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USS Allen M. Sumner
USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692), was the lead ship of her class of destroyers. The ship was named for Allen Melancthon Sumner, a United States Marine Corps captain, who was killed in action during World War I.
Allen M. Sumner was laid down on 7 July 1943 at Kearny, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company; launched on 15 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Allen M. Sumner, Captain Sumner's widow; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 26 January 1944.
The destroyer was fitted out at the New York Navy Yard until 3 March when she got underway for shakedown training in the waters around Bermuda. Allen M. Sumner returned to New York on 8 April and commenced post-shakedown availability. Repairs were completed on 3 May, and the warship stood out of New York bound for Norfolk, Virginia. She arrived there the following day and began two months of duty as a training platform for destroyer nucleus crews. The warship headed north on 5 July and arrived back at New York the next day. Following a five-week availability at the navy yard there, Allen M. Sumner put to sea on 12 August, bound ultimately for the Pacific. Along the way, she conducted antisubmarine warfare and antiair warfare exercises, stopped briefly at Norfolk, and transited the Panama Canal on 29 August. The destroyer stayed overnight at San Diego on 7 and 8 September before continuing on to Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 14 September and began five weeks of exercises in the Hawaiian operating area.
Her stay in Hawaii lasted until 23 October when she steamed out of Pearl Harbor in company with the battleship North Carolina, bound for duty in the western Pacific with the Fast Carrier Task Force. Steaming via Eniwetok, the destroyer entered Ulithi lagoon on 5 November. Allen M. Sumner remained at Ulithi until 19 November at which time she departed the atoll to join Task Group (TG) 38.4 at sea. After rendezvousing with the carriers, she accompanied them to waters near Yap Island whence the aircraft carriers launched air strikes on 22 November before reentering Ulithi that same day. The destroyer remained there for 5 days and then returned to sea, bound for newly invaded Leyte in the Philippines. She arrived in San Pedro Bay on 29 November and began patrolling Leyte Gulf. That duty—punctuated intermittently by air alerts—lasted until the evening of 2 December when Allen M. Sumner set course for Ormoc Bay in company with the destroyers Moale and Cooper.
Reports from American aircraft earlier that day had indicated that an enemy reinforcement convoy was entering the bay that night, and the three warships were sent to destroy it. Just after 2300 that night, the destroyers suffered the first of many air attacks when a Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" – a fast, twin-engine, reconnaissance plane – dropped a bomb which near-missed Allen M. Sumner about 30 yards (27 m) from the ship's starboard bow, pierced her hull with fragments, and started a fire on board. Bomb fragments also wounded one officer and 12 men.
Air attacks continued; but, just after midnight, the three destroyers made surface radar contact on a pair of Japanese destroyers later identified as Kuwa and Take. Less than 10 minutes into the battle, Kuwa succumbed to the combined fire of the two destroyers, and the wrecked and burning mass began to sink. Take, however, evened the score just as Allen M. Sumner and Cooper joined Moale in firing on the remaining Japanese warship. One of her torpedoes slammed into Cooper amidships, broke that American destroyer's back, and sank her almost immediately. Less than half of Cooper's crew managed to get off the ship. Most of those were later rescued—but by PBY Catalinas rather than by Cooper's division mates who were still being subjected to heavy shore battery fire and air raids. Any attempt at rescue by Allen M. Sumner and Moale would have made them virtually stationary targets. At about 0145 on the 3rd, the two remaining American warships began retirement from Ormoc Bay and set a course for San Pedro Bay where they arrived later that day.
Allen M. Sumner spent the next nine days in San Pedro Bay undergoing upkeep and repairing the minor damage that she had suffered in the action at Ormoc Bay. Though the area was subjected to intermittent air raids throughout that period, Allen M. Sumner recorded only one, long-range—in excess of 9,000 yards (8,200 m)—approach by an enemy aircraft on 6 December. On 12 December, she departed San Pedro Bay and joined the screen of TG 78.3, bound for the landings on Mindoro Island. That task group constituted Rear Admiral Arthur D. Struble's Mindoro Attack Group. Although the group came under air attack during the transit, Allen M. Sumner escaped damage. On 15 December, she moved in with the close covering group to participate in the preinvasion shore bombardment, and the subsequent landings went forward against negligible opposition. Some enemy aircraft attempted to attack the invasion force, and Allen M. Sumner joined Moale and Ingraham in splashing an enemy light bomber. On the following day, the destroyer departed Mindoro to return to Leyte where she arrived on 18 December. Between 26 and 29 December, the warship escorted a resupply echelon to Mindoro and back to San Pedro Bay.
On 2 January 1945, the destroyer stood out of San Pedro Bay, bound for the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf in the screen for the cruisers and battleships of Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's Bombardment and Fire Support Group (TG 77.2). Early on 6 January, Allen M. Sumner moved into Lingayen Gulf to support minesweeping operations. Around noon, her unit came under air attack by kamikazes. The first plane retreated in the face of a heavy antiaircraft barrage while the second attacker hovered just out of range as a decoy to mask a run in by a third suicider. The latter plane dove on Allen M. Sumner strafing as he came. He swooped in out of the sun on the destroyer's port bow and crashed into her near the after stack and after torpedo mount. The warship lost 14 men killed and 19 injured. Extensive damage required her to retire from the gulf and join the heavy units of TG 77.2. Nevertheless, Allen M. Sumner remained in action with that unit and supported the Lingayen operation until 14 January.
