The History of The USS WISEMAN DE 667
Osborne Beeman Wiseman-born on 20 feb.1915 in Zanesville, Ohio-was appointed to the
Naval Academy on 22 June1934. and graduated on June 2, 1938.After sea duty on Saratoga CA
3 and Roe DD 418,Wiseman was transferred to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla. for
flight training.
Detached on Mar.17,1941,having won his wings., Wiseman joined Bombing Squadron VB
3,embarked in Saratoga. After the carrier was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-25 off
Oahu on Jan.11,1942 and send to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash. for repairs
and alterations, her aviation units were transferred ashore to operate from Ford Island.
When Yorktown CV-5 return to Pearl Harbor for repairs of the damage sustained early in May
at the Battle of the Coral Sea, her units were transferred from the ship and replaced by
some of Saratoga old units. Bombing Squadron 3, Torpedo Squadron 3,and Fighting
Squadron3.Wiseman reported abroad in time to take part in the pivotal Battle of Midway.
On the first day of the carrier action. June 4, LT. (jg) Wiseman flew two sorties ,one
against the carrier Soryu that morning and one against Hiryu that afternoon. The latter by
that point, was the last of the four enemy flattops afloat, and the strike in which
Wiseman participated proved to be the coup de grace administered to that ship.
Japanese " Zero Fighters, however ,swarmed over the Dauntlesses of VB-3 and VB-6,
exacting some measure of revenge for the pounding administered to Hiryu. In that meddle,
Wiseman plane was shot down,. Neither he nor his gunner Grant Ulysses Dawn were seen
again.
Having played a major part in turnings the tide of the war in the Pacific .LT. (jg)
Wiseman was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously, for his heroism and devotion to duty.
DE 667: dp. 1400 : Length 306 ft. : Beam 36'10" :dr. 9'5" (mean) : s. 24 k :
cpl. 186 : a.3- 3" ,4 1.1" , 8-20mm., 2dct., 8 dep., 1 dep. (hh) : cl Buckley
Wiseman 667 was laid down on July 26, 1943 at Pittsburgh, Pa. By the Dravo Corp.
Launched on Nov.6 1943. Sponsored by Mrs, June Holton ,the widow of LT, Wiseman and
Commissioned at Algiers, La. On April 4,1944, Lt. .W .B Mc Claran Jr. USNR in command.
Following shake down cruise to Bermuda area and post-shakedown availability in the Boston
Navy Yard , Wiseman departed Boston on May 24,1944 on the first of three round trip convoy
missions that she conducted though the autumn of 1944..The necessity for ship to shore
electrical facilities having been proved during earlier phases of the Pacific War.
Subsequently converted to a floating power station at the Charleston S,C, Naval Yard,
Wiseman sailed for the Pacific on Jan.11,1945.
Making port at Pearl Harbor on Feb.3,1945 the destroyer escort operate for a month in
the Hawaiian Islands before setting sail for the Philippines on Mar. 3 . Arriving in
Manila on the Mar.23,1945. The Wiseman commenced furnishing power to that nearly
demolished city on April 13,1945 and over the next five months , provided some 5,806,000
kilowatt-hours of electricity. In addition Wiseman evaporators furnished 150,000 gals of
drinking water to Army facilities in the harbor area and to many small craft. Her radios
were also utilized to a great extent. Placed at the disposal of the Navy port director,
the ships communication outfit was used to handle harbor radio traffic until the directors
equipment arrived and installed ashore.
Following her vital service at Manila, Wiseman shifted to Guam where she provided power
for the Army dredge Harris YM 25 for a period of two months. She then returned to the
United States and was decommissioned at San Diego on May 31,1946 She was inactived there
on Jan.31,1947 Recommissioned in the autumn of 1950 , after the onset of the Korean War
that June. Wiseman under the command of LT. Comdr. Jay W. Land rushed to Korea , reaching
the port of Mason near the mouth of the Naktong River ,at the western anchor point of the
former beach head at Pusan. As she had done at Manila in 1945 ,Wiseman now supplied
electricity to a city unable to generate its own.
