USS Ammen (DD-527), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen (1820–1898).
Construction and commissioning Ammen was laid down on 29 November 1941 at San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation; launched on 17 September 1942; sponsored by Miss Eva Ammen; and commissioned on 20 March 1943, Commander John C. Daniel in command.
Service history
Alaska, March–November 1943 Ammen put to sea on 30 March bound for San Diego where she completed her shakedown training. The destroyer departed San Diego on 20 April and arrived in San Pedro the following day. Two days later, she embarked upon a voyage to Alaskan waters as part of the screen for Task Force 51 (TF 51), built around . The task force arrived at Cold Bay, Alaska, on 1 May and, 10 days later, participated in the landings on Attu Island. During that operation, Ammens primary responsibility consisted of providing antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection for the ships of the invasion force. Since the air threat never materialized and the submarine menace proved almost as benign, she fired no shots at the enemy but struggled mightily against the inhospitable Aleutian climate.
At the conclusion of her part in the operation, Ammen headed back to California, arriving in San Diego on 31 May. The destroyer underwent two weeks of repairs at San Diego and then moved north to San Francisco where she resumed post-shakedown availability. On 11 July, she departed San Francisco in the screen of another convoy bound for Alaska. She escorted the convoy to a point about 900 miles from Adak Island where other escorts took over the mission. Ammen returned to San Francisco on 21 July but remained there only eight days. On 29 July, the destroyer put to sea with another Alaska-bound convoy. She shepherded her charges into port at Adak on 5 August and began preparations for the occupation of Kiska. That operation proved to be a walkover for the simple reason that the Japanese had evacuated Kiska. The destroyer returned to Adak on 12 September and remained there until 24 September. She put to sea again on the 24th, made a brief stop back at Kiska on the 25th, and then headed on to Pearl Harbor. Ammen arrived at her destination on 2 October and spent the ensuing nine days practicing gunnery, torpedo, and antisubmarine warfare (ASW) techniques. On 11 October, she departed Pearl Harbor in company with . The destroyer arrived back at Adak on 16 October and, for the next six weeks patrolled in the Aleutian Islands.
New Guinea, November 1943 – September 1944 On 26 November, Ammen left Adak bound for the southwestern Pacific. She made a five-day stop at Pearl Harbor before resuming her voyage on 9 December. Steaming by way of Funafuti in the Ellice Islands and Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, the warship arrived at Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 18 December. There, she became a unit of the 7th Fleet. For the next nine months, Ammen focused her energies on the series of operations that wrested control of the northern coast of New Guinea from the Japanese and isolated their big bases in the Bismarck Archipelago at Rabaul on New Britain and Kavieng on New Ireland. Between late December 1943 and late January 1944, Ammen supported the Allied landings at Cape Gloucester on the western end of New Britain as an element of the Cruiser Bombardment Unit under Rear Admiral V.A.C. Crutchley VC, RN. In addition to providing antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection for the larger ships, she transported casualties from the battle ashore and conducted shore bombardments.
In February, the destroyer visited Sydney, Australia, returning to the New Guinea area at Milne Bay on 22 February. A week later, Ammen put to sea in the screen of an LST task unit, the first resupply echelon for the reconnaissance in force of Los Negros Island that burgeoned into the occupation of the Admiralty Islands. During the first half of March, Ammen busied herself providing gunfire support for the soldiers securing a hold on Los Negros and fighting off air attacks. Between 17 and 19 March, she joined , , , and in a fruitless anti-shipping sweep along the coast of New Guinea near enemy-held Wewak.
After several weeks of upkeep at Milne Bay and training exercises in that vicinity, Ammen put to sea once again on 18 April in company with Rear Admiral Crutchley's cruiser-destroyer force to support the next hop in the leapfrog along the northern coast of New Guinea-the Aitape-Hollandia invasion. During the assault at Tanamerah Bay, the destroyer provided antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection to gunfire support ships of the force and contributed her share of call fire as well. Later, she joined the screen of Task Group 78.2 (TG 78.2), one of two escort carrier task groups providing close air support for the troops ashore, until the middle of the first week in May.
After a respite at Manus, Ammen departed Seeadler Harbor in mid-May in company again with Admiral Crutchley's Australian and American cruisers and destroyers. The warships steamed to Hollandia, New Guinea, where they took station offshore to cover the invasion force assembled there. After sundown on 16 May, the entire force began the voyage to the Wakde-Sarmi area of northwestern New Guinea. From 17 to 21 May, Ammen and her consorts brought their guns to bear on Japanese targets in support of the troops charged with the seizure of the region. On 27 May, the destroyer was off Biak in the Schouten Islands located just to the north of the western end of New Guinea and, due east of the peninsula then known as the Vogelkop. During the amphibious assault at Bosnik on the southeastern coast of Biak, Ammens guns struck at enemy positions once more. After the initial landings, Ammens cruiser-destroyer force alternated with Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey's TF 75 built around , , and in covering the invasion forces from enemy air and naval interference. Ammens group fought off several half-hearted air attacks and foiled an attempted reinforcement by destroyers on the night of 8–9 June. The destroyer and her colleagues concluded their part in the Biak operation at the end of the third week in June and entered Seeadler Harbor for a week of upkeep.
