HISTORY OF USS MEREDITH (DD434)

Destroyer 434, a rounded-stack, Livermore classm destroyer and the second Navy ship to bear the name USS MEREDITH, was authorized 27 March 1934. Her Keel was laid 1 June 1939 in the Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston, Massachusetts.

The first USS MEREDITH (DD 165) was built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. Her keel was laid 26 June 1918, she was launched 22 Sepetember 1918, and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, 10 March 1919. The ship was 314 feet , 4 1/2 inches long, and displaced 1,185 tons. After duty with Squadron 3, Destroyer Force Flotilla 3, she was placed in reserve 28 November 1919. In 1922, she operated for a short time in Atlantic waters and then was decommissioned at the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 January 1936 and was disposed of in accordance with the terms of the London Nval Treaty.

In the manner of her predecessor, USS MEREDITH (DD 434) was named in honor of Sergeant Jonathan Meredith, U.S. Marine Corps, who enlisted in the Marine service 8 June 1803 and was promoted to rank of sergeant 1 August of the same year. On 3 August 1804, during close combat engagement with a Tripolitan ship in the harbor of Tripoli, he distinguished himself by saving the life of Lieutenant John Tripp, USN, of USS Vixen. Three days later, Sergeant Meredith was killed in the explosion of a gunboat.

When the second Meredith (DD 434) was launched 24 April 1940, Miss Ethel Dixon Meredith of Rosedale Road, Princeton, New Jersey, great-great-grandniece of Sergeant Meredith, christened the vessel.

USS Meredith was placed in commission 1 March 1941 with Lieutenant Commander W.K. Mendenhall, USN, assuming command of the ship.

DD434 had an overall length of 348 feet, she was 36 feet at her extreme beam, and had a standard displacement of 1,630 tons.

After a short fitting out period, MEREDITH (DD 434) departed on her shakedown cruise during which she underwent intensive drills and exercises in Atlantic waters until July 1941. Later in July she sailed for Bermuda, Bristish West Indies, and then operated along the Atlantic coast until September when she returned to Bermuda. She then proceeded on patrol duties in the vicinity of Argentia, Newfoundland, where she remained until February 1942.

On 1 February1942, Lieutenant Commander Harry E. Hubbard, USN, relieved Lieutenant Commander Mendenhall as commanding officer of USS MEREDITH.

After escorting the battleships North Carolina and Washington to Norfolk, Virginia, in February she participated in escort duty with a large convoy from Norfolk to the Canal Zone, and thence to San Diego, California. Besides miscellaneous transport and other type vessels, the convoy contained USS HORNET, USS VINCENNES,USS CIMMARON, and USS NASHVILLE. At this time, HORNET was carrying a cargo of B-25's and Brigadier General Doolittle's personnel who were to later distinguish themselves in the "Shangra-La" operation of bombing Tokyo.

After a stop-over at San Diego and San Francisco, the ships steamed westward, not stopping at Pearl Harbor, T.H., as was usually the case with vessels bound for the Western Sea Frontier. Northwest of Hawaii, USS Enterprise, with her accompanying cruisers and destroyers, rendezvoused with the formation and proceeded with them toward enemy waters.

MEREDITH escorted the carrier HORNET up until the nigh before the B-25's launched their famous raid on the Japanese homeland. She then sped back to Pearl Harbor in order to avoid Jap reprisal which, however, never materialized.

After a short stay in Hawaii for upkeep repairs, she then accompanied HORNET and ENTERPRISE and other vessels of their task group to the vicinity of the Fiji Islands where she was detached from this group and started escorting USS CIMMARON to New Caledonia.

MEREDITH remained in New Caledonia for about a month serving as anitsubmarine patrol at Bulari Passage, the entrance through reefs into the waters off the port of Noumea. In deeper waters, the aircraft tender USS TANGIER operated in that area as the watch dog of the United States' PBY'S, the Navy planes which not only patrolled the waters but performed bombing missions. As extra-curricular duties, USS MEREDTIH would leave Noumea and cruise around the southern tip of the island, in the direction of the Loyalty Islands, to pick up returning PBY crews who ran out of fuel after making their bombing runs to Tulagi, Solomon Islands.

In June 1942, MEREDITH escorted TANGIER back to Pearl Harbor where the former remained for a month. The ship then escorted a repair vessel, USS VESTAL, to Tongatabu, South of Samoa, in order that she make a much needed repair of a large hole in the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA. With other ships, the destroyer then proceeded to the New Hebrides Islands. In September, she convoyed transports and supply ships to Guadalcanal after which she returned to the New Hebrides.

Her next assignment found her steaming toward the Solomon Islands with the USS Monssen DD436 to assist the Coast Guard ship ALHENA which had been torpedoed. While Monssen towed the damaged vessel, MEREDITH cruised about her in circles to ward off attack by Japanese submarines or planes. No attacks resulted and ALHENA was safely delivered to the New Hebrides.

