USS Pillsbury (DD-227) - History

History

Pillsbury was laid down by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia on 23 October 1919; launched on 3 August 1920, sponsored by Miss Helen Langdon Richardson; and commissioned on 15 December 1920, Lieutenant H. W. Barnes in command.

Pillsbury served for many years with the Asiatic Fleet. During that service she was involved in the 1927 Nanjing incident as part of a U.S. Navy flotilla helping protect American lives and property. On 27 November 1941, by order of the Commander Asiatic Fleet, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Pillsbury departed from Manila under the command of Lt. Commander Harold C. Pound, together with other units of the fleet. When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, she was operating in the vicinity of Borneo, and had done so for some time.

After the war commenced, Pillsbury, together with United States, Dutch and Australian naval vessels, operated out of Balikpapan on reconnaissance sorties and on anti-submarine patrols. Later she moved to Surabaya, Java, and from there made night patrols with cruisers Houston (CA-30) and Marblehead (CL-12) and destroyers of Division 58, including the Battle of Badoeng Strait on 4 February 1942.

On 18 February the Japanese began moving ashore on Bali and the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) surface forces including Pillsbury set out to disrupt further landings from a Japanese convoy reported in the area.

While steaming through Badoeng Strait on the night of 19/20 February during the Battle of Badoeng Strait, Pillsbury fired three torpedoes at a Japanese ship without result. A searchlight was trained on Pillsbury, and several shots were fired at her. She turned to starboard and make smoke to escape the light. The relatively small Allied forces at this time were forced to lightning strikes and rapid evasive retirement in the face of superior Japanese forces in the dim hope of disrupting the enemy advance.

At 02:10 Pillsbury sighted a ship dead ahead and opened up with her main battery and .50 caliber guns. The amidships gun crew of the Japanese ship was put out of action by the first burst of the .50 caliber machine guns. The target ship then received a direct hit with a shell from either Pillsbury or from the destroyer in the opposite column. This caused the Japanese destroyer to swing to starboard. The spotter then observed three sure hits from Pillsbury: one on the bridge, one amidships and one on the fantail. As soon as the last shot hit, the Japanese ship erupted in flames, and her firing ceased.

At this time Pillsbury and Parrott (DD-218) were detached from the striking force and sent to Tjilatjap. After the action around Bali the ships had few torpedoes and were badly in need of overhaul.