On 30 June, the warship put to sea in the screen of the bombardment force assigned to the seizure of Noemfoor, an island located between Biak and the Vogelkop. During the landings on 2 July, Ammen drew no gunfire support missions and so, contented herself with antisubmarine and antiaircraft defense patrols against an enemy notable only for his absence. Between the conclusion of her part in the Noemfoor occupation and the Sansapor operation late in July, the destroyer carried out harassment missions against bypassed Japanese garrisons on the New Guinea coast from the base at Aitape. During the last four days of July, Ammen participated in the unopposed landings at Cape Sansapor on the northwestern coast of the Vogelkop. After Sansapor, the warship embarked upon a voyage to Sydney, Australia, for an 18-day liberty and upkeep call.
On 26 August, Ammen headed back to the combat zone. Steaming by way of Milne Bay, New Guinea, she arrived in Seeadler Harbor, Manus, on 1 September. The destroyer spent the first 10 days of September engaged in drills and upkeep at Manus. On the 11th, she got underway for Morotai and another uncontested landing. The warship spent only two days at Morotai before returning to Seeadler Harbor via Mios Woendi.
Philippines, October–December 1944 Ammen remained at Manus from 29 September until 11 October. On the latter day, she put to sea on a circuitous voyage bound ultimately for the invasion of the Philippines at Leyte. That circuit took her first to the northern coast of New Guinea where-at Humboldt Bay-she became a unit of the screen of the invasion force flagship . The flagship group weighed anchor on 15 October and laid in a course for Leyte Gulf. The destroyer escorted the command ship into Leyte Gulf in the predawn darkness of 20 October. The preparatory shore bombardment began about 0700 and lasted until just before 0945. At that point the landing craft began their approach to the beaches. Assigned to protect the force flagship, Ammen took no part in the festivities but watched dutifully for the intrusion of enemy aircraft and submarines. For the first five days of the Leyte undertaking, she continued to provide antiair and antisubmarine coverage to Wasatch and escorted her out to sea during her nightly retirements from San Pedro Bay.
Her duties with respect to the flagship kept Ammen out of both the surface actions launched by the Japanese to contest the invasion of Leyte. By the time she was detached to join TG 77.3 on the afternoon of 25 October to guard the eastern entrance to Leyte Gulf, the Japanese had shot their bolt. The forces that had tried to charge through Surigao Strait to the south received a shattering welcome from the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers under Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf, and the force that had sneaked through San Bernardino Strait went about to retrace its path in face of the desperate resistance put up off Samar by the escort carriers and, particularly, by the destroyers and destroyer escorts screening them.
Though the major Japanese effort to disrupt the Leyte landings had been foiled, it was not immediately apparent. As a consequence, Ammen served with several defensive formations on an ad hoc basis. As already stated, she joined TG 77.3 on the afternoon of 25 October to help guard the eastern entrance to Leyte Gulf. That assignment lasted until the early morning hours of the 27th when she transferred to TG 77.4, the escort carrier group that had been mauled off Samar on the 25th. Soon thereafter, she was assigned more specifically to Task Unit 77.4.2 (TU 77.4.2) built around and five other escort carriers. Ammen served with that outfit until the early morning hours of 29 October when she was reassigned to TG 77.2 inside Leyte Gulf. Later that day, the destroyer resumed duty screening the flagship as an element of TG 77.1.
Rebuffed on the surface, the Japanese resorted to an aerial blitz. Ammen spent the first 16 days of November helping to ward off enemy aircraft. On the very first day, 1 November, a burning Yokosuka P1Y "Frances" twin-engine bomber struck Ammen 15 feet from the bridge crew taking off a searchlight and two stacks. The plane caromed off the ship into the sea but caused considerable topside damage and inflicted 26 casualties, including five dead. Ammen, however, carried on with her duties and claimed a number of hits and two probable kills in the aerial onslaught over the following two weeks. On 16 November, the warship laid in a course for the Admiralty Islands. She entered Seeadler Harbor on 21 November and spent the next nine days preparing for the voyage back to the United States. On 30 November, Ammen departed Manus and pointed her bow east toward the United States. After stops at Majuro and Pearl Harbor, she arrived in San Francisco on 21 December.
Okinawa, March–June 1945