USS Connolly (DE-306)

Career
Name:	USS Connolly
Laid down:	21 June 1943
Launched:	15 January 1944
Commissioned:	8 July 1944
Decommissioned:	22 November 1945
Struck:	19 December 1945
Honors and awards:	2 battle stars (World War II)
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 20 May 1946
General characteristics
Type:	Evarts-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,140 long tons (1,158 t) standard 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) full
Length:	289 ft 5 in (88.21 m) o/a 283 ft 6 in (86.41 m) w/l
Beam:	35 ft 2 in (10.72 m)
Draft:	11 ft (3.4 m) (max)
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW) 2 screws
Speed:	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range:	4,150 nmi (7,690 km)
Complement:	15 officers and 183 enlisted
Armament:	• 3 × single 3"/50 Mk.22 dual purpose guns • 1 × quad 1.1"/75 Mk.2 AA gun • 9 × 20 mm Mk.4 AA guns • 1 × Hedgehog Projector Mk.10 (144 rounds) • 8 × Mk.6 depth charge projectors • 2 × Mk.9 depth charge tracks

USS Connolly (DE-306) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy during World War II. She was sent off into the Pacific Ocean to protect convoys and other ships from Japanese submarines and fighter aircraft. She performed escort and antisubmarine operations in dangerous battle areas and returned home with two battle stars.

She was named after John Gaynor Connolly, a Chief Pay Clerk, killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; launched on 15 January 1944 by Mare Island Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. Mary Francis Connolly, commissioned on 8 July 1944, Lt. W. A. Collier in command, and reported to the Pacific Fleet.

World War II Pacific Theater operations

Connolly operated in Hawaiian waters on training from 24 September 1944 until 22 January 1945, when she sailed for duty in the Iwo Jima operation from 19 February until 1 March. She patrolled off the island to protect shipping and providing direct support to the landings. After screening transports to Espiritu Santo, Connolly guarded the convoy to Okinawa, arriving off the Hagushi beaches on 9 April. She served on antisubmarine patrol until sailing for repairs at Ulithi on 4 May.

Connolly arrived off Okinawa again in the screen of a resupply convoy on 6 June 1945, then joined the screen of amphibious ships carrying out subsidiary landings in the Nansei Shoto until she reported in Leyte Gulf on 14 July to join the forces of the Philippine Sea Frontier. Between 17 July and 12 August, she voyaged to Okinawa on escort duty, then operated in the Philippines until 7 September, when she cleared Manila for Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, San Pedro, California, and Charleston, South Carolina.

Post-War decommissioning

She arrived in Charleston on 2 November, where she was decommissioned on 22 November 1945 and sold for scrapping on 20 May 1946.

Awards

Connolly received two battle stars for World War II service.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of Connolly at NavSource Naval History