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Here at LSOZI, we take a break every Wednesday to explore the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period, profiling a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

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Warship Wednesday, September 17, 2025: ‘A Good Record, and a Proud Ship’

Courtesy of Colonel Robert D. Heinl, USMC. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. (NH 42351)

Above we see the Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS De Haven (DD-727) as she supports the first and second waves of landing craft moving toward Red Beach at burning Inchon at 0700 on 15 September 1950, some 75 years ago this week, as photographed from a Marine Air Group Twelve (MAG-12) aircraft, from either VMF-214 or VMF-215.

In more ways than one, despite her service in three real-life shooting wars and a long-running tasking as a guinea pig, the “Ravin’ D” would become the poster child for Inchon, and for good reason.

The Sumners

The Sumners, an attempt to up the firepower on the previous and highly popular Fletcher-class destroyers, mounted a half-dozen 5″/38s in a trio of dual mounts, as well as 10 21-inch torpedo tubes in a pair of five-tube turntable stations. Going past this, they were packed full of sub-busting and plane-smoking weapons as well as some decent sonar and radar sets for the era.

With 336 men crammed into a 376-foot hull, they were cramped, slower than expected (but still capable of beating 33 knots all day), and overloaded (although they reportedly rode wildly when in light conditions). Still, they are fighting ships that earned good reputations for being almost indestructible.

Cost per hull, in 1944 dollars, was about $8 million, excluding armament, compared to the $6 million price for a Fletcher, a big jump.

Meet De Haven

Our vessel was the second Navy ship named in honor of LT Edwin Jess De Haven.

Born in Philadelphia in 1816, joined up with the fleet age the ripe old age of 10 as a midshipman and made his name as an early polar explorer, shipping out with the Wilkes Expedition (1839-42), and looking for Sir John Franklin’s lost polar expedition as skipper of the humble 81-foot brigantine USS Advance in 1850 as part of the Grinnell expedition. Placed on the retired list in 1862 due to failing eyesight, he passed in 1865.

His aging granddaughter, Mrs. Helen N. De Haven, made the trip to Maine’s Bath Iron Works from her home in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in 1942 to participate in the launching ceremony for the first ship to carry his name, the Fletcher-class destroyer DD-469. Commissioned on 21 September 1942, that valiant greyhound was sunk just 133 days later, the 15th American destroyer lost in the Guadalcanal campaign.

The U.S. Navy destroyer USS De Haven (DD-469) off Savo Island, viewed from USS Fletcher, 30 January 1943, two days before she was lost. NARA image 80-G-284578

The second De Haven was a member of the much-improved Sumner class. Laid down once again at Bath Works on 9 August 1943 (just two days after the contract, NOBs-309, was issued), she was BIW Hull #228.

The late LT De Haven’s granddaughter, then 56, dutifully came to christen this second destroyer as well on a chilly 9 January 1944, sending the hull into the embrace of the Kennebec River. We all pitch in where we can in wartime.

As detailed by the Bath Independent:

Helen N. De Haven, Sponsor of USS DeHaven Photograph, January 9, 1944. Via Maine Maritime Museum 81_029/81_031

Launching of USS DeHaven DD-727, January 9, 1944 via Maine Maritime Museum D_DE_031

Commissioned 31 March 1944, her construction ran just 235 days.

Her plank owner crew was led by CDR John Bagley Dimmick (USNA 38), who would be De Haven’s skipper through the following June. Before joining De Haven, Dimmick had earned a Legion of Merit while on the staff of Commander Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet, on the team to improve the effective operation of the 5-inch gun batteries in destroyers.

On 9 July, she became the flagship of Desron 61 (Desdiv 121 and 122), the second squadron of Sumners, made up of USS Mansfield (DD 728), Lyman K. Swenson (DD 729), Collett (DD 730), Maddox (DD 731), Blue (DD 744), Brush (DD 745), Taussig (DD 746), and Samuel N. Moore (DD 747), with Capt. Jesse H. Carter moving aboard with his staff for the duration of the war.

De Haven making knots off Race Point, July 1944, via USS DeHaven.org

War!

