Neils Wammen
[email protected]
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Date: Tue, 03 Jun 1997 02:31:53 -0700
I hope that you can use this ship history which I copied from
from the Dictionary of American naval fighting ships Page 445-448.
Vammen
Clarence Earl Vammen, Jr. - born in Aberdeen, Wash., on 17 October
1919 - attended Pomona (Calif.) Junior College before he enlisted
in the Naval Reserve on 17 February 1941 at Long Beach Calif. After
his initial duty at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Long Beach,
Seaman 2nd Class Vammen was transferred to the naval air station
at Pensacola, Fla., on 27 March. On 3 April, he was discharged at
his own request to accept an appointment as an aviation cadet.
Vammen reported to the Naval Air Station (NAS), Pensacola, on
4 April for flight training. Detached on 19 August and transferred
to (NAS), Miami, for further training, Vammen was appointed a naval
aviator (heavier-than-air) on 23 September. Completing his
instruction on 20 October, he accepted the rank of ensign that day.
Assigned to Advanced Carrier Training Group, Pacific Fleet, soon
thereafter, Vammen continued his training until joining Torpedo
Squadron (VT) 6, based on the carrier Enterprise (CV-6), on 28 April
1942. He joined the ship within two weeks of the completion of the
famous Halsey-Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, 18 April 1942, and just before
his carrier and Hornet (CV-8) proceeded south toward the Coral Seato
meet an expected Japanese thrust. Unfortunately, the two flattops
were too late to assist the Lexington (CV-2) and Yorktown (CV-5)
in the critical Battle of the Coral Sea which took place from 4 to 8
May.
Although she missed the Coral Sea action, Enterprise - "The Big E" -
did participate in the pivotal Battle of Midway one month later.
Ensign Vammen, by that point assigned to Scouting Squadron (VS) 6,
did not take part in the strikes of 4 June against the Japanese carrier
fleet. He received his baptism of fire, however, soon enough.
On Friday evening, 5 June, Vammen - flying a Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless,
with Aviation Machinists Mate 2nd Class M. W. Clark in the rear seat -
took off with eight other planes of VS-6, as part of the strike launched
to locate and sink what had been erroneously reported as two enemy carriers.
Subsequently, the SBD's from Enterprise and Hornet found and attacked
what they reported to be a "Japanese CL" (light cruiser) - a ship that
turned out to be the destroyer Tanikaze. The Dauntlesses that made the
dusk attack failed to score any hits with their 500-pound bombs on the
twisting, turning destroyer. Vammen, who had never received instruction
in night carrier recoveries, made his first night landing - not on Enterprise,
but on Hornet.
The next morning, on 6 June, Vammen joined Hornet's planes in attacking
the fleeing Japanese heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma, a strike that
inflicted such severe damage on the latter that she sank later that day.
Unfortunately, Vammen and his gunner failed to return from that mission.
For his part in the Battle of Midway, however, Ensign Vammen - cited for
"courage and unflinching devotion to duty" - was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross, posthumously.
(DE-644: dp 1,400; l. 306'0"; b. 37'0"; dr. 9'5" (mean);
s. 23.5k; cpl 186;
a. 3 3", 4 1.1", 10 20mm., 3 21" tt., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.);
cl. Buckley)
Vammen (DE-644) was laid down on 1 August 1943 at San Francisco,
Calif., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 21 May 1944; sponsored
by Mrs. Earle Morgan, aunt of the late Ens. Vammen; and commissioned on
27 July 1944, Lt. Commdr. L. M. King, Jr., USNR, in command.
Following commissioning, Vammen fitted out through mid-August 1944
and later conducted her shakedown out of San Diego, Calif., into late
September before undergoing a post-shakedown availability at her builder's
yard.
Underway for Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 13 October, the
new destroyer escort convoyed SS Phillipa to the Hawaiian Islands
before reporting for duty to Commander, Service Force, Pacific, on
21 October.
For the remainder of October and all of November, the destroyer
escort trained out of Pearl Harbor, operating in company with various
submarines and aircraft carriers, perfecting the techniques of antisubmarine
warfare and escort duty. She then escorted SS Cushman Davis via Funafuti in
the Ellice Islands to Espiritu Santo, before she steamed independently to
Pearl Harbor, arriving at the Pacific Fleet's main base three days after
Christmas 1944.
