USS ''O'Brien'' (DD-415) was a World War II-era in the service of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

, named in honor of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Jeremiah O'Brien and his five brothers, Gideon, John, William, Dennis and Joseph, who captured on 12 June 1775 during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. ''O’Brien'' was laid down at

Boston Navy Yard The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...

, Boston, Massachusetts, on 31 May 1938; launched on 20 October 1939; sponsored by Miss Josephine O’Brien Campbell, a great-great-great granddaughter of Gideon O’Brien; and commissioned on 2 March 1940. Since this

warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster an ...

was built in a

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

, along with the destroyers , , and , the christening and commissioning ceremonies were combined.

Service history

Following her commissioning, ''O'Brien'' operated along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States.

World War II

After drydocking and repairs during the fall of 1941, ''O'Brien'' left

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Bea ...

on 15 January 1942 along with the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type ...

and the destroyer , and then steamed for the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. Transiting the Panama Canal on 20 January, the trio of ships arrived in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, on 31 January. ''O'Brien'' steamed with a convoy for the Western Pacific on 4 February 1942, but she was forced to return when a collision with the destroyer damaged her port side. Following repairs at the

Mare Island Navy Yard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates ...

, the destroyer steamed out again on 20 February, bound for

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

. There Commander Destroyer Division 4 shifted his flag to ''O’Brien'' on 5 March 1942. After operating out of Pearl Harbor and patrolling the Hawaiian

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...

French Frigate Shoals The French Frigate Shoals ( Hawaiian: Kānemilohai) is the largest atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Its name commemorates French explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse, who nearly lost two frigates when attempting to navigate the s ...

, ''O'Brien'' called at

Midway Island Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

in the latter part of March, escorting the

seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

there to evacuate civilians. The two warships returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 April. After an increase and improvement of her

antiaircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

batteries, she embarked passengers for transportation to the Naval Air Station at

Palmyra Atoll Palmyra Atoll (), also referred to as Palmyra Island, is one of the Northern Line Islands (southeast of Kingman Reef and north of Kiribati). It is located almost due south of the Hawaiian Islands, roughly one-third of the way between Hawaii a ...

, and then steamed out on 18 April with the destroyers and . The destroyer then joined convoys from

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and San Francisco to escort them to

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

, arriving at

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...

on 28 April. ''O'Brien'' was retained at Pago Pago for local escort work. On 26 May, she supported the occupation of

Wallis Island Wallis (Wallisian: ''Uvea'') is a Polynesian atoll/island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity ('' collectivité d'outre-mer'', or ''COM'') of Wallis and Futuna. It lies north of Tonga, northeast of Fiji, east-no ...

, previously taken over by the Free French, and then she joined the auxiliary vessel on 19 June for the return voyage to Pearl Harbor. Operating out of Pearl Harbor, the ship performed escort duty and acted as patrol and plane guard. She got underway on 17 August with

Task Force 17 Task Force 17 (TF17) was an aircraft carrier task force of the United States Navy during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. TF17 participated in several major carrier battles in the first year of the war. TF17 was initially centered around ...

(TF 17) to reinforce the South Pacific Force, screening the tanker .

Sinking

While escorting a convoy of

troop transport A troopship (also troop ship or troop transport or trooper) is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Troopships were often drafted from commercial shipping fleets, and were unable land troops directly on shore, typicall ...

s en route to

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the s ...

, the combined Task Forces 17 and 18 were attacked by the Japanese

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

on 15 September 1942. The

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for Carrier-based aircraft, carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a ...

was sunk, and the battleship and ''O’Brien'' were damaged by a spread of six

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...

es from the submarine. At 1452, ''O’Brien'' sighted smoke coming from ''Wasp''. As a member of the aircraft carrier 's ASW screen, she made an emergency turn to the right. At about 1454, while accelerating and swinging right, her lookouts spotted a torpedo two points forward of the port beam, away. This torpedo then missed ''O'Brien'' close astern, but while her crew's attention was concentrated on it, another torpedo hit her port bow. This explosion did little obvious damage, but it set up severe structural stresses throughout the framework of ''O'Brien''. She was able to proceed under her own power, and on 16 September she reached

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region ...

, where the sailors from ''Curtiss'' made temporary repairs. ''O’Brien'' next steamed out on 21 September, bound for Noumea,

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

, for further repairs by the repair ship . Then, she steamed out on 10 October, bound for

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from ...

. ''O'Brien'' made it to

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

in Fiji on 13 October, and then steamed out once more on 16 October. The rate of leakage of seawater into ''O'Brien'' continued to increase, and on 18 October it was necessary for ''O’Brien'' to head for the nearest

anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Large amounts of topside weights were jettisoned, and preparations were made for abandoning the ship, but her captain still thought that she could be taken intact to

. However, at about 0600 on 19 October, her bottom suddenly split open considerably, and her forward and after hull portions began to work independently. At 0630, all hands except for a small salvage crew abandoned, but half an hour later ''O'Brien'' was abandoned entirely. Just before 0800 she descended beneath the waves, and after steaming nearly since she had been torpedoed. All members of her crew were saved.

Awards

USS ''O'Brien'' earned one

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

during World War II.

References

External links

Naval History & Heritage Command: USS O'Brien (DD-415), 1940-1942

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien O'Brien (DD-415) O'Brien (DD-415) Ships built in Boston World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Ships sunk by Japanese submarines 1939 ships Ships sunk with no fatalities Maritime incidents in September 1942