USS De Haven (DD-727) underway in 1944. NH 52484

After shakedowns in Bermuda, De Haven pulled the mission to escort the small old flattop USS Ranger (CV 4) from Norfolk– capping the carrier’s Atlantic service– to the Pacific, where the Torch veteran would be tasked with preparing air groups out of Pearl Harbor for combat operations on the sharp end.

Dropping off Ranger in Hawaii on 3 August 1944, De Haven continued onward, escorting west-bound convoys including the carriers USS Enterprise, Intrepid, and Independence to Eniwetok before joining the fast carriers of TF 38 at Ulithi for operations in the Philippines, arriving just off Luzon as an escort with these carriers of TU 38.1.3 on 4 November.

She would continue such screens through January 1945, including raids along the Indochina coast and Formosa, with notable incidents including the rescue of a downed VF-7 Hellcat pilot from USS Hancock on 14 December and steaming through Typhoon Cobra on 17/18 December, coming to within about 35nm of the storm’s center while registering sustained 55 knot winds and mountainous seas.

Typhoon Cobra, as observed by radar. NOAA photo

De Haven spent the next several days combing the debris scattered seas for survivors from three other destroyers that were not as lucky.  No less than 718 souls perished at sea during the typhoon. Nimitz noted later that “It was the greatest loss that we have taken in the Pacific without compensatory return since the First Battle of Savo.”

February 1945 brought the Iwo Jima landings and more carrier screening. It was during plane guard duties for USS Bennington on 12 February that a TBF of VT-82 was struck by a rocket accidentally fired from a Hellcat of VF-82, causing the death of two of the three men aboard the Avenger. One of De Haven’s crew, PhM2c Edward Price, dove into the open sea and rescued the pilot, Ensign Paul F. Cochran, who was being dragged under the hull by the weight of his sinking parachute. Price was recommended for the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

On the 16th, she stood by her carriers as they made the first attacks on the coasts of the Japanese main islands since the Doolittle Raid. While the Doolittle carriers never made it closer than 650 miles from Japan, De Haven logged her position as only 150.

1/2 March saw her engage in some good old-fashioned naval bombardment, soaking Okino Daito Jima from close offshore with other destroyers overnight. She expended 14 rounds of 5″/38 Common, 432 of 40mm, and 815 of 20mm.

This dovetailed into the Okinawa landings and near constant anti-air watches for weeks, continuing this task through 13 June, including firing on at least three bogeys that came in close, counting a “sure assist” kill on an Emily. She proved a worthy lifeguard for a second time, pulling 1LT H.F. Pfremmer, USMCR, a member of Bennington’s fighter group, from the sea on 14 May.

She once again was allowed a break from plane guard and air defense duties for another fire mission, hitting Minami Daito Jima on 10 June with 104 5″/38 Common, including 23 two-gun salvos, seven four-gun salvos, and five satisfying six-gun salvos. She had hit the island on 21 April already, firing 90 rounds at its airstrip just before sunset.

Oh yeah, and she survived a second maelstrom, Typhoon Connie, during which she saved a third aviator, a pilot from USS Hornet. The “half-drowned” pilot, Lt (j.g.) John David Loeffler, USNR, was plucked from the water just eight minutes after he hit the drink, rescued by PhM2c Robert Wayne Simmons, who swam to the aviator to buckle a chest strap around him so that he could be lifted aboard with a whip hoist. Simmons was recommended for the Navy and Marine Corps medal.

Then came operations directly against the Japanese home islands proper.

On 9 July, she assumed a radar picket station some 20 miles (later 50 miles) West of the center of her task force. There, she was a control ship for inbound U.S. and RN strikes, as well as an early warning tripwire for rarely seen Japanese aircraft headed out to sea, and as a floating life guard station. She and her DesRon 61 sisters would remain on this duty through 15 August, with De Haven sinking over a dozen floating Japanese mines with 20mm cannon fire, and rescuing several downed aviators (including Lt CW Moore, USS Shangri La, 15 July; Ensign Frank Kopf, Bennington, 25 July; and Ensign J.A. Lungren, Bennington, 13 August).

She also took part in an epic littoral raid from the sea.

