View source for USS Mervine (DD-489)

{{Short description|Gleaves-class destroyer}}
{{other ships|USS Mervine}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = [[File:489mervine 01.jpg|300px|USS ''Mervine'' (DD-489)]]
| Ship caption =
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header =
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{USN flag|1949}}
| Ship name = ''Mervine''
| Ship namesake = [[William Mervine]]
| Ship ordered =
| Ship builder = [[Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company]]
| Ship laid down = 3 November 1941
| Ship launched = 3 May 1942
| Ship commissioned = 17 June 1942
| Ship identification = DD-489
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
| Ship reclassified = DMS-31, 30 May 1945
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
| Ship decommissioned = 27 May 1949
| Ship struck = 31 July 1968
| Ship honours =
| Ship fate = Sold 27 October 1969 and broken up for scrap
| Ship notes =
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header =
| Header caption =
| Ship class = {{sclass|Gleaves|destroyer}}
| Ship displacement = 1,630 tons
| Ship length = {{convert|348|ft|4|in|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam = {{convert|36|ft|abbr=on}}
| Ship draft = {{convert|17|ft|5|in|abbr=on}}
| Ship propulsion = *{{convert|50,000|shp|kW|abbr=on}};
*Westinghouse geared turbines;
*2 propellers
| Ship speed = over {{convert|30|kn|abbr=on}}
| Ship range = *{{convert|6,500|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|12|kn|abbr=on}}
| Ship complement = 271
| Ship sensors =
| Ship EW =
| Ship armament =*4 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] [[dual purpose gun|DP]] guns,
*4 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm]] [[anti-aircraft|AA]] guns (2×2),
*2 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] AA guns,
*5 × [[Mark 15 torpedo|{{convert|21|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] [[torpedo tube]]s,
*6 × [[K-gun|depth charge projectors]],
*2 × [[depth charge]] tracks
| Ship notes =
}}
|}
'''USS ''Mervine'' (DD-489/DMS-31)''', a {{sclass|Gleaves|destroyer}}, was the second ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named for [[Rear Admiral]] [[William Mervine]], who served during the [[War of 1812]], the [[Mexican–American War]] and the [[American Civil War]]. ''Mervine'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] on 3 November 1941 by the [[Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company]] of [[Kearny, New Jersey]] and [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 3 May 1942, sponsored by Miss Mildred Mervine great-granddaughter of the admiral. The ship was [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 17 June 1942.
==History==
Following a [[shakedown cruise]] off Cuba, ''Mervine'' reported for duty with the Gulf Sea Frontier at [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]], 30 August 1942. Assigned to escort work, she accompanied merchantmen as they plied the [[Gulf of Mexico|Gulf]] and [[West Indies|West Indian]] shipping lanes, which during the preceding months had gained the dubious distinction of suffering the heaviest losses to [[U-boat]] activity in the eastern Atlantic.
In October ''Mervine'' left the gulf and steamed to [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard|Norfolk]] where she Joined Task Force 34 (TF&nbsp;34) and sailed east. Toward midnight on 7 November she arrived off [[Safi, Morocco|Safi]], [[Morocco]], and took up her station for [[Operation TORCH]] the invasion of [[North Africa]]. During the landings on 8 November, she acted as control vessel and provided fire support for the assault forces on Red Beach, north of Safi. She remained on patrol in the area for the next five days and then returned to [[New York (state)|New York]]. There she resumed escort assignments and for the next seven months guarded coastal and transatlantic [[convoy]]s.
On 8 June 1943 ''Mervine'' departed with TF&nbsp;65 for North Africa. Arriving at [[Mers-el-Kebir]] on 22 June, she joined TF&nbsp;85 and on 5 July departed for [[Sicily]] and [[Operation HUSKY]]. From 10 July through 13 July, she cruised off [[Scoglitti]] and along the coast of the [[Camerina Plain]], providing fire support for the [[Seventh United States Army|7th Army]]'s assault troops. She then returned to escort work in the [[North Atlantic]] and the [[Mediterranean]].
In late October 1943 the [[troopship]]s of convoy KMF25 left [[Liverpool]] bound for [[Alexandria]]. ''Mervine'' was the escort flagship when the convoy was [[Action off Cape Bougaroun|attacked by German bombers]] off the coast of [[Algeria]] on 6 November 1943; and rescued over 600 survivors, including 100 nurses, from two ships sunk by the attack. Without facilities for so many passengers, ''Mervine'' transported the survivors to Malta within 24 hours.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Parker |first=Jackson K. |year=1986 |title=the Life of a Machinist's Mate |journal=Proceedings |volume=112 |issue=5 |pages=174–176 |publisher=[[United States Naval Institute]] }}</ref>
===Pacific Theater===
In the spring of 1945, as [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces in the Pacific pushed closer to the [[Japanese home islands]] and their need for [[Minesweeper (ship)|minesweepers]] increased—doubly so with the disastrous toll among that type ship in the [[Ryukyus]]—''Mervine'' was designated for conversion. On 23 May she entered the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]] where she became a [[destroyer minesweeper]]. Reclassified as '''DMS-31''' on 30 May 1945, she departed for Norfolk on 15 July, and continued on to the [[Pacific]]. En route at the time of the [[Japanese surrender]] she arrived at [[Buckner Bay]], [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]], on 28 September. In October, she swept [[naval mine|mines]] off the [[China]] coast near [[Kokuzan]]. Shifting to Japanese waters the following month, she operated first off [[Kyūshū]] and then off [[Honshū]].
===Post war===
''Mervine'' reported to [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]] on 31 March 1946 for two years of west coast operations before returning to the [[Far East]]. On 25 March 1948 she arrived at [[U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka|Yokosuka]] and continued on to [[Qingdao|Tsingtao]], China, where she carried out escort, rescue, and training assignments until 5 October when she departed for the [[United States]]. Arriving at her homeport [[Naval Station San Diego|San Diego]], in November, she soon departed again for training and availability at [[Pearl Harbor]]. On 15 February 1949 she returned to southern [[California]] for the last time. On 27 May she decommissioned and entered the [[Pacific Reserve Fleet]] at San Diego. Redesignated '''DD-489''' again on 15 July 1955, she remained at San Diego until the end of the decade and then was transferred first to the [[Columbia River Reserve Group]] and finally to [[Bremerton, Washington|Bremerton]]. Struck on 31 July 1968 from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy list]], she was sold for scrap in 1969.
==Awards==
''Mervine'' received three [[battle star]]s for her [[World War II]] service.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mervine-ii.html}}
==External links==
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m9/mervine-ii.htm history.navy.mil: USS ''Mervine'']
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/489.htm navsource.org: USS ''Mervine'']
*[http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd489txt.htm hazegray.org: USS ''Mervine'']
{{Gleaves class destroyer}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mervine (DD-489)}}
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Kearny, New Jersey]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]
[[Category:Gleaves-class destroyers of the United States Navy]]