History of USS CLAXTON DD571 Continued

1944

From Jan. 4 1944 to Jan.16 we were alongside the tender DIXIE in Espirito for repairs and maintenance; and then operated out of there for drills and practise until the 26th before returning to Purvis Bay. We were on a bombardment mission off Bougainville on Feb. 4 when we were hit by shore fire, two medium caliber shells.The hits were on the starboard side abaft no. 5 gun., 15 men were wounded and several of the compartments in that area were flooded. The starboard shaft was also knocked out of alignment. The damage was controlled and we retired to Purvis Bay assisted by the tug SIOUX, arriving Feb 6. After some temporary repairs the ship went to Numea, arriving on Feb. 17th. This damage was a ticket back to the states, departing Numea on Feb. 20 heading for the West coast via Pearl Harbor. We arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard near San Francisco on March 10, 1944. The crew was moved ashore into barracks and most of them left on leave. The ship remained in the yard until May 29 receiving repairs, overhaul and modifications. During our stay in the yard, Cmdr. Stout was relieved as CO of the CLAXTON. He was replaced by Cmdr. Hubbard. During June and July the ship was assigned to the Naval District for training ship duties operating out of San Francisco, seldom overnight, with a few trips down the coast to San Clemente and back. On July 30 the good duty came to an end, we were ordered back to the Pacific. We left San Fran that day to San Pedro and from there on Aug. 2 headed for Pearl Harbor escorting an old Battleship. We arrived Pearl on Aug. 8 remaining until Aug. 12, then departing along with numerous other ships of all types southbound to the Solomons again. We arrived Purvis Bay on Aug 24 and conducted drills and exercises out of there until Sept 11 and then left escorting a group of CVE's to cover landings in the Palau Islands. During this operation, on numerous occasions, we were
assigned "Plane Guard" duty while the carriers were conducting flight operations. We picked up downed
pilots a number of times and returned them to the carrier via "high line". When we sent a  pilot back they
would send back to us a ten gallon can of ice cream.
Following this operation we returned to Seadler Harbor at Manus island in the Admiralty group arriving there Oct 3. This was a new advance base and assembly area for units participating in the invasion of the Philippines. A huge 7th Fleet force left there on Oct. 12th to make landings in Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands. The CLAXTON was assigned to a bombardment unit. North of the equator on Oct. 16, the force encountered a Typhoon which lasted until the 18th. On Oct. 20 operations started in Leyte Gulf, the CLAXTON covered operations of the Underwater Demolition Teams on the landing beaches, later providing shore bombardments and call fire. On Oct. 25, during the early morning hours, we participated in the Battle of Surigao Straits. This was only one phase of the huge Naval Battle of Leyte Gulf which occured over thousands of square miles around in the Philippines and lasted three days. We were the Flag of DESDIV XRAY, a make up DD unit to screen our battleships. Our Task Force was to intercept a Jap force coming into Leyte Gulf from the south. We outnumbered them about 4 to one and had the tactical advantage of crossing their"T". The battle started about 2237 on Oct 24 when several PT boats attacked the enemy force at the southern entrance to the strait with no results. Further along, other PT's attacked without results. About 0200 DESRON 54 made a torpedo attack from each side of the strait firing about 47 torpedos with numerous hits. At about 0300 DESRON 24 attacked with two groups of three ships firing numerous torpedos and obtaining hits. At 0332 the battleships and cruisers opened fire and about this time DESRON 56 started a torpedo run. One of their number, the GRANT got caught in a crossfire between friendly and enemy ships and sustained severe damage. During the gunfire phase we saw numerous close shell splashes from heavy caliber guns. One was close enough to splash us with water. At daylight Division Xray was sent down the strait to assist in mopping up. We got in a few shots at one crippled DD before she sank. We also picked up a few survivors, but hundreds did not want to be saved. They were later "taken care of " by Filipinos. The Japs lost two battleships, three cruisers and four destroyers and those that got away were damaged; some later sunk by air attack. We only had one destroyer and three PT's damaged. On Nov. 1, 1944 at about 1000 the ship was attacked in Leyte Gulf by a Japanese Kamikaze plane. It struck the water only a few feet from the starboard side alongside #5 gun mount. Almost the same place as the shell damage back in February. It blew a hole in the side about 8 x 12 feet flooding several compartments. 5 men were killed and about 18 wounded. The ABNER REID DD 567 was standing by and had sent over her Doctor and others along with some blood plasma. A short time later the ABNER REID was hit amidships by a Kamikaze that started raging fires. We went alongside to assist with fire hoses, but had to sheer off when ammo started exploding. A short time later she sank and the CLAXTON picked up 187 men and 7 officers that survived. The ship then put in at Tacloban on Leyte to transfer survivors, wounded and dead. Some temporary repairs were made before departing on Nov. 9 for Manus Island arriving there on the 15th. We went into drydock there with another destroyer and a cruiser and left the drydock on Christmas day. We had thought it was another ticket to the states, but the advance bases were getting too good at making repairs. While in Manus we got a new skipper. Commander M. W. Firth relieved Commander Hubbard as Captain of the CLAXTON.

Updated Feb 28, 2005

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