Overnight of 22/23 July 1945, Desron 61, De Haven included, swept Sagami Bay– lower Tokyo Bay.

With each of the Sumners mounting six 5″/38s, they could get off a tremendous amount of fire when needed.

Detecting a Japanese convoy of four vessels at 2305 while still 33,000 yards away, the chase was on. Closing to within 11,000 yards by 2353, the engagement took just 16 minutes and saw the DDs fire 3,291 5-inch shells and let fly some 18 torpedoes.

The score? One Japanese merchant ship was sunk– the freighter No.5 Hakutetsu Maru (810 t), and the other, Enbun Maru (7,030 t), was damaged. The escorting IJN minesweeper (No. 1) and subchaser (No. 42) were unharmed. The little convoy was carrying a disassembled aircraft factory and was headed to Korea to set up shop, a trip that was aborted after the battle.

The American losses were zero.

As noted by the National WWII Museum, the engagement, termed today the Battle of Sagami Bay, was “the first time U.S. Navy ships entered the outer reaches of Tokyo Bay since April 1939.”

While DesRon 61 never received a commendation for the action, Halsey himself signaled afterward, pointing out that the force rode heavy post-typhoon seas into the Bay with great effect:

“Commander Third Fleet notes with great satisfaction the success of this well-planned and executed attack.

Commander Destroyer Squadron 61 is to be congratulated on the sound judgment, initiative and aggressive spirit displayed in ‘beating the weather’ to drive this attack home at the very door of the Empire.

You are unpopular with the Emperor. Well done”

When the war ended on 15 August, De Haven and her squadron were stationed closer to the Japanese mainland than any other Allied surface ships in Halsey’s Third Fleet.

She was one of just 48 Allied (37 American) destroyers at anchor in Tokyo Bay during the Surrender Ceremony on 2 September 1945, with the ghost of the old DD-409, lost at Guadalcanal, no doubt present alongside.

There, she flew the two-star flag of RADM John F. Shafroth, ComBatRonTwo. De Haven anchored just 1,000 yards off Missouri, close enough to almost smell the ink on the documents.

From her seven-page War History, a good recap:

De Haven sailed on 20 September for the States with four battleships and two other destroyers, loaded with “stateside” bound passengers, and arriving at San Francisco on 15 October after a brief stopover at Pearl Harbor.

USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729) moored at San Diego, California, with two other destroyers, circa 1945-46. The middle ship is USS De Haven (DD-727). Courtesy of John Hummel, NH 89289

Between 1 February 1946 and 3 February 1947, De Haven served in the Western Pacific, joining the 7th Fleet in operations off the coast of China and patrolling off the Japanese coast.

De Haven received five battle stars for World War II service:

*Leyte Operation, Luzon attacks: 5-6, 13-14, 19-22 November and 14-16 December 1944
*Luzon Operation
-Luzon attacks — 6-7 January 1945
-Formosa attacks — 3-4, 9, 15, 21 January 1945
-China Coast attacks — 12 and 16 January 1945
-Nansei Shoto attacks — 22 January 1945
*Iwo Jima Operation
-Assault and occupation of Iwo Jima — 15 February – 4 March 1945
-Fifth Fleet raids against Honshu and the Nansei Shoto —15-16, 25 February, 1 March 1945
*Okinawa Gunto Operation
-Fifth and Third Fleet raids in support of Okinawa Gunto operations — 17 March – 11 June 1945
*Third Fleet Operations against Japan — 10 July – 15 August 1945

Four of the class were lost to enemy action during the war:

• USS Meredith (DD-726) struck a mine on D-Day Plus 1, following supporting the landing at Omaha Beach, then was attacked and sunk on the way back to England.
• USS Cooper (DD-695) was torpedoed and sunk on 3 December 1944 by the Japanese destroyer Take at Ormoc Bay.
• On 12 April 1945, USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733) was sunk by an Ohka (Baka) bomb during the Okinawa Campaign
• USS Drexler (DD-741) met the same fate when she was sunk by a Japanese Kamikaze on 28 May 1945.

Korea!

