World War II Database

Contributor: David Stubblebine

ww2dbaseThe keel for the Benson-class destroyer Bailey was laid down at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation shipyard, Staten Island, New York, United States on 29 Jan 1941. On 19 Dec 1941, the ship was christened by the granddaughter of Civil War Admiral Theodorus Bailey, the ship's namesake, and sent down the ways. Bailey was placed in commission at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York on 11 May 1942 with Lieutenant Commander Franklin Karns, Jr. in command. Bailey then shifted to Maine for shakedown exercises.

ww2dbaseAfter returning to the harbor at Portland, Maine on 6 Jun 1942, Bailey became grounded on Cow Island Ledge, a bar in the outer harbor. The ship cleared herself almost immediately but her starboard shaft and propeller were badly damaged. On one propeller, Bailey went the Boston Navy Yard for repairs. While undergoing repairs, Lieutenant Commander Karns was relieved of command and Lieutenant Commander John C. Atkeson assumed command. After repairs, Bailey returned to Maine to complete her shakedown training. Bailey's shakedown was interrupted again when the ship spent two nights searching unsuccessfully for an enemy submarine reported to be prowling the islands of Maine's Penobscot Bay. [The threat of German U-Boats in these waters was real. Nine days earlier, the U-89 sunk the Canadian motor fishing vessel Lucille M. just 200 miles southeast of these islands. U-458 was also operating in the northwestern Atlantic but there are no postwar records that indicate either was near Penobscot Bay at this time.]

ww2dbaseAt the conclusion of Bailey's shakedown period, she returned to New York. On 18 Aug 1942, Commander Ralph Riggs came aboard as commander of Destroyer Squadron 14 (DesRon14) making Bailey the destroyer squadron's flagship. Bailey would retain flagship status of one task unit or another for much of the remainder of her service. The added leadership and experience on Bailey's bridge served her well on more than one occasion.

ww2dbaseOn 3 Sep 1942, Bailey departed New York bound for the Panama Canal. She transited the canal on 9 Sep 1942 and steamed toward San Diego, California. On 12 Sep 1942 as Bailey was 140 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, she made a suspicious sonar contact and deployed four depth charges. Upon further consideration, Bailey's own assessment was that an actual submarine contact was doubtful, but these four depth charges amounted to Bailey's first shots of the war.

ww2dbaseBailey arrived at San Diego, then San Francisco, and then she was off to Kodiak, Alaska. In Kodiak, Captain Herman Spanagel boarded the ship. Bailey was assigned to deliver Captain Spanagel to the cruiser USS Nashville patrolling in the Aleutians where he was to assume command. After two days, Captain Spanagel was transferred to the Nashville and Bailey assumed her station as one of Nashville's escorts. Nashville joined USS Indianapolis and USS St. Louis who, along with their escort destroyers, were responsible for patrols and convoy escorts throughout the Aleutian chain. The cruisers in this task group were later replaced by USS Detroit, USS Salt Lake City, and USS Richmond but the duties remained the same. Depth charge attacks on suspicious sound contacts became more frequent, but they did no apparent harm to the Japanese.

ww2dbaseOn 5 Jan 1943, while Bailey was fueling in Sand Bay, Great Sitkin Island, Alaska, the destroyer USS Bancroft came alongside Bailey for her own fueling. In the rolling swells of Sand Bay, Bancroft's anchor came against Bailey's starboard side tearing a hole in Bailey's hull like a can opener. This kept Bailey in port for two days making temporary repairs.

ww2dbaseOn 8 Feb 1942, the cruiser USS Detroit left the task group for an extensive engine overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. This left the group with only two cruisers but the Aleutian patrols continued.

