Her superstructure all but totally destroyed by hell-bent Japanese kamikaze, the bloodied survivors of the destroyer Hazelwood refused to give up their ship.

-------------------------------------SS Hazelwood (DD-531) was a Fletcher-class destroyer built in San Francisco at the Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Yard and launched on 20 November 1942. The author of this article...was ensign Frederick C. Butler whom was brand-new in the Naval Reserve, 23-yrs old, when, on 27 February 1943, he arrived in San Francisco and was the first officer to report for duty aboard the ship. Hazelwood was commissioned on 12 June 1943 and, after a brief shakedown period, left San Francisco on 5 September 1943 for Pear Harbor. Within weeks it was in action in what turned out to be the first of a series of ten major battles or campaigns over a period of 20-months, ending on 29 April 1945, when it was hit by a kamikaze near Okinawa. The ship earned ten battle stars for action at Tarawa, the Gilbert Islands, and the Marshall Islands; in hunter-killer

U

sweeps and anti-submarine activities; and in action at Leyte, Luzon, Western Caroline Islands, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During this period Ensign Butler became the assistant engineering officer and was promoted to Lieutenant (jg.) On Sunday, 29 April 1945, Task Force 58, under the command of Adm. Marc Mitscher, was defending the Army and Marine amphibious forces that had landed on the beaches at Okinawa on 1 April. Hazelwood was one of the nine destroyers in Destroyer Squadron 47 (DesRon 47) in the outer screen, 10-mi from the fleet center, defending the carriers and battleships against submarine and low-flying air attacks. During the period 1-29 April, the task force’s aircraft had been busy providing bomb support for the land forces and defending against Japanese air attacks. At about 1650 on 29 April, there sister ship, USS Haggard (DD-555) was hit by a kamikaze about 10 mi from them and the Hazelwood was ordered to stand by her. On there way to assist the Haggard, they were at general quarters with all hands at their battle stations, and the authors station being in the after

The author, Ens. Frederick C. Butler aboard USS Hazelwood (DD-531), 1944.

USS Hazelwood (DD-531) near San Francisco six days after being commissioned engine room. Soon, all of the Hazelwood’s 5-in/38-cal guns began firing, along with the 40mm and 20mm guns, too. After a lot of firing, the author felt a small explosion off the port stern and a couple of light bulbs in the engine room were shattered, as a kamikaze flew by at close range but mussed the Hazelwood. Soon, a second plane came in from astern, low on the water, and hit the Hazelwood at 1731. One of the kamikaze’s wings struck the #2 stack and knocked the 40mm director off its mount and down to the main deck. The plane crashed into the port side of the superstructure, just

above the main deck and a fire started. In the after engine room, the crew, including the author, neither felt nor heard anything. However, they lost communication to the bridge and the foreward engine room. They did not know they had been hit until, about 10-min after the hit, they started taking smoke into there space through the ventilation system, not a lot but certainly noticeable. A little later, it was noticed, by the author for some unknown reason, the system was losing water. The Chief [Chief Trunkhill] was asked if he could see any leaks in the engine room and, after a quick check, he said no. The Chief was instructed to shut down the main engines. This chain of thought quickly went through all of our minds: We are losing water and will be losing steam and electric power; the lubricating pump for the main engines is motor-powdered and if they lose lubrication, the main bearings will be ruined in a New York minute. The shut down the after engine room and notified the after fire room by phone. Many of the crew was below deck....and did not learn any details of the disaster until they went topside, where they was to see the raging fire. The ship was dead in the water and had little

with which to fight the fire. Lieutenant (jg) Chet Locke, the engineering officer, was directing the firefighting from the starboard deck, throwing cans of foam on the blaze - the only fire-fighting tool they had until about 25-min later, when other ships came alongside to help them out. The author helped with assisting and supervise the damage-control parties. Of the 18 officers assigned to the ship, 10, including the commanding officer, were killed in the attack; four were wounded, leaving four able-bodied surviving officers, including the author. Of the approximately 310 enlisted men, 67 perished and 30 were wounded. At some point, Lt. (jg) L. E. Legas, the

