USS Taussig (DD-746) - World War II

World War II

Upon joining the 3rd Fleet, Taussig went to work with Task Force 38 (TF 38). For the remainder of October, the destroyer searched the area just off the Philippines for pilots downed in sweeps of the archipelago during the Leyte invasion. Early in November, she joined the screen of TF 38 itself while its planes continued to support the Leyte operation with covering strikes up and down the Philippine chain. Along with more of the same duty, December brought an added danger — frightful weather. One fatal typhoon late in 1944 swallowed three American destroyers. The December sweeps, made in preparation for the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf, continued into the first week of January 1945. On 8 January, the fast carriers began their aerial assault on the shores surrounding the South China Sea. Taussig screened the flattops while their planes attacked Japanese bases along the Chinese and Indochinese coasts and on the islands of Formosa and Okinawa as well as providing support for the Allied conquest of Luzon. During the night of 20 January, the destroyer helped shepherd TF 38 through the Balintang Channel, in the northern Philippines between Batan and Babuyan Islands, and into the Philippine Sea.

On 23 January, TF 38 returned to Ulithi for a brief rest and replenishment. At midnight three days later, it became TF 58 once again when Admiral Raymond Spruance relieved Admiral William F. Halsey as commander of the Central Pacific Force. The fast carrier task force sortied from the lagoon on 10 February, and Taussig screened Task Group 58.1 (TG 58.1) as it headed north to participate in the first carrier-based aerial attack on the Japanese home islands since the Doolittle raid of April 1942. On the morning of the 16th, TF 58 arrived at a point some 125 miles (230 km) southeast of Tokyo. While Taussig and her sister destroyers screened them from enemy submarines, the carriers hurled their planes against Tokyo and other targets on Honshū. After another strike on the morning of the 17th, TF 58 steamed south to support the Iwo Jima invasion. While two of TF 58's task groups moved in to support the Iwo Jima assault on 19 February, Taussig stood off to the south to screen a refueling rendezvous between TG 30.8 and the three remaining carrier task groups. That same day, the destroyer subjected a submarine contact to an intensive depth-charge attack. Though she apparently failed to sink the boat, Taussig succeeded in her primary mission, protecting the carriers.

Task Force 58 cleared the Volcano Islands on 22 February to resume the air offensive against the heart of the Japanese Empire. Bad weather precluded the carrying out of operations against Tokyo and Nagoya which had been planned for the 25th and 26th, respectively, and Taussig steamed southwest to strike Okinawa on 1 March. The following day, Taussig joined Vincennes, Miami, San Diego and Destroyer Squadron 61 in a bombardment of Okino Daito Shima. Two days later, the task force returned to Ulithi.

On 14 March, Taussig exited Ulithi lagoon to accompany the fast carriers on another raid against Japan. This time the target was Kyūshū, the southernmost of the major islands which constitute Japan proper. With the invasion of Okinawa just over a fortnight away, the carriers sought to pulverize airfields from which kamikaze attacks could be launched against the invasion force. During the raids of 18 and 19 March, American planes also attacked Japanese warships at Kure and succeeded in damaging the carriers Ryūhō and Amagi as well as the battleship Yamato. Taussig helped splash two planes on the 18th and the next day screened TF 58 as it retired from the vicinity of Kyūshū after a devastating kamikaze attack. She defended her big sisters during the sporadic air attacks of the 20th and, after the task force reorganization of the 22d, she moved off to screen TG 58.1 during the week-long aerial assault inflicted upon Okinawa at the end of March.

On 1 April, the troops stormed ashore at Okinawa to begin the concluding operation of World War II. TF 58 provided air support through the first three months of the campaign, and Taussig moved about off Okinawa screening the carrier from Japanese submarines and planes. The entire campaign was characterized by intense enemy air activity, particularly by kamikazes. On 6 April, an Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" dropped a bomb which barely missed Taussig. The destroyer responded with her antiaircraft battery and scored hits on the intruder, but TF 58's combat air patrol finally claimed the tally. On the night of 15 and 16 April, Taussig gunners brought down two bombers and, the following day, claimed credit for downing two suicide planes as well as for assisting in the destruction of a Yokosuka P1Y "Frances" finished off by a combat air patrol. On 21 April, she teamed up with San Juan and DesRon 61 to subject Minami Daito Shima to their guns.

At the end of April, Taussig returned to Ulithi with TG 58.1 and remained there through the first week in May. On the 8th, she cleared the lagoon to take up station off Okinawa once more. She screened TG 58.1 carriers while their planes supported the ground forces on Okinawa. Taussig continued to guard against the enemy's submarines, but his planes remained the most immediate threat. On 25 May, the destroyer helped to bring down three more Japanese aircraft when her radio controllers vectored combat air patrols in to the kill. Three days later, Admiral Halsey relieved Admiral Spruance, and the 5th Fleet again became the 3d Fleet. Taussig remained with the same task group, which simply changed designation to TG 38.1. Through the first week in June, she continued to protect those carriers off Okinawa while they sent their planes against the beleaguered island's stubborn defenders and against air bases on Kyūshū. She then headed south with TF 38 and arrived at the Leyte Gulf base on 13 June to prepare for the expected invasion of the Japanese home islands.

On 1 July, Taussig put to sea with TF 38 for the last series of offensive operations in World War II. For the next month and one-half, she cruised off Japan screening the carriers while their planes softened Japan for the expected invasion. Her guns spoke several times during those operations. On the night of 22 and 23 July, she made an antishipping sweep off Honshū with DesRon 61. The destroyers encountered a four-ship Japanese convoy, engaged it with guns and torpedoes, and claimed to have sunk all four enemy ships. Air operations and antishipping sweeps continued until 15 August 1945 when news of Japan's willingness to capitulate brought an end to hostilities.

Taussig remained in the Far East until shortly after the formal surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay on 2 September. In October, she returned to the United States and began repairs at Seattle. The destroyer remained there until 1 February 1946, when she sailed for a year of duty off the Chinese coast. In March 1947, Taussig returned to the west coast at San Diego, California Upon her return to the United States, she became a school ship for the General Line School at Monterey. For the next three years, the destroyer conducted cruises along the west coast familiarizing officers assigned to the school with operations at sea. In addition, she was frequently called upon to take Naval Reservists on board for training cruises.