On the 12th of October 1942 MEREDITH was underway with other ships for Guadalcanal to deliver a supply of aviation gasoline and 500 pound bombs to the United States forces there. Two days later it was learned that a Japanese carrier task force was in the vicinity and all ships, except MEREDITH and USS VIREO (an ocean-going tug) towing a loaded cargo barge, turned back. About noon of the following day a Jap scout plane was sighted but was not close enough to MEREDITH to be taken under fire effectively.At 1215 radar contact was made with a large group of planes some 45 miles away and the ship went to "Battle Stations." The crew of the VIREO were taken aboard the destroyer and preparations were made to sink the tug and her tow but, before this could be done planes had commenced bombing from directly overhead.

A graphic eyewitness account of the attack and subsequent sinking of the USS MEREDITH was given by Lieutenant (jg) Charles J. Bates, USNR, the senior surviving line officer:

".....Just as I started to report to Captain Hubbard, I was flying thrown into the air and landed in a heap on the deck of the flying bridge. I looked up and saw planes going overhead and at the same time felt an explosion below."

" I saw one bomb hit in the water about ten feet from the port bow; the bow went up and then settled down with a slight list to port. I noticed, about one foot from where I had been standing, a hole in the deck where the bomb that had knocked me down had gone through, exploding somewhere below."

" Six torpedo planes came in from starboard. The 20 millimeters (antiaircraft guns) hit the third and fourth planes, setting fires in their wings. The first four torpedoes missed ahead, the fifth I saw was going to hit so I ducked. I looked up and saw that it had hit just forward of Gun #1, bending the bow to port. The sixth torpedo missed. As each of the planes dropped its torpedo, it flew on over the ship, machine gunning the deck. From my station, I could see the Japs looking at us, some staring curiously, others grinning."

"I went from my station to the bridge and saw the Captain (Harry E. Hubbard). He was badly burned about the face and hands. He appeared dazed and asked what was happening, so I told him we were going down by the bow. He then told us to pass the word to abandon ship."

" I was just climbing on a raft when a bomb, dropped by one of the planes, hit the water. The concussion hurt a little. As I sat on the raft I saw the ship disappear beneath the waves; Gun #4 was twisted and torn, the depth charge racks and part of the stern gone, one propeller shaft hanging brokenly, and at #3 20mm gun, Joe Oban, Fireman 1st class, was still in the harness (he once made the statement that he would never leave his gun until he shot down a plane.)"

"Looking up, I saw six Japanese planes coming in low and strafing everyone in the water. As they headed my way I slipped off the raft and, holding onto the life line, ducked under the water each time they headed my way. After the planes left, I looked around and Lieutenant T. Shriver (gunnery officer) struggling in the water. He seemed to be in trouble so I swam over , brought him back to the raft, and put him on board. Next I saw Ensign Miller. He called and said the Captain needed help. I swam over and helped get the Captain aboard the raft."

"The Captain was badly burned and Lieutenant Shriver had suffered internal injuries. Of a consequence, I took charge and organized the men, allowing six at a time to sit on the sides of the raft and rest. The balance of the room was taken up by the most seriously wounded."

"The Captain kept talking for awhile, asking questions and I explained to him the procedure I had instituted. The doctor, who was on the raft, was holding the Captain's head out of the water. After awhile, the Captain was quiet so the doctor tried to find signs of life, but there were none."

To add to the difficulties of the wounded men on the raft and those in the water, the ocean surface was covered with some three inches of fuel oil and , later, sharks were attracted to the area and these blood-thirsty fish were the cause of several additional casualties.

The men suffered through the days and nights on the two rafts until the morning of the third day, the 18th, when they were sighted by a Navy patrol plane, and were rescued about nightfall by USS GRAYSON, USS GWIN, and USS SEMINOLE.

Survivors said that USS Vireo and its tow were still afloat and after a search of the area by the other ships, both were salvaged successfully.

The career of the USS MEREDITH (DD434) was brief but within the short span of her life she contributed much toward stopping the Japanese in their bid for Pacific conquest, often leading convoys alone through seas used as enemy shipping lanes and in constant danger. The destroyer did not emblazon her Asiatic-Pacific Area Service Ribbon with a dozen engagement stars, as did many vessels of World War II, but her single battle star, earned in the capture and defense of Guadalcanal on that fatal 15th day of October 1942, gleams brightly in tribute to a gallant ship and a fighting crew.

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STATISTICS

OVERALL LENGTH:: 348 feet

BEAM::36 feet

SPEED:: 37 knots

DISPLACEMENT:: 1,630 tons

Compiled: July 1949 hts

Restencilled :: January 1951