Wreck of USS Jarvis (DD-393)

Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal / Honiara /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, destroyer (ship), United States Navy
USS Jarvis was a the final member of the Bagley Class of Destroyers built for the US Navy, commissioned into service with the US Navy's Pacific Fleet in October 1937 and homeported at San Diego through 1940. Forward deployed to Pearl Harbor for exercises in April 1940 she was under repair at Berth B6 on December 7th, 1941 but nevertheless accounted for four enemy aircraft during the Japanese attack which brought the United States into the Second World War. Following Pearl Harbor, Jarvis like many of her sisters were assigned to screen US Carriers as they made attacks on Japanese-held islands in the central Pacific, then was released to perform convoy escort work in mid-1942 as the Allies began to prepare to begin the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi.

Arriving in Sydney, Australia in June 1942 Jarvis continued her escort role for another month before being assigned to the invasion force preparing to assault Guadalcanal. Escorting transports and Allied warships from Fiji to the body of water soon to be known as Ironbottom Sound on August 7th, 1942, the Jarvis took up position as an anti-aircraft screen as US Marines made their first amphibious assault of the Second World War. Coming under repeated air attack during the initial days of the landings, Jarvis and the Allied invasion force were largely able to fend off their attackers for two straight days with relatively low losses, however as noon approached on August 8th Jarvis received word that a large force of 26 Japanese bombers were enroute to attack the landings. Getting underway from her picket station and sending her crews to General Quarters, Jarvis lent her anti-aircraft weaponry to the subsequent melee off Honaria, contributing to the 17 aircraft shot down over the next hour. Shifting her fire to an 18th aircraft approaching the Cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44), Jarvis’ gunners riddled the inbound “Betty” with shells but failed to stop its crew from releasing their torpedo which hit the water and raced directly into her Starboard midship. The subsequent explosion and inrush of water snuffed out Jarvis’ boilers and left the Destroyer dead in the water and still under attack, however the remaining Japanese aircraft soon withdrew and Jarvis was taken under tow by the USS Dewey (DD-349) to waters off Lunga Point where her damage control parties were able to contain her flooding and relight her aft boilers. Moving to Tulagi harbor shortly before sundown and sporting a 50ft hole in her Starboard Side, Jarvis’ crew continued to repair their battered ship but found that her forward 5-inch turrets, half of her anti-aircraft weaponry and her forward boilers were out of action and irreparable outside of a shipyard.

Formally ordered to proceed to the US base at Efate for further repairs by Naval Command, Jarvis received patchwork repairs and departed Tulagi at midnight on August 9th and shaped a course either Brisbane or Sydney Australia, her crew likely not having received her official orders due to damage to her radio systems. Steaming unescorted across Ironbottom Sound at 8 knots, down by the bow and leaking oil from her punctured fuel bunkers, the Jarvis was sighted at 0134hrs by elements of a large Japanese Cruiser and Destroyer force inbound to Ironbottom Sound which briefly engaged her before continuing on to engage US ships in the Battle of Savo Island. Thinking the Jarvis to be a New Zealand Navy Achilles Class Cruiser, the Japanese were quick to radio in the Jarvis' heading and speed to their rear base of Rabaul, where an airstrike was planned at first light.

Passing her sistership USS Blue (DD-387) at 0325hrs off of Cape Esperance the Jarvis was offered but denied assistance and allowed the Blue to continue on to assist the remnants of the US force, which had just been destroyed by the same Japanese ships the Jarvis had passed only hours prior. At daybreak the following morning Jarvis was sighted by US airborne recon planes, which plotted the ship to this general area approximately 40 miles West of Guadalcanal, heading Southwest for Australia in the open ocean and still trailing an oil slick. At roughly the same time, 31 Japanese torpedo bombers took off from Rabaul and headed South, with orders to find and sink the Jarvis.

Around midday on August 9th the Japanese force caught up with the slow moving, heavily damaged and almost defenseless Jarvis and attacked. Records recovered after the war indicated that the USS Jarvis was torpedoed and sunk at 1300hrs after breaking in half in this general area on August 9th, 1942. Her entire crew of 247 went down with the ship.

USS Jarvis received three Battle Stars for her World War Two service.

www.navsource.org/archives/05/393.htm
www.pacificwrecks.com/ships/usn/DD-393.html
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jarvis_(DD-393)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   9°34'10"S   158°59'58"E

Comments

  • The entire crew did not perish. There were 4 survivors.
  • THE ENTIRE CREW DID PERISH .14 MEN WERE KILLED WHEN HIT ON AUG 8 TH.....6 WAS WOUNDED...2 DIED OF WOUNDS. 4 WAS TRANSFERED OFF THE JARVIS TO ANOTHER SHIP. THE ENTIRE CREW WAS LOST AFTR LEAVING TULAGI . I . HAVE THE COMPLETE LOG OF THE JARVIS FROM THE 7 TH OF DEC 1941 THRU JULY 0F 1942 MY BROTHER HERMAN JR VELLUTINI HAD BEEN A CREW MEMBER OF THE JARVIS BEFORE WW 11.FROM HEALDSBURG CA.
  • Dear Sir, My uncle R B Gregory was a crew member of the Jarvis, he was a machinist mate and had served on that vessel since 1940. I would be very interested in seeing the logs you mentioned as would many members of my family. My e-mail address is barberman75@myself.com, if you could send that information to me I would be very grateful. My name is Michael Gregory and I live in Fred Texas. Our family is from Nederland Texas, which is where my father, and my uncle R B, grew up. Thank you for any information that you may have on the Jarvis, Mike Gregory
  • ALL went down on the ship. My uncle, Emile Simonine sounded the alarm at Pearl Harbor seeing the Japs.
  • Hello, my great Uncle Thomas Williams was also killed aboard. I have a picture of him and the ship on my wall. He was my Grandfathers Brother, the family have always felt the loss. Your Brother and all on board are heroes.
  • The Jarvis had bow damage and the was ordered to retire from the area, escorted by Blue, through Sealark Channel. She either did not receive the radio message or could not comply. Jarvis chose to exit to the Southeast and open sea. On this date, following the battle of Savo Island. The USN had departed and was to soon be followed by the transports. The Marines were left on the Guadalcanal. The Jarvis was spotted by the Japanese and misidentified as a battleship. The Japanese bomber and fighter escort intended to mop up the transports were rerouted to the Jarvis thus saving the transports, the Marines and all future operations in the Solomon Islands. All hands were lost on the Jarvis, RIP. 6 wounded had been previously transferred for medical treatment prior to their exit. The USS Jarvis is owed the distinction of saving all future operations in the Solomon Islands, USN transports, rescuing the 1st Marine Division and the career of V. Admiral "Fleeing" Fletcher.
  • My uncle Edward George Beckett also went down on the Jarvis. I'd be interested in a copy of the logs as well. I am George Edward Beckett, Lyles, TN named after him. irishbeckett@hotmail.com
  • My uncle, Claude Manion, was a member of the U.S.S. Jarvis crew. I don't know what his rank or job was on board. I'd be interested in any information that anyone might have on him. Thanks.
  • Have you received any information on your uncle, Claude Manion?
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This article was last modified 13 years ago