Captain Jeremiah O'Brien
USS O'Brien (DD 975) is the fifth warship to be named in honor
of Captain Jeremiah O'Brien, Commanding Officer of the first American
ship to successfully engage a British vessel during the Revolutionary
War. His home was the small lumber-exporting town of Machias,
Maine, the site of the battle between O'Brien's ship UNITY and
the British man-of-war MARGARETTA.
To provide housing for the growing
British forces in Boston, Admiral Samuel Graves arranged for the
armed ship MARGARETTA to escort the colonial ships UNITY and POLLY
to Machias where they were to obtain two shiploads of lumber from
the forests and mills of Maine.
The UNITY, POLLY and MARGARETTA
anchored in Machias Harbor on June 9, 1775. Earlier that month,
the residents had been so elated by the news of the colonial uprisings
at Lexington and Concord that they erected one of the first liberty
poles of the era. They were incensed by the presence of a British
symbol of power in their own harbor and were further angered when
the MARGARETTA's captain demanded the removal of their liberty
pole.
Following an unsuccessful attempt
by the infuriated townspeople to capture the MARGARETTA's officers
at church, Captain O'Brien organized a crew and seized the schooner
UNITY. Displaying exceptional seamanship, he skillfully maneuvered
the smaller UNITY into a position which allowed her bowsprit to
pierce the mainsail of the warship MARGARETTA. The two ships swung
together and O'Brien's crew armed with only pitchforks, axes and
the fierce determination of their Captain defeated a superior
force of professional soldiers and sailors armed with muskets
and grenades.
Captain O'Brien later received
a commission from the Massachusetts Congress, commanding UNITY
and the schooner DILIGENT during the Revolutionary War.
One hundred and twenty-five years
later, The United States Navy named its first ship in honor of
the gallant O'Brien brothers. On 24 September 1900 USS O'Brien,
Torpedo Boat 30, was launched In the Crescent Shipyard at Elizabeth
port, New Jersey. The ship was struck from the Navy list on 3
March 1909 and used as a target.
The next O'Brien, DD51, was built
by William Cramp and Sons at Philadelphia. Laid down on 5 September
1913, she was launched ten and a half months later on 20 July
1914. DD51 served throughout the First World War guarding merchant
vessels against the constant peril of U- boat attacks. While escorting
the British steamer ELYSIA in the coastal waters of Ireland, lookouts
aboard O'Brien sighted a periscope 800 yards on the starboard
bow. Heading directly for the rapidly disappearing periscope at
twenty knots, the ship moved in for the attack. The foretop lookout
reported that he saw the submerged U-boat pass close along the
starboard side. He clearly saw the submarine and watched it until
it was almost to the after deckhouse. At this moment a depth charge
was dropped. Circling around the spot, O'Brien saw no evidence
of damage. A few hours later a British destroyer, passing through
the same area, reported large patches of oil on the surface. No
wreckage was sighted. DD51 was placed out of commission in 1922.
She was stricken from the Navy List and sold in 1935.
The third O'Brien DD-415 was launched
in Boston in 1939. She served with the Atlantic Fleet until the
entry of the United States in the Second World War. On 15 January
1942, she was ordered to the Pacific. Four days after her arrival
in San Francisco, she put to sea with a convoy; a collision with
the USS CASE forced her back to Mare Island for repairs to her
port side. Once again ready for sea, 0 ‘BRIEN went to San Diego
where Commander Destroyer Division Four broke his flag on O'Brien.
In the spring of 1942, the ship helped evacuate civilian personnel
from Midway Island, patrolled the seas around French Frigate Shoals,
escorted vessels in the vicinity of Pago Pago Samoa, and supported
the occupation of Wallis Island.
On the afternoon of 15 September
1942, O'Brien was in the joint task force with USS HORNET and
USS WASP southeast of the Solomons. The Japanese submarines 1-15
and 1-19 attacked, sinking WASP, damaging the USS NORTH CAROLINA,
and delivering one torpedo to O'Brien. The explosion did little
damage that was immediately evident. Temporary repairs were made
so the ship could make the long voyage to repair facilities in
San Francisco and Pearl Harbor. During the trip, the hull weakened
considerably. On 19 September, she sank approximately 2800 miles
from the point where she was torpedoed.
The fourth O'Brien joined the Fleet
on 25 February 1944. She saw her first action while escorting
landing craft at Omaha Beach on fl-Day. Later at the bombardment
of Cherbourg, she operated close inshore, protecting mine?sweeps
and bombarding German shore batteries with her five-inch guns.
Behind her the battleship TEXAS was pouring sixteen-inch projectiles
into the same batteries. O'Brien's fire was so effective that
German guns concentrated their fire on the destroyer rather than
the battleship. It was only a matter of time before the little
ship was hit. In spite of heavy damage on the after part of the
bridge and the loss of thirteen men, she stayed on long enough
to lay a protecting smoke screen around TEXAS. Following repairs
at Boston she was ordered to the Pacific. In Ormoc Bay, she was
with the USS WARD when that ill-fated ship was hit by suicide
planes. Salvage crews from O'Brien desperately tried to save the
WARD, the impossibility of salvage was shortly seen and WARD was
sunk by O'Brien guns. Three years earlier O'Brien's Captain, W.
W. OUTER BRIDGE, had had command of WARD when she had sunk a Japanese
submarine off Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
Then the ship went on to participate
in the invasion of Mindoro and the pre-invasion bombardment of
Lingayen Gulf. Here on January 1945, she was hit by a "Zeke"
(single engine suicide plane) which left a gaping hole in her
port side. Quick repairs were made, and then O'Brien headed north
for the first raid on Tokyo. As an advance picket, she approached
within ninety miles of the Japanese capital. Following these raids,
the gallant destroyer headed south for the action at Iwo Jima.
At Kerama Rhetto, off Okinawa, a Japanese suicide plane hit the
ship just aft of the bridge, exploding a magazine. Twenty-eight
men were killed, twenty-two missing and one hundred were injured.
The ship returned to Mare Island for repairs. In July 1947, where
O'Brien was placed in the reserve fleet. At the outbreak of the
Korean War, she was reactivated and placed under the command of
CDR C. W. NIMITZ, Jr. In March 1951, she arrived in Korean waters
as flagship of Destroyer Division 132, participating at the siege
of Chongjin, the "Battle of the Buzz saw," and various
bombardment missions along the Korean coast line. During these
activities, both Radio Moscow and Radio Peiping reported O'Brien
sunk by the North Korean Peoples Navy. 1961 brought an extensive
overhaul through the Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization program.
O'Brien became a member of Destroyer Division 232 In April 1963.
In 1965, O’Brien saw her first
Vietnam action. The following is taken from the Navy Times of
early 1966, that describes one of her actions.
オブライエン.
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