USS Aylwin (DD-355)

Farragut class destroyer

USS Aylwin (DD 355) was a Farragut class destroyer, and the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant John Cushing Aylwin (1778–1812).

Aylwin was laid down on 23 September 1933 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, launched on 10 July 1934, sponsored by Miss Elizabeth M. Farley, the 11 year old daughter of Postmaster General James Farley, and commissioned on 1 March 1935.

Following builders' trials late in March, and fitting out, the destroyer shifted to the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, to load eight torpedo warheads. At the end of further trials, she returned to Philadelphia on 8 May to prepare for shakedown. On 22 May, Aylwin sailed for a cruise that took her to European countries. She stopped at Port Leixoes (Oporto), Portugal, on 1 June and at Santander, Spain, on the 5th, before shifting to Cherbourg, France, on the 10th. Five days later, the Honorable Jesse I. Straus, the United States Ambassador to France, inspected the new destroyer. The warship next visited Bremen, Germany from 19 to 24 June, before sailing for Gothenburg, Sweden, and a five day visit. Then, after getting underway for Belgium on the 29th, she reached Brussels late on 2 July and there received her only royal visit when, on the morning of the 8th, King Leopold III and Queen Astrid came on board for an hour's inspection. The ship visited Dover, England, before heading homeward on 15 July. She reached Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 22nd, received post shakedown repairs, and conducted further trials that lasted until 1 October, when she put to sea to join the Fleet. She fell in with her sister ship Hull the next day, and the two ships reached Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on the 5th, where Aylwin unloaded a cargo of light freight. After transiting the Panama Canal on 7 October, she paused briefly at Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, before sailing on the 10th for a plane guard station off Champerico, Guatemala, to provide a directional bearing along the projected track of the experimental flying boat XP3Y 1, the prototype of the PBY Catalina. Aylwin reached her assigned position on 13 October and, the next morning, began laying smoke to serve as marker for the plane. The destroyer's lookouts sighted the plane at 12:38, and it passed directly overhead seven minutes later. Ultimately, the XP3Y 1 reached San Francisco Bay on 15 October, having set a new international distance record for seaplane flights—3,281.402 statute miles (5,280.905 km). The destroyer rejoined Hull the next day; and the two ships steamed into San Diego, California harbor on the 19th. After a visit to Stockton, California, from 26 to 29 October, Aylwin began her peacetime duty with the Fleet, operating off the coast of southern California in flotilla tactics, torpedo attacks, short range battle practices, and sound training runs with the submarines Nautilus and Cuttlefish.

