| Career (US) | |
|---|---|
| Namesake: | Samuel Chester Reid |
| Builder: | Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company |
| Laid down: | 25 June 1934 |
| Launched: | 11 January 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 2 November 1936 |
| Fate: | Sunk by kamikazes[1], 11 December 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Mahan-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,500 tons |
| Length: | 341 ft 4 in (104 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft (10.7 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 10 in (2.8 m) |
| Speed: | 37 knots |
| Complement: | 158 officers and crew |
| Armament: | 5 x 5 in (127 mm), 12 x 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
The third USS Reid (DD-369) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Samuel Chester Reid.
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Reid was laid down 25 June 1934 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey; launched 11 January 1936; sponsored by Mrs. Beatrice Reid Power; and commissioned 2 November 1936, Captain Robert B. Carney in command.
From 1937 into 1941, Reid participated in training and fleet maneuvers in the Atlantic and Pacific. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Reid fired at the Japanese planes, and her group of destroyers downed one. After the attack Reid patrolled off the Hawaiian Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and Johnston Island, in December. In January 1942, she escorted a convoy to San Francisco, California. Following patrol off Hawaii, she steamed to Midway Island, and then twice escorted convoys from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco.
Departing Pearl Harbor 22 May, Reid steamed north to bombard Japanese positions on Kiska Island, Alaska, 7 August. She supported landings at Adak, Alaska, 30 August, and sank by gunfire the Japanese submarine RO-61 on the 31st. After transferring five prisoners to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, she patrolled near New Caledonia, Samoa, and the Fiji Islands during October and November.
Departing Suva Harbor, Fiji Islands on Christmas Day 1942, she escorted Army troops to Guadalcanal, before guarding a convoy to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. In January 1943, she bombarded several enemy locations on Guadalcanal.
After patrols in the Solomon Islands, Reid provided radar information and fighter direction for landings at Lae, New Guinea, 4 September. While supporting landings at Finschhafen, New Guinea, on the 22d, she downed two enemy planes.
After patrol and escort duty off New Guinea, she sailed from Buna Roads, New Guinea, to escort troop transports to landings at Arawe, New Britain, 15 December 1943. She protected landings at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, on the 26th, and at Saidor, New Guinea, 2 January 1944. She guarded landings at Los Negros Island, Admiralty Islands, 29 February, and at Hollandia, New Guinea, 22 April. Her guns supported landings at Wakde Island 17 May, at Biak on the 27th, and at Noemfoor Island, New Guinea, 2 July.
Departing Pearl Harbor 29 August, she supported air strikes against Wake Island 3 September. After patrols off Leyte, Philippine Islands, in November she steamed to Ormoc Bay, Leyte. She supported landings there 7 December, and escorted the damaged Lamson (DD-367) toward Leyte Gulf.
Escorting reinforcements for Ormoc Bay near Surigao Straits 11 December 1944, Reid destroyed seven Japanese planes, before she sank from repeated kamikaze crashes.
In the Reid's final two weeks in the waters around Leyte, the crew was able to sleep only an hour or two at a time. They were called to battle stations (condition red) an average of 10 times a day. It was a period of near constant combat.
In her final hours on 11 December, the Reid was protecting a re-supply force of amphibious craft bound for Ormoc Bay off the west coast of Leyte. About 1700 twelve enemy planes approached the convoy. The Reid was the nearest ship to the oncoming planes. Planes 1 and 2 were shot down by the 5-inch battery. Plane 3 exploded about 500 yards off the starboard beam. Plane 4 hooked a wing on the starboard rigging, crashing at the waterline. His bomb exploded, doing considerable damage forward. Plane 5 strafed the starboard side and crashed on the port bow. Plane 6 strafed the bridge from the port side and crashed off the starboard bow. Planes 5 and 6 apparently had no bombs or they were duds. Plane 7 came in from astern strafing and crashed into the port quarter. His bomb exploded in the after magazine, blowing the ship apart. All this action took place in less than a minute.
The ship was mortally wounded but still doing 20 knots. As the stern opened up, she rolled violently, then laid over on her starboard side and dove to the bottom at 600 fathoms. It was over in less than two minutes. 103 shipmates went down with her. The survivors were strafed in the water by Japanese planes before rescue. [2]
Her 150 survivors were picked up by landing craft in her convoy.
Reid received seven battle stars for World War II service.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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