USS Bangust (DE- 739) was a in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. In 1952, she was sold to Peru, where she served as BAP Castilla (D-61). She was decommissioned and scrapped in 1979.
Namesake Joseph Bangust was born on 30 May 1915 in Niles, Ohio. He enlisted in the United States Navy on 16 November 1938 at the Naval Training Station, San Diego, California. Promoted to Seaman 2nd class on 16 December 1938, he was transferred to Patrol Wing (PatWing) 2 in June 1939, and, within the wing, to Patrol Squadron 21 (VP-21) the following July. He accompanied the squadron as it deployed to the Philippine Islands with its Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, and in December 1939 received promotion to Seaman 1st class. Within the next year, he was promoted twice: to aviation machinist's mate 3d class (May 1940) and aviation machinist's mate 2d class (February 1941). The commencement of hostilities between the United States and Japan in December 1941 found Bangust assigned to VP-101, as VP-21 had been redesignated.
On 26 December 1941 at 23:00 six PBYs departed their advance base at Ambon in the Netherlands East Indies to attack Japanese shipping reported in Jolo harbor in the Sulu Archipelago. Bangust flew as second mechanic and gunner in the Catalina flown by Ensign Elwyn L. Christman, USNR. "Very accurate" antiaircraft fire from shore emplacements greeted the PBYs as they arrived over the harbor, but it ceased when a group of Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 fighters appeared to intercept the attackers. Bangust and Aviation Machinist's Mate 1st Class Andrew K. Waterman downed the first Zero. Christman released his bombs in a 60 degree dive, pulled out, and then headed west along the Sulu Archipelago. One fighter followed, attacking the plane's port side persistently, but Christman sought to foil the attacker by turning into him, forcing him to break off his runs. A duel ensued as the planes headed west and a projectile from one of the Zero's cannon holed the fuel tank, sending a stream of gasoline into the mechanic's compartment. On his next run, the Zero managed to ignite the volatile fuel. Blinded, and having suffered third-degree burns on his face, hands and neck, Bangust joined Radioman 2d Class P. H. Landers, the second radioman, in bailing out of the burning flying boat. Meanwhile, Ensign Christman rode the plane in and landed on the water. Landers, less injured than Bangust, guided the latter's swimming efforts as they struck out for the island of Lugos. About noon on 27 December, Landers glanced behind at his injured shipmate but saw only an empty life jacket, Bangust had apparently slipped from it and drowned. For his "courage and successful machine gunnery" and his "extraordinary heroism" during the action over Jolo, Bangust was awarded the Navy Cross, posthumously.
History United States Navy (1943–1952) The ship was laid down on 11 February 1943 at Los Angeles, California, by the Western Pipe and Steel Company; launched on 6 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Stephen W. Gerber; and commissioned at her builder's yard on 30 October 1943.
1944 After fitting out, Bangust reported for shakedown training on 21 November 1943, and conducted these operations from San Diego, California. Deemed ready to join the fleet upon the completion of her shakedown on 18 December, Bangust underwent post-shakedown availability at the Naval Drydocks, San Pedro, California, and ultimately reported to Commander, Western Sea Frontier, for duty on 9 January 1944, as she cleared San Pedro for San Francisco, California. Departing thence on 13 January for Hawaiian waters, in company with , Bangust arrived at Pearl Harbor on 19 January.
Bangust, flagship for the Commander, Escort Division (CortDiv) 32, sailed on her first escort mission on 25 January. She stood out of Pearl Harbor in company with , , and , all bound for the Ellice Islands. The task unit was dissolved when it arrived in Funafuti on 2 February, and Bangust continued on to the Gilbert Islands that same day. The destroyer escort reached Makin on the 5th and then moved to Tarawa the next day.
The Odyssey Chart Bangust Odyssey Chart, Joseph D. Deissler and Roy M. Wells, Destroyer Escort Reunion e1989-1994 from 1944 to 1945 for the Bangust is shown below. The chart shows her arrival at Funafuti (now Tuvalu) in the Ellice Islands. The track and dates of her 22 months of service include every major WWII battle of the US Pacific Fleet. She returned home to San Diego via Hawaii in October 1945.
As noted in the chart, the tracks and dates are based on information taken from the original wardroom odyssey chart. Dates are written in military format: day first, then month, then year (year omitted in most cases).
On 8 February, she sailed in company with to rendezvous with and three merchantmen for the voyage to Majuro in the Marshall Islands. Bangust and Greiner, however, received new orders on the 10th that sent them back to Tarawa, where they arrived that same day. After that false start, the warship got underway again on the 18th with elements of Marine Night Fighter Squadron VMF(N)-532 embarked. She rendezvoused with and and then headed for Kwajalein in the Marshalls. Bangust and her traveling companions made Roi Namur at Kwajalein on the 21st, and the two escorts returned to Tarawa on the 24th.
Assigned to the Commander, Task Group (TG) 57.7 on 1 March for local escort and patrol duties, she operated in the immediate vicinity of Tarawa harbor until 7 March 1944. Between 8 and 18 March, Bangusts embarked division commander served as senior officer present afloat (SOPA) at Tarawa, and the warship remained anchored there during that time. Soon thereafter, on 19 March, Bangust joined to escort to Apamama lagoon, arriving the same day.
