_underway_in_Eliott_Bay%2c_Washington_(USA)%2c_5_April_1944_(19-N-64260).jpg) USS Leutze (DD-481) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Leutze |
| Namesake | Eugene H. C. Leutze |
| Builder | Puget Sound Navy Yard |
| Laid down | 3 June 1941 |
| Launched | 29 October 1942 |
| Commissioned | 4 March 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 6 December 1945 |
| Stricken | 3 January 1947 |
| Motto | The Lucky Lady[1] |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 17 June 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Fletcher-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 2,050 tons |
| Length | 376 ft 6 in (114.76 m) |
| Beam | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft 9 in (5.41 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph) |
| Range | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 329 |
| Armament |
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USSLeutze (DD-481) was aFletcher-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. She was named forAdmiralEugene H. C. Leutze (1847–1931).
Leutze waslaid down on 3 June 1941 byPuget Sound Navy Yard,Bremerton, Washington andlaunched 29 October 1942; sponsored by Miss Caroline Rowcliffe, granddaughter of Rear Adm. E. H. C. Leutze, daughter of Rear Adm.Gilbert Jonathan Rowcliff. The ship wascommissioned 4 March 1944.
Leutze completed the necessary performance trials and continued the training of her crew on escort missions toPearl Harbor andEniwetok during June and July 1944. On 2 August she departedSeattle for the war zone a sleek new destroyer and returned 1 year and 1 day later a battered veteran about to be scrapped. In this short interval she had played a part in five invasions and a major naval battle before akamikaze ended her fighting days.
After departing Seattle, Washington, the destroyer rehearsed in theHawaiian andSolomon Islands for theinvasion of the Palaus. Arriving offPeleliu 12 September (D-Day-3),Leutze bombarded enemy positions ashore and suffered her first casualty when shrapnel from an enemy shell sprayed the ship. Withdrawn on 24 September, she joinedTask Group 77.2 (TG 77.2) atManus Island,Admiralties, for the invasion of the strategically importantPhilippines.
Action offLeyte began 18 October with little serious opposition to the preinvasion bombardment but rose to a crescendo climax with theBattle of Leyte Gulf 24 and 25 October.Leutze, first firing on an enemy plane two days earlier, suffered 11 casualties on the morning of the 24th when hit during an enemy bombing and strafing run. That night inSurigao Straits with Rear Adm.Jesse B. Oldendorf’s7th Fleet support ships, she attacked withtorpedoes the ships ofJapan’sSouthern Force under Adm.Shoji Nishimura. During this phase of the last major battle between surface ships, Nishimura lost twobattleships and three destroyers in a vain attempt to force his way through the Straits and attack the American invasion fleet. Thereafter with its surface fleet decimated, Japan again resorted to airstrikes. AlthoughLeutze emerged unscratched, on a single day 1 November, four sister ships of her screen were crashed by suicide planes.
After a period of tender overhaul, she steamed out ofKossol Roads 1 January 1945 for theinvasion of Lingayen Gulf,Luzon, Philippines. En route the ship received ice cream for all hands for returning a sailor fallen overboard fromMakin Island. She arrived inLingayen Gulf 6 January for fire support. While supporting this operation,Leutze 7 January sank a Japanese patrol vessel and 9 January a small suicide boat loaded with explosives.
Careful preparations were made for the next assault.Iwo Jima, desired as an airfield site, was selected as the target. Practicing withunderwater demolition teams atUlithi and conducting exercises until beyondSaipan,Leutze arrived Iwo Jima 16 February. Despite intensive previous bombing and shelling, enemy fire was heavy.
While protecting Navy frogmen on 17 February, she took, a shell on the after part of the forward stack. Remaining until the completion of her mission, she then transferred her seriously wounded commanding officer and three other injured and resumed station. In accordance with the Commanding Officer's recommendation, Lt. Leon Grabowsky was elevated to Commanding Officer of Leutze. Upon assuming command on 17 January 1945, Grabowsky became the youngest modern destroyer commander ever in the US Navy at age 27 years, 4 months. Ordered back to Ulithi the next day for repairs, Leutze returned to Iwo Jima early in March but only for four days, as much of this fleet was now needed forOperation Iceberg, the conquest ofOkinawa.
This last big amphibious operation of the war, unlike Iwo Jima, took place within range of Japanese land-based planes. While escorting battleshipNew York for the preinvasion shelling of 27 March,Leutze made twodepth charge runs which apparently sank amidget submarine. On a second voyage withMobile andOakland, she arrived Okinawa 3 April. This was 2 days after D-Day but in time for the first of the Japanese operations "Ten Go", the massed kamikaze attacks.
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Of the first wave of attacking aircraft to filter through the outer screen on 6 April, she splashed two and later knocked down a third. Disregarding the danger, she proceeded alongside to assist the thrice-hit and burningNewcomb. The fourth plane to hit this ship skidded across the deck and exploded its bomb againstLeutze’s port quarter. Thekamikaze almost severed her fantail and left seven crew members missing, one dead, and 30 wounded. Lt.Leon Grabowsky,Leutze’s acting commanding officer, received theNavy Cross for his part in aidingNewcomb, and in the fighting of his own ship.
Recalling her firefighting parties fromNewcomb, she maneuvered clear, brought her flooding under control and was towed toKerama Retto anchorage for emergency repairs. Departing 10 July viaGuam and Pearl Harbor, she reachedHunters Point Drydocks,San Francisco, 3 August. Following the end of the war, her repairs were halted.Leutze decommissioned 6 December 1945, was struck from theNavy Register 3 January 1946, and ultimately purchased for scrap by Thomas Harris,Barber, New Jersey, 17 June 1947.
Leutze received fivebattle stars forWorld War II service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.Schultz, Dave. "USS LEUTZE (DD-481) Deployments & History." Www.Hullnumber.Com, 2020, www.hullnumber.com/DD-481.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in April 1945 | |
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