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USS Allen M. Sumner
USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692), was the lead ship of her class of destroyers. The ship was named for Allen Melancthon Sumner, a United States Marine Corps captain, who was killed in action during World War I.
Allen M. Sumner was laid down on 7 July 1943 at Kearny, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company; launched on 15 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Allen M. Sumner, Captain Sumner's widow; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 26 January 1944.
The destroyer was fitted out at the New York Navy Yard until 3 March when she got underway for shakedown training in the waters around Bermuda. Allen M. Sumner returned to New York on 8 April and commenced post-shakedown availability. Repairs were completed on 3 May, and the warship stood out of New York bound for Norfolk, Virginia. She arrived there the following day and began two months of duty as a training platform for destroyer nucleus crews. The warship headed north on 5 July and arrived back at New York the next day. Following a five-week availability at the navy yard there, Allen M. Sumner put to sea on 12 August, bound ultimately for the Pacific. Along the way, she conducted antisubmarine warfare and antiair warfare exercises, stopped briefly at Norfolk, and transited the Panama Canal on 29 August. The destroyer stayed overnight at San Diego on 7 and 8 September before continuing on to Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 14 September and began five weeks of exercises in the Hawaiian operating area.
Her stay in Hawaii lasted until 23 October when she steamed out of Pearl Harbor in company with the battleship North Carolina, bound for duty in the western Pacific with the Fast Carrier Task Force. Steaming via Eniwetok, the destroyer entered Ulithi lagoon on 5 November. Allen M. Sumner remained at Ulithi until 19 November at which time she departed the atoll to join Task Group (TG) 38.4 at sea. After rendezvousing with the carriers, she accompanied them to waters near Yap Island whence the aircraft carriers launched air strikes on 22 November before reentering Ulithi that same day. The destroyer remained there for 5 days and then returned to sea, bound for newly invaded Leyte in the Philippines. She arrived in San Pedro Bay on 29 November and began patrolling Leyte Gulf. That duty—punctuated intermittently by air alerts—lasted until the evening of 2 December when Allen M. Sumner set course for Ormoc Bay in company with the destroyers Moale and Cooper.
Reports from American aircraft earlier that day had indicated that an enemy reinforcement convoy was entering the bay that night, and the three warships were sent to destroy it. Just after 2300 that night, the destroyers suffered the first of many air attacks when a Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah" – a fast, twin-engine, reconnaissance plane – dropped a bomb which near-missed Allen M. Sumner about 30 yards (27 m) from the ship's starboard bow, pierced her hull with fragments, and started a fire on board. Bomb fragments also wounded one officer and 12 men.
Air attacks continued; but, just after midnight, the three destroyers made surface radar contact on a pair of Japanese destroyers later identified as Kuwa and Take. Less than 10 minutes into the battle, Kuwa succumbed to the combined fire of the two destroyers, and the wrecked and burning mass began to sink. Take, however, evened the score just as Allen M. Sumner and Cooper joined Moale in firing on the remaining Japanese warship. One of her torpedoes slammed into Cooper amidships, broke that American destroyer's back, and sank her almost immediately. Less than half of Cooper's crew managed to get off the ship. Most of those were later rescued—but by PBY Catalinas rather than by Cooper's division mates who were still being subjected to heavy shore battery fire and air raids. Any attempt at rescue by Allen M. Sumner and Moale would have made them virtually stationary targets. At about 0145 on the 3rd, the two remaining American warships began retirement from Ormoc Bay and set a course for San Pedro Bay where they arrived later that day.
Allen M. Sumner spent the next nine days in San Pedro Bay undergoing upkeep and repairing the minor damage that she had suffered in the action at Ormoc Bay. Though the area was subjected to intermittent air raids throughout that period, Allen M. Sumner recorded only one, long-range—in excess of 9,000 yards (8,200 m)—approach by an enemy aircraft on 6 December. On 12 December, she departed San Pedro Bay and joined the screen of TG 78.3, bound for the landings on Mindoro Island. That task group constituted Rear Admiral Arthur D. Struble's Mindoro Attack Group. Although the group came under air attack during the transit, Allen M. Sumner escaped damage. On 15 December, she moved in with the close covering group to participate in the preinvasion shore bombardment, and the subsequent landings went forward against negligible opposition. Some enemy aircraft attempted to attack the invasion force, and Allen M. Sumner joined Moale and Ingraham in splashing an enemy light bomber. On the following day, the destroyer departed Mindoro to return to Leyte where she arrived on 18 December. Between 26 and 29 December, the warship escorted a resupply echelon to Mindoro and back to San Pedro Bay.
On 2 January 1945, the destroyer stood out of San Pedro Bay, bound for the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf in the screen for the cruisers and battleships of Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's Bombardment and Fire Support Group (TG 77.2). Early on 6 January, Allen M. Sumner moved into Lingayen Gulf to support minesweeping operations. Around noon, her unit came under air attack by kamikazes. The first plane retreated in the face of a heavy antiaircraft barrage while the second attacker hovered just out of range as a decoy to mask a run in by a third suicider. The latter plane dove on Allen M. Sumner strafing as he came. He swooped in out of the sun on the destroyer's port bow and crashed into her near the after stack and after torpedo mount. The warship lost 14 men killed and 19 injured. Extensive damage required her to retire from the gulf and join the heavy units of TG 77.2. Nevertheless, Allen M. Sumner remained in action with that unit and supported the Lingayen operation until 14 January.