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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | George Fountain Parrott |
| Builder | William Cramp & Sons,Philadelphia |
| Yard number | 484 |
| Laid down | 23 July 1919 |
| Launched | 25 November 1919 |
| Commissioned | 11 May 1920 |
| Decommissioned | 14 June 1944 |
| Stricken | 18 July 1944 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 5 April 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Clemson-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,190 tons |
| Length | 314 feet 4 inches (95.81 m) |
| Beam | 30 feet 8 inches (9.35 m) |
| Draft | 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h) |
| Complement | 157 officers and enlisted |
| Armament | 4 x4 in (100 mm) guns, 12 x21 inch (533 mm) TT. |
USSParrott (DD-218) was aClemson-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II and was the second ship named forGeorge Fountain Parrott.
Parrott was laid down 23 July 1919 by and launched 25 November fromWilliam Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding & Engine Company; sponsored by Miss Julia B. Parrott; and commissioned 11 May 1920.
Following shakedown,Parrott was assigned to Destroyer Division 38 of thePacific Fleet of which she was later designatedflagship. She departedBoston, Massachusetts, 7 August 1920 forSan Diego, California, arriving 7 September. She operated in coastal waters, ranging as far south asValparaíso,Chile, until reassigned to theAtlantic Fleet 3 December 1921 and ordered to Philadelphia.
Parrott escortedMayflower fromHampton Roads andAnnapolis, Maryland toWashington, D.C., 26 May 1922 – 30 May 1922 and then was fitted out for European duty.
On 12 June,Parrott sailed fromNewport, Rhode Island with her division to report to Commander U.S. Naval Detachment Turkish Waters atConstantinople to assist American Relief Agencies in aiding political refugees and protecting American lives and interests. From time to time,Parrott served as communications and station ship in theBlack Sea,Aegean and EasternMediterranean. From 13 September to 25 October, she evacuated refugees following theSmyrna fire, and escorted ships sent by other nations to help persons who had asked for protection.
From 6 July to 24 August 1923,Parrott made visits toGreece,Turkey,Romania,Bulgaria andRussia, meeting with civic officials and showing the flag. During the following year (1924) she made similar visits toBizerte,Tunis,Livorno,Genoa,Patmos,Villefranche-sur-Mer,Cagliari andSardinia, returning toNew York in July.
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Reassigned to theAsiatic Fleet,Parrott departed Philadelphia 3 January 1925 for Pearl Harbor via thePanama Canal Zone and San Diego. She made a training stop atPearl Harbor on 27 April and proceeded on 29 May, viaMidway, to join the Fleet atChefoo,China 14 June. Because of unsettled conditions in ChinaParrott, with other units, sailed toShanghai and put ashore a landing force.Parrott remained in the area until 31 July, and returned 10 September to Shanghai for duty with theYangtze River Patrol until 16 October when she departed for the Philippines.
After operations out ofManila from 19 October to 15 March 1926, she reported to the CommanderSouth China Patrol atSwatow remaining until 14 June. At this timerevolution in China caused intense naval activity resulting in practically the entire Asiatic Fleet assembling in Chinese waters.Parrott carried out a rigorous schedule in again aiding and protecting the interest of Americans and other neutrals. She was relieved 25 October 1927 and sailed south viaHong Kong,Bangkok andSaigon to Manila, arriving 18 November.
During 1928,Parrott made many calls to Philippine ports least frequented by American ships. From 1928 into 1934, she remained on Asiatic Patrol operating from Manila. In 1935, she was ordered toFrench Indochina to collect hydrographic data in and around Saigon. She resumedNeutrality patrol in 1936, and by 1940 had served successively as station ship atAmoy andSwatow, China. From 7 July to 4 October,Parrott patrolled China waters based atTsingtao and then made calls to other northern Chinese ports, returning to Manila 11 October.