gunnery officer and senior surviving officer, had given the order to abandon ship - not inappropriate in view of the raging fire and the lack of electrical power. He left the ship, along with many others. However, when Lt (jg) Locke (the senior surviving on-board officer) reached topside from the forward engine room, he assumed command of the ship and his first order was to countermand the abandon ship order. This was a crucial, vital decision that led to the eventual salvage of the ship. When this order was given, only four officers and about 75 enlisted men remained aboard, with the others dead or in the water. USS Colahan (DD-658) arrived on scene at 1756, 25-min after the kamikaze attack. It lowered a boat in the water and picked up 138 survivors, many of them wounded. Colahan maneuvered to get into a good position to fight the fire and, at 1835, the first stream of water reached the blaze, with Colahan’s port bow close to Hazelwood’s port bow. At 1836, USS Flint (CL-97) and USS Melvin (DD-680) arrived, picked up more survivors, and poured water on the fire. At the worse point, nine streams of water were being directed at Hazelwood by the attending ships. The other ships sent several officers and enlisted men to Hazelwood to help fight the fire, discard damaged ammunition, and help prepare the engineering plant for start-up. Jim Wood, an officer from Melvin, later recalled that “the blast had thrown bodies into the bulkhead with such force that the outline of the bodies could be easily recognized in the metal.” Colahan’s medical officer, Peter Dingman, worked tirelessly to dress the wounds of about 30 men on Hazelwood (whose own medical officer, Lt. W. E. Strube, had been killed in the attack). He later got help from the medical officer and four pharmacist mates from Flint. The fire seemed to be under control at 1918. About 1-hr later, it broke out again but Melvin extinguished it. Lieutenant (jg) Locke notified the attending ships that both main engines and the #4 boiler were serviceable. At 2229, USS McGowan (DD-678) took the Hazelwood in tow and towing speed was 3-

kts. They then joined a newly formed task group including Flint and several destroyers. At 2315, L/Cmdr. Phillip Reed, the executive officer of McGowan, came aboard and assumed command (for a brief period), since all of Hazelwood’s deck officers had been killed or wounded. In a later report, he said, “The performance of duty of all personnel was of the highest order. All hands appeared to have complete disregard concerning their own personal safety, all laboring tirelessly under trying conditions, including darkness, for extended periods with no rest, seemingly unconscious of their precarious predicament. The performance of duty of all officers and enlisted personnel was at all times exemplary, reflecting great credit on themselves and their ship.” At 0100 on Monday, 30 April, Melvin came alongside and passed over a fire hose and an electric power cable, so the they would have some lights and poser available for starting the fuel pumps. It also pumped them 1000-gal of boiler feed water to fire up the #4 boiler. At 0512, the Hazelwood regained steam, electrical power, and our lights, having been in the dark for most of the night. The tow was discontinued and, at a speed of 14-kts, they headed west, with power from the #4 boiler and the after engine room and escorted by USS Buchanan (DD-484) and a sea-going tug. There destination was initially Kerama Retto, a group of islands about 15-mi southwest of Okinawa, where there was a possibility that the ship would be scuttled, as The USS Hazelwood underway under her own power after being beyond repair. the #4 boiler was fired up. However, plans were soon

The USS Hazelwood pictured above just after making the 180-deg turn for the Caroline Islands. [even with this poor picture quality you can make out the extensive damage of the vessel]

changed and they turned 180-deg and headed southeast toward Ulithi, in the Caroline Islands, some 1400-mi away, for temporary repairs. Lieutenant David N. Morey relieved L/Cmdr. Reed as commanding officer at 0900 on Monday, 1 May 1945. He had been the executive officer of Buchanan. He remained in command until they reached San Francisco on 14 June. In the first evening he was aboard, they buried at sea all of the bodies they could find and identify. Lieutenant Morey noted in a report that during the burials, they were at general quarters and Japanese airplanes were being shot down nearby. He said, “When taking temporary command of the Hazelwood [on 1 May] everything was under control. The crew....everything was going about clearing away wreckage and removing bodies in a very efficient manner. It was very apparent that everyone was very much impressed by the organization and lack of confusion aboard; everyone was turning to doing splendid work... Personnel displayed coolness and intelligently fought the fire in face of apparently hopeless odds. All ships personnel gave excellent service in assisting to control fires and in subsequent work readying the ship for steaming and service. Hazelwood arrived at Ulithi on Saturday, 5 May 1945, six-days after the kamikaze attack, and tied up alongside the destroyer tender USS Piedmont (AD-17). They had lost the ship’s mast just after the kamikaze attack and the Piedmont removed the rest of the terrible wreckage. An observer at Ulithi, Jesse Pointdexter, later stated, “Just about everything topside was gone, collapsed into the hull, except for the after stack and searchlight platform. I thought she was headed for the scrap yard.” Piedmont welded a steel plate over the bomb hole on the starboard main deck. The main director and the #2 5-in guns were welded to the forward main deck. Also, many dead bodies were removed and buried on Ulithi.

USS Hazelwood arriving at San Francisco on 14 June 1945 The Hazelwood remained at Ulithi until 25 May, when they departed for Pearl Harbor, where they had a few days to see the beautiful scenery before finally leaving for San Francisco

and the Mare Island Navy Yard. They arrived at San Francisco on the morning of 14 June 1945, almost 2-yrs to the day the ship had been commissioned (12 June 1943). The repair work had not yet been completed when, in August 1945, World War II ended. On 18 January 1946, Hazelwood was decommissioned and mothballed. On 12 September 1951, a year after the start of the Korean War, Hazelwood was recommissioned and served on active duty until being again decommissioned on 19 March 1965. END [email protected]