USS Beale (DD-471)
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USS ''Beale'' (DD/DDE-471), a , was the second ship of the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
to be named for Lieutenant
Edward Fitzgerald Beale Edward Fitzgerald Beale (February 4, 1822 – April 22, 1893) was an American naval officer, frontiersman, rancher and diplomat. He fought in the Mexican–American War, emerging as a hero of the Battle of San Pasqual in 1846. He achieved n ...
(1822–1893). ''Beale'' was laid down on 19 December 1941 at
Staten Island, N.Y. Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York. The borough is separated from the adjacent state of New Jersey by the Arthur Kill ...
, by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 24 August 1942; sponsored by Miss Nancy Beale, a great-grandniece of LT Beale; and commissioned on 23 December 1942 at the
New York Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
.


World War II


1943

Early in January 1943, ''Beale'' began shakedown training off the coast of
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
. Later that month, she continued that training in the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In mid-February, the destroyer returned north to New York for a month of post-shakedown repairs. She returned to sea on 15 March and headed back to the West Indies where she served as antisubmarine escort and plane guard for the recently commissioned
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
during her shakedown training near
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. ''Beale'' completed another repair period at the New York Navy Yard between 10 and 21 March and then embarked upon the long voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Steaming by way of
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
, she arrived at
Cristóbal Cristóbal or Cristobal, the Spanish version of Christopher, is a masculine given name and a surname which may refer to: Given name *Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972), Spanish fashion designer *Cristóbal Cobo (born 1976), Chilean academic * Cr ...
in the
Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...
on 22 April and transited the canal on the 28th. The warship paused briefly at Balboa at the Pacific terminus of the canal before heading north toward the California coast that same day. She made an overnight stop at
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on 5 and 6 May before arriving in San Francisco on the 7th. Five days later, ''Beale'' put to sea on her way to the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
. She entered
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 Reci ...
on 22 May and spent the next six weeks conducting
antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations a ...
(ASW) and gunnery training in the local operating area. On 6 July, the destroyer departed
Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...
on her way back to California. She arrived in San Diego on the 11th and remained there until the 19th when she put to sea to participate in amphibious exercises carried out near
Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...
on the 21st. The following day, ''Beale'' steamed into San Francisco. After a week's stay, she passed out of the
Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by ...
again on 29 July and charted a course to the
Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...
. On 5 August, the destroyer entered
Kuluk Bay Kuluk Bay also known as Khulukh Bay is a small bay located at on the northeastern side of Adak Island, one of the larger Andreanof Islands of the Aleutian Islands. The bay is significant for its ecology, role in the Second World War, and various ...
at
Adak Adak may refer to: Places *Adak Island, one of the Aleutian Islands **Adak, Alaska, a town on the above island ** Adak Airport, airport serving the town *** Adak Army Airfield, original name of the airport (1942–c.1943) *** Davis Army Airfield, ...
. Her tour of duty with the North Pacific Force lasted almost four months, but the only enemy she encountered was the foul climate. In mid-August, ''Beales guns joined in the bombardment preparatory to the amphibious assault on Kiska. When the troops landed, however, they discovered that the effort had been in vain. The Japanese had abandoned the island almost three weeks previously. For the remainder of her assignment in the Aleutians, the warship continued to struggle against the elements while carrying out patrol and escort missions. At the end of November, the destroyer departed
Dutch Harbor Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June, 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked it just seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. To this day, ...
and shaped a course south to Hawaii. She stood into Pearl Harbor about a week later but stayed only three days. When ''Beale'' resumed her voyage, she steered a course via
Funafuti Funafuti is an atoll, comprising numerous islets, that serves as the capital of Tuvalu. As of the 2017 census, it has a population of 6,320 people. More people live in Funafuti than the rest of Tuvalu combined, with it containing approximately 6 ...
in the
Ellice Islands Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...
and Espiritu Santo in the
New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium () and named after the Hebrides in Scotland, was the colonial name for the island group in the South Pacific Ocean that is now Vanuatu. Native people had inhabited the islands for three th ...
to
Milne Bay Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range (Papu ...
