Wreck of USS Colhoun (DD-801)
Japan /
Okinawa /
Nago /
World
/ Japan
/ Okinawa
/ Nago
World / Japan / Okinawa
Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, destroyer (ship), draw only border, United States Navy
USS Colhoun was a Fletcher Class Destroyer in service with the United States Navy, laid down at the Tacoma Shipbuilding Yard in Seattle in August 1943 and commissioned into service with the US Pacific Fleet in July 1944. Named in honor of the previous USS Colhoun (APD-2) which was sunk at Guadalcanal by air attack in August 1942, the new Colhoun and her crew began their war escorting convoys between Pearl Harbor and US forward bases in the Marshall Islands as they prepared for the upcoming Invasion of Okinawa.
Arriving off the shores of the small volcanic island on February 19th, the Colhoun and her crew alternated between radar picket duty and shore fire support for the next nine days, before the ship was struck by several rounds from a Japanese shore battery on March 1st, causing one KIA and sixteen WIAs to her crew. Forced to withdraw to Saipan for repairs, the Colhoun spent most of March alongside a Destroyer Tender repairing her battle damage before she once again put to sea for fire support and radar picket duty, this time off Okinawa. Arriving off the contested island on March 31st, the Colhoun immediately took up her radar picket duty to the North of the island and provided early warning of inbound aircraft to the sea and land forces fighting for the island during the next six days.
At Picket Station 15 on the morning of April 6th, 1945, the radar operators aboard the Colhoun and every other American ship in the picket line began to pick up the first signs of much-increased numbers of Japanese aircraft attacking Okinawa than the days prior. As wave after wave of Kamikaze aircraft moved past her position, the Colhoun and her crew duly reported their positions and occasionally fired upon the aircraft, but had no direct action throughout the day until another wave came in at 1500hrs. Though she avoided any direct contact with these aircraft, her fellow picket Destroyer USS Bush (DD-529) was heavily damaged by a Kamikaze and sent out a distress call for any vessels in the area to assist. Making her top speed to her stricken fleetmate, the Colhoun arrived onscene shortly after 1600hrs and was preparing to render assistance when at least 20 Japanese planes were sighted in the distance. Moving to screen the battered Destroyer, the Colhoun began firing on the Japanese aircraft and quickly accounted for three of the aircraft shot down before one managed to penetrate her defenses and slammed into her midship 40mm gun mount. While the plane disintegrated into a mass of flaming wreckage, its bomb penetrated the Colhoun’s deck and detonated in her after fireroom. Almost immediately, a second wave closed on the ship and though two of the three aircraft were downed the third plunged into the ships Starboard midship, destroying her foreward boilers and breaking her keel.
Reeling from the force of the two impacts, the gun crews aboard the Colhoun still maintained their fire on their attackers, even though the ship had lost power and they were operating their mounts by hand. Fires all over the ship obscured their views as more Japanese aircraft closed in, but despite this the Colhoun’s crew shot down one more Kamikaze and damaged another before it struck the ships’s fantail, where it punched a three foot hole in her hull and started more fuel fires. With the Japanese aircraft seeming to withdraw after an hour of frantic action, the Colhoun’s crew set about damage control efforts to extinguish the numerous gasoline and electrical fires burning all over the ship and check the huge amounts of seawater flooding her lower spaces. Ever wary of further Kamikaze’s lookouts quickly spotted a single aircraft circling the mortally damaged USS Bush in the distance before shaping a course for the Colhoun. Despite her gunners best efforts, the Kamikaze evaded their fire and disguised himself in the setting sun before slamming his aircraft into the battered ship’s bridge area, starting another huge fire and causing more casualties. Damage control efforts continued until sunset, at which time enough small craft arrived onscene to render assistance to both stricken vessels. Ordering all but a skeleton crew off the ship, Calhoun’s Captain stayed onboard and directed efforts to get his severely damaged ship under tow, but the amount of damage, shipped water and progressive flooding made her almost impossible to tow.
After parting several towlines and with fires onboard offering a all-too-tempting target to any Kamikaze’s flying in the night, the Colhoun was ordered abandoned at 1900hrs and was set adrift. With her last survivors safely recovered, she was taken under fire by the USS Cassin Young (DD-793) and sunk in this area on April 6th, 1945. Final musters revealed that the ship had lost 34 of her crew.
