diversionary strikes prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima, 19 February. These raids, launched less than 125 miles from Tokyo Bay itself, were the first carrier air strikes to hit Japan proper since the Doolittle raid of 1942.

Among the ships which Hank helped screen in the 116 unit task force were battle veterans such as Indianapolis (CA-35), Bunker Hill (CV-17), Hornet (CV-8), Wasp (CV-18), Lexington (CV-16), Essex (CV-9), Yorktown (CV-10), Enterprise (CV-6), Saratoga (CV-3), Indiana (BB-58), Missouri (BB-63), South Dakota (BB-57), and Washington (BB-56). Deploying to the Iwo Jima area the afternoon of 18 February, Hank remained there to provide support for the invasion which began the following day; and she operated off the bitterly contested island until returning to Ulithi 4 March.

As the Pacific war moved into its climactic phases, Hank steamed from Ulithi 14 March, with Task Force 58 for further strikes against the Japanese home islands. Closing to within 75 miles of their targets, the carriers launched massive strikes against airfields on Kyushu and ships in the Inland Sea 18 and 19 March. Although under heavy air opposition from time to time, the carrier planes claimed a total of 528 Japanese aircraft destroyed. After participating in the bombardment of enemy shore positions—including radio facilities, a weather station, and an airfield on Minami Daito Shima 27-28 March, Hank headed for Okinawa. Her task force furnished support for landings made on that heavily fortified island 1 April, and Hank spent a busy week screening the carriers and stopping kamikazes with highly effective antiaircraft fire. The destroyer then reported to a lonely radar picket station, where on the afternoon of 11 April she narrowly averted disaster by her effective gunfire. As a kamikaze came in low off the port bow, heading directly for the bridge, Hank's accurate antiaircraft fire deflected it slightly, but the "Zeke" came in close enough to kill three sailors before crashing into the sea and exploding close aboard.

After repairs at Ulithi, Hank again joined Task Force 58, 1 May to resume screening and radar picket duties off Okinawa. June was spent at San Pedro Bay, Philippines, undergoing replenishment and training, and on 1 July the carriers redesignated Task Force 38 and operating under Vice Admiral McCain in Admiral Halsey's 3rd Fleet sortied to launch further strikes against the home islands. Hank spent most of this period on hazardous and lonely radar picket duty, steaming 50 miles from the main body of ships to provide early warning of enemy air attacks. On the night of 18 July she joined Destroyer Squadron 62 and Cruiser Division 18 for an antishipping sweep across the entrance to Tokyo Bay. As she patrolled her radar picket station 9 August, Hank and Borie (DD-704) found themselves in the midst of five kamikaze planes. One of the aircraft came so close to Hank that it drenched both ship and personnel forward with gasoline before the veteran ships destroyed it and the other four attackers. Borie had been hit in the after bridge structure and suffered 48 dead and 66 wounded, while Hank had to report 1 man missing in action and 5 wounded.

Hostilities ceased 15 August 1945, and Hank steamed proudly into Tokyo Bay 10 September to participate in the occupation. She continued operations around Japan and Pearl Harbor through 30 December, when she sailed for Charleston, S.C., via Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and the Panama Canal.

Korean war

The veteran ship operated primarily out of New Orleans for reserve training cruises and good will visits to Caribbean and Central American ports until sailing 6 September 1949 for the Mediterranean. During her 5 months with the 6th Fleet, Hank participated in amphibious operations and visited Gibraltar, Malta, France, Sicily, Italy, and Algeria. Returning to Norfolk 26 January 1950, Hank engaged in training operations and a cruise to the Caribbean until sailing for the Far East and the Korean War 6 September. She arrived Yokosuka, Japan, 1 month later and joined the United Nations Blockade and Escort Force off the Korean coast. Her movements centered mainly around Wonsan Harbor, then under siege, with frequent interruptions for blockade patrol and bombardment missions. Hank supported the evacuation of Wonsan in early December and then moved up to Hungnam to help provide the curtain of fire which covered the evacuation of Allied troops. In January and February 1951, Hank supported the 8th Army as it moved to recapture and consolidate Seoul and Inchon. Screening, blockade patrol, and shore bombardment constituted the destroyer's duties along the Korean coast until she sailed for the United States, reaching Norfolk 9 June via SanDiego, the Panama Canal, and Guantanamo.

After a yard overhaul at Norfolk, Hank resumed the peacetime training operations, Caribbean exercises, and annual deployments to the Mediterranean that kept the fleet ready to serve America well at any moment on the seas. In the fall of 1956, in the Suez Crisis, as warfare flared over the nationalization of the Suez Canal, Hank was there.

In 1960 the destroyer with the Navy began to reach into space. She participated in training for Project Mercury, America's first man-in-space effort, off the Virginia capes, and she was designated one of the recovery ships when Astronaut Lt. Comdr. Scott Carpenter made his orbital flight 24 May 1962. Hank operated with Independence (CV-62) on blockade and surveillance duty during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, remaining in the tension-filled Caribbean for nearly a month. She was designated a Naval Reserve Training Ship in October 1963 and proceeded to her new home port, Philadelphia. After undergoing repairs at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester Pennsylvania, in 1964 Hank began reserve training cruises along the East Coast from Fort. Lauderdale, Florida, to Halifax, Nova Scotia, continuing into 1972. Hank was decommissioned and sold to Argentina on 1 July 1972, and renamed “Segui.” She was scrapped in 1983.