,
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
. She reached her destination on 18 December. ''Beale'' spent the next seven months supporting General
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
's conquest of the northern coast of New Guinea and consequent isolation of the large Japanese bases in the
Bismarck Archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...
at
Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province ...
on
New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...
and
Kavieng Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2009, it had a population of 17,248. Kavi ...
on New Ireland. She wasted little time before getting into action. Just six days after her arrival, the destroyer was underway in company with an invasion force bound for Cape Gloucester on the western end of New Britain to secure the eastern flank of the vital Dampier Strait and
Vitiaz Strait Vitiaz Strait is a strait between New Britain and the Huon Peninsula, northern New Guinea. The Vitiaz Strait was so named by Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho-Maklai to commemorate the Russian corvette '' Vitiaz'' in which he sailed from Octob ...
s between that island and New Guinea. Her echelon, made up of seven
tank landing ship A Landing Ship, Tank (LST) is a ship first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto a low-slope beach with no docks or piers. The shallow d ...
s (LSTs) escorted by three destroyers in addition to ''Beale'', arrived off the objective early on the 26th, and the LSTs beached during the afternoon watch. At around 14:30, a large formation of enemy planes attacked the Allied force off Cape Gloucester. ''Beale'' escaped damage, and her gunners claimed a kill on an
Aichi D3A The Aichi D3A (Navy designation "Type 99 Carrier Bomber"; World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft, Allied reporting name "Val") is a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber. It was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Na ...
-1 "Val" dive bomber. Her good luck, however, eluded several of her colleagues. suffered direct hits from two bombs that touched off a huge explosion, and she sank in less than 20 minutes with a loss of 108 crewmembers. , a battle-scarred veteran of Pearl Harbor, received new wounds when a hail of fragments from several near misses riddled her hull and superstructure and injured over 30 of her crew, four of them fatally. Near misses also caused damage and a few casualties on board . Later that same day while escorting ''LST-466'' in the vicinity of Borgen Bay, ''Beale'' encountered a
Mitsubishi G4M The Mitsubishi G4M is a twin-engine, land-based medium bomber formerly manufactured by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Air Service (IJNAS) of the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to ...
"Betty" twin engine medium bomber pursued by three Republic P-47 "Thunderbolt" fighters. Her gunners joined the fracas, and the "Betty" soon went into the sea about distant on her port bow.


1944

After that action, the destroyer retired to the vicinity of Buna Roads and
Cape Sudest Cape Sudest is a cape in Papua New Guinea, next to Oro Bay. Cape Sudest is a remote and rugged peninsula located in the southeastern part of Papua New Guinea. It is situated in the Ijivitari District of the Milne Bay Province, which is one of the 2 ...
, on the eastern coast of New Guinea south of the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits, in which neighborhood she remained until the beginning of 1944. On New Year's Day 1944, ''Beale'' departed Buna and rendezvoused with an assault force composed of nine
high speed transport High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, t ...
s (APDs), two tank landing ships (LSTs), and several large
landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force (infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are larger. ...
(LCIs) with the 126th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) of the U.S. Army's 32d Infantry Division embarked. Seven other destroyers joined ''Beale'' in the escort. The force steamed northwest through Vitiaz Strait to
Saidor Saidor is a village located in Saidor ward of Rai Coast Rural LLG, Madang Province, on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It is also the administrative centre of the Rai Coast District of Madang Province in Papua New Guinea. The village was the ...
, New Guinea, where the soldiers streamed ashore unopposed on the morning of 2 January to secure the left flank of the straits through which General MacArthur's forces would pass constantly during their leapfrog up the back of the New Guinea hen. ''Beale'' and her compatriots in the screen contented themselves with antiair and antisubmarine patrols during the landings. For the next month, the warship divided her time between support for the Saidor operation and general patrol and escort missions along the New Guinea coast from Milne Bay to Saidor. On 5 February, ''Beale'' stood out of Milne Bay and set course for Sydney, Australia, where she carried out repairs from 9 to 23 February. Returning to Milne Bay on 27 February, she reported for duty with Task Force 74 (TF 74), a mixed force made up of American and
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
s screened by American destroyers and commanded by
Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...