NKPA (North Korean People’s Army) gains, 30 June–1 August 1950. Map from The Inchon-Seoul Operation, U.S. Marine Operations in Korea, 1950–53, Vol. II (NH 97052).

Based in Japan, on 26 June 1950, De Haven and her sister USS Mansfield (DD-728) were tasked to assist in the emergency evacuation of some 700 U.S. citizens and foreign nationals from Seoul, which would fall two days later.

Just four days after the North Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th Parallel, on 29 June, the light cruiser USS Juneau (CLAA 119), packing a dozen 5″38s, in company with De Haven, fired the first naval shore bombardment of the Korean War, hitting North Korean troop concentrations at Bokuku Ko. She then performed plane guard duties for the carrier USS Valley Forge and served as the commo link between the Pusan Perimeter and the tug USS Arikara (AT-98), the inshore landing control vessel.

Tasked with blockade work along the coast, De Haven bombarded an enemy battery near Pohang on 20 August, where, working with the heavy cruiser USS Toledo, they broke up a tank attack and destroyed artillery positions. De Haven then encountered a medium vessel and three small boats on 7 September, sinking all.

Soon, De Haven was tasked to support the amphibious counterpunch to Pusan, the Inchon Landings. The beach and Wolmi-do island were held by 2,000 Norks, including the 226th Marine Regiment, to which two companies of the 2d Battalion, 918th Coast Artillery Regiment were attached with their Soviet-manufactured 76mm guns.

Task Force Group Element 90.62, consisting of De Haven and her fellow DesRon 9 Sumner sisterships USS Gurke (DD-783), Mansfield, Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), Collett (DD-730), and Henderson (DD-785), was tasked with a high-risk mission to support the Inchon Landing.

The tin cans were ordered to steam up the 30-mile-long, treacherous, and poorly charted Flying Fish (So Sudo) Channel at high tide to bombard enemy positions at Wolmi-do and the waterfront of Inchon. They did this among floating mines (the destroyers sank 12 mines), the 918th’s 76mm field guns, and strafing runs from enemy Yaks.

While the destroyers were supported by a four-ship cruiser force filled with 8- and 6-inch guns — USS Rochester (CA-124), Toledo, HMS  Jamaica (44), and HMS Kenya (14)— the deep draft cruisers could only go as far as Inchon’s outer harbor, some 14,000 yards offshore. All were provided with top cover by the planes of TF-77.

Inchon Invasion, September 1950. Wolmi-Do island under bombardment on 13 September 1950, two days before the landings at Inchon. Photographed from USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), one of whose 40mm gun mounts is in the foreground. Sowolmi-Do island, connected to Wolmi-Do by a causeway, is at the right, with Inchon beyond. 80-G-420044

Five U.S. Navy destroyers steam up the Inchon channel to bombard Wolmi-Do island on 13 September 1950, two days before the Inchon landings. Wolmi-Do is in the right center background, with smoke rising from air strikes. The ships are USS Mansfield (DD-728); USS DeHaven (DD-727); USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729); USS Collett (DD-730), and USS Gurke (DD-783). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-419905

Wolmi-do and Inchon. Drawing, colored pencil on paper, by Herbert C. Hahn, ca. 1951 (88-191-BB).

Derided as a “sitting duck” operation as it was to be done in daylight hours due to the tide pattern and in close proximity (within 800 yards) to shore (Collett, Gurke, and Swenson took hits from Korean 76mm batteries while De Haven got close enough to have received several .50 caliber hits but without serious damage), the destroyers nonetheless accomplished their mission and make it back out to sea before the tide plummeted and left them stranded on the mud.

As noted in the Marine Corps history of the landing:

It had been long since the Navy issued the historic order “Prepare to repel boarders!” But Admiral Higgins did not overlook the possibility of NKPA infantry swarming out over the mud flats to attack a disabled and grounded destroyer. And though he did not issue pikes and cutlasses, the crews of the Gurke, Henderson, Swanson, Collett, De Haven, and Mansfield were armed with grenades and Tommy guns for action at close quarters.

The total damage to the destroyers was structurally insignificant, however, and the combined casualties amounted to one man killed and eight wounded.