On 10 February 1936, Aylwin departed San Diego and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on the following day for repairs and alterations. She ran her post repair trials on 3 April. Following brief operations off Pyramid Cove, San Clemente Island, Aylwin sailed for the Canal Zone on 27 April to participate in Fleet Problem XVII, a five phased evolution. The problem pitted the Battle Force against a submarine augmented Scouting Force. As the opposing forces engaged off the west coast of Central America near the Panama Canal, Aylwin conducted simulated gun attacks on "enemy" destroyers and torpedo attacks on the "enemy" battle line. She anchored off Balboa on 9 May, refueled the following day, and resumed her participation in the fleet problem on the 16th as part of the "Green" fleet. After the exercises, Aylwin sailed to Peru and arrived at Callao on the morning of 28 May. That day, Rear Admiral Sinclair Gannon, Commander, Destroyers, Scouting Force, broke his flag in Aylwin. Winding up her Peruvian visit on 2 June, she got underway for California, but paused in Panama Bay from 6 to 8 June before continuing on to San Diego. Aylwin reached her home port on the morning of 16 June and moored alongside Dobbin. That afternoon, Rear Admiral Gannon transferred his flag to the destroyer tender. On 6 July, Aylwin got underway for the Pacific Northwest and reached Port Angeles, Washington, on the 9th. She sailed thence via the inland passage to Alaska and arrived at Cordova on the 13th. Following a subsequent visit to Kodiak, a return call at Port Angeles, and tender upkeep there alongside Dobbin, the destroyer conducted sound tracking exercises at Admiralty Bay, Port Townsend, Washington. She visited Portland, Oregon, from 5 to 10 August before heading home where she arrived on the 13th. A week later, she got underway for tactical exercises in company with Worden and Monaghan; but they soon commenced looking for the overdue San Diego based tuna boat SS San Juaquin, last reported in their vicinity. The Coast Guard cutter Tahoe joined the search on 21 August, and the cutter Aurora began the next day. On the 23d, Aylwin and the other ships, sailing in a scouting line, searched for the overdue full rigged ship Pacific Queen. Although they did not find either vessel, it seems that neither was lost, since both appeared on merchant vessel registers for some years thereafter. In fact, the latter—bearing her original name, Balclutha—serves as a floating museum berthed in San Francisco, California. Aylwin operated in the southern California area until sailing on 16 April 1937 for the Hawaiian Islands to participate in Fleet Problem XVIII. Forming up with the "Hilo Detachment" on the 21st, Aylwin conducted a mock bombardment of Hilo, Hawaii before deploying to screen Houston and Ranger as they covered a simulated landing. Putting into Pearl Harbor on 25 April, Aylwin got underway on 4 May as part of the "White" Force. Rated as "damaged" in an initial phase of the action on 8 May, Aylwin shaped course to rendezvous with "friendly" units that morning and drove off two "strafing" attacks by "Black" planes en route. She sighted what appeared to be the "White" battle line at 06:40 and altered course to join, but discovered that the ships were, in fact, counted as "out of action." Thus now virtually "alone", Aylwin came about and headed for Lahaina, Hawaii. The beleaguered ship found no solace en route, however, for she spotted three fast minelayers closing from six miles away, and after identifying them as "enemy", went to general quarters at 07:30, "opening fire" three minutes later. However, the umpires quickly declared her hors de combat so she joined her "out of action" consorts soon thereafter. Aylwin returned to San Diego on 28 May 1937 and, after two weeks of upkeep alongside Whitney, resumed her training schedule. During the last days of June, she operated in company with Mississippi as that ship conducted battle practice off Santa Barbara Island in company with the radio controlled, high speed target ship Lamberton.

For the rest of 1937 and the winter months of early 1938, Aylwin maintained what had become standard routine, alternating periods in port for upkeep with time training at sea in the southern California operating area. From 6 to 9 January 1938, she participated in the search for a lost patrol plane from Patrol Squadron 7 (VP 7). After firing antiaircraft practices in early February, the ship proceeded to the Destroyer Base, San Diego, for her yearly hull inspection in the floating drydock USS ARD 1 and then proceeded to the Mare Island Navy Yard for a brief overhaul. Following those repairs, Aylwin arrived at San Diego on the 6th, just in time to participate in Fleet Problem XIX. The "Black" Fleet put to sea from San Diego at 03:25 on 15 March. As part of the "White" Fleet, Aylwin got underway at 1640 and soon joined the remainder of Destroyer Flotilla 1 and the aircraft carrier Ranger. Searching for the enemy "main body" on the 17th, she fell in with Chicago, Quincy, Chester and Portland on the following morning. That afternoon, the cruisers made contact, attacked, and retired under cover of a smoke screen. Aylwin regained sight of the "enemy" and took up a position a safe distance astern to trail them through the 19th. After fueling from Idaho on the 20th, the destroyer conducted exercises in subsequent phases of Fleet Problem XIX until supporting a mock landing at Lahaina; at the outset, she lay to between the islands of Molokai, Lanai, and Maui before standing in toward the "beachhead" to support the landing of troops. She conducted a brief minesweeping drill before refueling from Brazos and then anchoring at Lahaina Roads for a brief respite. From 4 to 8 April, Aylwin again was underway participating in further exercises before putting into Pearl Harbor. When the fleet sortied on the morning of the 18th, she ranged ahead of the departing battleships alert for possible "submarine" activity. Ultimately, Aylwin participated in the closing phases of Fleet Problem XIX, which had been conducted in three separate phases, each a small fleet problem in itself. As in Fleet Problem XVII, the exercises also tested the ability of the fleet to seize and hold advanced bases, indicating the Navy's Pacific minded planning. The destroyer returned to San Diego on 28 April and, on 9 May, resumed her coastwise training schedule. She underwent brief upkeep alongside Whitney before getting underway on 21 June for the Pacific Northwest and cruising along the coast through July, touching at such places as Port Angeles, Washington; Ketchikan, Territory of Alaska; Humpback Bay, Wrangell Narrows, Taku Inlet, Yakutat Bay, Sitka, Seattle; and finally, Portland, Oregon. She returned via San Francisco to San Diego in mid August, underwent tender upkeep alongside Whitney, and conducted training off the southern California coast before getting underway on 26 September for Hawaii. Reaching Pearl Harbor on 2 October, Aylwin underwent repairs and alterations there through November. She arrived back at San Diego on 12 December and conducted training exercises off the South Coronados Island of Mexico before ending the year 1938 berthed in a destroyer nest in San Diego harbor.