InCavite Navy Yard,Parrott spent the first two months of 1941 having anti-mine and sound detection gear installed, after which, she trained with destroyers and submarines. She assumed duties as off-shore sound patrol picket at the entrance to Manila Bay on 6 October, and late in November joined Task Force 5 atTarakan,Borneo,Netherlands East Indies. The Task Force was still operating in this area whenhostilities began.
When the Philippines fell to the Japanese, the Asiatic Fleet moved south and operated under a unifiedAmerican-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) from a base atSurabaya,Java. On 9 January 1942Parrott was one of five destroyers in an escort composed of the cruisersUSS Boise (CL-47) andUSS Marblehead (CL-12), with the other destroyersUSS Stewart (DD-224),USS Bulmer (DD-222),USS Pope (DD-225), andUSS Barker (DD-213) departing fromDarwin toSurabaya escorting the transportBloemfontein.[1] That transport had been part of thePensacola Convoy and had leftBrisbane 30 December 1941 with Army reinforcements composed of the 26th Field Artillery Brigade and Headquarters Battery, the 1st Battalion, 131st Field Artillery and supplies from that convoy destined forJava.[2]
After dark, on 23 January 1942,Parrott, withJohn D. Ford,Pope andPaul Jones,entered Balikpapan Bay where, lying at anchor, were 16 Japanese transports and three 750-tontorpedo boats, guarded by a Japanese Destroyer Squadron. The Allied ships fired several patterns of torpedoes and saw four enemy transports sunk and one torpedo boat damaged as the Japanese destroyers searched in the strait for a Dutch submarine.[3]
Parrott returned to Surabaya 25 January, and sailed five days later as part of the escort for two Dutch ships as far asLombok Strait. She then swept through theSouth China Sea with the combined ABDA force, fighting off three Japanese aerial attacks on 15 February, as the Allies attempted to intercept and prevent a landing on the east coast of Sumatra. She came into Surabaya for fuel 19 February, firing upon enemy planes whilst there, before departing with other destroyers for a night attack on Japanese forces offBali. Contact was made with two Japanese destroyers and a transport just past midnight on 19/20 February, and in the ensuing fight,Piet Hein was sunk andMichishio heavily damaged.Parrott struck ground in the shoals off Bali but was able to churn herself free and retire with the rest of the force to Surabaya.
Parrott was delegated the task of escortingSea Witch,[note 1] carrying twenty-seven crated P-40s,[4] intoTjilatjap 28 February and then proceed to Fremantle as her consorts of the ABDA force made an attempt to forestall the invasion of Java by Japanese forces in the unsuccessfulBattle of the Java Sea.
Parrott returned to the States for repairs, left the yard in July and commenced the first of eight convoy escort voyages betweenSan Francisco and Pearl Harbor. On 21 May 1943, she sailed for New York arriving 12 June and reported for transatlantic convoy duty. She completed one convoy passage before joiningPaul Jones andBelknap in an offensive antisubmarine group withCroatan. She operated with this group until 15 October when she transferred to another antisubmarine group formed aroundBlock Island.
Parrott participated in sinkingU-220 on 28 October, but the credit went toBlock Island planes. In March 1944,Parrott reported at Norfolk for convoy assignment.
As escort for Convoy UGS–35, she reachedCasablanca 26 March, then bombarded the coast ofSpanish Morocco, south ofCape Spartel, on 27 March before escorting convoy GUS–34 back to Boston, arriving 15 April.
While getting underway from Norfolk on 2 May,Parrott was rammed byJohn Morton while backing out of a slip, bending her hull, and was so severely damaged she had to be beached by tugs. Later towed toNorfolk Naval Shipyard, she decommissioned 14 June 1944. She was struck from theNavy List 18 July 1944, and her hulk was sold for scrapping 5 April 1947 to the Marine Salvage Company ofRichmond, Virginia.
Parrott earned twobattle stars for her service in World War II.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in May 1944 | |
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