The force steamed back in on the 15th to land the Marines, following three squat LSMR rocket ships (No. 401, 403, and 404) that fired 1,000 of their fiery 5-inch bombardment salvos into the NKPA positions.

Soon, the destroyers were following up with everything they had. From L-minus 45 to L-minus 2, the four cruisers and six destroyers would dump no less than 2,845 8, 6, and 5-inch shells on Inchon and its outlying island, each ship concentrating on specifically assigned target areas.

From H-minus 180 to H-minus 5, the cruisers and destroyers were scheduled to blast their assigned targets with another 2,875 big gun shells, “smashing every landmark of tactical importance and starting fires that blazed across the whole waterfront.”

The Devil Dog-filled LCVPs and LSUs followed behind, covered by the 5-inch and 40mm fire from the destroyers. It was a resounding success, and by 0745, 3 bn/5th Marines radioed “Captured 45 prisoners. Meeting light resistance.”

The destroyers fired so many 5-inch shells in three days (1,700 on 13 September alone) that they needed to be re-barreled.

A worn-out 5″/38 gun barrel of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS De Haven (DD-727) is replaced by the destroyer tender USS Piedmont (AD-17), probably at Sasebo, Japan, circa 1951. All Hands archives.

The six “Sitting Ducks” destroyers of TE 90.62 that gave such yeoman service at Inchon, De Haven included, earned a collective Navy Unit Commendation:

“For outstanding heroism in action against enemy aggressor forces in Korea from 13 to 15 September 1950. Skillfully navigating the extremely difficult and hazardous approaches to enemy-held Inchon in advance of the initial assault against that fortress, Task Element 90.62 coolly entered the strongly fortified harbor and anchored within close range of hostile gun positions. Defying the deadly barrage of heavy enemy shore-battery fire delivered from a myriad of hidden gun emplacements scattered along the coastline, the gallant destroyers of this Element courageously proceeded to launch an accurate and crushing fire attack in the first of a series of well planned and brilliantly executed bombardments which culminated in the reduction of the port’s defenses and in successful landing of friendly forces at Inchon on 15 September 1950. Although sustaining several casualties and numerous hits from the roaring enemy shore batteries, these ships repeatedly refused to leave their assigned stations and boldly continued to return the heavy counter-fire of hostile guns until their scheduled time of withdrawal. Fully aware that with each successive entry into the treacherous channel, the peril of meeting increased resistance was greatly intensified, they braved the hazards of a hostile mine field, passed dangerously close to the enemy’s shore fortifications, and unleashed a furious bombardment which eventually neutralized the port defenses sufficiently to permit the successful amphibious landings. An aggressive and intrepid fighting unit, the daring officers and men of Task Element 90.62 achieved a splendid combat record which attests the teamwork, courage, and skill of the entire Destroyer Element and enhances the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

“Teamwork, Courage, and Skill “Men of Destroyer Division 91 crowd the foc’sle and superstructure of their ships in Sasebo, Japan, to receive their Navy Unit Commendations. During the presentation on the Mansfield, a crane crew in the background continues its task of installing new gun barrels on the De Haven. Streaks of red lead on the Collett and the Swenson in the foreground show the work that has occupied all the crews while in port. By coincidence, the famed ‘Sitting Duck’ destroyers are berthed in their numerical order: USS De Haven (DD-727), Mansfield (DD-728), Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), and Collett (DD-730).” Photograph and caption released by Commander Naval Forces, Far East, under date of 18 December 1951. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the “All Hands” collection at the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 97090.

Moving past Inchon, on 26 September, De Haven used her guns to disperse a North Korean unit ambushing ROK troops before going to assist the sister destroyer USS Brush (DD-745), which had struck a mine. She escorted the damaged ship back to Sasebo, arriving on the 30th.

On 6/7 October, De Haven provided NGFS for a raid by British Royal Marines from 41 (Independent) Commando on enemy railway tunnels and bridges on the east coast of Korea. The Commandos blew the railway tunnel at Kyongsong Man, less than 20 miles south of Chongjin.

