USS Beale (DD/DDE-471), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale (1822–1893).
Beale was laid down on 19 December 1941 at Staten Island, N.Y., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 24 August 1942; sponsored by Miss Nancy Beale, a great-grandniece of LT Beale; and commissioned on 23 December 1942 at the New York Navy Yard.
World War II
1943
Early in January 1943, Beale began shakedown training off the coast of New England. Later that month, she continued that training in the West Indies near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In mid-February, the destroyer returned north to New York for a month of post-shakedown repairs. She returned to sea on 15 March and headed back to the West Indies where she served as antisubmarine escort and plane guard for the recently commissioned aircraft carrier during her shakedown training near Trinidad. Beale completed another repair period at the New York Navy Yard between 10 and 21 March and then embarked upon the long voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Steaming by way of Norfolk, Virginia, she arrived at Cristóbal in the Panama Canal Zone on 22 April and transited the canal on the 28th.
The warship paused briefly at Balboa at the Pacific terminus of the canal before heading north toward the California coast that same day. She made an overnight stop at San Diego on 5 and 6 May before arriving in San Francisco on the 7th. Five days later, Beale put to sea on her way to the Hawaiian Islands. She entered Pearl Harbor on 22 May and spent the next six weeks conducting antisubmarine warfare (ASW) and gunnery training in the local operating area. On 6 July, the destroyer departed Oahu on her way back to California. She arrived in San Diego on the 11th and remained there until the 19th when she put to sea to participate in amphibious exercises carried out near Monterey on the 21st. The following day, Beale steamed into San Francisco.
After a week's stay, she passed out of the Golden Gate again on 29 July and charted a course to the Aleutian Islands. On 5 August, the destroyer entered Kuluk Bay at Adak. Her tour of duty with the North Pacific Force lasted almost four months, but the only enemy she encountered was the foul climate. In mid-August, Beales guns joined in the bombardment preparatory to the amphibious assault on Kiska. When the troops landed, however, they discovered that the effort had been in vain. The Japanese had abandoned the island almost three weeks previously. For the remainder of her assignment in the Aleutians, the warship continued to struggle against the elements while carrying out patrol and escort missions. At the end of November, the destroyer departed Dutch Harbor and shaped a course south to Hawaii. She stood into Pearl Harbor about a week later but stayed only three days. When Beale resumed her voyage, she steered a course via Funafuti in the Ellice Islands and Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides to Milne Bay, New Guinea. She reached her destination on 18 December. Beale spent the next seven months supporting General Douglas MacArthur's conquest of the northern coast of New Guinea and consequent isolation of the large Japanese bases in the Bismarck Archipelago at Rabaul on New Britain and Kavieng on New Ireland.
She wasted little time before getting into action. Just six days after her arrival, the destroyer was underway in company with an invasion force bound for Cape Gloucester on the western end of New Britain to secure the eastern flank of the vital Dampier Strait and Vitiaz Straits between that island and New Guinea. Her echelon, made up of seven tank landing ships (LSTs) escorted by three destroyers in addition to Beale, arrived off the objective early on the 26th, and the LSTs beached during the afternoon watch.
At around 14:30, a large formation of enemy planes attacked the Allied force off Cape Gloucester. Beale escaped damage, and her gunners claimed a kill on an Aichi D3A-1 "Val" dive bomber. Her good luck, however, eluded several of her colleagues. suffered direct hits from two bombs that touched off a huge explosion, and she sank in less than 20 minutes with a loss of 108 crewmembers. , a battle-scarred veteran of Pearl Harbor, received new wounds when a hail of fragments from several near misses riddled her hull and superstructure and injured over 30 of her crew, four of them fatally. Near misses also caused damage and a few casualties on board . Later that same day while escorting LST-466 in the vicinity of Borgen Bay, Beale encountered a Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" twin engine medium bomber pursued by three Republic P-47 "Thunderbolt" fighters. Her gunners joined the fracas, and the "Betty" soon went into the sea about distant on her port bow.
1944 After that action, the destroyer retired to the vicinity of Buna Roads and Cape Sudest, on the eastern coast of New Guinea south of the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits, in which neighborhood she remained until the beginning of 1944. On New Year's Day 1944, Beale departed Buna and rendezvoused with an assault force composed of nine high speed transports (APDs), two tank landing ships (LSTs), and several large landing craft (LCIs) with the 126th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) of the U.S. Army's 32d Infantry Division embarked. Seven other destroyers joined Beale in the escort. The force steamed northwest through Vitiaz Strait to Saidor, New Guinea, where the soldiers streamed ashore unopposed on the morning of 2 January to secure the left flank of the straits through which General MacArthur's forces would pass constantly during their leapfrog up the back of the New Guinea hen. Beale and her compatriots in the screen contented themselves with antiair and antisubmarine patrols during the landings.
