USS Walke (DD-723), an , was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Henry A. Walke, a Rear Admiral during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. The third Walke (DD-723) was laid down on 7 June 1943 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works and launched on 27 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Douglas Dillon. The ship was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 21 January 1944.
Service history World War II After fitting out at the Boston Navy Yard, Walke got underway on 12 February for Washington, D.C., which she visited from 14 to 18 February before heading for Bermuda and shakedown training. She returned to Boston on 19 March 1944 for availability before moving to Norfolk, Virginia, to conduct high-speed, over-the-stern fueling exercises with under the auspices of the Bureau of Ships. From Hampton Roads, the destroyer moved to Key West, Florida, at the end of the first week in April to conduct antisubmarine warfare (ASW) tests on a new type of sound gear. She completed that duty on 17 April and headed to Norfolk where she arrived two days later for almost a month of duty training nucleus crews for newly constructed destroyers.
On 12 May, Walke got underway for New York where she arrived the following day. On 14 May, she headed for European waters to participate in the Normandy invasion. She arrived in Greenock, Scotland, on 24 May. As a unit of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 119, Walke participated in the Normandy invasion between 6 and 26 June. On 7 and 8 June, she conducted shore bombardments, destroying blockhouses and machine-gun positions as well as helping to repulse a counterattack mounted by German armored units. On 23 and 24 June, the warship supported minesweeping operations at the Bombardment of Cherbourg and duelled with enemy shore batteries.
After the Allied ground forces had pushed the fighting front inland out of range of the destroyer's guns, Walke departed European waters on 3 July and arrived at the Boston Navy Yard on 9 July. Following repairs there and refresher training at Casco Bay, Maine, she sailed south and arrived at Norfolk on 26 August.
Four days later, the ship departed Norfolk in the screen of the aircraft carrier , bound ultimately for the western Pacific. Steaming via the Panama Canal and San Diego, California, the destroyer arrived in Pearl Harbor on 25 September. She conducted training exercises there for almost a month before departing the Hawaiian Islands on 23 October in the screen of . Steaming via Eniwetok and Manus Island, she arrived in Ulithi on 5 November. There, she became a unit of Task Group (TG) 38.4, of the fast carrier task force, with which she sortied that day for a series of air strikes on targets in the Philippines. The warship returned from that foray to Ulithi on 22 November and lay at anchor there until 27 November when she got underway with Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 60 for the Philippines. She arrived in San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 29 November and joined the screen of TG 77.2 operating in Leyte Gulf. She returned to the anchorage at San Pedro Bay on 4 December and remained there until 6 December when she departed with TG 78.3 to support landings from Ormoc Bay on the western coast of Leyte. The troops of the United States Army's 77th Infantry Division stormed ashore unopposed on 7 December, but the Japanese mounted heavy kamikaze attacks on the supporting ships in an attempt to foil the assault. During those air raids, Walke assisted the destroyer when three kamikazes of a nine-plane raid succeeded in crashing into her. After rescuing a number of Mahans crewmen, Walke sent the stricken destroyer to the bottom with a torpedo and gunfire. The next day, en route back to San Pedro Bay, she helped to splash an attacking enemy aircraft. She safely reached her destination later that day and operated in Leyte Gulf and at San Pedro Bay until 13 December.
That day, she got underway with TG 77.3 to support the assault on Mindoro. She arrived off that island on 15 December as a part of Rear Admiral Berkley's close covering force, made up of one heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, Walke, and six other destroyers. Besides protecting the heavier elements from air and submarine attack, she destroyed by gunfire the grounded . After completing that mission, she headed back to Leyte Gulf. En route, she drove off by antiaircraft fire several planes which approached her and arrived safely in San Pedro Bay on 18 December 1944.
The destroyer remained there until 2 January 1945 when she got underway for Lingayen Gulf and the invasion of Luzon. American minesweepers moved into the gulf on 6 January, and Walke steamed in with them to provide covering fire and antiaircraft defense. That day, four enemy Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" aircraft approached the destroyer from her starboard side forward, low on the water. She opened fire and succeeded in splashing the first two attackers. The third plane pressed home his combination strafing run-suicide attack and, though hit several times, managed to crash into Walkes bridge on the port side and burst into flames. The destroyer lost all communications, radars, gyro repeaters, and electricity throughout the superstructure. She also suffered extensive damage to the bridge itself as well as to her gun and torpedo directors. The bomb the plane carried did not explode but passed completely through the ship in the vicinity of the combat information center.