Royal Marines of 41 Independent Commandos plant demolition charges on a railway line in Korea. NARA – 520790

De Haven was ordered back to Yokosuka and Pearl Harbor for refit on 23 October, wrapping her first very hectic Korean tour.

By 12 July 1951, she was back on the gunline/blockade duty off Korea, which she maintained until 1 February 1952.

Her third Korean tour ran from October 1952, when she clocked in as the flagship for patrols in the Chongjin-Songjin-Chaho area, through 20 March 1953, the latter stint including exchanging gunfire with Chinese batteries while supporting minesweeping operations off Wonsan. In 16 days off Wonson, De Haven and her partner destroyer, USS Moore, observed the impact of 316 incoming Chinese shells, some as close as 400 yards, and provided counterbattery fire in return.

De Haven earned a Navy Unit Commendation and six battle stars for Korean War service, bringing her constellation to 11 stars with her WWII service included.

• North Korean Aggression — 27 June – 12 September 1950, and 18 September – 23 October 1950
• Inchon Landing — 13-17 September 1950
• U.S. Summer-Fall Offensive — 18 July – 2 November 1951 and 3-27 November 1951
• U.S. Summer-Fall Offensive — 28 November 1951 – 25 January 1952
• Korean Defense, Summer-Fall 1952 — 21 October – 30 November 1952
• Third Korean Winter — 26 January 1953 – 20 March 1953

Test bed and space support

By the early 1950s, the Navy had decided that 21-inch anti-ship torpedo tubes as well as 40mm and 20mm guns were obsolete, so conversions to the Sumners saw these deleted and replaced with six twin 3″/50 radar-controlled DP mounts and a Hedgehog ASW system.

Post-Korea, De Haven spent the next 15 years in a much more peaceful Pacific than she had known in her first decade of service as a permanently deployed Yokosuka-based destroyer. Between alternating fleet exercises, “hearts and minds” port calls, and West Pac deployments (making six voyages to the Far East from 1953 through 1959 alone), she also had some out-of-the-ordinary taskings.

In 1958, she served as an experimental vessel for the budding Rocket Assist Torpedo program, which would later become ASROC. The idea at the time was that the RATs would launch from a platform built into a destroyer’s stern twin 5″/38 gun house.

USS De Haven (DD 727) is shown with the Rocket Assist Torpedo (RAT) launching system installed on the aft five-inch gun mount. Released July 25, 1958. 330-PS-9056 (USN 710203)

Close-up view of the Rocket Assist Torpedo (RAT) launching system installed on board USS De Haven (DD 727). “An added weapon to the anti-submarine warfare forces, the rocket-assisted torpedo weapon system consists of a rocket-propelled anti-submarine torpedo 13 ½ feet in length and weighing 450 pounds. The missile is propelled through the air by a powerful rocket. The spent rocket drops away, and the torpedo continues on its way. It deploys a parachute, which stabilizes its flight and carries it down to the water. On entering the water, the torpedo releases the parachute, sheds its nose cap, and starts to search for and attack the submarine. Released July 25, 1958.” 330-PS-9056 (USN 710204)

Then came Operation Hardtack I, a series of nearly three dozen nuclear tests from 28 April to 18 August 1958 at the Marshall Islands testing grounds (Bikini Atoll, Enewetak Atoll, etc). Besides testing a variety of devices and delivery methods, Hardtack also tested how close Navy ships and aircraft could be to these “tactical nukes” and, following washdown procedures, still operate.

De Haven was on hand for 27 of 35 blasts, some as close as 5,900 yards away. The highest TLD badge reading on De Haven was 1.76 R. In that blast, Hardtack Wahoo, De Haven suffered the following damage:

Engineering Spaces–Personnel were generally calm, though they considered it violent. In some cases, personnel were frightened.

Lower Sound Room–The shockwave sounded like water rushing by the ship. A shock wave shook the ship violently with a loud cracking noise. Personnel were somewhat frightened.

Bos’n Locker– Ship vibrated violently, first fast, then slow. Sounded like water pouring into the ship. Personnel were considerably frightened

From the 476-page Hardtack case file, declassified in 1984, De Haven’s participation in the project:

The test footage from Hardtack was only cleared and released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 2017.