ww2dbaseIn late Mar 1943, US intelligence learned that on or about 26 Mar 1943 the Japanese were planning to reinforce their garrisons on Attu and Kiska islands at the western tip of the Aleutian chain. Salt Lake City and Richmond with four destroyers (including Bailey) set out to intercept these ships between the end of the Aleutian chain and Russia's Komandorski Islands. What the intelligence had missed, however, was that the Japanese had recently doubled their naval strength in the region. Bailey was sailing with a force of one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and four destroyers to meet an opposing force of two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, five destroyers, and three transports. The Japanese cruiser Nachi fired the first shots that closely bracketed Salt Lake City from 21,000 yards (12 miles). Salt Lake City responded with an equally impressive gunnery display, hitting Nachi with a shell very near the bridge. Several signalmen were killed but, on the bridge itself, Japanese commander Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya was spared. Some speculate that this close-call caused Hosogaya's nerve to weaken.

ww2dbaseFor the next four hours, guns pounded, ships maneuvered, and destroyers laid smoke. The Japanese fired 42 Type 93 Long Lance torpedoes at the American ships with no hits, although two passed directly under Richmond's bridge. The reports of torpedo tracks from American lookouts were written off as panicked schools of fish. US commanders found it incomprehensible that Japanese torpedoes could travel twice as far as their own. Salt Lake City took several hits from large caliber guns and went dead in the water. Destroyers Bailey and Coghlan laid smoke around Salt Lake City as the cruiser worked to get underway again. Commander Riggs aboard Bailey ordered his destroyers make a torpedo attack on the Japanese cruisers. Bailey burst out of the smoke at flank speed with Coghlan and Monaghan behind. Coghlan and Monaghan were partially concealed in Bailey's smoke but nothing was hiding Bailey. The Japanese knew exactly what the destroyers were doing and every gun within range concentrated fire on the lead destroyer. Hundreds of shells narrowly missed Bailey, creating a deluge of exploding water. Yet, as Bailey sprinted forward, the shells were predominately falling just behind her. At 10,000 yards, Bailey's shells began landing on Nachi. Enemy fire also began finding its mark, however, with one Japanese shell penetrating deep into Bailey before exploding in the galley passageway, almost dead-center in the ship by any measure. This passageway was also the staging point for Bailey's two damage-control parties. Five were killed and seven were wounding. At about the same time, another major caliber shell skipped off Bailey's afterdeck, glanced off the No. 4 gun turret, and tumbled out to sea.

ww2dbaseMoments after Bailey received four shell hits in rapid succession, she launched all five of her torpedoes at maximum range. Coghlan and Monaghan followed suit. Bailey turned away as she also began losing speed. Bailey's forward engine room was completely out of commission and she was also having difficulty steering. Coghlan stood by to tow Bailey if needed but Bailey managed to make way again within minutes.

ww2dbaseMeanwhile, the Japanese formation was being surrounded by many large shell splashes. The American cruisers had run out of armor piercing shells and had switched to general purpose shells normally used in shore bombardments. The change in shells made for changes in the bursts around the Japanese ships. Based on the newer, darker shell bursts, Vice Admiral Hosogaya believed his ships had come under a high-altitude bombing attack from aircraft flying above the overcast. With a decisive victory within his grasp, Hosogaya began his withdrawal.

ww2dbaseThe Battle of Komandorski Islands inflicted more damage on American ships than on Japanese ships but the Japanese were denied the opportunity to land their reinforcements on Attu and Kiska, so the engagement is largely seen as a strategic victory for the Americans. This was also the largest daylight long-range purely surface battle of the Pacific war. Neither force included any submarines and the only aircraft involved was a single scout plane launched by the Japanese as a gunnery spotter. This action, along with the later Battle of Surigao Strait, largely closed the history books on naval gunnery battles.

ww2dbaseThe American ships withdrew to Dutch Harbor, Alaska with Bailey straggling slightly behind due to having only one working propeller and some lingering steering difficulties. Rear Admiral Charles McMorris on Richmond as well as the others on the bridges of both cruisers were very impressed with the courage displayed in the destroyers' torpedo attack. The attack by Bailey, Coghlan, and Monaghan became known as the Charge of the Irish Destroyers. Almost miraculously, only seven sailors were killed on the American side and an estimated 27 on the Japanese side. Five of the American casualties were men in Bailey's forward engine room with the other two aboard Salt Lake City. Commander Riggs and Lieutenant Commander Atkeson aboard Bailey were each awarded the Navy Cross for their actions. Bailey's gunnery officer, Lieutenant Danforth Huntington, and Bailey's engineering officer, Lieutenant Ralph Moureau, were each awarded the Silver Star.

