USS Trathen (DD-530) was a World War II-era in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and 1951 to 1965.
History World War II Trathen was named after Lieutenant Commander James Trathen, commander of USS Midnight (1861) during the American Civil War. She was laid down on 17 March 1942 at San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 22 October 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Cassin Young, wife of Captain Cassin Young who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor as commanding officer of Vestal (AR-4) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; and commissioned on 28 May 1943.
1943 Following training operations in the Hawaiian area, Trathen joined Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee's Task Force (TF) 11 to take part in the reoccupation of Baker Island. The target isle, a tiny elliptical speck of land, lay nearer to the Japanese-held northern Gilbert Islands than Funafuti in the Ellice group and presented a valuable staging area for projected aerial search and photo reconnaissance missions against the Japanese mandates. Lee, in Hercules (AK-41), led TF 11's sortie from Pearl Harbor on 25 August 1943, and his ships arrived off Baker on 1 September. While the transports and Ashland (LSD-1) disembarked their troops and disgorged their cargoes shoreward, Trathen stood by and provided fighter-direction services to the Grumman F6F Hellcats from Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and Princeton (CVL-23). During the action, the destroyer directed the F6F's to a radar contact 32 miles away. They soon came upon the snooping Kawanishi H8K (Allied identifier: "Emily") flying boat and dispatched her so fast that no radio report from the Japanese got out over the airwaves. Two days later, Trathen again vectored the Hellcats to another "Emily" which they also splashed into the sea.
With Baker secure and the priceless airfield constructed and ready for use by 11 September, Trathen headed for Hawaii. On 29 September, the ship commenced screening operations for Task Group (TG) 14.5, as it sortied from Pearl Harbor, bound for Wake Island. Under the command of Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery, this fast carrier task force—the largest yet assembled—consisted of Essex (CV-9), Yorktown (CV-10), Lexington (CV-16), Cowpens (CVL-25), Independence (CVL-22), and Belleau Wood. On 5 and 6 October, Montgomery's planes made six strikes, flying 738 combat sorties while battleships and cruisers provided their heavy gunfire for further harassment of the Japanese-held island. Despite a cracked high-pressure turbine casing, Trathen retired with the task force back toward the Hawaiian Islands and arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 11th.
Temporary patching at Pearl Harbor permitted the destroyer to proceed to Bremerton, Washington, and permanent repairs at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. The ship sailed for the Hawaiian Islands on 21 November and reached Pearl Harbor six days later. Following training exercises with land-based aircraft off Oahu, Trathen'''s commanding officer was designated Commander, Task Unit (TU) 16.15.2, and his ship joined Martin (DE-30) and SS Mormacport. The ships sailed via Canton Island, Funafuti, and Tarawa to Makin Island where they arrived on 18 December. The next day, the destroyer sped 125 miles to the scene of a downed PBY Catalina, rescued the patrol bomber's crew, and returned to Makin on the 20th. On the return leg of the mission, the ship's radar picked up a formation of Japanese medium bombers bound for the Gilberts. Evidently attracted to bigger game, the bombers sped on. However, one which passed over the ship was taken under fire but apparently suffered no damage.
After pressing on to Abemama Island, Trathen and Le Hardy (DE-20) got underway on Christmas Day 1943 to escort SS Mormacport back to Hawaii. One day out, an "Emily" spotted the three-ship convoy but stayed tantalizingly out of reach of the Allied ships' guns. Detaching Le Hardy that evening, Trathen and Mormacport proceeded on to Hawaii and arrived at Pearl Harbor on New Year's Day 1944.
1944Trathen conducted gunnery exercises in the Hawaiian area before departing Pearl Harbor on 23 January, bound for the Marshall Islands.
Entering Kwajalein lagoon on 2 February, Trathen relieved Schroeder (DD-501) off Kwajalein Island as a fire-support ship and shelled Japanese positions ashore until the fire control party could locate no further targets. On the 5th, Trathen joined McCord (DD-534) and cruisers Minneapolis (CA-36) and San Francisco (CA-38) off Gugegwe delivering support fire for the three battalions of marines, embarked in six LST's, as they swarmed ashore in LVT(A)s and 17 amphtrac vehicles, with 16 M4 Sherman tanks. At 0720, Trathen commenced fire with her main battery, sending 5-inch shells whistling shoreward. The destroyer and her consorts then stood by as the landing craft reached the beach.Trathen continued to provide gunfire support until the Kwajalein operations ended on 7 February. The destroyer headed for Majuro on the 8th and arrived there the next day. On the 10th, Trathen returned to Kwajalein to conduct antisubmarine patrols.Trathen next formed up with Indianapolis (CA-35) off Eniwetok. Based on an intelligence report that the island was unoccupied, the American warships carried out relatively light bombardment. In the meantime, analysis of papers captured at Kwajalein revealed that Eniwetok was, in fact, defended by tough, crack Japanese troops.
Too late for a radical change of plans, Indianapolis and near-sister Portland (CA-33), accompanied by Trathen and Hoel (DD-533), stationed themselves on the flanks of the LCI(G)'s, with waves of LVT's in the middle. Trathen screened the former cruiser while Hoel drew the latter, and the ships joined the gunboats (LCI(G)) in firing on the island.
