USS Oberrender
USS Oberrender on 15 July 1944
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Oberrender |
| Namesake: | Thomas Olin Oberrender, Jr. |
| Builder: | Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas |
| Laid down: | 8 November 1943 |
| Launched: | 18 January 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 11 May 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 July 1945 |
| Struck: | 25 July 1945 |
| Identification: | DE-344 |
| Honors and awards: | 3 Battle Stars |
| Fate: | Sunk as a target on 6 November 1945 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | John C. Butler-class destroyer escort |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 306 ft (93.3 m) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 36 ft 10 in (11.2 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 5 in (2.9 m) |
| Installed power: | 2 boilers; 12,000 shp (8,900 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 2 propellers; 2 geared steam turbines |
| Speed: | 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) |
| Range: | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: | 14 officers and 201 enlisted men |
| Sensors and processing systems: | Sonar |
| Armament: |
|
USS Oberrender (DE-344) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Lieutenant Commander Thomas Olin Oberrender, Jr., the engineering officer of the light cruiser USS Juneau, killed when that ship was torpedoed and sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
Oberrender served on convoy escort duty in the Pacific from late 1944, with an interlude protecting escort carriers during the early stages of the Invasion of Leyte. She was heavily damaged by the explosion of the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood at Manus and was thus forced to remain there during November. Returned to service, Oberrender served on anti-submarine patrol during the Battle of Okinawa, during which she was irreparably damaged by a kamikaze attack in early May. As a result, the destroyer escort was decommissioned and sunk as a target in late 1945.
Contents
Design[edit]
The John C. Butler-class destroyer escorts were designed as anti-submarine escort ships for ocean convoys, and as a result carried little anti-surface armament.[1]
As a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort, Oberrender was 306 feet (93 m) long with a beam of 36 feet 10 inches (11.2 m) and a draft of 20 feet 6 inches (6.2 m). She displaced 1,350 long tons (1,372 t) standard and 1,745 long tons (1,773 t) full load, with a complement of 14 officers and 201 enlisted men.[2]
Oberrender was propelled by two Westinghouse geared steam turbines powered by two "D" Express boilers, which created 12,000 shaft horsepower (8,900 kW) for a designed maximum speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph). She had a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).[2]
Armament and sensors[edit]
Oberrender mounted a main battery of two 5"/38 caliber guns to protected against surface and aerial threats, directed by the Mark 51 Gunnery Fire-Control System. In addition, she mounted two twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and ten 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannon, controlled by the Mark 51 anti-aircraft fire-control system. She also carried two depth charge racks, eight K-gun depth-charge throwers and one Hedgehog spigot mortar as anti-submarine weapons, as well as three 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. The destroyer escort was equipped with QC series sonar.[2]
Construction and service[edit]
Laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corporation of Orange, Texas on 8 November 1943, Oberrender was launched on 18 January 1944, sponsored by the widow of Oberrender. She was commissioned on 11 May 1944 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Samuel Spencer, who captained the destroyer escort for the duration of her service. Following commissioning, the ship spent the next four days fitting out at the Orange City Docks, followed by a day of gunnery and smoke testing in the Gulf of Mexico. Later that month, she conducted training, completed her fitting out at the Todd Galveston Dry Docks, and was depermed before sailing on 28 May for Bermuda,[3] where she conducted shakedown[4] after arrival on 3 June, attached to Task Group 23.1 (the Bermuda training formation) of the Atlantic Fleet.[5]
For post-shakedown availability, Oberrender was ordered to the Boston Navy Yard on 2 July, arriving three days later.[6] She was ordered to Norfolk Navy Yard for further availability in mid-July and remained there until 22 July, when she began the journey to the Panama Canal, escorting the oiler Nantahala and tanker Nemasket. Oberrender arrived at Aruba on 28 July[7] and transited the canal on 1 August.[4] Assigned to Escort Division (CortDiv) 69 of the Pacific Fleet after exiting the canal, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 16 August, having escorted Nantahala and Nemasket there.[8] Operating out of Pearl Harbor, Oberrender conducted training operations, including gunnery exercises, until 30 August, when she departed for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands as an escort for Convoy PD-71-T along with destroyer escort Rall.[9] After arriving at the convoy destination on 6 September, the two escorts turned around two days later with another convoy bound for Pearl Harbor, where they arrived on 18 September. With fellow destroyer escorts Samuel B. Roberts and Walter C. Wann, Oberrender departed for Eniwetok again on 21 September with Convoy PD-101-T, arriving at its destination on 30 September.[10]