Vammen plane-guarded for Bataan (CVL-29) early in January 1945 before
escorting the merchantman, SS Exira to Eniwetok in the Marshall from 9
to 16 January. While returning to Pearl Harbor, Vammen responded to a
radio request for assistance from LST-598 which had an ill crewman.
The destroyer escort rendezvoused with the landing ship at sea on
20 January and took the sick man on board. The following day, off
Johnston Island, Vammen transferred the man to the hospital boat,
sent form that outpost, for medical treatment ashore. The destroyer
escort arrived back a Pearl Harbor on the 23d.
At the end of the month, Vammen sailed for the Marshalls, escorting
Convoy PD-278-T, consisting of the attack transports Montrose (APA-212)
and Mountrail (APA-213). Departing Pearl Harbor on 30 January, PD-278-T
arrived at Eniwetok on 7 February. Vammen then headed for Hawaii the next
day and, on the 10th relieved Witter (DE-667) as escort for the escort
carriers Kitkun Bay (CVE-71) and Salamaua (CVE-96) en route. The subsequently
reached Pearl Harbor on the 17th.
The destroyer escort conducted one more convoy escort run to the Marshalls
before she participated in her fist major action. She shepherded PD-310-T -the
attack transports Meriwether (APA-203), Menard (APA-201), and Allendale
(APA-127) - from 22 February to 2 March, the day of their arrival at
Eniwetok.
Three days later, she (as one of nine escorts) sortied with a 10 ship
convoy bound of Ulithi and Kossol Roads. Detached on 9 March, she escorted
the merchantman SS Westward Ho to Kossol Roads and two days later departed
the Palaus and proceeded to the Philippines in company with the landing
ship Ozark (LSV-2) and Westward Ho, reaching Rizal, Leyte, on the 13th.
After patrolling the entrance to Leyte Gulf from 14 to 18 March, Vammen
underwent an availability at San Pedro Bay alongside the tender Markab
(AD-21). With those repairs completed within a week's time, the destroyer
escort sortied on 25 March, bound of Okinawa and her baptism of fire.
Steaming as part of the screen for Tractor Group "Easy," Vammen reached
the Ryukyus on 1 April, the day of the initial landings on Okinawa.
Detached from duty with Task Unit (TU) 51.14.2 - for which the ship's
commanding officer had been screen commander - Vammen was assigned to
the western half of the screening station A-39. Later that day, she
received orders to screen LST Group "Dog" during its night retirement.
While maneuvering at 15 knots through the congested transport area under
poor visibility conditions, the destroyer escort struck a heavy floating
object with her bow at 2100. A few seconds later, an explosion occurred
beneath her stern, as though a depth charge had exploded under the ship.
After noticing marked vibrations, Vammen reduced speed to 10 knots.
Repair parties reported no evident damage, but the vibrations indicated
damage to shafts or propellers. As it turned out, the ship's starboard
propeller had been damaged and required replacement. Nevertheless, she
completed her assigned mission proceeding to rendezvous with the LST group
on its night retirement.
At 0645 the next day, she resumed her screening station, A-39, but
because of her reduced speed capacity, was ordered to take station
A-50. Fortunately for Vammen, she was never attacked by enemy aircraft.
Vammen remained on station off Okinawa until 8 April. Due to the frequent
enemy air raids, her crew spent an average of 10 to 12 hours a day at their
general quarters stations, but, as Commdr. King noted in his report of the
ship's operations, "no undue fatigue of effect on moral or efficiency"
resulted. Offered no opportunity to fire at enemy aircraft during her time
off Okinawa, Vammen conducted two "hedgehog" attacks on suspected submarine
contacts, neither with observable results.
With the additional problem of a burnt-out drive motor in her
surface-search (SL) radar, Vammen departed Okinawa on 8 April, screening
LST Group 17 to Leyte. Arriving at San Pedro Bay on the 14th, she underwent
repairs alongside Markab before she was drydocked in ARD-16 to have the
damaged starboard propeller replaced. Undocking on the 17th, Vammen
returned to Okinawa at the end of April, screening LST Group 41.
