USS John R. Pierce (DD-753)
| | Career |  | USN Jack |
|
|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 24 March 1944 |
| Launched: | 1 September 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 30 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Struck: | 1 July 1973. |
| Fate: | sold 6 November 1974 and broken up for scrap. |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 2,200 tons |
| Length: | 376 ft 6 in (114.8 m) |
| Beam: | 41 ft 1 in (12.5 m) |
| Draft: | 15 ft 8 in (4.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | 60,000 shp (45 MW);
2 propellers |
| Speed: | 34 knots (63 km/h) |
| Range: | 6500 nmi. (12,000 km)
@ 15 kt |
| Complement: | 336 |
| Armament: | 6 × 5 in./38 guns (12 cm),
12 × 40mm AA guns,
11 × 20mm AA guns,
10 × 21 in. torpedo tubes,
6 × depth charge projectors,
2 × depth charge tracks |
| Motto: | Swift and Sure |
USS John R. Pierce (DD-753), an
Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, is the only ship of the
United States Navy to be named for
Lieutenant Commander John Reeves Pierce, who commanded the
Argonaut (SM-1), a transport submarine, which was lost during battle in January of
1943. Lt. Comdr. Pierce was posthumously awarded the
Navy Cross.
John R. Pierce (DD-753) was laid down by the
Bethlehem Steel Co.,
Staten Island, New York,
24 March 1944; launched
1 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Mary Taylor Pierce, widow of Lt. Comdr. Pierce; and commissioned
30 December 1944 at
Brooklyn Navy Yard,
Commander C. R. Simmers in command.
Following shakedown off
Bermuda,
John R. Pierce operated out of Norfolk during the spring of
1945, training destroyer crews and conducting
antisubmarine warfare (ASW) patrols along the eastern seaboard. She sailed
17 June for duty in the Pacific, arrived
Pearl Harbor 6 July. Departing
12 August as escort for a carrier-cruiser striking force sent to attack
Wake Island, she was ordered to cease offensive operations on the 15th. She then proceeded via Eniwetok to Japan and arrived Wakayama, Honshu,
15 September as escort for a convoy of occupation troops.
For the next 3 months she operated in the Japanese Inland Sea, covering occupation landings and assisting in the liberation of Allied
POWs. She sailed
21 December from Kure, Honshu, to Shanghai, China, to support the
Chinese Nationalists in their conflict with the Communists for control of the mainland. She also conducted the "North China Omnibus Courier Run" between China and Korea until
6 March 1946, when she departed Tsingtao, China, for the United States.
Arriving San Francisco
27 March, she deactivated
16 September.
John R. Pierce then sailed for San Diego
17 January 1947, decommissioned
24 January and entered the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet,
1 May.
John R. Pierce recommissioned
11 April 1949, Comdr. O. W. Goepner in command. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she departed
11 July for Norfolk. Arriving
5 August, she commenced 12 months of Atlantic operations that extended from
Greenland to the
Panama Canal Zone. Under the command of Cmdr. J. R. Wadleigh she cleared Norfolk
8 August 1950 for duty with the
6th Fleet. Before returning to the United States
23 January 1951, she operated in the Mediterranean from
Gibraltar to
Crete and along the western coast of Europe from
England to
Norway.
For more than 15 months
John R. Pierce operated out of Norfolk along the Atlantic coast; then she departed
15 May 1952 for duty in the Far East. Sailing via the Panama Canal, San Diego and Pearl Harbor, she arrived Yokosuka, Japan,
18 June. With Comdr. O. C. Foote, Jr., in command she sailed on the 20th for blockade and bombardment operations against Communist forces along the east coast of Korea. From Chongjin to Songjin she conducted interdiction firing and "anti-mine, anti-junk and anti-fishing" patrols. While engaging enemy shore batteries at Songjin
6 August, she sustained three hits from enemy fire but continued interdiction patrols until
11 October. She then departed for the United States via the Indian Ocean, Suez and Gibraltar, arriving Norfolk
12 December.
From
5 January 1954 to
1 April 1962 John R. Pierce deployed to the Mediterranean on six cruises of varying duration. When not conducting operations with the 6th Fleet, she operated out of her home port on training exercises and readiness operations in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. When in the Mediterranean, fleet operations carried her the length and breadth of the sea, and deployments in 1954 and 1956 sent her, in addition, to the coast of Western Europe.
