USS Uhlmann (DD-687) was a in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and from 1950 to 1972. She was scrapped in 1974.
Namesake
was born on 16 August 1919 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the College of Engineering, University of Michigan, from 1937 until 1940. In September 1940, he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve as an apprentice seaman and, during November and December, trained on the . Following his appointment as a midshipman in the Naval Reserve on 17 March 1941, he trained at the Midshipman School, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois and on 12 June 1941 was commissioned ensign. After additional training, he reported to Patrol Squadron 24 on 1 August 1941. This squadron, a part of Patrol Wing 2 stationed at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, was redesignated Patrol Squadron 12 (VP-12) in October 1941.
On the morning of 7 December 1941, during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, nine Imperial Japanese Navy fighters circled low over the airfield at Kaneohe and then attacked, machine-gunning the control tower and leaving planes in flames in the bay and on the ramp. The men of VP-12 returned fire with only rifles and machine guns. A short time later, a second wave of enemy planes flew over, bombing hangars and planes and destroying the hangar where many members of VP-12 were obtaining replenishment ammunition for machine guns. Additional strafing attacks followed; and, before the morning was over, eight patrol bomber seaplanes were destroyed, and all 35 planes which had been on the ground when the attack began were out of commission. Air station personnel shot down two Japanese planes and scored hits on the fuel tanks of seven others. Uhlmann was killed in the attack.
Service history Uhlmann was laid down on 6 March 1943 at Staten Island, New York, by the Bethlehem Steel Co. and launched on 30 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. C. F. Uhlmann, mother of Ens. Uhlmann. The ship was commissioned on 22 November 1943 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Commander Selden G. Hooper in command.
1944 After shakedown out of Bermuda and post-shakedown availability, the destroyer joined Destroyer Squadron 56 on 24 January 1944. Two days later, she got underway to escort to Trinidad. She then transited the Panama Canal, touched at San Diego, California, and arrived at San Francisco, California on 16 February. There, she embarked passengers for transportation to Hawaii and departed the west coast on 17 February in company with and .
She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 23 February. During March, Uhlmann underwent availability, conducted training, and rendered occasional convoy screening services in Hawaiian waters. In April, she conducted carrier escort training exercises and honed her skills in shore bombardment and radar tracking in preparation for assignment to carrier screening duties. Two hours after sunset on 24 April, while Uhlmann was participating in training exercises in Hawaiian waters as an antisubmarine screening ship for the carriers of Task Group 19.2, she was struck amidships by destroyer . The collision tore an hole in Uhlmanns hull below the water line, flooding her firerooms and the forward engine room. The following day, she was taken in tow by and returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 April. After temporary hull and engine repairs, she set her course for San Francisco on 17 May, steaming on her port engine with her forward fire and engine rooms out of commission. On 24 May, she moored at Hunter's Point and, for the next two months, underwent extensive repairs.
In August, she returned to Pearl Harbor and resumed training exercises including torpedo firing and antisubmarine warfare drills. After one false start, she departed Oahu on 18 September with and and set her course for the Admiralty Islands. En route to Manus, she was diverted to the western Caroline Islands and reported to 3d Fleet at Ulithi on 30 September. During a typhoon on 3 October, a nest of three destroyers drifted down on Uhlmann and pierced three holes in her starboard side. A few hours later, the destroyer made an emergency sortie from the lagoon with Task Group 38.2; but, by nightfall, high seas had carried away her emergency damage control measures and flooded the anchor windlass room. She returned to Ulithi on 4 October for repairs by and, on 6 October, was underway for an at-sea rendezvous with Task Force 38—the 3d Fleet's Fast Carrier Force—the following day.
At noon on 9 October, the carriers began a high-speed approach to a launch position for strikes on the Ryukyus. On 10 October, planes launched by the carriers struck Okinawa, destroying enemy aircraft, shipping, and shore installations in preparation for the projected landings on Leyte, Cebu, and Negros.
After fueling at sea on 11 October, TF 38 began a high-speed approach on Taiwan for two days of strikes on that island, again in support of the impending American assault on the Philippines. On 12 and 13 October, as the carriers steamed east of Taiwan and launched strike after strike against that island, Uhlmann operated in their antiaircraft screen. Planes from the carriers attempted to destroy Japanese air strength on Taiwan to eliminate that island as a staging base for the enemy.
Shortly after dusk on 12 October, low flying Japanese bombers and torpedo planes approached Task Group 38.2 from the west and northwest. Although most of the Japanese planes were intercepted by the task force's combat air patrol, more than a dozen broke through and attacked the formation. Uhlmann opened fire on a Japanese medium torpedo bomber at . However, undeterred, the plane continued to approach the zigzagging destroyer from port until it was hit at close range by Uhlmanns 40-millimeter fire, crossed over the ship, and splashed off the destroyer's starboard bow. The plane sank at once leaving a large quantity of gas and oil floating on the sea.