FRAM’d

In the early 1960s, the remaining Sumners were ordered converted under the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization II (FRAM II) program to make them more capable for Cold War threats. For these ships, most pushing 15 years on their hulls, it was an eight-month mid-life overhaul, with a $7 million per hull price tag.

Sumner class destroyer FRAM II profile, circa 1968. Click to big up

FRAM II included new radars (SPS-10 2D surface-search and SPS-40 long range air search), a fixed SQS-29 sonar dome on the keel under frame 25, which increased her depth by 6 feet, the installation of a Gyrodyne QH-50 DASH ASW drone system and hangar, and the addition of a winched SQA-8 variable depth sonar on her fantail.

Because the 369-foot Sumners did not have sufficient hull length, they did not receive the ASROC system, which was part of the more extensive FRAM I program that was applied to the longer (and slightly younger) 380-foot Gearing-class destroyers. Instead, they had to make do with two triple Mark 32 torpedo tubes for Mark 44 torpedoes and two single 21-inch tubes for Mark 37 torpedoes installed between the funnels. In exchange, they lost their legacy ASW gear (Hedgehog and depth charges) as well as their 3″/50 DP gun mounts.

On 1 February 1960, De Haven began her FRAM II modernization at San Francisco, which was completed in September.

USS De Haven (DD-727) underway in an undated photograph, circa 1960s. UA 466.02

Sumner class, 1960 Janes

Newly converted, De Haven left Long Beach on 3 October 1961 for a 985-day forward deployment to 7th Fleet at Yokosuka that saw her return to California 33 months later after steaming 213,576 miles. This included 325 days in Yokosuka, 18 port calls in seven other countries, five exercises (Red Wheel, Yellowbird, Big Dipper, Lone Eagle, and Mercury), four patrols along the line of contact between China and Taiwan, the ship’s first deployment to Vietnam providing support to ready amphibious assault force, an exotic five week tour as station ship Hong Kong, and working as a plane guard for 11 different carriers.

And that’s just the stuff that’s on the record.

In 1962, she was the first ship to take on the Navy’s DESOTO patrols. This was a response to the expanded claims on territorial waters made by China on Taiwan, a geopolitical dispute from the Cold War that is still relevant nowadays. Operating with a SIGINT team aboard under the classified and direct control of ComSeventhFleet, she earned the 197th, 198th, and 199th Serious Warnings from Red China over penetration of what Peking considered its territorial waters near the old German treaty port of Tsingtao. While eight later Desoto patrols took place along east and north China and up the/Korean coast as far as the Soviet. Gulf of Tartary, and then switched to the Gulf of Tonkin ala USS Maddox, the original code name was for “DEhaven Special Operations off TsingtaO.”

She also served on the NASA recovery squadron for Mercury-Atlas MA-9 (“Faith 7,” Major Gordon Cooper, USAF) in May 1963.

In July 1966, she was once again detailed to assist NASA as part of the Gemini-Titan 10 (GT-10) recovery crew, one of the secondary splashdown zone (No. 3, off Okinawa) vessels, should the spacecraft not make the primary recovery ship, the newly commissioned USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7). As it turned out, Guadalcanal easily recovered the record-setting Gemini X, the 16th crewed American flight, including Command Pilot, LCDR John W. Young, USN, and Pilot, Col. Michael Collins, USAF, as the capsule landed just 3 miles from the ‘phib, just off the Virginia coast.

A Navy frogman assists the Gemini 10 astronauts following splashdown at 4:07 p.m., 21 July 1966. Astronaut John W. Young (climbing from spacecraft), command pilot, is the only crew member seen in this view (NASA Photo ID: S66-42772); Astronaut John Young is hoisted from the water by a recovery helicopter from the prime recovery ship. Navy frogmen wait in life rafts below. (NASA Photo ID: S66-42773)

After weeks of training to recover a splashdown space ship on a mock-up “boilerplate,” and with an Army commo sergeant and a NASA tech aboard, but Gemini X landing as planned on the other side of the globe, De Haven instead had a 1911 shoot-ex off the helicopter hangar and returned to port.