Victor A. C. Crutchley, VC, RN. With both sides of the straits between New Guinea and New Britain free of Japanese interference, General MacArthur looked north to the
Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 40 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...
whose capture would further shield his right flank during the advance and provide an alternative base to heavily defended Rabaul. Accordingly, on 27 February, ''Beale'' and her colleagues in TF 74 stood out to sea from Cape Sudest, New Guinea, just ahead of a task force composed of fast transports (APDs) and destroyers with elements of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division embarked. The troops were to serve either as the initial invasion force if resistance in the Admiralties was sufficiently light or as a reconnaissance in force to be withdrawn if opposition proved too heavy. Arriving off
Los Negros Island Los Negros Island is the third largest of the Admiralty Islands. It is significant because it contains the main airport of Manus Province on its eastern coastline, at Momote. It is connected to Lorengau, the capital of the province, on Manus ...
about two hours into the morning watch of 29 February, ''Beale'' accompanied and to a station north of
Seeadler Harbor Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II. In German, "Seeadler" means sea eagle, pointing to German New Guinea, German colonial activi ...
off Ndrilo Island to provide gunfire support for the landing force. At 07:40, she and her consorts opened fire on the island and continued to pound suspected enemy positions for about 15 minutes. The landing force's initial successes obviated the need for a second drubbing of the targets scheduled for the beginning of the forenoon watch. With all apparently going well ashore, the warship cleared the area in company with the rest of the task force, less two destroyers that remained behind to provide call fire, and steamed back to Cape Sudest. On 4 March, she returned to the vicinity of the Admiralties with TF 74. After bombarding an enemy gun emplacement on Hauwei Island, her task force took up a patrol station about 30 miles (55 km) to the north of
Manus Manus may refer to: Relating to locations around New Guinea *Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean island in the Admiralty Archipelago ** Manus languages, languages spoken on Manus and islands close by ** Manus Regional Processing Centre, an offshore ...
. ''Beale'' remained on station with TF 74 for three days guarding the approaches to the Admiralty Islands while the troops ashore consolidated their hold on Los Negros Island and moved over to Manus. On the 7th, she made a visit to Hyane Harbor on Los Negros with Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey embarked and then bombarded an enemy position on Moakareng Peninsula before rejoining the task force for the voyage back to Cape Sudest. Following a week of gunnery drills and tactical exercises, ''Beale'' joined , , , and in an anti-shipping sweep along the northern coast of New Guinea that was highlighted by a bombardment of Japanese installations at
Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. ...
on 19 March. She patrolled off
Oro Bay Oro Bay is a bay in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, located southeast of Buna. The bay is located within the larger Dyke Ackland Bay. A port is operated by PNG Ports Corporation Limited with limited wharf facilities, located at . History Du ...
, New Guinea, on the 20th before carrying out repairs there between 21 and 27 March. The destroyer conducted antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises and more gunnery drills during the period 29 March to 8 April and then began another availability on 9 April at Milne Bay, New Guinea, that occupied her until the middle of the month. ''Beales return to combat came in mid-April during the three-pronged occupation of a portion of New Guinea's northern coast bounded by Tanamerah Bay in the west and
Aitape Aitape is a small town of about 18,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun Province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of th ...
in the east. The destroyer was assigned to Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey's TF 75, built around
light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
s , , and and designated Covering Force "B" for the Hollandia mission. Her unit parted company with the main force about midnight on 21 April and reached its objective,
Humboldt Bay Humboldt Bay (Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Wigi'') is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast (California), North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, ...
, at about 05:00 on the 22d. At around 06:00 ''Beale'' and her consorts commenced a 15-minute preliminary bombardment. Those efforts, as well as the contributions added by TF 58 aircraft, prompted most of the supposed defenders to abandon their assignment and head for safer surroundings. As a consequence of the enemy's headlong flight, the assault troops enjoyed a landing that in amphibious circles might be regarded as a walkover, and Japanese resistance never really materialized. With the landing's success assured, ''Beale'' cleared the area with Task Group 77.2 (TG 77.2) and arrived in Seeadler Harbor, Manus, the next day. After taking on fuel and provisions, the destroyer returned to sea on 26 April bound for the northern coast of New Guinea to resume support for the occupation of the region around Hollandia. She took up patrol station off Humboldt Bay on the morning of 27 April and, for the next several days, alternated between patrol duty, shore bombardment missions, and screening assignments with the aircraft carriers also supporting the troops ashore. Early in May, the warship returned to Seeadler Harbor to prepare for the next hop in the leapfrog up the back of the New Guinea hen. Before embarking on that phase of the huge island's conquest, however, she joined and ''Bache'' to conduct a subsidiary mission in the vicinity of the bypassed Japanese base at Wewak where enemy shore batteries were hampering the work of Aitape-based
PT boat A PT boat (short for patrol torpedo boat) was a motor torpedo boat used by the United States Navy in World War II. It was small, fast, and inexpensive to build, and it was valued for its maneuverability and speed. However, PT boats were hampe ...
