41°58′01″N91°41′16″W / 41.9670250°N 91.6876830°W /41.9670250; -91.6876830
_underway_on_23_September_1962_(USN_1062459).jpg) USSHalsey Powell underway on 23 September 1962 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Halsey Powell |
| Namesake | Halsey Powell |
| Builder | Bethlehem Mariners Harbor |
| Laid down | 3 February 1943 |
| Launched | 30 June 1943 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Halsey Powell |
| Commissioned | 25 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 10 December 1946 |
| Recommissioned | 27 April 1951 |
| Decommissioned | prior 27 April 1968 |
| Stricken | 2 June 1975 |
| Identification |
|
| Motto | Have Guns Will Travel |
| Honours & awards | SeeAwards |
| Fate | Transferred toSouth Korea, 27 April 1968 |
| Badge | _insignia.png) |
 South Korea | |
| Name |
|
| Namesake | Seoul |
| Acquired | 27 April 1968 |
| Commissioned | 27 April 1968 |
| Reclassified | DD-912 |
| Stricken | 1982 |
| Identification | Hull number: DD-92 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1982 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | |
| Displacement | 2,050 tons |
| Length | 376 ft 6 in (114.76 m) |
| Beam | 39 ft 8 in (12.09 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft 9 in (5.41 m) |
| Propulsion | 60,000 shp (45,000 kW); 2 propellers |
| Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
| Range | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Complement | 336 |
| Armament |
|
USSHalsey Powell (DD-686), was aFletcher-classdestroyer of theUnited States Navy.
Halsey Powell was born on 3 August 1883 inMcAfee, Kentucky. He graduated from theUnited States Naval Academy in 1904, the same year as his cousin futureAdmiral William "Bull" Halsey. During the next years he served on thebattleshipsUSS Kearsarge,USS Illinois andUSS Tennessee and studied at theNaval War College. As commander of theUSS Parker, he received theNavy Distinguished Service Medal for outstanding performance as a destroyer division commander onconvoy duty duringWorld War I, and Britain'sDistinguished Service Order for his rescue of the survivors of the torpedoed hospital shipHMHS Glenart Castle. During his command of theUSS Edsall he became one of the US Navy officers who played a major role in protecting and evacuating Armenians and Greeks from the September 1922 destruction ofSmyrna in Turkey. He rose to the rank ofcaptain and served as an aide to theSecretary of the Navy in 1926, then served asNaval Attaché atPeking from 1927 to 1929. After commandingUSS Pittsburgh he was promoted torear admiral and returned toWashington, D.C., where he died on 24 December 1936. He is buried atArlington National Cemetery,Virginia.[1]
Halsey Powell waslaunched byBethlehem Steel Co.,Staten Island, N.Y., on 30 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Halsey Powell, widow of Captain Powell; andcommissioned on 25 October 1943.
Halsey Powell conducted her shakedown training off the East Coast, and sailed on 20 January 1944 fromNorfolk to join thePacific Fleet. ArrivingPearl Harbor on 12 February, the destroyer steamed toMajuro to escorttankers back toHawaii, returning to theMarshall Islands in March for escort and patrol duty. As the islands fell to American amphibious troops,Halsey Powell and other ships protected the task force from air and submarine attack. The destroyer carried out a series of effective attacks onI-32 on 23 March, and after running out ofdepth charges yielded toManlove andCanastota to complete the kill.
Following the Marshalls operation,Halsey Powell departed Pearl Harbor on 30 May for rehearsals in connection with the upcomingMarianas invasions. She sortied with the assault force fromEniwetok on 11 June, and as troops stormed ashoreon Saipan four days later she took up fire-support station off the beaches, and was an effective force in victory. In addition to screening, radar picket duties, and fire support for ground forces,Halsey Powell sank a net tender, a cargo ship and numerous small craft in the lagoon with her guns.
The operation a success, she enteredSaipan harbor on 21 June, after the carrier forces had decimated the Japanese in theBattle of the Philippine Sea. She then steamed toTinian, bombarding shore positions, clearing the way for troops and screening through the invasion there on 24 July. Following this she spent two weeks on screening and radar picket duty offGuam before returning to Eniwetok on 22 August to join the fast carrier task force.
Halsey Powell sortied withVice AdmiralMarc Mitscher's famousFast Carrier Task Force (then called TF 38), on 29 August. Operating for long periods at sea by underway refueling and replenishment, this powerfulcarrier force represented the ultimate in mobile striking power afloat. During September the carriers, screened byHalsey Powell and other destroyers, struck thePalaus and thePhilippines, returning toUlithi on 1 October.
Five days later, withHalsey Powell now under command ofCmdr. Sidney D. B. Merrill, the ships sailed on one of the most important operations of the long Pacific war. After air strikes onOkinawa the great task force turned to its real objective, the airfields onFormosa. The air battle raged from 12 to 15 October, withHalsey Powell assisting in the splashing of many Japanese aircraft. At a cost of three damaged ships, the task force had driven off nearly a thousand enemy aircraft, downing over 500.