Four days into 1939, Aylwin got underway for Panama and reached Balboa on 13 January. After transiting the Panama Canal the next day, she operated out of Gonaïves, Haiti; Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; and, Port au Prince, Haiti, before getting underway on the 13th for her initial station during Fleet Problem XX. These exercises took place in the Caribbean and arrayed the Battle Force against the Scouting Force. After fueling from Maryland on 17 February, Aylwin operated with Lexington and Enterprise which acted as a raiding force during one phase of the problem. Ultimately, the "battle" reached its conclusion, the fleet battle. The forces then all retired to Culebra Bay, Puerto Rico, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt reviewed them from the deck of Houston on the last day of February. After visiting Cienfuegos and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Aylwin operated briefly out of Gonaïves before returning to Guantanamo on 31 March. She got underway on 8 April for Yorktown, Virginia, and, en route north, acted as plane guard for Lexington. Aylwin reached Yorktown on 12 April, but the Fleet's visit to that area was soon cut short by orders to return to the Pacific. Underway at 04:04 on 20 April, Aylwin took station with the rest of her division around the carriers. She planeguarded for Yorktown en route to Panama; transited the Canal on 29 April; and, after tarrying briefly at Balboa, got underway for San Diego on 2 May. Reaching her home port on the 12th, the destroyer operated off southern California before entering the Mare Island Navy Yard on 18 June for repairs and alterations lasting until 8 October. She got underway on the morning of 11 October, bound once more for Hawaii. The Navy formed a "Hawaiian Detachment" under Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews and based it at Pearl Harbor—a step foreshadowing the basing of the entire Fleet there the following spring. Aylwin arrived at Pearl Harbor on 18 October 1939 and, over the next few months, alternated periods in port at "Pearl" with varied exercises in the Hawaiian operating area.

In the spring of 1940, Aylwin, as a unit of the "maroon" fleet, participated in Fleet Problem XXI, the last pre war fleet problem. Indicative of the Fleet's security mindedness at that time, Aylwin alternated with other destroyers conducting "security patrols" off the port of Honolulu and off Pearl Harbor's entrance during the course of the evolutions, investigating all vessels sighted, including small fishing craft. Detachments from the Fleet were rotated back to the west coast at intervals. Aylwin thus returned briefly to the west coast during the summer of 1940, reaching San Diego on 9 July before shifting to the Mare Island Navy Yard on the 14th. She underwent repairs and alterations there until 22 September before returning, via San Diego, to Pearl Harbor on 21 October.

Shifting southward, she then worked with Nassau during flight training before shifting north to Dutch Harbor to take part in the invasion of Attu. The landings commenced on 11 May 1943. Some two months later, Aylwin shelled antiaircraft gun positions on Kiska on the night of 8 and 9 July. The destroyer made two passes at that island. She subsequently bombarded the enemy's main camp on Kiska on the evening of 2 August, unaware that shortly before—on 28 July—the Japanese had evacuated their entire force. Departing Adak on 31 August, Aylwin steamed to San Francisco and remained in the Bay area through mid October. Leaving the west coast on the 19th, the destroyer served as part of the screen for the escort carriers Sangamon, Chenango, and Suwannee as they sailed toward the New Hebrides and arrived at Espiritu Santo on 5 November. From mid November through the first week of December 1943, Aylwin screened carriers Sangamon and Suwannee during the operations to capture the Gilbert Islands. Detached on 8 December, she joined Bailey in escorting Maryland to Pearl Harbor where they arrived on the 14th. She then helped to screen that battleship along with Tennessee and Colorado to San Francisco which they reached four days before Christmas.