ww2dbaseBailey spent three days undergoing emergency repairs alongside destroyer tender USS Black Hawk in Dutch Harbor before she and Salt Lake City departed on 2 Apr 1943 for Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for more thorough overhauls. While at Mare Island, Bailey had a routine change of command with Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Munger relieving Lieutenant Commander Atkeson.

ww2dbaseAs Bailey's shipyard repairs proceeded, it was clear that her starboard reduction gears had been damaged but assessing the extent of the damage was difficult. Once all of Bailey's repairs were completed, or so it was thought, Bailey exited the Golden Gate for some speed trials and returned immediately to Mare Island with severe vibrations. After more repairs and more tests, the captain still rated the repairs as unacceptable. Never far from Mare Island, Bailey circuited between San Francisco and San Diego until Sep 1943 when she put into Mare Island one more time for a complete replacement of the starboard reduction gear, which took ten days.

ww2dbaseBailey shifted from San Francisco to San Pedro, California where she was assigned to escort the battleship USS Tennessee in her movement to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After a brief layover in Hawaii, Bailey was sent to New Zealand. Bailey crossed the equator on 19 Oct 1943 and three days later, the International Date Line. Bailey was only in New Zealand for two days before pressing on to Efate Island in the New Hebrides. There, Bailey joined the force preparing to invade Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. Bailey covered those landings over the last two weeks of Nov 1943.

ww2dbaseAfter a month in Hawaiian waters, Bailey sailed for the invasions of Kwajalein and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. After a few convoy escorts between Pearl Harbor and the Marshall Islands, Bailey spent two weeks with an anti-submarine hunter-killer group centered around escort carrier USS Kalinin Bay operating between Mili and Maloelap Atolls in the Marshall Islands.

ww2dbaseBailey returned to Pearl Harbor as the fleet regrouped for the assault on the Mariana Islands. On 25 May 1944, Bailey sailed with the Operation Forager attack force. Bailey covered the landings on Saipan before shifting to be part of the pre-invasion bombardment of Tinian. Once the fighting settled down, Bailey escorted resupply convoys coming from Eniwetok.

ww2dbaseBailey spent most of the month of Aug 1944 undergoing tender repairs in Purvis Bay, Florida Island, Solomon Islands. From there, Bailey sailed as part of the task force bound for the invasion of the southern Palau Islands. On 17 Sep 1944, Bailey covered the landings on Angaur Island, Palau. On 1 Oct 1944 five miles northwest of Peleliu, Bailey came under a withering nighttime strafing attack that left nine dead, 16 wounded, and damage to many systems throughout the ship. In his action report, Commander Munger stated the damage to critical ship systems could not have been more precise had the Japanese planned the attack using the ship's blueprints. Both electrical switchboards were shot up, both engine rooms lost their ventilation pumps, and key personnel responsible for directing the guns and launching the torpedoes were killed.

ww2dbaseBailey made emergency repairs that allowed her to travel to Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands where she spent a week alongside destroyer tender USS Sierra. From there, Bailey made her way to (where else?) Mare Island.

ww2dbaseBailey's repairs lasted six weeks. The day her repairs were completed and Bailey was preparing to leave Mare Island, she experienced another routine change of command. Lieutenant Commander Arthur Johnson relieved Commander Munger as Bailey's captain. Bailey then entered a period of refresher training back-and-forth between San Francisco and San Diego.

