.jpg) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSMayrant |
| Namesake | John Mayrant |
| Builder | Boston Navy Yard |
| Laid down | 15 April 1937 |
| Launched | 14 May 1938 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. E. Sheely |
| Commissioned | 13 September 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 28 August 1946 |
| Stricken | 30 April 1948 |
| Fate | Scuttled offKwajalein 4 April 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Benham-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,725 long tons (1,753 t) |
| Length | 331 ft 1 in (100.91 m) |
| Beam | 35 ft 5 in (10.80 m) |
| Draft | 14 ft 4 in (4.37 m) |
| Speed | 38.5 kn (71.3 km/h; 44.3 mph) |
| Complement | 184 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
The secondUSSMayrant (DD-402) was aBenham-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy, the second ship named forJohn Mayrant. Commissioned shortly beforeWorld War II, she was primarily active in theAtlantic theater of the war, and was decommissioned after being used as a target in theOperation Crossroadsatomic weapons tests.
Mayrant was laid down 15 April 1937 at theBoston Navy Yard,Boston, Massachusetts; launched 14 May 1938; sponsored by Mrs. E. Sheely, a descendant of Capt. John Mayrant; and commissioned 19 September 1939.
During the summer of 1940, after shakedown and an extended training period,Mayrant escorted her Commander in Chief,Franklin D. Roosevelt, on a tour of east coast defenses. Later on in the year, again escorting the President, she visited island bases newly acquired fromGreat Britain under the "destroyers for bases" agreement.
The following spring, 1941, as U.S. involvement in European hostilities increased, the Navy expanded its efforts to keep the sealanes open. In May, the limits of the neutrality patrol were extended and the Navy gradually expanded its responsibilities for transatlantic convoys. By September, it was officially responsible for protecting them as far asIceland, lengthening the patrols of the Support Force,Atlantic Fleet, which had been assigned the task.
Mayrant, on duty with that force, operated offNewfoundland during the spring and summer. In August she stood-by during theAtlantic Charter Conferences and, at their conclusion, escortedHMS Prince of Wales, carryingPrime MinisterWinston Churchill, to Great Britain.
In late October,Mayrant joined a convoy fromHalifax toCape Town. Two days out of the latter port, on 7 December 1941, she received news of the U.S. entry into the war. She then joinedRoyal Navy ships protecting convoys transporting British andCanadian troops toSouth Africa. She returned to the United States in January 1942, and for the next 5 months engaged in North Atlantic convoy duty. In April, she sailed toScapa Flow where she joined theBritish Home Fleet. As a unit of that fleet she participated in operations in theDenmark Strait in search of theGermanbattleshipTirpitz in addition to escorting several convoys on the "suicide run" toMurmansk.
Mayrant returned to the east coast in July and immediately put her experience to work conductingantisubmarine warfare training exercises in theCaribbean. Relieved of that duty in October, she resumed convoy work. She escorted troops to north Africa for the November invasions and screened the covering force for theNaval Battle of Casablanca offCasablanca 8 and 9 November. Continuing her support activities, she helped to insure the safe passage of supplies to the area into the new year, 1943.
Following the success of the north African invasion,Mayrant spent several months on convoy duty off the east coast, returning to north African waters in May. Passing through theStraits of Gibraltar, she arrivedMers-el Kebir, 23 May. Throughout June she cruised the north African coast fromOran toBizerte, escorting convoys and conducting antisubmarine patrols. On 14 July, she shifted her base of operations north towardSicily. While on anti-air patrol offPalermo, 26 July, she was attacked byLuftwaffe dive bombers.
A near miss, only a yard or two off her port bow, during this encounter caused extensive damage. Her side ruptured and her engineering space flooded, she was towed into Palermo with five dead and 18 wounded. When the engineering space of a ship is flooded, the ship usually sinks. However, heroic action of her crew, and able assistance of several other ships who pumped water and provided electric power, kept theMayrant floating as she crawled back to harbor. Her executive officer,Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., was later awarded theSilver Star for his action in saving the ship. In port, mattresses were stuffed into the holes in the ship's sides. In spite of her damage, the destroyer's secondary guns helped repel several Luftwaffe raids on Palermo during the next week. On 9 August, she was towed toMalta where temporary repairs were completed by 14 November. She then steamed toCharleston, South Carolina for extensive yard repairs.
Back in fighting trim 15 May 1944 she departed Charleston forCasco Bay, Maine. For the next year she operated primarily along the east coast, escorting newcruisers andaircraft carriers on shakedown and protecting coastal convoys. During this year she also escorted two convoys to theMediterranean.
On patrol offNew England, 5 April 1945,Mayrant went to the rescue of the cargo shipAtlantic States, torpedoed offCape Cod Light. Despite heavy weather, the destroyer transferred members of her crew to the powerless merchantman and took her in tow. For 2 days until oceangoingtugs had her under control, they battled waves and breaking lines to keepAtlantic States from drifting and sinking.
The war in Europe drawing to a close,Mayrant transferred to thePacific Fleet. She arrivedPearl Harbor 21 May and underwent intensive training in shore bombardment and night operations. On 2 June she sailed forUlithi escorting convoys toIwo Jima,Okinawa, andSaipan. After the end of hostilities,Mayrant was designated to make preliminary arrangements for the surrender of the enemy garrison onMarcus, a bypassed island in the centralPacific. With the official surrender of the island 31 August, the destroyer took up air-sea rescue operations in theMarshalls andMarianas.
On 30 December,Mayrant arrived atSan Diego for a brief stay before heading back to the central Pacific. Designated as test ship forOperation Crossroads, the 1946atomic bomb tests, she arrivedBikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, 31 May 1946. Surviving the tests, but too highly contaminated,Mayrant decommissioned at Bikini 28 August 1946. She was sunk 4 April 1948 offKwajalein and struck from the Navy Register on 30 April.
Mayrant received three battle stars forWorld War II service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.Photo gallery ofMayrant at NavSource Naval History