Later, the ship provided comforts of home to units of the 1st Marine Div. Quartered on
the nearby pier ,providing hot showers, cigarettes, and hot meals cooked in the ships
galley. The destroyer escort also provided instructions in seamanship, gunnery ,radar,
sonar, and damage control to 80 midshipmen from the Republic of Korea( ROK) Naval Academy
and 120 ROK Navy enlisted men.
Late in 1951,Wiseman returned to the united states and underwent an extensive overhaul
at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard Vallejo Calif., before she conducted refresher training
out of San Diego thorough the spring and summer of 1952,. The ship then sailed again for
Korean waters, reaching the combat zone again that autumn. In her second Western Pacific
(WestPac) deployment since decommissioning ,Wiseman screened light carrier task forces off
the west coast of Korea, carried out patrol assignments close in shore, blockaded and
bombarded segments of the northeastern Korean coast ,and provided antisubmarine screen and
escort services for replenishment groups. In Feb. of 1953 the Wiseman captured five North
Koreans off Chongjin and destroyed there sampan. Later in the deployment she also
participated in hunter killer operations, trained in antisubmarine warfare (ASW)evolution
and served as division flagship during a goodwill call at Manila.
Over the next few years , Wiseman conducted four WestPac deployments and spend the
interludes between them in training out of San Diego and upkeep at Mare Inland Naval
Shipyard or the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. Upon occasion, she conduced Naval Reserve
training cruises, one taking her to the Hawaiian Islands. During the overseas deployment
Wiseman operated with units of SEATO navies Australia, New Zealand, British, Philippine,
Pakistani, and Thai. Visited ports Australia to Japan. Upon completion of her sixth
deployment Wiseman was designated as a Group 1 Reserve Training (NRT) ship. Accordingly on
May 16, 1959 the ship was decommissioned and turned over to the 11th Naval District LT.
W.V. Powell was the first officer in charge.
For the next two years , Wiseman operated out of San Diego on NTR duties. Every third
weekend of the month, a reserve cruise took her to sea for periods of ASW training and
during the summers the destroyer escort made two week reserve cruises. How ever in 1961,
the Berlin crisis changed the veteran destroyer escorts routine after the building of the
Berlin Wall heightened tensions in Aug. of that year. President John F. Kennedy ordered
the activation of reserve units, including the Selected Reserve Crew and NRT ships.
Recommissioned on Oct,2,1961, Lt.Comdr. C. V. Wilhoite Jr. In command. Wiseman was
immediately prepared for duty with the 7th Fleet. Since the repair and overhaul facilities
at San Diego were over worked Wiseman was overhauled at Long Beach, spending the preseason
holidays in the Bethlehem shipyards there.
Deploying to West Pac again in Jan. of 1962 Wiseman conducted patrol operation off the
coast of the trouble country of Vietnam. She received a well done for her performance of
duty and in March won commendation for giving medical aid to a fisherman with an infected
leg on board a South Vietnamese fishing junk. Later that spring the ship also visited Hong
Kong ,Subic Bay, and Japanese ports Yokohama, where she hosted celebrations for Armed
Forces Day on 19 and 20 of May.
Returning to San Diego on July 17,1962, via Midway and Pearl Harbor, Wiseman was
decommissioned and placed in service on Aug.1, resuming her duties as NTR ship with Group
11 Naval Reserve. Before the end of 1962 the ship was assigned to Reserve Destroyer
Division 272 of Reserve Destroyer Squadron 27. Placed in reserve but remaining in service
,Wiseman was berthed at San Diego though the remainder of the 1960s as part of the Pacific
Reserve Fleet reserve units. Struck from the Navy list on April 15,1973 the veteran of
World War 11, Korean service was subsequently scrapped. Wiseman DE 667 received six battle
stars for her Korean War service. |