Following repairs at Alameda, California, Aylwin picked up a convoy of tank landing ships and motor minesweepers at San Diego to escort to Hawaii. After tarrying at Kauai between 16 and 20 January 1944, she moved on to the Marshall Islands, reaching Kwajalein on the last day of the month. But for a run to Majuro and back between 8 and 11 February, she served there until shifting to Eniwetok on the 21st to join Hall, MacDonough, and Monaghan in delivering fire support that night on Parry Island. The destroyer then reported to Commander, Southern Screen, for duty. Steaming back to Kwajalein on 26 February, Aylwin patrolled off Eniwetok and Majuro through mid March as mop up operations continued at those places. She was assigned next to TG 58.2, including Bunker Hill, Hornet, Monterey, and Cabot. On 30 March, the Fast Carrier Task Force commenced intensive bombing of Japanese airfields, shipping, fleet servicing facilities, and other installations in the Carolines, continuing the raids until 1 April. Aylwin helped to drive off planes during the approach of the carriers on the 29th and 30th and, at 13:43 on the latter day, sighted a damaged Curtiss SB2C "Helldiver" from Bunker Hill air group ditch a short way off. The destroyer altered course and soon thereafter picked up the pilot and his radioman. Returning to Majuro to replenish, Aylwin sortied once more on 13 April in the screen of Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery's TG 58.2, bound for waters off New Guinea to support Army landings at Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay, and Humboldt Bay, from 21 April through the 24th. Aylwin returned to Majuro on 4 May for tender repairs alongside Prairie which ended on the 21st. After screening Bunker Hill and Cabot during training in late May and early June, the veteran destroyer departed Majuro on 6 June bound for the Marianas Islands in company with TF 58. On the 12th, the planes from the carriers bombed air facilities and coast defenses in the Marianas and damaged two Japanese convoys. On the 13th, Aylwin was part of the Northern Bombardment Unit (TU 58.7.2) which shelled defense positions on the northern coast of Saipan and also served in the antisubmarine screen for the battleships Alabama and South Dakota. When the shelling ended at 17:15, she rejoined the carriers and guarded them as they refueled the next day. During that operation, the destroyer received orders to rescue a pair of Bunker Hill aviators and, less than an hour later, picked up Ens. G. W. Snediker, USNR, and Aviation Radioman 3d Class R. E. Lincoln, USNR. The destroyer made another rescue on the 16th while covering the cruiser bombardment of Guam when a plane piloted by Ens. F. P. Kleffner, USNR, crashed 1800 yards astern. On the 17th, Aylwin was ordered to help screen the transports, and she missed the Battle of the Philippine Sea on the 19th and 20th which almost wiped out Japanese carrier based aviation. Aylwin next proceeded to Eniwetok where she arrived on 28 June for a fortnight's upkeep. Aylwin screened Wichita and St. Louis as those cruisers shelled installations on Guam on 18 and 19 July before taking part in a bombardment of the northern shores of the island, concentrating her fire on Japanese defensive positions near Asan Beach. At the outset of the mission, Dewey and two LCI's provided harassing fire into that area. Minneapolis and Dewey stood in close to the beach, lying close to Adelup Point and covered the night beach obstruction demolition work of underwater demolition teams (UDTs), screened to seaward by Aylwin, Dale, and Dickerson. Aylwin relieved Dewey on station on 21 July, off Asan Beach. Dale in turn relieved Aylwin on station. Relieved at 05:30, Aylwin and her colleagues retired to the transport screen northwest of Orote Point and Agana Bay. On 25 and 26 July, the destroyer screened a cruiser bombardment of Rota Island and departed the area on the 30th, bound for Eniwetok on the first leg of a voyage home. Aylwin stopped at Pearl Harbor from 9 to 11 August and reached Bremerton, Washington, on the 17th for an overhaul. Aylwin then went down the coast with Colorado and Farragut, reached San Pedro on 10 October, and set out for Hawaii the next day. Aylwin then trained in Hawaiian waters until 11 November, when she sailed for the western Pacific in company with Baltimore, San Juan, and three destroyers. She reached Ulithi on 21 November and operated between there and the Philippines into the first week of December 1944. On 10 December, Aylwin—flagship of Commander TG 30.8 (a replenishment group) left Ulithi as the 3rd Fleet put to sea. Three days later, Aylwin rendezvoused with TF 38 and, upon completion of fueling operations early the following afternoon, cleared the area. On the morning of the 17th, TG 30.8 joined TF 38 and again commenced fueling. However, the weather soon began growing worse as a typhoon came into the Philippine Sea. After Aylwin rolled 70 degrees to port for the first time, her engines were ordered to be stopped. Two men were swept overboard and lost. A leak in the engine room at 19:30 drew all pumps into action. Aylwin survived the typhoon, but other ships had not fared so well. The storm claimed Hull, Monaghan, and Spence, each with heavy loss of life. Her flooding under control, Aylwin arrived at Ulithi three days before Christmas. There, she received repairs alongside Markab that lasted into January 1945. While at Ulithi, Aylwin conducted a brief patrol of the harbor after an explosion in Mazama—believed to have been caused by a submarine torpedo—but found no evidence of submarine activity.

