USS Henderson
DD 785 (Gearing Class)

updated information on the USS HENDERSON (DD-785)'S
reunion data as follows:
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2000 HENDERSON REUNION - 7 Sep to 10 Sep 2000.
Radisson Inn & Suites 1645 North Newport Road Colorado Springs,
CO 80916 (Airport), room rate is $90.00 per night + tax. 
Complimentary breakfast. Tours include Garden of the gods & Air
Force Academy Lunch, Flying W Ranch Dinner and Pikes Peak Tour.
Saturday Night Dinner followed on Sunday with a Farewell Breakfast.

Contact Dick Sierra at 505 Park Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080;
Phone (650) 952-7440; email at: [email protected]. 
Contact Dick for
a reunion package and to get on our mailing list.

Contact Bob Karas at[email protected]) to be put 
on the email net.
********************************************************
Best Regards,
Bob-Karas
[email protected][email protected]

Builder:       Todd Pacific Shipyards
Laid Down:     October 27, 1944
Launched:      May 28, 1945
Commissioned:  August 4, 1945
Fate:          Stricken October 1, 1980

We are seeking information on the history of the USS HENDERSON and her crews.
Files may be E-mailed to us and we will incorporate them into these pages.

The Gearing Class as Constructed

          
          Displacement:  2,425 tons (3,479 tons full load)
          Length:        390 feet 6 inches
          Beam:          40 feet 10 inches
          Draught:       14 feet 4 inches (mean)
          Machinery:     four Babcock & Wilcox boilers;
                         2-shaft G.E.C. geared turbines

          Performance:   60,000 shp for 35 knots
          Bunkerage:     740 tons
          Range:         4,500 nautical miles at 20 knots
          Guns:          six 5 inch 38 cal., six 3inch
          Torpedoes:     five 21 inch in two mounts

Listing of Commanding Officers of the USS HENDERSON (DD-785)
04 AUGUST 1945 - 30 SEPTEMBER 1980

04 AUG 45 - 11 OCT 46  CDR. H. A. KNOERTZER, USN  (FIRST CO)
11 OCT 46 - 12 JUN 48  CDR. C. F. BAILEY, USN
12 JUN 48 - 01 APR 50  CDR. T. W. SAMUEL, USN             
01 APR 50 - 28 JUL 51  CDR. W. S. STEWART, USN
28 JUL 51 - 16 APR 53  CDR. J. C. MATTHEWS, USN
16 APR 53 - 22 JAN 55  CDR. H. G. KIRKPATRICK, USN
22 JAN 55 - 20 NOV 56  CDR. J. K. WILLIAMS, USN
20 NOV 56 - 08 APR 58  CDR. B. T. DOUGLAS, USN
08 APR 58 - 22 JUL 59  CDR. D. H. BAGLEY, USN
22 JUL 59 - 26 JUN 61  CDR. R. F. MERRILL, USN
26 JUN 61 - 03 FEB 62  CDR. J.    BAER, USN
03 FEB 62 - 13 JUL 63  CDR. J. E. RAWLS, USN
13 JUL 63 - 22 JAN 65  CDR. D. T. POE, USN
22 JAN 65 - 24 AUG 66  CDR. E. J. BROWN, USN
24 AUG 66 - 07 NOV 67  CDR. J. S. ELFELDT, USN
07 NOV 67 - 06 AUG 69  CDR. P. V. BORLAUG, USN
06 AUG 69 - 23 JUL 70  CDR. R. A. MESLER, USN
23 JUL 70 - 22 OCT 71  CDR. R. H. SULLIVAN, USN
22 OCT 71 - 29 JUN 73  CDR. R. E. KARAS, USN
29 JUN 73 - 29 JUN 76  CDR. W. M. CROWE Jr, USN
    (Ship Enters Naval Reserve Fleet)
29 JUN 76 - 07 OCT 78  CDR. G. E. SHRADER, USN
07 OCT 78 - 30 SEP 80  CDR. J. R. SIEMER, USN (Last CO)

  Name: Nathan Eaton
Rank: Boatswains Mate (E3)
Ship: USS Henderson DD-785
Email: [email protected]

I served on the Hendy from Jan. 1, 1977 through September 16, 1980 (just before she was decom. and sold to Pakistan), starting out as a green desk hand straight out of boot camp and finishing up as the Ship's Coxswain. I'm interested in getting in touch with shipmates who served through her last years.

Richard:

Would you please enter my data into the various parts appropriate for the Destroyer Squadron lists.

My destroyer time is as follows:

1958 - 1960 Operations Officer USS OZBOURN (DD-846) LTJG TO LT
1966 - 1968 Executive Officer, USS Henderson (DD-785) LCDR.

Thank you:

Captain Thad H. Harden USN (Retired)
1358 Woodbrook Lane
Southlake, TX 76092-8264

From: [email protected]
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 20:30:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: USS HENDERSON

Hendy is still alive and well. She is serving as the flagship of the Turkish Coast Guard as TUGRHIL. My Father served on HENDERSON 1967 to 1969 as B and M Div O. LT James McGrath. I'm looking for any pictures you may be able to locate of Hendy in that time frame.