Vietnam

No destroyer based in the Pacific in the 1960s got out of deployments to Southeast Asia.

We know that De Haven went at least five times, including April-December 1963, October 1966- March 1967, April-August 1968, October 1969-March 1970, and November 1970- April 1971.

This included inland brown water service on the Mekong River in September 1963 and on the Saigon River during early March 1967, as noted by the VA Agent Orange list.

As noted by her Veterans page:

During this period of time, De Haven served as a naval gunfire support unit in I, II, III, and IV corps and Rung Sat special areas, firing over 22,000 rounds in support of these operations and other noteworthy campaigns, including direct combat engagement with North Vietnamese artillery units on multiple occasions. De Haven’s assignments included search and rescue, radar picket duty, electronic countermeasures, Snoopy Drone operations, shore bombardment, and attack carrier operations from both the “Yankee” and “Dixie” Station staging areas. De Haven participated in the rescue of four downed pilots off the coast of North Vietnam.

6×5! USS DeHaven DD 727 giving fire support near DMZ, 1966

USS DeHaven, DD 727, 1967, Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam. “The U.S. Navy destroyer USS De Haven (DD-727) is returning to the U.S. after two months of gunfire support off South Vietnam.” McLean County Museum of History, Paul Purnell Collection

QH-50 Snoopy Drone operations aboard De Haven in the Gulf of Tonkin; August 14, 1967:

She earned a Navy Unit Commendation and Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation in August 1968.

USS De Haven (DD-727) underway off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, on 19 November 1970. Photographer: PH3 C.P. Weston. NH 107136

With the drawdown in Vietnam, De Haven was decommissioned and stricken on 3 December 1973, capping a very active 29-year career.

Back to Korea (under a different flag)

Transferred to the South Korean Navy two days after she was stricken from the NVR, De Haven was appropriately renamed ROKS Incheon (DD-98/918) and served under the flag of that country until 1993.

ROKS Inchon (DD-918)

Epilogue

Little remains of our subject.

Her logs and plans are in the National Archives. 

The battered 48-star ensign that flew from her mast during Typhoon Cobra in 1945 is at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine.

A plaque in the ship’s memory is at the Museum of the Pacific (Nimitz Museum) in Fredericksburg, Texas, dedicated by several veteran members of her crew. For the record, she suffered no casualties in WWII.

The USS DeHaven Sailors Association remembers both tin cans today and is very active on social media. 

Her first skipper, John Dimmick, retired in 1959 as a rear admiral after 21 years of service and later became a high school history teacher in Arizona for almost two decades. He passed in 1987 at age 80.

Of De Haven’s 19 other commanders, at least two others earned stars, including her CDR William Heald Groverman Jr. (USNA ’32), who stood on her bridge on VJ Day, and CDR James Ward Montgomery (USNA ’44), who was her skipper during most of the 985-day West Pac deployment in 1961-63. Of note, Groverman had earned two Silver Stars in destroyers before he came to De Haven and only retired in 1971 after 43 years in the Navy. He had characterized De Haven as having a “good record” and being “a proud ship” in her WWII War History. He seemed like a man who would have known. They passed in 2011 and 1997, respectively.

She is remembered in a variety of maritime art.

De Haven. United States Destroyer at Wonsan. Drawing, Pencil on Paper; by Hugh Cabot; 1952; Framed Dimensions 25H X 30W. (88-187-W)

“Sudden Squall” Painting, Oil on Canvas; by R. G. Smith; 1969; “The USS de Haven (DD-727) provides anti-aircraft and anti-submarine protection for the carrier USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) while on Yankee Station, an operational staging area just off the coast of North Vietnam. The winter monsoon in that region is characterized by consistent heavy clouds and rainfall that make operations difficult.” Framed Dimensions 52 1/2H X 64 1/2W. Accession #: 88-160-FI.

Finally, German scale model maker Wolfgang Wurm crafted a 1:192 diorama of De Haven in her 1945 livery at sea during Typhoon Cobra. It is on display on level 5 of the Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg.

The Navy, in its infinite wisdom, has not elected to name a third destroyer De Haven, which is a shame.

Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive

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