Detached from that escort duty on 2 May, Vammen received orders to head for
the scene of a submarine sighting at 1514 on the 5th. She arrived on the
scene at 1723 and commenced a search plan in company with Halloran
(DE-305), but found nothing. The ships abandoned the search at 1100 the
following day, and Vammen soon resumed her screening role off Okinawa.
The destroyer escort remained off Okinawa, screening incoming ships and off
transport areas, for the rest of May. On 28 May, while anchored at the
northern end of the transport area in Hagushi Bay, Vammen picked up TBS
reports of incoming aircraft - "bogies" - commencing beyond 50 miles. A
short while later, the destroyer escort's radar picked up one enemy plane,
a "Tony," first at 10 miles and then at one mile away as it circled across
the ship's bow.
The "Tony" suddenly emerged from the low clouds on the escort's starboard
quarter, and all of Vammen's 20-millimeter Oerlikons that could bear opened
up, joining the other ships nearby in putting up a fierce barrage of fire.
The "Tony" strafed a tug nearby but - hit in the tail and right wing -
burst into flame, lost altitude and crashed into the water without
exploding, clear of any ships.
Underway on 3 June, Vammen - awarded an "assist" in the downing of the
plane on 28 May - escorted an Okinawa-to-Leyte convoy between 3 and 8 June,
sinking a Japanese mine with gunfire en route. After repairs alongside
Markab and a docking in ARD-18 for repairs to her sound gear - which had be
inoperable since 22 May - the destroyer escort sailed for Lingayen in
company with sistership Cole (DE-641), on her way back to Okinawa.
For the remainder of June, Vammen preformed the unglamorous but vital duty
of screening transports and of providing local escort services to incoming
convoys. She ultimately departed the Ryukyus in early July and steamed to
Ulithi before returning once more to Okinawa on the 15th, commencing patrol
at station D-1, off Buckner Bay, on the 22d.
Subsequently returning to Ulithi in early August, the destroyer escort
returned to Okinawa on the 12th and, after fueling, got underway on the
13th, as part of the screen for the Okinawa-to-Ulithi convoy. It was while
underway with that convoy two days later that the ship received the welcome
news of Japan's capitulation. Vammen's commanding officer recorded the
event: "1745, On basis of communique No. 467, all offensive action against
Japanese ceased."
Vammen reached Ulithi on the 18th and, after escorting Convoy UOK (Ulithi
to Okinawa) 52 to Okinawa from 27 to 31 August, returned to Ulithi at the
beginning of September. Subsequently visiting Guam and Saipan, Vammen
reached Pearl Harbor on 9 November on her way back to the west coast of the
United States.
The ship underwent a lengthy availability at the Puget Sound Naval
Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., that lasted into 1946. She shifted southward to
San Diego and departed that port on 20 February, bound for the Hawaiian
Islands, reaching Pearl Harbor on 27 February. She sailed from Oahu on 4
March and proceeded via Guam to China.
Vammen supported the American occupation forces in their operations from he
spring of 1946 into the autumn, touching at ports such as Tsingtao and
Shanghai, China; and Kowloon. Departing Shanghai on 1 July 1946, the
destroyer escort reached Pearl Harbor on 16 July via Guam and Eniwetok. She
then set out for the west coast, reaching San Diego on 28 July.
The destroyer escort next underwent an availability at Terminal Island,
Calif., and San Pedro in early September and shifted to San Diego in
mid-month. Vammen was subsequently decommissioned at San Diego on 3
February 1947 and placed in reserve. She was inactivated on 2 April 1947.
The Korean War meant a new lease on life for Vammen; she was reactivated
and heavily modified to enable her to perform a specialized antisubmarine
warfare (ASW) role. With a redesigned bridge, trainable forward-firing ASW
projectors ("hedgehogs") and improved sonar capabilities, Vammen thus
became one of the most modern ASW vessels in the Fleet.
