 Cushing off the Puget Sound Navy Yard during her pre-commissioning trials period in July 1936. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Cushing |
| Namesake | William Barker Cushing |
| Builder | Puget Sound Navy Yard |
| Laid down | 15 August 1934 |
| Launched | 31 December 1935 |
| Commissioned | 28 August 1936 |
| Identification | DD-376 |
| Fate | Sunk duringNaval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Mahan-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,500 tons |
| Length | 341 ft 4 in (104.0 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft 0 in (10.7 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 10 in (3.0 m) |
| Speed | 37knots (69 km/h; 43 mph) |
| Complement | 158 |
| Armament |
|
USSCushing (DD-376) was aMahan-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy before and duringWorld War II. She was the third Navy ship named forCommanderWilliam Barker Cushing (1842–1874).
Cushing waslaunched on 31 December 1935 at thePuget Sound Navy Yard and sponsored by Miss. K. A. Cushing, daughter of Commander Cushing. The ship wascommissioned on 28 August 1936 and reported to thePacific Fleet.
Cushing joined the search in theHawaiian Islands and atHowland Island, for the missing aviatorAmelia Earhart from 4 to 30 July 1937, then returned to San Diego, California for training exercises, tactics, and fleet problems. Except for brief periods of training atPearl Harbor and one cruise to theCaribbean, she cruised the west coast from San Diego for exercises and training.
Undergoing overhaul atMare Island Navy Yard when the Japanesestruck Pearl Harbor,Cushing sailed from San Francisco, California 17 December 1941 for convoy escort duty between theWest Coast and Pearl Harbor until 13 January 1942. She sailed toMidway to serve on antisubmarine patrol from 18 January to 2 February, then returned to San Francisco 19 February to screen TF 1 off the California coast in training and patrol duty.
On 1 August 1942,Cushing departed San Francisco for training exercises at Pearl Harbor, then to join the operations aroundGuadalcanal. Constantly on the move, she escorted vital resupply convoys to the bitterly contested island, and fought in theBattle of Santa Cruz of 26 October, when an outnumbered American force turned a Japanese flotilla back from their advance toward Guadalcanal.
Cushing screened transports safely into Guadalcanal on 12 November 1942, and was in the van of the force that moved out to intercept the Japanese fleet in theNaval Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of 13 November 1942. As the range closed, she suddenly sighted thelight cruiser Nagara and thedestroyer Yukikaze at 3,000 yards (2,700 m).[1] In the bitter gunfire which followedCushing received several hits amidships, resulting in a gradual power loss, but she determinedly continued to fire her guns at the enemy, launching her torpedoes by local direction at an enemybattleship. Fires, exploding ammunition, and her inability to shoot any longer made the "abandon ship" order unavoidable at 0230. Her burning hulk was last seen from Guadalcanal at 1700 when she sank about 3,500 yards (3,200 m) southeast ofSavo Island.Cushing lost about 70 men killed or missing; some men were rescued from the water, and many were wounded. Despite the loss, along with the task force, she had aided in saving Guadalcanal'sHenderson Field from bombardment by the Japanese forces. Her wreck rests at the bottom of the waters around Savo Island, in an area off Guadalcanal known asIronbottom Sound.
Cushing received threebattle stars for World War II service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