Three days later, Bangust, along with Eisele, sailed for Pearl Harbor as escort for , , and LST-29. Relieved of this duty later the same day, however, Bangust was ordered to proceed to Majuro instead. Reaching Majuro on the morning of 24 March, the destroyer escort received a hunter-killer assignment from the Commander, Service Squadron (ServRon) 10. The destroyer escort arrived on the scene of an earlier submarine attack and conducted anti-submarine warfare operations in the area until returning to Majuro on the 27th.
Two days later, Bangust escorted fleet oilers to a fueling rendezvous with the fast carriers carrying out Operation Desecrate One, the carrier support for the unfolding operations against Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. Returning to Majuro on 5 April after having completed her mission, Bangust then departed the Marshalls on 10 April, escorting out of those waters before being detached from that duty to return to her base of operations.
Back at Majuro on 14 April, Bangust spent the next few weeks engaged in a succession of local escort missions between Majuro and Kwajalein, taking to Kwajalein between 18 and 19 April, shepherding and ATR-44 to Majuro between 21 and 23 April, and standing out to rendezvous with to escort that ship into Majuro on 26 and 27 April. Operating on harbor entrance patrol on 29 and 30 April, Bangust then joined and in putting to sea on 3 May to fuel at sea from TG 50.17 before returning the same day. Escorting out of local waters on 4, 5 and 6 May, the destroyer escort then returned to Kwajalein on the 8th. Shifting back to Majuro on the 10th, Bangust lingered there until she sailed for Hawaiian waters on the 16th.
Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 22 May, Bangust entered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard the following day and underwent repairs and alterations there until 3 June. Among the items of work accomplished were alterations to sound gear, her SL radar, and repairs to the ship's auxiliary boiler. She sailed for the Marshalls on 4 June, proceeding independently. At a point some from her destination, Roi, Bangust's radar picked up a contact at 2325 on 10 June 1944. Having received no reports of any Japanese or Allied submarines on her projected track, the destroyer escort tracked the contact continuously until the ship's lookouts spotted a ship emerging from a rain squall off the starboard bow at 2345. Poor visibility made identification difficult; but, as the range narrowed to , Bangust's lookouts deemed the stranger as either a small surface craft or a submarine.
After the radar "pip" disappeared at 2348, Bangust stood toward the contact and fired a spread of starshell to illuminate the area, but without result. Just past midnight, Bangust gave the underwater challenge, which drew no response, and then launched four successive "hedgehog" barrages, the last of which triggered a series of six explosions. After these had subsided, another, larger, explosion shook the ship. That shock indicated to the destroyer escort's sailors that she herself had been torpedoed. Damage control parties immediately set about their task but only found a small leak in the forward engine room where a weld had been started. Aft, torpedomen checked the depth charge racks, thinking that a "K-gun" might have been fired accidentally, but found no charges missing. The ship's sonar operator then reported hearing two additional, but rather weak, explosions, along with hissing and gurgling noises. A strong smell of diesel oil hung in the air in the vicinity of the final attack. Postwar accounting would confirm that Bangust sank the Japanese submarine . Bangust lingered in the area, continuing the search until 1700 on 11 June. Greiner, accompanied by the motor minesweepers and and the submarine chaser arrived on the scene and relieved Bangust of hunter-killer operations so that she could resume her voyage to Roi Namur, which she reached later the same day.
After serving on harbor entrance patrol off Roi on 13 June, Bangust joined and Weaver to screen a convoy bound for Eniwetok. Reaching that place on the 15th, the destroyer escort refueled and rejoined the convoy soon thereafter, heading towards the Marianas. Arriving in the fueling area established in the waters east of Saipan, Bangust covered the oilers as they carried out their vital logistics service to the fleet until 20 June. At that time, she was detached to escort three of the petroleum carriers back to Eniwetok. Reaching her destination with her charges on the 24th, the destroyer escort remained there until the 29th, when she assumed harbor entrance patrol duties off the entrance to Eniwetok.
Dropping anchor back at Eniwetok on 30 June, Bangust remained there until the 13th, when she joined Capps and Weaver in providing cover for the departure of and Lackawanna. On 15 July, she joined TG 50.17 and soon operated in the vicinity of the Guam and Saipan, screening the oilers keeping the "fleet that came to stay" fueled during the operations to capture Guam. Completing this duty on 23 July, Bangust escorted her charges back to Eniwetok, arriving there three days later.
Underway for the Marianas again, this time in company with , the destroyer escort rejoined TG 50.17 in the fueling area off Saipan on 2 August. A sound contact on 3 August enlivened her tour with the logistics ships this time around, as she conducted hunter-killer operations in hopes of nabbing her second enemy submarine. A five-charge pattern fired at the contact yielded no result; however, so she abandoned the hunter-killer work and rejoined the convoy.
Bangust, and were detached on 11 August and ordered to anchor at Saipan. Later assigned duty as off-shore patrol, Bangust operated in this role on the 12th. Following her relief the following day, the warship served a brief tour of screening duty with CortDiv 65. Upon completion of that work, she returned to Saipan in company with .