Eniwetok soon fell to the mailed fist of American land and sea power. Trathen furnished fire support intermittently until the 29th of the month and thereafter remained at Eniwetok until 4 March when she headed for Majuro for a tender availability. Then, following exercises at Purvis Bay in the Solomon Islands and patrol duty between the Emirau and New Hanover Islands, Trathen subsequently joined the 7th Fleet on 3 May.
The destroyer departed Manus, in the Admiralty Islands, on 15 May in company with TF 74 and 75, bound for New Guinea waters. The target island, Wakde—occupied in 1942 by the Japanese—possessed an excellent airstrip and vital facilities which would be immensely useful to the Allies as they "island-hopped" closer to the Philippines and Japan. Arriving on the 17th, Trathen provided gunfire support for the force which landed on Wakde and later operated off the coast supporting the operation until the 25th, when the ship sailed for Biak Island.
The next target on the Navy's timetable, this island—the largest of the Schouten Islands group—lay fringed with coral reefs. The attack force scheduled to bombard the island arrived off the landing beaches 15 minutes ahead of schedule; and, at 0629 on the morning of 27 May, the 6-inch guns of cruisers Phoenix (CL-46), Boise (CL-47), and Nashville (CL-43) began lobbing the first of 1,000 rounds of shells shoreward, while the destroyers looked for "game" along the landing beaches—such as small Japanese patrol craft.
At 1100, four Japanese fighters made half-hearted passes over the airstrips on Biak. Two fighter-bombers came over late in the afternoon shortly thereafter followed by four twin-engined planes—three of which were destroyed by antiaircraft fire. The fourth was damaged. Trathen remained on patrol station off the Schoetens until 31 May, when she retired to Humboldt Bay to rejoin TF 75.
The Japanese' first reinforcement attempt towards Biak had been detected, and the Nipponese had turned back. On 3 June, as the enemy was retreating, TF 74 and 75 received orders to go after the fleeing Japanese. At 23:18 on 3 June, Trathen got underway with the other units of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 48 and gave chase. The next day, 10 Japanese Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers tried to pounce on the American force but were driven off. On the 5th, Japanese torpedo bombers attacked American forces, and one of them fell to Trathens heavy antiaircraft fire.
Subsequently, the enemy launched a second effort aimed at reinforcing their beleaguered outpost on Biak. Six Japanese destroyers—three with troops embarked and three towing landing barges—joined cruisers Aoba and Kinu north of Misool Island, west of the "parrot beak" of New Guinea. The enemy force was under Rear Admiral Naomasa Sakonju in destroyer Shikinami. Proceeding towards Biak, the Japanese reinforcement group remained undetected until 10 B-25 Mitchells, escorted by P-38 Lightnings, spotted them and launched a devastating attack which sank Harusame and damaged three of her sister destroyers. Resuming the run to Biak once the planes had departed, the Japanese continued on an unknowing collision course with Vice Admiral V.A.C. Crutchley's cruisers and destroyers prowling between Biak and Hollandia.
Unaware of Sakonju's position, Crutchley decided to commence a sweep parallel to the coast of Biak. About 2200 on the night of 8 June, a PB4Y bomber on night patrol, detected the Nipponese force and reported five unidentified ships making 12 knots in the direction of Crutchley's cruisers and destroyers. Deploying for battle on a northerly course, the British Admiral ordered his ships to general quarters. The Japanese simultaneously detected the American's presence and turned to fire torpedo spreads before retiring.
Trathen, in DesDiv 48, followed astern of DesDivs 42 and 47, under orders from Crutchley to pursue the fleeing enemy. Then, while the two divisions charged ahead on the heels of the retreating Nipponese, Trathen and her division mates fell back on orders to screen Crutchley's cruisers.
The American force never caught up with the enemy and returned to Humboldt Bay on the following day. Trathen subsequently participated in the invasion of Noemfoor Island. Assigned to TG 77.2, the covering force, she conducted shore bombardment missions there on 2 July before retiring to Humboldt Bay. She later served in the covering forces during the landings at Cape Sansapor, New Guinea, on 30 July, laying smoke screens and patrolling 25 miles off shoreline to cover the invasion.
Recreation and availability at Sydney, Australia, from 13 to 20 August, provided Trathens officers and men with a welcome respite from the toils of war. Heading back north after a week of Australian hospitality, the destroyer conducted exercises and drills in the vicinity of Purvis Bay in preparation for the Western Carolines Operation. On 6 September, she departed from Purvis Bay as part of TG 32.5. After screening the carriers as they launched devastating air strikes in support of the Palau invasion, the destroyer retired on 26 September to refuel and replenish depleted ammunition stocks in Kossol Passage.
With the dissolution of her task, the destroyer headed for Manus and arrived there on 2 October. Next assigned to TG 77.4, Trathen set her course towards Leyte Gulf in the Philippine Islands. Landings on Dinagat and Suluan Islands in the entrance to Leyte Gulf commenced on the 17th; and the destroyer stood by to provide antiaircraft and gunfire support. Three days later, three Japanese fighters roared low over the area which Trathen was guarding. Within minutes, the ship's gunners splashed their second plane of the war; and the destroyer even managed to capture the aircraft's pilot whom they transferred to carrier Sangamon (CVE-26).