USS Hobson (DD-464) - DMS-26

DMS-26

As the Allied offensive in Europe gained momentum, Hobson steamed as a convoy escort between Algeria, Italy, and France protecting vital supplies and troops. She sailed for the United States on 25 October 1944, and arrived at Charleston via Bermuda on 10 November. There she entered the Naval Shipyard and was converted to destroyer-minesweeper, and reclassified DMS-26 on 15 November 1944. Throughout the month of December, she underwent trials and shakedown training off Charleston and Norfolk.

Hobson sailed on 4 January 1945 via the Panama Canal to join the naval strength deployed against Japan in the Pacific. Arriving Pearl Harbor on 11 February, the ship underwent further mine warfare training before sailing on 24 February for Eniwetok and a part in the last and greatest of the Pacific amphibious operations, the assault on Okinawa.

Sailing on 19 March with the minesweeping group, Hobson arrived at Okinawa well in advance of the assault troops to sweep the offshore areas, and was often attacked by Japanese planes. As the assault began on 1 April, the ship also took up patrol duties and provided night illumination during the first critical days of the campaign. As desperate enemy suicide attacks were repulsed with heavy losses, Hobson was called upon on 13 April to take up a radar picket station on which Mannert L. Abele (DD-733) had been sunk in a heavy attack the previous night. She continued picket and sweeping duty into 16 April, when another suicide attack approached at about 09:00. Hobson shot down one of the attackers, but another crashed into Pringle (DD-477), causing a violent explosion. Only minutes later, another plane was shot down just off Hobson's starboard side, but its bomb exploded on the main deck, starting a major fire. Still firing on kamikazes, the ship restored power, fought fires, and picked up over 100 survivors from the sunken Pringle. After the attack, she anchored at Kerama Retto, returning to Ulithi on 29 April and Pearl Harbor on 16 May. Hobson then sailed via San Diego and the Panama Canal Zone to Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where she arrived on 16 June 1945 for repairs.

The unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan came with Hobson still undergoing repairs; after completing shakedown training, she spent February 1946 on minesweeping operations out of Yorktown, Virginia. The remainder of the year was spent in training and readiness exercises in the Caribbean and off Norfolk. Until 1950, the ship continued to operate off the East Coast and in Caribbean waters on amphibious and mine warfare operations. In late 1948, she visited Argentia and Halifax, Nova Scotia on minesweeping operations with Canadian ships.

Hobson received six battle stars for World War II service, and shared in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the ships in the Bogue antisubmarine task group in the Atlantic.