Today in Naval History September 25: Rough Seas

1863 Commodore Henry H. Bell reports to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles from New Orleans about the yellow fever outbreak onboard steamers coming into port.

1925 USS S-51 sinks after being rammed by SS City of Rome off Block Island, R.I., killing 33 of her crew.

1943 USS Skill (AM 115) is sunk by German submarine (U 593) in Gulf of Salerno. Only 32 of her men survive from the 103 officers and men on board.

1944 USS Searaven (SS 196) is attacked by a Japanese small craft off southwest tip of Etorofu, Kurils. USS Barbel (SS 316) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship, Bushu Maru, off Togara Gunto. Additionally, USS Guardfish (SS 217) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship, No.2, Miyakawa Maru, in the Yellow Sea off Chinnampo. Also, on this day,USS Thresher (SS 200) sinks Japanese merchant cargo ship, Nissei Maru, in the Yellow Sea.

1952 In project Stratoscope, Office of Naval Research obtains sharp photographs of sun’s corona from first balloon-borne telescope camera.

1982 USS Houston (SSN 713) is commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk. For two months in 1989, the boat participated in the filming of The Hunt for Red October off the coasts of Washington and California.

USS Taylor (DD 468) is fired on by a shore battery in the vicinity of Wonsan, Korea. Counter-battery fire by USS Taylor silences the enemy guns.
1957

USS Taylor (DD-468), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was commissioned on 28 August 1942. Initially assigned to Atlantic Fleet duty with Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 20, Taylor left Hampton Roads on 17 December 1942 for the Pacific Theater. On 26 January 1943, she joined DESRON 21 in the New Hebrides Islands for operations in the South West Pacific Area. Taylor and the other destroyers of DESRON 21 spent nearly all of 1943 performing screening and escort duties in and around the Solomon Islands. In November 1943, DESRON 21 was transferred to the Central Pacific to support operations in the Gilbert Islands. During 1944, Taylor participated in operations in the Marshall and Solomon Islands, New Guinea and Indonesia, and the Philippines, including the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 23–26 October 1944. Taylor continued to operate in and around the Philippine Islands and Indonesia in 1945, as well as supporting operations off Okinawa and Honshu.

In honor of their long service in the Pacific War, 3d Fleet commander Admiral William F. Halsey ordered that DESRON 21 be present in Tokyo Bay for Japan’s surrender. USS Taylor first anchored in Japanese waters in Sagami Bay (Sagami-wan) on 27 August 1945. On 29 August, the ship, along with her sisters USS Nicholas (DD-449) and USS O’Bannon (DD-450), screening the USS Missouri (BB-63), were among the first American  warships to enter Tokyo Bay. The destroyers were also present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945 for the surrender ceremony conducted on board Missouri. Taylor returned to the US on 18 October, carrying home service personnel as part of Operation Magic Carpet. The destroyer was decommissioned on 31 May 1946 and placed in reserve at San Diego, CA.