As theinvasion of Leyte began, the desperateJapanese Navy moved with its remaining units into the Philippines. This three-pronged attack, launched almost without air power, precipitated the epochalBattle for Leyte Gulf.Halsey Powell screened AdmiralGerald F. Bogan's carriers during the strikes which made up one phase of the battle, theBattle of the Sibuyan Sea, on 24 October.BattleshipMusashi was sunk and Vice AdmiralTakeo Kurita's ships were delayed and confused. That night the bulk of TF 38 steamed north to meet another Japanese fleet, and in theBattle off Cape Engaño next day another major victory was won.Halsey Powell picked up downed pilots from 29 to 30 October and returned to Ulithi with the task force on 9 November 1944. During the remainder of 1944 TF 38 carried out heavy strikes against the Philippines and Formosa.
The fleet sailed into theSouth China Sea on 9–15 January to support theInvasion of Lingayen Gulf, and the supporting ships fought off air attacks the carriers struck bases in China andIndochina. WithTiconderoga damaged by akamikaze on 21 January,Halsey Powell was assigned to escort her to Ulithi, where they arrived on 24 January 1945.
The carrier task force departed again in February to attack Japan itself.Halsey Powell screened the carriers during this attack, in covering attacks for theIwo Jima invasion on 19 February, and later during more strikes on Japan. The destroyer shot down one attacking aircraft on 16 February and assisted with many others.
_hit_by_kamikaze_alongside_USS_Hancock_(CV-19)_in_1945.jpg)
The veteran carrier groups returned on 1 March to Ulithi, but were underway again on 14 March to soften up Okinawa for the coming assault, and to strike more blows at Japan. On 20 March,Halsey Powell was alongsideHancock when Japanese aircraft attacked. As the destroyer was getting clear, the aircraft overshot the carrier and crashedHalsey Powell. Her steering gear jammed, but alert action with the engines averted a collision. Fires were put out, and although 9 were killed and over 30 wounded in the attack the ship reached Ulithi on 25 March.
Halsey Powell arrived atSan Pedro for battle repairs on 8 May, but with the Pacific war reaching its climax sailed again for Pearl Harbor on 19 July 1945. She arrived Eniwetok on 17 August, two days after the surrender of Japan, and was present inTokyo Bay for the formal surrender ceremonies 2 September. The ship then supported the occupation forces until departing 31 October forPuget Sound.Halsey Powell decommissioned on 10 December 1946 atSan Diego and was placed in thePacific Reserve Fleet.
With the increased demands on the Navy as a result of theKorean War,Halsey Powell recommissioned on 27 April 1951. After shakedown and training exercises the ship sailed for the familiar waters of the Far East 23 July fromLong Beach, arriving Japan 16 August. JoiningTask Force 77, the destroyer acted as plane guard and screening ship while the carrier planes kept up constant pressure on the Communist lines and shore installations.Halsey Powell continued these operations off the eastern coast ofKorea until October, when she departed the nearly stabilized war zone for training off Okinawa. Late in the month she returned to take part in destructive bombardments ofSuwon Dam,Wonsan,Hungnam, and other areas. Patrolling and screening duties continued until the ship sailed for the United States on 20 February 1952.
Halsey Powell got underway for her second tour in Korea on 4 October 1952, and in the next 7 months took part in shore bombardment and screening duties asUnited Nations Command naval strength continued to seal offNorth Korea from the sea. The destroyer returned to the United States 6 May 1953, and after training exercises out of San Diego sailed once more for Japan on 26 December 1953.
Early in 1954 after flight operations with task force 77 off of Korea in the Sea of Japan the Halsey Powell was assigned to Task Force 77.7 in the South China Sea as part of the flight operations off of Vietnam.
_underway_c1959.jpg)
During the next few yearsHalsey Powell made yearly cruises to the western Pacific, operating with Task Force 77 off Korea, patrolling theFormosa Strait, and engaging in tactical exercises with other units of the Pacific Fleet. In September–October 1958 the ship aidedNationalist Chinese operations in the Quemoy-Matsu crisis, convoying transports and standing by to deter attack by theCommunist Chinese. Seapower was a decisive force in checking the spread of communism.
Halsey Powell's trim silhouette became familiar at many far eastern ports. She continued to alternate these important operations with the7th Fleet with training and readiness exercises off the west coast. In recent years this included practice cruises withNROTCmidshipmen.Halsey Powell continued to be an important contributor to peace in the Far East as well as America's readiness at sea. During May–July 1962, the destroyer took part in importantnuclear tests in the Pacific, and returned in 1963–1964 to her regular pattern of deployments.
On 1 January 1965,Halsey Powell was assigned to ReserveDestroyer Squadron 27 with Long Beach as herhome port. She operated as a Naval Reserve training ship through 1967, cruising betweenVancouver, Canada, andMazatlán, Mexico.
On 27 April 1968,Halsey Powell was transferred toSouth Korea. She was stricken from theNaval Vessel Register on 2 June 1975.
Transferred toSouth Korea on 27 April 1968, the ex-Halsey Powell was renamed ROKSSeoul (DD-912), after theSouth Korean capital.
She was stricken and scrapped in 1982.
Her anchor is preserved at theVeterans Memorial Park,Iowa.
Halsey Powell received sevenbattle stars for her World War II service, and two for the Korean War.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere. This article incorporatespublic domain material fromHalsey Powell (DD-686) at theNaval Vessel Register.