One of the worst tragedies of the John R. Pierce's long history happened on 1 October 1956 in the Mediterranean 75 miles south of Ville Franche. The ship was on aerial gunnery exercise firing at a towed aerial target, when at 0950 hrs a shell exploded in the breech of mount 53 killing a member of the mount and seriously wounding nine others. Three of the injured were in grave condition and later died. Doctors from the nearby cruiser USS Salem (CA-139) were taken by helicopter to the destroyer and then transferred the wounded to the cruiser at sea. Then the USS Salem took the men to Ville Franche to be transported to Nice Airport, France where a Flying Boxcar ambulance waited to fly them to a military hospital in Frankfort, Germany. One of the seriously wounded was Ensign John T. Pierce, son of John R. Pierce for whom the ship was named. After the wounded were transferred the Pierce went to Cannes, France and arrived on the 2nd of October. She stayed there until the 15th and then got under way for the states. She refueled at San Miguel in the Azores on the 20th and again in Bermuda on the 25th and arrived in Norfolk on the 27th. From there she went to the Philadelphia naval yard for repairs.
Engaged primarily in conducting ASW barrier patrols and screening carrier flight operations,
John R. Pierce responded quickly to international crises that threatened world peace. When the Syrian Army threatened King Hussein's pro-Western government of
Jordan during August and September
1957, destroyers, including
John R. Pierce, patrolled the ancient sea lanes of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea to guard against possible intervention by Nasser's Egypt. She returned to the same area in December 1958 to bolster the security of Lebanon, recently threatened by the Soviet-backed United Arab Republic. And following the assassination of
General Trujillo 27 May 1961, this versatile destroyer patrolled off the
Dominican Republic, thus helping to stabilize a potentially explosive situation.
Returning to Norfolk
1 April 1962 from her seventh Mediterranean cruise, she sailed
15 May to participate in
Project Mercury Recovery Operations following Comdr.
M. Scott Carpenter's scheduled three orbital flight in "
Aurora 7." On the 24th she steamed 206 miles at flank speed from her designated position in the Atlantic Recovery Area east of Puerto Rico and recovered the floating space capsule. After delivering it safely at Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, the next day, she returned to Norfolk 28 May before resuming duty in the Caribbean.
During the
Cuban Missile Crisis, under the command of Comdr. J. W. Foust,
John R. Pierce departed Norfolk
22 October; joined the quarantine force on the 24th; and, during the next 5 days, investigated 13 ships. On
28 October the Soviets agreed to the American demands, thus alleviating a tense and crucial crisis.
John R. Pierce departed from her assigned position the following day, but she continued a Caribbean sea-vigil from Jamaica to the Canal Zone until returning to Norfolk
14 December.
She departed home port
29 March 1963 for the Mediterranean and the Middle East. After 2 weeks of maneuvers with the 6th Fleet, she transited the Suez Canal
30 April and commenced an 11-week cruise through the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Persian Gulf. Returning to the Mediterranean
16 July, she resumed fleet operations. On
14 August she rescued three survivors of a plane that splashed off her starboard bow while attempting an emergency landing on
Enterprise (CVAN-65). Departing Palma, Mallorca,
24 August, she arrived Norfolk
4 September.
John R. Pierce spent the next year operating out of Norfolk; and during off-shore surveillance patrols in January 1964 she escorted five Cuban boats, which were illegally fishing in U.S. territorial waters, to Key West for internment. Once again she departed Norfolk for the Mediterranean
8 October. Reaching Naples late in the month, she joined the 6th Fleet and through the remainder of the year operated along the western coast of Italy.
John R. Pierce returned to Norfolk
27 February 1965. She reported to Commandant of the 3rd Naval District in Brooklyn, New York, for duty as a reserve training ship and began a schedule of 2-week training cruises for naval reservists. She continued this duty into 1967.
John R. Pierce received one
battle star for service during the Korean War.
*
history.navy.mil: USS John R. Pierce*
navsource.org: USS John R. Pierce*
hazegray.org: USS John R. Pierce