Two minutes after the first kamikaze crashed into Walke, the last of the four "Oscars" began his dive. As this attacker came in toward the destroyer's starboard quarter, he was subjected to fire from 5-inch mount number 3 in local control and from the starboard side 40- and 20-millimeter guns. Their concentrated fire saved the ship from a second crash when the plane burst into flames and splashed into the sea close aboard. Soon thereafter, control was shifted aft to secondary conn, and fires were under control within 15 minutes.
Throughout the action, though seriously wounded and horribly burned, the warship's commanding officer, Comdr. George F. Davis, continued to conn his ship and exhorted her crew to heroic efforts to save the ship. Only after he was certain that she would remain afloat and intact, did he consent to relinquish command to the executive officer and allowed himself to be carried below. Comdr. Davis succumbed to his wounds several hours later; but, for his gallant action, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously. He was further honored by having the destroyer named for him.
Walke continued to operate with TG 77.2 until after the landings on 9 January. The next day, she departed the gulf with Task Unit (TU) 78.4.2 and headed for Leyte. She arrived in San Pedro Bay on 13 January and remained there undergoing patching for two days before getting underway for the Admiralty Islands. She received further temporary repairs at Manus Island from 18 to 21 January and then resumed her voyage home, via Pearl Harbor. The ship reached the Mare Island Navy Yard on 6 February and began permanent repairs. The last of her extensive battle damage had been corrected by 4 April, Comdr. John F. McGillis took command of the ship and set a course—via Pearl Harbor, Eniwetok, and Ulithi— for Okinawa where, on 10 May, she joined the campaign to capture that island. During the first part of her stay in the Ryukyus, she served as a support ship on radar picket stations around Okinawa. On 24 June, she was ordered to join the screen of Task Force (TF) 32, the Amphibious Support Force, with which she operated until 23 July. The following day, she departed the Ryukyus in the screen of a task unit, bound for Leyte, and underwent an availability at San Pedro Bay from 28 July to 14 August. On the latter day, Walke and got underway to rendezvous at sea with TF 38. The destroyer joined the screen of TG 38.3 on 18 August—three days after hostilities ended. On 10 September, she switched to the screen of TG 38.1 and operated with the fast carriers.
Post war The warship remained in Japanese waters until 30 September when she headed via Guam for the northwest coast of the United States. She arrived in Seattle on 24 October and operated along the western seaboard until the following spring. On 18 March 1946, the ship departed San Diego for a round-trip voyage to Pearl Harbor, returned to San Diego on 10 April, and remained there until 13 May. After steaming back into Pearl Harbor on the 19th, she departed that port again two days later, but this time she continued west toward the Marshall Islands. She reached Bikini Atoll on 26 May and, for the next two months, supported the atomic tests carried out there, such as Operation Crossroads. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 15 August, remained overnight, and got underway for the west coast on 16 August. Walke entered San Diego on 22 August and then moved to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard for three months of repairs.
The warship returned to San Diego on 15 November and remained there through the end of the year. On 6 January 1947, Walke departed San Diego for Pearl Harbor whence she operated with the aircraft carrier , and later with , on special duty under the auspices of the Commander, Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet. That duty lasted until 1 May when she joined the unit sent to Sydney, Australia, to commemorate the Battle of the Coral Sea. The ship returned to San Diego in mid-June and was decommissioned there on 30 June.
Korean War
Following a little over three years in the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet, Walke was recommissioned on 5 October 1950 with CDR Marshall F. Thompson in command. After shakedown training along the west coast, the destroyer departed San Diego on 2 January 1951 and set a course for the Far East and service in the six-month-old Korean War. She repaired storm damage at Yokosuka, Japan, before joining TF 77 off the coast of Korea.
In addition to providing antisubmarine protection for the carriers of TF 77, she moved close to the Korean coast to contribute to the blockades of various enemy ports, such as Yondae Gap, Wonsan, Songjin, Chongjin, and Chuminjin as well as various other rail and road locations. On 12 June, while steaming some 60 miles off the Korean coast with TF 77, Walke struck either a floating mine, or was hit by a torpedo, which severely damaged her hull on the port side, killing 26 men and wounded another 35 sailors. The event was the deadliest suffered by the US Navy during the Korean War.
She made temporary repairs at Sasebo and then headed back to the United States where she entered the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in July for permanent repairs and a complete overhaul. Walke returned to the Korean combat zone in June 1952 and resumed screening duty with TF 77 punctuated by shore bombardment missions. That combat cruise lasted until January 1953, when she arrived in Long Beach, California, and took up normal west coast operations. In July, the warship rejoined TF 77 off the Korean coast for another seven months of duty screening the fast carriers; but, by that time, the armistice had been signed ending the combat aspect of her duties.
Post Korea