J.P. McGrath

Date: Sun, 09 Nov 1997 23:50:25 -0800
From: Dick Mahar [email protected]
Subject: Henderson

I have little or nothing to contribute to your info gathering I think, but I was on the Henderson DD785, from January of 1952 until around June of 1954. I was a white hat, FT2 at discharge, and I will contribute anything I can. I would really like to hunt down some shipmates, the lucky ones are, like myself, a little long in the tooth now. I belong to the "Tin Can Sailors" organization, and visit the Kennedy in Fall River Mass for "work" parties occasionally. The years that I spent at sea on that ship will never be forgotten. I would like to get in touch with some of the 300 guys that served with me. This is probably not the right venue for achieving that, but if you can steer me in the right direction, it would be appreciated.

Thanks,.........Dick Mahar, Groton, CT

History notes:

USS HENDERSON (DD-785) was the second ship to bear the name, the first being a troop transport (AP-1) in the 1920's and 1930's. HENDERSON was named after Major Lofton Henderson, USMC who was killed in action leading Marine Corps dive bombers against the Japanese Fleet at the Battle of Midway in 1942. Launched on 28 May 1945 at Todd Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Seattle, WA, the ship was sponsored by Mrs. A.R. Early. She was commissioned in Seattle on 4 August 1945 with Commander H.A. Knoertzer commanding.

HENDERSON conducted a shakedown cruise out of San Diego. She departed Seattle 31 October for Hawaii. Upon arrival 7 November, she operated as a screen ship for escort carriers in Hawaiian waters and conducted experimental sonar tests with submarines before returning to San Diego 23 April 1946. After divisional exercises off California, she departed 2 December 1946 for Operation "High Jump," an Antarctic exploration and test program. This important operation included tests of clothing and equipment as well as mapping and weather work. HENDERSON reached Sydney, Australia, 13 March 1947 and returned to San Diego 6 April 1947.

After two long cruises to the Pacific in support of U.S. occupation forces in Japan, HENDERSON departed San Diego 5 August 1950 to join United Nations forces in Korea. Arriving in Yokosuka, Japan on 19 August, she served as a screening ship for fast carrier forces whose planes flew ground support and other missions over Korea. As U.S. forces prepared to leap northward with the historic Inchon invasion, HENDERSON was with the assault forces. She steamed up Flying Fish Channel on 13 September, destroying mines and bombarding Inchon waterfront in preparation for the landing. The destroyers in the area also traded blows with Communist shore batteries. The gunfire support group again entered the channel into Inchon Bay 14 to 15 September, softening up shore defenses. HENDERSON remained on fire support duty at Inchon until 1 October. She shared in the Navy Unit Commendation awarded to her task unit for its part in the Inchon landings.

The destroyer returned to screening duty after Inchon, first along the Korean coast and then in the Formosa Strait. This duty continued until she departed Keelung on 20 March, arriving in San Diego on 7 April 1951. After exercises along the California coast and a cruise to Hawaii for training, HENDERSON sailed again for Korea on 4 January 1952. She arrived off Hungnam on 16 February to take part in the blockade of that port and the coastal areas to the north. Her duties included gunfire support and bombardment of industrial sites along the coast. Next she served as an escort for the carrier BATAAN off the coast of Japan. For the remainder of her second tour in Korea, she operated with the fast carrier task force off Korea and in the Formosa Strait. She departed Yokosuka 25 July and arrived in San Diego 10 August 1952.

HENDERSON conducted training exercises off San Diego until March 1953, when she departed for a third tour in support of the Korean Conflict. She took part in the siege of Wonsan Harbor, supporting South Korean troops with accurate and sustained gunfire. Later she conducted antisubmarine operations off Okinawa. The destroyer engaged in coastal patrol, helping to maintain the vital sea lanes around the Korean Peninsula until after the armistice was signed in July 1953. She arrived in San Diego 19 October 1953, after a total of 22 months of Korean duty. HENDERSON received eight battle stars for Korean War service.

Following Korea, HENDERSON established a pattern of cruises to the Far East with the fast and mobile 7th Fleet, a main guarantor of peace in the region. This pattern continued from 1954 to 1964 and included almost a dozen cruises. Highlights of this phase of her service include protection of the Quemoy Islands from Communist aggression in September 1954, relief of Ceylonese flood victims in January 1958 and important fleet and individual exercises during her periods at sea.

Commencing 11 August 1964, HENDERSON began annual cruises in Vietnamese waters supporting 7th fleet amphibious and shore bombardment operations, and escorting the fast-striking, hard-hitting carriers. She returned to the West Coast and entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) overhaul. HENDERSON returned to the troubled waters off Southeast Asia 10 July 1965. During the next five months, she ranged the South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin while screening ORISKANY and pounding Viet Cong positions. In December she steamed into the Gulf of Siam, where she blasted V.C. coastal targets on the Ca Mau Peninsula. As escort for BON HOMME RICHARD, the veteran destroyer departed Hong Kong 26 December and arrived Long Beach 13 January 1966.

HENDERSON spent the next year serving as an ASW school ship out of San Diego and taking part in squadron exercises out of Long Beach. Late in July, she joined in the massive but unsuccessful air-sea search for the Hawaii-bound aircraft carrying Brigadier General Joseph W. Stilwell, Jr., USA. After completing preparations for another WESTPAC deployment, she returned to the waters off South Vietnam in January 1967. Over the next four months she supported attack carrier operations and conducted even more intensive shore bombardment assignments. HENDERSON returned to Long Beach in mid-June.

HENDERSON transferred to the Naval Reserve Force 29 June 1973 and was transferred to the Pakistani Navy on 30 September 1980 as TUGHRIL.