A second wave of attackers followed two minutes after the first, and Uhlmann, maneuvering with the formation, joined in the fire which downed some seven Japanese raiders during the night. At 2200, she hit an enemy plane which burst into flame and illuminated the moonless overcast night before splashing off the stern of the ship. Minutes before midnight, Uhlmann picked up another aerial intruder on radar and opened up with 5-inch fire. The plane countered by dropping flares as a diversionary tactic and pulled away, but Uhlmanns deadly fire found its mark as the raider burst into flame and splashed into the sea. The destroyers began laying smoke around midnight, and the raids tapered off. For the remainder of the night, Japanese planes merely approached within , dropped flares, and retired without attacking the formation.
Japanese planes again ventured near the formation late on 14 October only to be routed by night fliers of the combat air patrol. The next day, TF 38 began a high-speed run in for strikes on Luzon, with Uhlmann providing antisubmarine protection for the fast carriers of TG 38.2. On 16 and 17 October, the carriers launched heavy strikes on Luzon concentrating on ships and installations in the Manila Bay area. Late on 17 October, the formation set a southerly course to get into position for strikes farther south, with the fighter planes of the task force dispersing light Japanese air opposition en route. Steaming east and northeast of Samar, the task force made strikes on Negros on 20 October in strategic support of the landings on Leyte and also provided direct air support for those landings.
Meanwhile, upon first sighting American minesweepers in the approaches to Leyte Gulf, Japan had sent her naval forces into Philippine waters. On 24 October, Uhlmann protected the carriers of Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan's TG 38.2 as they launched strikes against the Japanese Center Force which was approaching San Bernardino Strait. In an action known as the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, American naval aircraft sank Japanese battleship and damaged several other enemy warships. At 2022 that evening, Task Force 38 turned north to seek out and destroy the Japanese Northern Force whose carriers had been spotted north of Luzon where they had been stationed in the hope of luring the 3d Fleet away from the beaches of Leyte.
However, a gallant group of American destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers had fought off the overwhelmingly superior Japanese Center Force and induced it to abandon its plan of attacking the amphibious ships which were supporting the Allied beachheads on Leyte. Thus, when TG 34.5 returned within aircraft range of San Bernardino Strait, the chastened Japanese Center Force had already retreated back through that strategic passage to safety. In the days that followed the historic Battle of Leyte Gulf, Uhlmann continued to screen TG 38.2 while its carriers conducted strikes on land targets, including raids on Luzon on 29 and 30 October. Shortly before noon on 29 October, as the carriers recovered aircraft from a strike against Japanese targets in the Manila area, Uhlmann left the formation to investigate what appeared to be the splash of a downed plane but was later determined to be a bomb splash. As the destroyer attempted to discover the cause of the splash, a Navy torpedo bomber from made a water landing nearby, and Uhlmann quickly rescued the pilot and two crewmen. Meanwhile, an enemy attack had materialized, and the destroyer went to general quarters, increased her speed to , and executed evasive maneuvers as she attempted to rejoin the formation. As she steamed to her assigned position, she joined in the general fire against the attackers—10 to 12 Japanese planes which made notably inaccurate high altitude bombing runs and retired after one or two of their members had been splashed by the American ships' accurate fire.
On 4 November, TF 38.2 began a high-speed approach for strikes on Luzon. For two days, carrier-based aircraft pounded Luzon and Bicol. Then, on 7 November, Uhlmann set her course for Ulithi. En route, heavy seas caused flooding in the boatswain's stores and chain locker; and Uhlmann, accompanied by , left the formation and ran with the wind while damage-control measures were being effected. She arrived at Ulithi on 9 November, underwent repairs, and got underway again on 16 November. She rendezvoused with TG 38.2 the following day and took up an antisubmarine screening station. Following carrier strikes on Luzon on 19 November, Uhlmann returned to Ulithi on 22 November.
The destroyer conducted exercises out of Ulithi until 10 December when she got underway and rendezvoused with Task Force 38 on 12 November. From 14 to 16 December, the carriers made strikes against air installations on Luzon and against shipping in water off that island to support landings on Mindoro. Toward dusk on 16 December, the task force began its retirement. As the American warships fueled northeast of Samar on 17 December, weather conditions worsened. At 1330, Uhlmann abandoned fueling from due to rough seas and winds stirred up by an approaching typhoon. On 18 December, Uhlmann recorded winds, and rolls up to 58 degrees as the typhoon's center passed within of the formation. During the afternoon, winds decreased; and, by 2000, they had subsided to . On 19 and 20 December, the ships of the battered task force resumed fueling which continued into the next day while its escorts searched for survivors of the three destroyers which had failed to survive the tropical storm. Late on 20 December, due to heavy seas, the carriers aborted a high-speed run in for strikes on Luzon; and Uhlmann returned to the storm area and searched for survivors. She made port at Ulithi on 24 December.
1945