For her actions on the date of her loss, USS Colhoun received her first and final Battle Star for her World War Two service.
www.navsource.org/archives/05/801.htm
Arriving off the shores of the small volcanic island on February 19th, the Colhoun and her crew alternated between radar picket duty and shore fire support for the next nine days, before the ship was struck by several rounds from a Japanese shore battery on March 1st, causing one KIA and sixteen WIAs to her crew. Forced to withdraw to Saipan for repairs, the Colhoun spent most of March alongside a Destroyer Tender repairing her battle damage before she once again put to sea for fire support and radar picket duty, this time off Okinawa. Arriving off the contested island on March 31st, the Colhoun immediately took up her radar picket duty to the North of the island and provided early warning of inbound aircraft to the sea and land forces fighting for the island during the next six days.
At Picket Station 15 on the morning of April 6th, 1945, the radar operators aboard the Colhoun and every other American ship in the picket line began to pick up the first signs of much-increased numbers of Japanese aircraft attacking Okinawa than the days prior. As wave after wave of Kamikaze aircraft moved past her position, the Colhoun and her crew duly reported their positions and occasionally fired upon the aircraft, but had no direct action throughout the day until another wave came in at 1500hrs. Though she avoided any direct contact with these aircraft, her fellow picket Destroyer USS Bush (DD-529) was heavily damaged by a Kamikaze and sent out a distress call for any vessels in the area to assist. Making her top speed to her stricken fleetmate, the Colhoun arrived onscene shortly after 1600hrs and was preparing to render assistance when at least 20 Japanese planes were sighted in the distance. Moving to screen the battered Destroyer, the Colhoun began firing on the Japanese aircraft and quickly accounted for three of the aircraft shot down before one managed to penetrate her defenses and slammed into her midship 40mm gun mount. While the plane disintegrated into a mass of flaming wreckage, its bomb penetrated the Colhoun’s deck and detonated in her after fireroom. Almost immediately, a second wave closed on the ship and though two of the three aircraft were downed the third plunged into the ships Starboard midship, destroying her foreward boilers and breaking her keel.
Reeling from the force of the two impacts, the gun crews aboard the Colhoun still maintained their fire on their attackers, even though the ship had lost power and they were operating their mounts by hand. Fires all over the ship obscured their views as more Japanese aircraft closed in, but despite this the Colhoun’s crew shot down one more Kamikaze and damaged another before it struck the ships’s fantail, where it punched a three foot hole in her hull and started more fuel fires. With the Japanese aircraft seeming to withdraw after an hour of frantic action, the Colhoun’s crew set about damage control efforts to extinguish the numerous gasoline and electrical fires burning all over the ship and check the huge amounts of seawater flooding her lower spaces. Ever wary of further Kamikaze’s lookouts quickly spotted a single aircraft circling the mortally damaged USS Bush in the distance before shaping a course for the Colhoun. Despite her gunners best efforts, the Kamikaze evaded their fire and disguised himself in the setting sun before slamming his aircraft into the battered ship’s bridge area, starting another huge fire and causing more casualties. Damage control efforts continued until sunset, at which time enough small craft arrived onscene to render assistance to both stricken vessels. Ordering all but a skeleton crew off the ship, Calhoun’s Captain stayed onboard and directed efforts to get his severely damaged ship under tow, but the amount of damage, shipped water and progressive flooding made her almost impossible to tow.
After parting several towlines and with fires onboard offering a all-too-tempting target to any Kamikaze’s flying in the night, the Colhoun was ordered abandoned at 1900hrs and was set adrift. With her last survivors safely recovered, she was taken under fire by the USS Cassin Young (DD-793) and sunk in this area on April 6th, 1945. Final musters revealed that the ship had lost 34 of her crew.
For her actions on the date of her loss, USS Colhoun received her first and final Battle Star for her World War Two service.
www.navsource.org/archives/05/801.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Colhoun_(DD-801)
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Coordinates: 27°15'22"N 127°46'26"E
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