With the other destroyer escorts of CortDiv 69, Oberrender left for Manus in the Admiralty Islands on 1 October, arriving at Seeadler Harbor there five days later. Alongside destroyer escorts Walter C. Wann, LeRay Wilson, and the destroyers Haggard, Franks, and Hailey, she left Manus on 12 October, escorting Rear Admiral Thomas Sprague’s escort carriers to the Philippines for the invasion of Leyte. The destroyers and destroyer escorts screened the escort carriers of Rear Admiral Felix Stump's Task Unit 77.4.2 as they launched airstrikes against Japanese positions in the central Philippines from 17 October. She missed the Battle of Leyte Gulf, however, being detached to escort the escort carriers of Task Unit 77.4.1 to Morotai[4] in order to take aboard replacement aircraft on 24 October. Oberrender returned to Task Unit 77.4.2 on 29 October after refueling in San Pedro Bay, steaming to Manus with it.[11] After arrival at Manus, the destroyer escort remained anchored in Seeadler Harbor, and on 10 November was anchored 1,100 yards (1,000 m) from the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood when the latter exploded. She was heavily damaged by fragments and exploding ammunition from the resulting conflagration, being towed to the Lombrum Point Ship Repair Dock for repairs, where she remained for the rest of the month.[12]
While Oberrender was under repair, CortDiv69 was attached to Task Force 79 of Seventh Fleet. Following the completion of repairs, she went to Borgen Bay of Cape Gloucester for anti-submarine patrol in early December. Returning to Seeadler Harbor on 11 December as part of the screen for Task Group 79.4, the destroyer escort conducted gunnery training there and en route to the Huon Gulf, where she patrolled from 18 December. With Task Group 79.2, Oberrender returned to Seeadler Harbor on 21 December, remaining there until the last day of the year, when she departed for the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf as part of the screen for the task group.[13] For the next three months the destroyer escort conducted escort and patrol duties in the Netherlands East Indies and Philippines areas.[4]
As American forces pushed closer to the Japanese Home Islands, Oberrender served as part of Escort Division 69. Through April and into May 1945, the Battle of Okinawa was the focus of attention. Before the beginning of the invasion with L-Day on 1 April, the destroyer escort was part of the division in the screen for the Western Islands Attack Group (Task Group 51.1).[14] While stationed with the outer anti-submarine screen to the west of the island on 9 May, Oberrender went to general quarters after receiving a report of an approaching kamikaze attack at 18:40. She spotted a lone Japanese aircraft twelve minutes later, which, despite one of its wings being torn off by her anti-aircraft fire, crashed into a starboard 20 mm mount, its bomb exploding in the forward fire room. Heavily damaged by the explosion, which killed eight and wounded 53, Oberrender was towed to Kerama Retto. Declared irreparably damaged,[15] she was decommissioned on 11 July and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 July. Stripped of all worthwhile equipment, her hulk was sunk by gunfire on 6 November 1945.[4]
Awards[edit]
Oberrender received three battle stars for World War II service.[4]
| Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) | ||
| American Campaign Medal | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 3 battle stars |
World War II Victory Medal |
See also[edit]
- See List of U.S. Navy losses in World War II for other Navy ships lost in World War II.
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ Friedman 1982, p. 149.
- ^ a b c Friedman 1982, p. 421.
- ^ Spencer 1944a, pp. 1–2.
- ^ a b c d e f DANFS Oberrender.
- ^ Spencer 1944b, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Spencer 1944c, p. 1.
- ^ Spencer 1944c, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Spencer 1944d, pp. 1–3.
- ^ Spencer 1944d, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Spencer 1944e, pp. 1–4.
- ^ Spencer 1944f, pp. 1–5.
- ^ Spencer 1944g, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Spencer 1944h, pp. 1–4.
- ^ Morison 1960, p. 375.
- ^ Morison 1960, p. 268.
Bibliography[edit]
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Friedman, Norman (1982). U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-733-X.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1960). History of United States naval operations in World War II. XIV: Victory in the Pacific, 1945. Boston: Little, Brown. OCLC 7649498.
- "Oberrender (DE-344)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History & Heritage Command. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
- "USS Oberrender (DE-344)". Destroyer Escort Photo Archive. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
Military documents
- Spencer, Samuel (1944a). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, May 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944b). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, June 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944c). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, July 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944d). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, August 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944e). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, September 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944f). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, October 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944g). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, November 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
- Spencer, Samuel (1944h). "War Diary, USS Oberrender, December 1944". Fold3. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 20 October 2018. (Subscription required (help)).
External links[edit]