Hank received four battle stars for World War II, and four battle stars for Korean service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Name: SEGUI (D 25)1

Type: Destroyer

By Presidential Order No3,595, 13th. June 1972 an investment of up to US $ 600,000 was authorized for the purchase of the USS HANK (DD 702), a Destroyer of the class Allen M. Sumner, built in the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock of New York, and launched the 21st. May 1944.

For Resolution JEOR,3FE No20R/72 was assigned the name of "Segui" and the Argentine flag was being raised for the first time in Philadelphia the 01 Jul 1972, of where it weighed anchor toward Argentina on 24 Aug. arriving to Puerto Belgrano Naval Base2 on 28 Sep 1972, with previous sails in New York, Norfolk, Puerto Rico Port Spain, Fortaleza, Bahia and Santos. There she remained completing its readiness until 11 Feb 1974, when she weighed anchor to join the Fleet that was operating at Sea,. She received its Official Ceremonial Flag, donated by the "Instituto Browniano"4 at Puerto Belgrano Naval Base on Sep '74.

Destroyer ARA Segui was awarded with the "Argentine Navy" Award in '75 and "Admiral Saenz Valiente Award in, '76, for its outstanding readiness and training level. Other remarkable activities to be mentioned were:  22 Nov 75 - Conducted the search and rescue operation for the fishing ship "San Pedro", being able to rescue the entire crew.  20 Sep 77 - Capture of the Russian fishing ship "Apatit" that was illegally operating in Argentinean waters.  01 Oct 77 - Capture of the Russian fishing ship "Procop Jevsk" that was illegally operating in Argentinean waters. During this action, in the maneuver of embarking the "prize crew"4, the boat sunk, perishing the Petty Officer 2nd. Class Carlos González, Petty Officer 2nd. Class Ponciano González, and Petty Officer 3rd. Class José Burok.

1. It we the second ship in the Navy named after Admiral Francisco I. Segui, naval hero of the War of Independence, War with the Empire of Brazil and the War of the Confederation and National Organization. 2. Puerto Belgrano Naval Base is Argentina's most important Naval Base, Where the fleet is based. Is located 20 miles southeast of the city of Bahia Blanca, in the south of the Province of Buenos Aires. 3. Instituto Browniano is a society dedicated to honor Argentina's most important naval hero, Admiral Guillermo Brown. 4. I'm not sure if this is the proper translation in English. We called "dotacion de presa" (which literally translated will be (prize crew) the crew members sent to a hostile ship to take over control of the ship. 1

During the Malvinas War she sailed from Puerto Belgrano on 16 Apr '82, as part of a Task Group integrated by D-1, D-25, D-27 & D-29. On 29 Apr she must return to her home port due to some engine problems. Unable to be properly repaired due to her long active life and a lack of repair parts5, she remained anchored outside the channel entrance to Puerto Belgrano, accomplishing duties for Maritime Control Traffic & Air Surveillance Station, and Air Defense Station. Her surface to surface missiles (Exocet MM-38) were dismantled and sent to the islands where they were Installed as an improvised coastal defense artillery battery. These missiles were responsible for damaging the HMS Glamorgan, a British Guided Missile Cruiser during a naval bombardment raid, too close to the shore.

On 29 Oct 1982 destroyer Segui docked at Pueblo Belgrano Naval Base from which would be its last sailing, and on 15 Dec by order of the 2nd. Destroyer Division Commander, the national flag was last flown over her deck. In the Navy General Archives are stored its Ship's Logs, under the numbers 1757; 1786; 1830; 1889/½; 1928 and 1999, as well as its Record Book in the Box of Records No15.

By resolution of the Commander in Chief of the Navy No 716/82 she was prepared for being dismantled and sold for Act No 036 of the Administrative Commission of date 08 Sep 1983, the ship was sold to the Directorate of Military Productions in $a 2,100,0006 and was finally handed over on 26 Dec 1983 at the port of “Ingeniero White” for her final destination.

Technical data: Armament: Three double towers of 5”/38 double purpose. Two double assemblies of 3”/50. Two single 12,7 mm. Two triple Mk 32 Mod 5 torpedo assemblies for launching of torpedoes Mk 44 installed in deck 01, one on each side. Two projectors of Mk 11 Hedgehogs and ASW 12 bombs launching cage in the stern port side. Transport capacity for 50 Mk 12 mines. In 1977 four MM-38 Exocet missile launchers were installed: Crew. 180 men.

5. Sales and remission of ships spare parts were blocked by US since the beginning of the war. 6. The amount is expressed in Pesos Argentinos (Argentine Pesos), that was the monetary sign in Argentina at the moment of the sale.

2 Commanding Officers: From To Rank Name 01 Jul 1972 03 Feb 1973 Commander Walter J. COLOMBO 03 Feb 1973 14 Feb 1975 “ Raúl Moyano ARRIGONI 14 Feb 1975 04 Feb 1976 “ Raúl J. GONZÁLEZ 04 Feb 1976 07 Dec 1976 “ Ciro GARCÍA 07 Dec 1976 10 Feb 1978 “ Néstor P. BELLOCQ 10 Feb 1978 21 Feb 1979 “ Ricardo FERNANDEZ PAOLINI 21 Feb 1979 07 Feb 1980 “ Guillermo E. PAYER 07 Feb 1980 16 Dec 1980 “ Mateo A. GIORDANO 16 Dec 1980 12 Dec 1981 “ Julio A. ROOMS 12 Dec 1981 03 Dec 1982 “ Néstor FERNANDEZ MARASCO 03 Dec 1982 15 Dec 1982 Lt. Commander Hugo Enrique DAMARIO

  Contraalmirante Francisco Jose Segui

External links