Recommissioned at Mare Island, Calif., on 15 February 1952, Vammen operated
off the west coast, out of San Diego and in the southern California area,
into the summer of the following year, training. On 19 July 1953, she left
San Diego behind, bound for her first deployment to the Western Pacific
(WestPac) since her recommissioning.
After proceeding via Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Yokosuka, Vammen arrived at
Sasebo, Japan, on 23 August but go underway the next morning for the key
port of Wonsan on the eastern coast of North Korea. She operated off
Wonsan, preforming patrol and gunfire support duties, from 25 August to 17
September before she returned to Sasebo.
Vammen returned to Wonsan at the end of October and, after performing a
second tour of gunfire support and patrol there, returned to the west coast
of the United States. Departing Wonsan on 11 November, the destroyer escort
reached San Diego on 2 December via the Shimonoseki Straits, Yokosuka,
Midway, and Pearl Harbor.
Over the next six years, Vammen alternated in training operations off the
coast of California - operating primarily out of San Diego - and conducting
regular WestPac deployments.
The latter provided her with excellent training opportunities. In 1955 and
again in 1958, she made cruises through the Western and Central Carolines,
the Bonins, the northern Marianas, and the Volcano Islands, parts of the
Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands administered by the Navy. She kept
a figurative "eye" on local conditions on the various atolls and islands,
keeping a lookout for illegal activities in trading and shipping. Her
surveillance missions varied in format. On some occasions, she would send a
landing party ashore via motor whaleboat or outboard motor-powered rubber
raft; and, on other occasions, Vammen would remain offshore while her men
scanned the island with binoculars. During the former, a pharmacist's mate
(the ship's doctor) would accompany the landing party to provide medical
care and advice for the sick.
On another occasion while en route to WestPac in company with LeRay Wilson
(DE-414), Vammen visited Port Lyttleton, New Zealand, the seaport for
Christchurch. From 3 to 8 February 1958, the two destroyer escorts remained
there, while Vammen transferred 51 sacks of mail destined for Operation
"Deepfreeze" personnel in Antarctica.
In April 1960 Vammen was selected as a Group I Naval Reserve Training (NRT)
ship; on 21 May, she was redesignated a Group II NRT ship. On 18 June 1960,
the destroyer escort was decommissioned and placed "in service."
After becoming an NRT ship, Vammen soon began to provide training for
reserve surface divisions of the 11th Naval District. Those men came on
board for both dockside and underway training. On the third weekend of each
month and for two weeks each summer, Vammen embarked her selected reserve
crew. She then conducted ASW, gunnery, and other shipboard training drills
off the coast of California between Long Beach and San Diego. In August
1960, Vammen conducted her first annual two-week training cruise with her
selected reserve crew embarked. For her performance during those
evolutions, the destroyer escort received the highest grade assigned to an
NRT ship of her type.
She subsequently conducted her second two-week cruise the following summer,
1961, ready for instant mobilization that came sooner than anyone in her
crew probably realized. That autumn, the Cold War tensions that escalated
over Berlin and in the Far East resulted in the reactivation of 40 NRT
ships for active duty. Accordingly, on 2 October 1961, Vammen was
recommissioned at Long Beach, Commdr. Charlie S. Nelson, USNR, in command.
Following her recommissioning, Vammen underwent her regularly scheduled
overhaul at Todd Shipyard. Transferred to Pearl Harbor as her new home on
15 December 1961, Vammen sailed for another WestPac deployment on 6 January
1962. She deployed with the hunter-killer group and arrived at Pearl on the
12th. She began refresher training soon thereafter.
Assigned to Escort Division (CortDiv) 72, Vammen sailed for the Philippines
on 24 February. After logistics stops at Midway and Guam for fuel and minor
voyage repairs, the destroyer escort reached Subic Bay on 11 March. After a
brief period of upkeep, Vammen visited Manila in company with Marsh
(DE-699) and Charles E. Brannon (DE-446) from 16 to 18 March. On the 19th,
the three ships got underway for the Gulf of Siam.
