1945, End of World War II and Fate
From 13 March to 28 May 1945, Gillespie participated in the landings and occupation of Okinawa and adjacent islands of the Nansei-Shoto group. 8 April the destroyer came under attack by two Japanese kamikazes, the first of which tried to hit her. At dawn, just before 0600, an enemy fighter swooped down and Gillespie's 5-inch battery opened fire at a range of 9,800 yards. As the plane closed the 2,500 yards, her automatic weapons took up the hail of fire and the destroyer turned hard to port to keep the batteries unmasked. The smoking plane passed low over the fantail and made an abrupt wingover in an attempt to crash the ship, but the plane spun off into the sea. Minutes later, another plane came in and was quickly downed. The destroyer put in at Ulithi 31 May, and from 1 July to 15 August 1945 she screened other warships during the pre-invasion bombardment of the Japanese home islands. From 16 August to 2 September she continued her escort and patrolling duties, and anchored in Tokyo Bay 10 September 1945. Underway once more 12 October, she sailed via Manila and Pearl Harbor to moor at San Diego 23 November, and steamed thence to close Boston, Massachusetts 11 December.
Following overhaul there, she reached Charleston, South Carolina, 14 January 1946 and she decommissioned at that port 17 April 1946. In reserve, she was assigned to the Texas Group, U.S. Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Orange, Texas. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1971 and sunk as a target in 1973.
Read more about this topic: USS Gillespie (DD-609)
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