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USS Moale (DD-693) was the second Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
of the United States Navy.
She was named for Lieutenant Edward Moale, Jr. (1866?1903), who
performed heroic duty during the Spanish-American War.
The Moale was laid down 5 August 1943 by the Federal
Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.; launched 16 January 1944;
sponsored by Mrs. Edward S. Moale, daughter-in-law of Lt. Edward Moale,
Jr.; and commissioned in the Brooklyn Navy Yard 28 February 1944,
Commander Walter M. Foster in command. Executive officer was Lt. Cmdr. Egil T. Steen
Following a Bermuda shakedown, Moale remained on the Atlantic coast
conducting experimental tests and training precommissioning destroyer
crews. On 21 August, she rendevouzed with the newly-commissioned
Missouri (BB-63), Alaska (CB-1), and Destroyer Division 120 (DesDiv 120)
and got underway for Trinidad in the British West Indies,
whence she continued to the Panama Canal Zone, and,
thence to San Pedro, California. Reporting to the Commander
Destroyers, Pacific Fleet (ComDesPac), at Pearl Harbor, 15 September,
she underwent carrier screening, night firing, and shore bombardment
exercises until 23 October. She then departed for the Western Carolines
as a unit of Destroyer Squadron 60 (DesRon 60). Arriving at Ulithi 5
November, she joined the 3rd Fleet's fast carrier
task force (TF 38, later 5th Fleet's TF 58), and got underway the
same day to screen the carriers as their planes conducted strikes
against Japanese targets on Leyte, Luzon and Mindoro. Returning to
Ulithi 22 November, she was underway again on the 27th to report for
duty with the 7th Fleet.
Joining Task Group 77.2 (TG 77.2), 29 November, in San Pedro Bay,
she patrolled Leyte Gulf and participated in strikes against enemy
forces in Ormoc Bay. On 2 December 1944 she was joined by
Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) and Cooper (DD-695) for a midnight raid of
enemy troop reinforcement at the western Leyte port of Ormoc.
The three destroyers found themselves in confined waters,
battered by continuous air attacks, two Japanese destroyers,
several PTs or fast motor launches, and one or more submarines,
plus shore batteries. The enemy destroyer Kuwa was sunk by gunfire
from the three ships but Take torpedoed and sank Cooper with the
loss of 191 crewmen and 13 officers. Moale suffered three dead and
twenty-five wounded. Sumner recorded no fatalities but had 11 wounded.
On 12 December, Moale shifted to TG 77.3 and took up a screening
position with the Mindoro assault force. On the 15th, she provided
fire support for the troops and antiaircraft protection for the
ships in the transport area of Mangarin Bay. About ten kamikazes
attacked the LSTs of the landing force. At least one plane was
shot down by Moale's gunners, but two ships were hit. Moale went
alongside LST-738 to assist fighting the resulting fire, suffering
damage, but the LST had to be abandoned and sunk. Moale suffered
one fatality and thirteen wounded. Moale picked up 88 survivors
from LST-738 including the ship's captain.
Moale set sail for Leyte Gulf 17 December. Arriving on the 18th,
she completed a high speed cargo run to Ulithi and back by the
end of the year. On 3 January 1945, she was once again en route
to an assault area. Steaming with Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's
Bombardment & Fire Support Group TG 77.2, she arrived off Luzon
on the 6th and commenced screening the heavy ships to seaward
as they bombarded San Fernando and other enemy concentrations
in the beachhead area at Lingayen Gulf. On the 9th, she took up
gunfire support duties, alternating such duties with antisubmarine
and antiaircraft operations. The destroyer operated with the Luzon
covering group until the 22nd. She then returned to Leyte, whence
she joined the 5th Fleet and steamed back to Ulithi to resume
operations with the fast carrier forces, now designated TF 58.
On 10 February, the force sortied from Ulithi and on the 16th
and 17th strikes were conducted against the enemy's capital to
prevent aid from being sent to the Japanese defenders on Iwo Jima.
