USS Edsall (DD-219)

USS "Edsall" (DD-219), named for Seaman Norman Edsall (1873–1899), was a "Clemson"-class destroyer of the United States Navy.

History

"Edsall" was laid down by the William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company on 15 September 1919, launched on 29 July 1920 by Mrs. Bessie Edsall Bracey, sister of Seaman Edsall and commissioned on 26 November 1920, Commander A. H. Rice in command.

"Edsall" sailed from Philadelphia 6 December 1920 for San Diego, California on shakedown. She arrived at San Diego 11 January 1921 and remained on the west coast until December, engaging in battle practice and gunnery drills with fleet units. Returning to Charleston, South Carolina, 28 December, "Edsall" was ordered to the Mediterranean and departed 26 May 1922.

Arriving at Constantinople 28 June, "Edsall" joined the U.S. Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters to protect American lives and interests. The Near East was in turmoil with civil strife in Russia and Greece at war with Turkey.

She did much for international relations by helping nations to alleviate postwar famine in eastern Europe, evacuating refugees, furnishing a center of communications for the Near East, and standing by for emergencies. When the Turks expelled the Anatolian Greeks from Smyrna (Izmir), "Edsall" was one of the American destroyers who evacuated thousands. On 14 September 1922 she took 607 refugees off "Litchfield" (DD-336) in Smyrna and transported them to Salonika, returning to Smyrna 16 September to act as flagship for the naval forces there. In October she carried refugees from Smyrna to Mytilene on Lesbos Island. She made repeated visits to ports in Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Dalmatia, and Italy, and kept up gunnery and torpedo practice with her sisters until her return to Boston, Massachusetts for overhaul 26 July 1924.

"Edsall" sailed for the Asiatic Fleet 3 January 1925, joining in battle practice and maneuvers at Guantanamo Bay, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor before arriving Shanghai, 22 June. She was to become a fixture of the Asiatic Fleet on the China coast, in the Philippines and Japan. Her primary duty was protection of American interests in the Far East. She was served during civil war in China, and the early part of the Sino-Japanese War. Battle practice, maneuvers and diplomacy took her most frequently to Shanghai, Chefoo, Hankow, Hong Kong, Nanking, Kobe, Bangkok, and Manila.

World War II

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941 "Edsall" readied for action with DesDiv 57 at the southeast Borneo oil port of Balikpapan. She embarked a British liaison officer and four men at Singapore to search for survivors of HMS "Prince of Wales" and HMS "Repulse", sunk off Malaya on the 10th. She intercepted a Japanese fishing trawler with four small boats in tow and escorted them into Singapore. She joined "Houston" (CA-30) at Surabaya to escort shipping retiring to the relative safety of Darwin, Australia. While conducting this escort duty, she became the first U.S. destroyer to participate in the sinking of a full-sized enemy submarine in World War II. With three Australian corvettes ("HMAS Deloraine", "HMAS Lithgow" and "HMAS Katoomba"), "Edsall" sank the Japanese submarine "I-124" on 20 January 1942, off Darwin.

Continuing to escort convoys in a race against time, "Edsall" was damaged when one of her own depth charges exploded prematurely during an antisubmarine attack 19 February 1942. She continued to operate off Java, then on 26 February steamed from Tjilatjap to rendezvous with "Langley" (AV-3). On the 27th, the seaplane tender and escorts "Edsall" and "Whipple" (DD-217) were attacked by nine large twin-engine bombers which damaged the historic "Langley" so badly she had to be abandoned. "Edsall" picked up 177 survivors, "Whipple" 308. On the 28th the two destroyers rendezvoused with "Pecos" (AO-6) off Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island. More Japanese bombers forced "Edsall" to leave before transferring all "Langley" men, but she completed the job on 1 March, then headed back to Tjilatjap. She never arrived.

Fate

"Edsall" was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea on 1 March 1942. Her Japanese pursuers fired more than 1,000 rounds, but only two hit. At 18:24 she received a direct hit from the battleship "Hiei" and at 18:35 another from the cruiser "Tone". "Edsall" was also attacked by nine Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers from "Sōryū" and eight from "Akagi", which hit her with several bombs, leaving her dead in the water by 18:50. She was destroyed by the cruiser "Chikuma" and sank at 19:00 on position coord|13|45|S|106|45|E| with 5-8 survivors, all of whom later died in POW camps. (In 1952 five beheaded skeletal remains of Edsall crewmembers were located in a grave in Kendari, present-day Indonesia.)

"Edsall" received two battle stars for World War II service.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/e2/edsall-i.htm

External links

*Movement record of "Tone" from [http://combinedfleet.com/ combinedfleet.com]
* [http://www.bobhenneman.info/bhaoj.htm The Sinking of the Edsall]
* [http://www.usshouston.org/images/Edsall.PDF A SHIP TO REMEMBER: USS EDSALL (DD 219)]
*http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/219.htm