ww2dbaseOn 18 Dec 1944, Bailey departed San Francisco as an escort for the new battleship USS Missouri on her first trip into the combat area. Bailey stayed with Missouri to Pearl Harbor and then to Ulithi in the Caroline Islands. Bailey spent the next six weeks escorting convoys between Eniwetok, Guam, and the Philippines. During her first transit on 17 Jan 1945, Bailey was diverted to a report of a downed airman. Guided by two aircraft circling the life raft, Bailey was able to rescue USAAF pilot Second Lieutenant Joseph DeVona of the 73rd Fighter Squadron who had been forced to bail out earlier that same day after his P-38L Lightning lost power to both engines. During a stop at Guam two weeks later, Bailey was again directed to search for downed airmen and picked two Navy airman whose airplane had run out of fuel on their trip to Guam.

ww2dbaseIn Mar 1945, Bailey covered the invasion forces landing at Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippines. In Apr 1945, Bailey covered the invasion forces landing at Legaspi, Albay Gulf, Luzon, Philippines. In May 1945, Bailey covered the Australian invasion forces landing at Tarakan Island, Borneo, Dutch East Indies. For the next two months, Bailey escorted resupply convoys supporting the Borneo operations. Around Borneo, the hazards to Bailey changed slightly. No submarines were detected and very few Japanese aircraft were seen but the waters of Makassar Strait separating Borneo and Sulawesi had been heavily mined by both sides throughout the war. Bailey was not affected by the mines, however, except for having to double the lookouts on watch. On 26 Jul 1945, Bailey was again directed to search for downed airmen 130 miles west of Morotai. Rescue aircraft directed Bailey to rafts containing five of the ten-member flight crew of a B-24 bomber from the 868th Bombardment Squadron based on Leyte. These were the last airmen Bailey would pluck from the sea during the war, bringing her total of rescued airmen to sixteen.

ww2dbaseBailey was engaged in gunnery training at Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines when the war ended. Bailey escorted convoys between the Philippines and Okinawa before receiving orders to return to the United States. Bailey departed Manila Bay, Philippines on 3 Nov 1945 and made brief stops at Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, and San Diego. Bailey transited the Panama Canal for the second and final time before arriving at Boston Navy Yard for a deactivation overhaul. On 2 May 1946, Bailey was taken out of commission at Charleston, South Carolina and placed in the reserve fleet. Bailey spent 22 years in mothballs before her name was stricken from the Navy List on 1 Jun 1968. On 4 Nov 1969, Bailey was used as a target ship and sunk off the Florida coast.

ww2dbaseUSS Bailey earned eight battle stars in World War II.

Destroyer Bailey (DD-492) Interactive Map

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Bailey Operational Timeline

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2.  David Stubblebine says:
12 Jun 2023 10:32:11 AM

This article originally concluded by saying USS Bailey had earned 7 battle stars in World War II. Since the original posting, I have come to learn that some sources credit Bailey with 9 WWII battle stars, including the very authoritative Destroyer History Foundation. This caused me to look deeper into the question of Bailey’s battle stars. I must correct my own error on one point and, humbly, differ with the Destroyer History Foundation on another. The Destroyer History Foundation correctly states Bailey earned one star for the capture and occupation of Tinian (star P038), which I had left off my list, but incorrectly credits Bailey with one star for the Leyte Operation (star P031). Bailey was undergoing repairs from her 1 Oct 1944 strafing off Peleliu at Mare Island, California during the entire Leyte operation. I now believe the correct number of Bailey WWII battle stars is 8, as described below, and the narrative has been adjusted to reflect this. Any readers who wish to offer support for a 9th star are welcome to submit it and the question may get further reconsideration.

World War II Battle Stars for USS Bailey:
1. P020-1 Aleutians operation; Battle of the Komandorski Islands
2. P025 Gilbert Islands operation
3. P026 Marshall Islands operation; Kwajalein, Majuro, & Eniwetok
4. P029-2 Marianas; Saipan
5. P038 Tinian capture and occupation
6. P030-2 Western Caroline Islands; Southern Palau Islands
7. P039-3 Consolidation of Southern Philippines; Zamboanga
8. P037-1 Borneo; Tarakan