Arriving of the southern tip of South Vietnam on 21 March, Vammen and
Charles E. Brannon relieved Wiseman (DE-667) and Edmonds (DE-406) on the
following day and assumed the duties of training units of the small South
Vietnamese Navy in that area. From that day until 9 April, Vammen remained
on station in the Gulf of Siam, off the coast of South Vietnam, maintaining
American presence in that area. Heavy pressure form communist Viet Cong
forces inside South Vietnam had brought about a commitment of force there
as the United States sought to bolster the American-backed regime. After
visiting Subic Bay for a week of upkeep and conducing a port visit to Hong
Kong, Vammen returned to her station in the Gulf of Siam. Originally, the
ship's schedule had called for the ship to visit Japan and return to Pearl
Harbor after visiting Hong Kong, but - as Vammen's commanding officer
reported "... the efforts of Vammen and the other ex-NRT ships on the
South Vietnam training mission were apparently of such value that it was
decided to retain Escort Division 72 on the mission through mid-May."
There where further changes of plan afoot for Vammen, as was evidenced
during the second deployment in the Gulf of Siam. On 13 May, Vammen and
Charles E. Brannon were diverted form their training duties under Task
Force 72 and were ordered to report for duty to commander, TG 76.5.
Complying, the two destroyer escorts subsequently screened Valley Forge
(LPH-8), Navarro (APA-215), and Point Definance (LSD-31) while that group
took a Marine Corps expeditionary force to Bangkok, Thailand. The 3d
Battalion, 9th Marines, embarked in the amphibious group were sent to
Thailand in an effort to provide the friendly regime with troops to deter
any communist moves across the Mekong River. Following that operation,
Vammen and her sistership escorted TG 76.5 back to Subic Bay, arriving
there on the 23d.
Vammen subsequently visited Yokosuka, Japan, and participated in Exercise
"Powerdrive" - with 7th Fleet units in the Japan area - before she returned
via Midway Island to her home port Pearl Harbor, on 18 June. At Pearl from
18 June to 11 July, Vammen enjoyed the longest consecutive in-port period
since February of that year, undergoing much-needed repairs and
maintenance. On 11 July, Vammen, in company with Colahan (DD-658), Marsh,
and Wiseman, sailed for the west coast of the United States.
After her arrival at Long Beach on 17 July, Vammen was decommissioned on 1
August, resuming her role as an NRT ship. For the next seven years, Vammen,
continued her duties as an 11th Naval District NRT ship, based at Long
Beach, and operating primarily in the Long Beach-Los Angeles-San Pedro
area. During that time, she ranged as far north as British Columbia and as
far south as Ensenada, Mexico. Age ultimately caught up with the veteran
destroyer escort; and, in the summer of 1969, she was adjudged unfit for
further service.
Placed out of service on 12 July 1969, Vammen's NRT crew was transferred to
Maddox (DD-731); and the ship herself was turned over to the Naval Inactive
Ship Maintenance Facility, San Diego. Struck from the Navy list on 12 July
1969, Vammen's stripped hulk was utilized in a "Condor" missile test on 4
February 1971 and, as a result of damage suffered on that date, sank on 18
February.
Vammen (DE-644) earned on battle star for her World War II service and one
engagement star for her Korean War service.
Taken from Dictionary of American naval fighting ships Page 445-448
Dictionary of American naval fighting ships. Washington : Navy Dept., Office
of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division : For sale by the
Supt. of Docs., U.S., 1959-1981. 8 v. : ill. ; 27 cm.
LC CALL NUMBER: VA61 .A53
SUBJECTS:
United States. Navy--Lists of vessels.
OTHER NAMES:
Mooney, James L.
United States. Naval History Division.
Naval Historical Center (U.S.)
OTHER TITLES:
American naval fighting ships.
NOTES:
"An alphabetical arrangement of the ships of the Continental and United
States Navies, with a historical sketch of each one"--Pref., v. 1.
Vols. 7-8: James L. Mooney, editor, in association with Richard T. Speer.
Vols. 7-8 issued by: Naval Historical Center, Dept. of the Navy.
Includes corrected reprint (1969) of vol. 2.
Includes bibliographies.
GEOG. AREA CODE: n-us---
DEWEY DEC.: 359.3/2/50973 19
CATALOGING SOURCE: DLC DLC DLC
LCCN: 60-60198 r82
Neils Wammen
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