USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733)

USS Mannert L. Abele, August 1, 1944
Overview
Type	destroyer
Shipyard	Bath Iron Works
Keel laying	December 9, 1943
Launch	April 23, 1944
1. Period of service
Commissioning	4th July 1944
Whereabouts	Sunk by an Ōka on April 12, 1945 off Okinawa
Technical specifications
length	114.8 m
width	12.2 m
Draft	4.8 m
crew	336
drive	4 oil-fired steam boilers 2 sets of steam turbines, driven by 2 shafts 60,000 WPS
speed	34 kn
Range	6500 nm at 15 kn
Armament	6 × 12.7 cm L / 38 in twin towers 12 × 40 mm flak (two quadruple and two twin guns) 11 × 20 mm Fla- MK 10 torpedo tubes Ø 533 mm 6 × hedgehog

The USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733) was a destroyer of Allen M. Sumner class of the United States Navy . She entered service with the US Navy in July 1944. On April 12, 1945, the Abele was the only ship sunk off Okinawa during the Second World War by a manned Yokosuka MXY-7 Ōka glide bomb .

history

The Mannert L. Abele , named after the submarine commander and Navy Cross carrier Lieutenant Commander Mannert Lincoln Abele (1903-1942), who went missing at sea with the USS Grunion , was found on December 9, 1943 at Bath Iron Works in Bath ( Maine ) laid down. The destroyer was launched on April 23, 1944, after being christened by the widow of the namesake , and entered service with the US Navy on July 4, under the command of Commander Alton E. Parker.

After the first test drives to Bermuda and some training drives for destroyer crews in Chesapeake Bay , the Mannert L. Abele left Norfolk on October 16, 1944 for the Pacific. Via San Diego , she arrived in Pearl Harbor on November 17th , where two weeks of extensive maneuvers followed. Together with a convoy, the ship left Hawaii for the west on December 3 , but returned two weeks later to be converted into a fighter control and radar warning ship. The Mannert L. Abele received extensive radio and radar equipment after several weeks of training left them on 27 January 1945 Hawaii to attend the invasion of Iwo Jima participate. As part of the security screen of Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner's Task Force 51, the Mannert L. Abele ran via Eniwetok and Saipan to Iwo Jima, where it secured the ships of the landing fleet. The next day she took part in the coastal bombardment. Until the evening of February 21, she also supported the 5th Marine Division in their advance on the island, then she resumed her position as a radar warning ship. On March 3rd and 4th and from March 8th to 10th, the destroyer again provided fire support for the troops that had landed, on March 10th it left the area of ​​operation and entered the Ulithi Atoll on March 12th .

The Mannert L. Abele left the atoll on March 20 and the following day joined Rear Admiral Milton L. Deyo's Task Force 54 , which was to provide fire support for the Allied landing on Okinawa . On March 24, the association arrived in the Ryūkyū Islands and began the preparatory shelling of Japanese positions on the islands the following week.

On April 1, US troops began landing on Okinawa , Mannert L. Abele initially provided fire support for the troops and was relocated to the northeast of the island as a radar outpost during the day. On April 3, she was attacked by three Japanese planes, two of which were shot down. On April 5, the destroyer fired again at Japanese positions on Okinawa, and the following day it was involved in the downing of a twin-engine Japanese bomber. On April 6, the Mannert L. Abele was ordered to secure the transport ships at close range in order to secure them against a possible breakthrough by a Japanese fleet around the battleship Yamato . The attack ( Operation Ten-Go ) was repulsed by aircraft belonging to the Fast Carrier Task Force and most of the Japanese ships were sunk.

On April 8, the Mannert L. Abele resumed its service as a radar outpost north-west of Okinawa, supported by two missile-armed dropships . On the afternoon of April 12, the destroyer was caught in a large-scale attack by kamikaze planes. At around 1:45 p.m., the destroyer managed to repel three attacking Aichi D3A Val , who pounced on USS LSM (R) -189 . A quarter of an hour later, a second wave of kamikaze followed, consisting of 15 to 25 aircraft, which remained largely beyond the range of the Mannert L. Abele's guns for half an hour .

At around 2:40 p.m., three Mitsubishi A6M Zeke turned towards the destroyer, two could be repulsed by gunfire and crashed, the third Zeke struck on the starboard side in spite of numerous flak hits at the level of the aft engine room and set it on fire. The keel of the ship was broken by the explosion and the entire energy supply on board as well as the entire machinery was paralyzed. The Mannert L. Abele was largely defenseless and propulsive in the water when a minute later a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ōka, a rocket-propelled glide bomb controlled by a pilot, hit the ship amidships at the level of the waterline. The explosion of 1000 kg of explosives on the Ōka immediately broke the destroyer apart, and the bow and stern sections sank quickly. Several survivors were rescued by the escorts LSM (R) -189 and LSM (R) -190 , who also shot down numerous other aircraft that fired at the survivors floating in the water.

The Mannert L. Abele was one of three radar outpost ships that was hit by Ōka bombs during the Battle of Okinawa, but remained the only one that sank as a result of the hit.

The Mannert L. Abele received two Battle Stars .

literature

• Roy S. Andersen: Three Minutes Off Okinawa: The Sinking of the Radar Picket Destroyer, the USS Mannert L. Abele, by Japanese Kamikaze Aircraft . Jana Press, Worcester 2007, ISBN 978-0979367106

Web links

Commons : USS Mannert L. Abele  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

• History of Mannert L. Abele in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Pictures of Mannert L. Abele at navsource.org (engl.)