The destroyer continued her operations as screen for replenishment groups into February 1945. As part of the screen of TG 50.8, she—together with Crowley, Weaver, Suamico, Shasta, and Wrangell reached Iwo Jima on 21 February. She then began protecting the transports. On 23 February, Aylwin was assigned to TF 54, the fire support group, and relieved Tuscaloosa. By that time, marines had occupied the southern section of Iwo Jima and were advancing to the north. On 23 and 24 February, Aylwin engaged in the Battle of Iwo Jima, before she left on the 25th for a fueling rendezvous en route back to Ulithi where she arrived on the 28th. During the first phase of the invasion of Okinawa, Aylwin operated between Kerama Retto and Ulithi. In early April, she endured her second typhoon on 5 June 1945. Aylwin rendezvoused with the storm damaged Pittsburgh which had lost her bow in the storm. She subsequently searched unsuccessfully for the damaged warship's severed bow before putting into Apra Harbor, Guam, on 10 June for repairs. On 6 July, she got underway to return to the Carolines and reached Ulithi on the next. She sortied on the 10th as an escort for Convoy UOK 39 and safely saw her 41 charges to Okinawa. After returning to Ulithi with another convoy, Aylwin began steaming off the anchorage on picket station B 6 at 16:40 on 3 August. The next morning, she received orders to search for survivors of the torpedoed Indianapolis. The destroyer located and examined three bodies, removing all identification materials and fingerprinting them before burying them at sea. Underway again on 13 August, Aylwin escorted a convoy of troopships to the Marianas, reaching Apra Harbor on 14 August. When Japan surrendered the following day, Aylwin was at Apra Harbor. Three days later, the destroyers got underway for the Hawaiian Islands, in company with MacDonough and Rudyerd Bay, and reached Pearl Harbor soon thereafter. On 27 August, Aylwin embarked passengers and, the following day, sailed for the California coast. The veteran destroyer disembarked her passengers at San Diego and, after tarrying there from 3 to 11 September, got underway for Panama and the east coast of the United States.

Transiting the canal for the last time on 20 September, Aylwin reached New York City on 25 September. Decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 16 October 1945, Aylwin was struck from the Navy List on 1 November 1945. Stripped for disposal, her hull was sold and delivered to George N. Nutman, Inc., of Brooklyn, N. Y. on 20 December 1946 and cut up for scrap by 2 September 1948. Aylwin received 13 battle stars for her World War II service.