For the next month, the warship divided her time between support for the Saidor operation and general patrol and escort missions along the New Guinea coast from Milne Bay to Saidor. On 5 February, Beale stood out of Milne Bay and set course for Sydney, Australia, where she carried out repairs from 9 to 23 February. Returning to Milne Bay on 27 February, she reported for duty with Task Force 74 (TF 74), a mixed force made up of American and Australian cruisers screened by American destroyers and commanded by Rear Admiral Victor A. C. Crutchley, VC, RN.
With both sides of the straits between New Guinea and New Britain free of Japanese interference, General MacArthur looked north to the Admiralty Islands whose capture would further shield his right flank during the advance and provide an alternative base to heavily defended Rabaul. Accordingly, on 27 February, Beale and her colleagues in TF 74 stood out to sea from Cape Sudest, New Guinea, just ahead of a task force composed of fast transports (APDs) and destroyers with elements of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division embarked. The troops were to serve either as the initial invasion force if resistance in the Admiralties was sufficiently light or as a reconnaissance in force to be withdrawn if opposition proved too heavy.
Arriving off Los Negros Island about two hours into the morning watch of 29 February, Beale accompanied and to a station north of Seeadler Harbor off Ndrilo Island to provide gunfire support for the landing force. At 07:40, she and her consorts opened fire on the island and continued to pound suspected enemy positions for about 15 minutes. The landing force's initial successes obviated the need for a second drubbing of the targets scheduled for the beginning of the forenoon watch. With all apparently going well ashore, the warship cleared the area in company with the rest of the task force, less two destroyers that remained behind to provide call fire, and steamed back to Cape Sudest.
On 4 March, she returned to the vicinity of the Admiralties with TF 74. After bombarding an enemy gun emplacement on Hauwei Island, her task force took up a patrol station about 30 miles (55 km) to the north of Manus. Beale remained on station with TF 74 for three days guarding the approaches to the Admiralty Islands while the troops ashore consolidated their hold on Los Negros Island and moved over to Manus. On the 7th, she made a visit to Hyane Harbor on Los Negros with Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey embarked and then bombarded an enemy position on Moakareng Peninsula before rejoining the task force for the voyage back to Cape Sudest.
Following a week of gunnery drills and tactical exercises, Beale joined , , , and in an anti-shipping sweep along the northern coast of New Guinea that was highlighted by a bombardment of Japanese installations at Wewak on 19 March. She patrolled off Oro Bay, New Guinea, on the 20th before carrying out repairs there between 21 and 27 March. The destroyer conducted antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises and more gunnery drills during the period 29 March to 8 April and then began another availability on 9 April at Milne Bay, New Guinea, that occupied her until the middle of the month.
Beales return to combat came in mid-April during the three-pronged occupation of a portion of New Guinea's northern coast bounded by Tanamerah Bay in the west and Aitape in the east. The destroyer was assigned to Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey's TF 75, built around light cruisers , , and and designated Covering Force "B" for the Hollandia mission. Her unit parted company with the main force about midnight on 21 April and reached its objective, Humboldt Bay, at about 05:00 on the 22d. At around 06:00 Beale and her consorts commenced a 15-minute preliminary bombardment. Those efforts, as well as the contributions added by TF 58 aircraft, prompted most of the supposed defenders to abandon their assignment and head for safer surroundings. As a consequence of the enemy's headlong flight, the assault troops enjoyed a landing that in amphibious circles might be regarded as a walkover, and Japanese resistance never really materialized.
With the landing's success assured, Beale cleared the area with Task Group 77.2 (TG 77.2) and arrived in Seeadler Harbor, Manus, the next day. After taking on fuel and provisions, the destroyer returned to sea on 26 April bound for the northern coast of New Guinea to resume support for the occupation of the region around Hollandia. She took up patrol station off Humboldt Bay on the morning of 27 April and, for the next several days, alternated between patrol duty, shore bombardment missions, and screening assignments with the aircraft carriers also supporting the troops ashore.
Early in May, the warship returned to Seeadler Harbor to prepare for the next hop in the leapfrog up the back of the New Guinea hen. Before embarking on that phase of the huge island's conquest, however, she joined and Bache to conduct a subsidiary mission in the vicinity of the bypassed Japanese base at Wewak where enemy shore batteries were hampering the work of Aitape-based PT boats. On 9 May, the three destroyers departed Manus for Aitape where, on the 11th, they embarked four PT boat officers to help them locate the targets. Beale and her colleagues carried out their bombardment on the 12th, returned the impromptu spotters to Aitape, and headed back to Manus.