USS Whitehurst (DE-634) - World War II

World War II

Following sea trials, calibration tests, and shakedown off the west coast, Whitehurst proceeded to Hawaii, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 4 February 1944. Underway for the Solomons on the 7th, the destroyer escort sailed via Majuro and Funafuti in company with James E. Craig (DE-201) and SC-502, escorting SS George Ross, SS George Constantine and SS Robert Lucas, and arrived on 23 February at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides.

After shifting to Nouméa, New Caledonia, and back to Espiritu Santo, Whitehurst joined Osterhaus (DE-164) and Acree (DE-167) on 22 March to escort oilers Kankakee (AO-39), Escambia (AO-80), and Atascosa (AO-66). Whitehurst and Atascosa were detached from that task unit on 26 March to proceed independently to a rendezvous with other task forces operating in the area. While Atascosa refueled ships from Destroyer Squadron 47, an enemy plane appeared. All ships present, including Whitehurst, opened fire but scored no hits as the plane climbed upward and out of sight. Once refueling had been completed, Whitehurst and the oiler returned to Espiritu Santo.

At the completion of a mission escorting President Monroe (AP-104) to Milne Bay, New Guinea, Whitehurst remained in waters off New Guinea on local escort duties until 17 May. She then participated in the amphibious operation against Wakde Island, screening the amphibious ships as they landed troops of General Douglas MacArthur's forces. Whitehurst, in company with other units of Task Unit (TU) 72.2.9, later escorted echelon S-4 of the invasion force to Humboldt Bay. The destroyer escort subsequently joined Wilkes (DD-441), Nicholson (DD-442), and Swanson (DD-443), to screen echelon H-2 as it steamed toward Bosnic, Biak, in the Schouten Islands, for landings there.

Arriving off Biak on 28 May, Whitehurst took up a patrol station off the western entrance to the channel between Owi Island and Biak. While there, she received an urgent message from LCI-34 which had been taken under fire by Japanese shore batteries. Whitehurst arrived on the scene in time to be shelled, herself, but the enemy's rounds fell harmlessly nearby and caused no damage to the ship. The destroyer escort soon was relieved by Stockton (DD-646) and Swanson in covering LCI-34, and then protected LCT-260 as that landing craft embarked casualties from the beachhead. Whitehurst subsequently screened echelon H-2 as it retired from Biak to Humboldt Bay.

Whitehurst performed escort duties and trained through the summer of 1944. The tempo of the war, however, was increasing. With the Japanese being driven from one island after another, American planners looked toward the next rung of the ladder to Tokyo, the Philippine Islands. Accordingly, Whitehurst, Lt. Jack C. Horton, USNR, now in command, was placed in the anti-submarine and anti-aircraft screen of TU 77.7.1, a group of fleet tankers slated to supply units of the 7th Fleet on its drive into the Philippines. On 27 October, a week after American troops had landed on Leyte, two enemy planes attacked Whitehurst; but both were driven off by anti-aircraft fire from the ship's guns.

Two days later, on 29 October, Whitehurst received word that, on the previous day, Eversole (DE-404) had been torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. While Bull (DE-693) picked up survivors from the sunken destroyer escort, Whitehurst, detached from TU 77.7.1 to conduct a search, soon picked up a contact. At general quarters, the destroyer escort conducted three attacks without conclusive results. When Whitehurst pressed home a fourth depth charge attack, her efforts were crowned with success. In quick succession, five to seven explosions rumbled up from the depths. Another violent underwater burst soon followed, causing a concussion that damaged Whitehurst's detecting gear.

Bull continued the search after Whitehurst, with her damaged sound gear, requested her to do so but found nothing except a stretch of disturbed water. As the waves calmed, lookouts in both ships noticed many pieces of wood and other debris bobbing in a widening oil slick. The Japanese submarine I-45, which had sunk the Eversole, had been destroyed. While Bull continued picking up Eversole survivors in the vicinity, Whitehurst returned to TU 77.7.1 and with that task unit headed back to Kossol Roads in the Palaus.

Nearly a month later, following another stint of local escort operations, Whitehurst again came to grips with the enemy. While escorting a 12-ship convoy from Leyte to New Guinea, Whitehurst came under attack by two Japanese "Lily" medium bombers. One skimmed low and dropped a bomb that fell well clear of the ships. The second started a glide bombing attack, but Whitehurst's guns tumbled that raider into the sea.

After arriving with the convoy at New Guinea on 25 November, Whitehurst spent the remainder of 1944 and the first few months of 1945 in escort operations between New Guinea and the Philippines. She did not again engage the enemy until the Okinawa campaign.

When the American landings on Okinawa commenced on 1 April 1945, Whitehurst was among the many screening vessels protecting the valuable transports and cargo vessels. On 6 April, while on patrol station off Kerama Retto, the destroyer escort drove off an enemy plane that had attacked the cargo vessel SS Pierre. Three days later, the escort vessel was relieved of her escort duties off Kerama Retto, and she shifted to Okinawa to operate off the southwest coast of that island.

Taking up station on the 10th, she was still steaming in that capacity early in the afternoon two days later when a low-flying enemy aircraft closed the ship only to be driven off by Whitehurst's gunfire. At 1430, four "Val" dive-bombers approached the area from the south; and one detached itself from the group and headed for Whitehurst. It circled and soon commenced a steep dive while two of its companions also commenced an attack, one from the starboard beam and one from astern. The latter two planes spun down in flames, destroyed by anti-aircraft fire, but the original attacker continued down in spite of the 20-millimeter hits that tore at the plane. This "Val" crashed into the ship's forward superstructure on the port side of the pilot house, penetrating bulkheads and starting fires that enveloped the entire bridge, while the plane's bomb continued through the ship and exploded some 50 feet off her starboard bow.

Whitehurst circled, out of control, while Vigilance (AM-324), patrolling a nearby sector, rang up flank speed and raced toward the burning destroyer escort to render assistance. By the time Vigilance finally caught up with Whitehurst, the destroyer escort's crew had put out the most serious fires; but the minesweeper proved invaluable in aiding the wounded. The prompt and efficient administering of first aid and the injection of plasma undoubtedly saved many lives, 21 of the 23 wounded transferred to Vigilance were saved.

With a Vigilance signalman on board (Whitehurst's signal bridge personnel had been decimated) the damaged destroyer escort limped into Kerama Retto for temporary patching. Then, seaworthy enough for a voyage to Hawaii, Whitehurst reached Pearl Harbor on 10 May and was docked for repairs and alterations.