Two ships of DesRon 60, Barton (DD-722) and Ingraham (DD-694),
were damaged when they collided on the 16th and on the 17th Moale
was detached to escort them back to Saipan. While en route, DD-693
assisted in the sinking of an enemy armed merchantman and a
small coastal vessel. Ordered back on the 18th, she rendezvoused
with TG 58.4 on the 19th and, on the 21st, screened the carriers
as they provided air cover for the marines on Iwo Jima.
Having sustained extensive damage to her deck and No. 1
mount during heavy seas with 40-foot swells, Moale departed
the Volcano Islands, 25 February, and sailed eastward for
repairs at Pearl Harbor. On 3 June, she returned to Ulithi,
getting underway for the combat area the next day. Arriving at
Hagushi Anchorage, Okinawa, 7 June, she reported to CTG 31.5
and immediately became part of the antiaircraft defenses
of the area. Through the 27th she served on radar picket stations,
where danger remained present and alerts still frequent,
even though the pressure was not as great as in April and May.
On the 28th, Moale departed for Leyte, where she joined Task Group 32.
12 of the Third Fleet and returned to Okinawa to act as part of the
covering force for minesweepers in Operation Juneau.
At the end of the month, DD-693 once again anchored in
San Pedro Bay, Leyte. There, on 15 August, she received
word of the Japanese surrender. On the 20th, she sailed
to rendezvous with TG 38.4 off the coast of Japan, and
for the next month she steamed off that coast, serving as a
weather ship and air route radio beacon. On 27 September she
departed Tokyo Bay, proceeding, via Guam, to the west coast
and peacetime duty.
[edit] 1945 ? 1973
Following the end of WWII the assignments of the Moale
were varied. She had the honor of escorting the first
ship bearing war dead back to the U.S. Moale remained
in operation off the west coast until 21 May 1946, when
she sailed for Bikini to join TF 1 for Operation Crossroads,
the atom bomb test at Bikini Atoll, returning to the west coast
for overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard 22 August. Overhaul
completed in January, 1947, she conducted operations along the
California coast until March. She then deployed to the western
Pacific for 6 months prior to reporting to the Fleet Sonar School
at San Diego for duty as a training ship.
In the spring of 1949, Moale, with DesDiv 72, was transferred
to the Atlantic Fleet. Arriving at Norfolk at the end of April,
she participated in training exercises in the western Atlantic
until November, 1950, when she sailed eastward for her first 6th
Fleet deployment. Similar operational schedules, alternate east
coast and Mediterranean duties, were followed until 24 April 1953,
when Moale departed on an around-the-world voyage. During that cruise,
which ended at Norfolk, Va., 27 October, the destroyer spent 4 months
with the U.N. forces off the coast of Korea. During June and July,
she operated with TF 77 and TF 95, remaining after the truce as a unit
of the security patrol.
From 1954, into 1969, Moale's employment schedule has
included operations in the Atlantic, North Sea, and the
Caribbean, with regular rotation to the Mediterranean for
duty with the 6th Fleet. Highlights of her career during
this period were patrol duty in the Eastern Mediterranean
during the Suez Crisis of 1956; duty as a recovery ship for
the Mercury 7 mission of astronaut Scott Carpenter, May 1962;
participation in the American blockade of Cuba during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, October?November 1962; and standby
duty for the evacuation of American nationals from Cyprus in 1964.
In 1967, Moale was recognized as the outstanding ship in the
fleet by winning the Anti-Submarine Warfare trophy for the
Atlantic Fleet. She also won the Battle Efficiency "E" Award
for Destroyer Squadron 10.
DD-693 received five battle stars for service in World War II;
one for the Korean War. The last commanding officer of the USS Moale
was Lt. Cmdr. Edward F. Schlichter. Moale was decommissioned
on 2 July 1973.
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