s. On 9 May, the three destroyers departed Manus for Aitape where, on the 11th, they embarked four PT boat officers to help them locate the targets. ''Beale'' and her colleagues carried out their bombardment on the 12th, returned the impromptu spotters to Aitape, and headed back to Manus. ''Beale'' reentered Seeadler Harbor in time to complete preparations for the
Wakde Wakde is an island group in Sarmi Regency, Papua, Indonesia, between the districts of Pantai Timur and Tor Atas. It comprises two islands, Insumuar (the larger) and Insumanai (much smaller). History Occupied by Japanese forces in April 1942, th ...
- Sarmi step of the climb up the New Guinea ladder and sortie with the covering forces on 15 May. The destroyer and her colleagues took station off the objectives early on the morning of the 17th. After participating in the preinvasion bombardment, she and conducted a fruitless search for enemy
barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...
s reported to be in the vicinity of Sarmi. At the conclusion of that mission, ''Beale'' shaped a course for Humboldt Bay, where she arrived on the 18th. She returned to the Wakde-Sarmi area on 21 May and patrolled to the north and west with TF 75 while the troops ashore consolidated their beachhead and prepared to move inland against a much more resolute defense than had been encountered at Hollandia. The fact that the defense was confined entirely to enemy ground forces allowed the Army to proceed on its own once the beachhead was fully secured and to release most of its naval support to participate in the next amphibious operation on the New Guinea timetable, the seizure of
Biak Biak is the main island of Biak Archipelago located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak has many atolls, reefs, and corals. The largest popula ...
, one of the
Schouten Islands The Biak Islands (, also Schouten Islands or Geelvink Islands) are an island group of Southwest Papua province, eastern Indonesia in the Cenderawasih Bay (or Geelvink Bay) 50 km off the north-western coast of the island of New Guinea. Th ...
located just to the east of the peninsula that constitutes the head of the New Guinea bird. Accordingly, ''Beale'' left the Wakde-Sarmi area and arrived back in Humboldt Bay on 24 May to join the Biak assault force. The following day, she returned to sea with that force to carry out the mission. Arriving off Biak on the 27th, the destroyer provided antisubmarine protection for the cruisers during their prelanding bombardment. After the landing, she moved in to bring her own guns to bear on enemy positions to assist the troops' movement inland. ''Beale'' patrolled off Biak until the end of May guarding the assembled warships against the submarine threat and supplying occasional gunfire support. After the invasion, the Japanese reversed their decision to leave Biak to its own devices and launched Operation "Kon" to reinforce the island's garrison. ''Beale'' returned to Humboldt Bay with TF 75 on 31 May to fuel and provision in preparation for the expected onslaught. On 7 June, the destroyer sortied from Humboldt Bay with TF 75 and shaped a course back to Biak. The cruiser-destroyer force took up station to the northeast of the island early in the evening of the 8th. An American patrol plane spotted the Japanese surface force attempting to bring reinforcements to Biak at about 22:00, and ''Beales force picked it up on radar about 80 minutes later. Not long thereafter, the enemy made visual contact on the Allied surface force, let go the barges they were towing to Biak, and launched
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
es before retiring at high speed. The Allied lead destroyers, ''Beale'' among them, charged toward the retreating enemy at flank speed and began firing at extreme range in the hope of closing the distance by forcing the Japanese to maneuver to avoid their salvoes. The enemy destroyers returned the fire and even launched another torpedo attack. The only damage – other than fragments from near misses – sustained by either side in the running duel, however, came at about 02:10 on the 9th when suffered a direct hit from one of the salvoes from Destroyer Division 47 (DesDiv 47). The enemy destroyer slowed briefly but picked up speed again soon thereafter. About 15 minutes later just before 02:30, the Allied force broke off the stern chase in compliance with orders issued to protect its ships from attack by friendly aircraft. Task Force 75 rendezvoused with TF 74 later that morning, and then ''Beale'' headed for Manus in the Admiralty Islands, where she spent the period 10 to 28 June carrying out maintenance work and conducting combat training. On 29 June, the destroyer stood out of Seeadler Harbor on her way to participate in the last two major amphibious operations of the
New Guinea campaign The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Territory of New Guinea on 23 January and Territory of Papua on ...
. Before invading the
Vogelkop The Bird's Head Peninsula (Indonesian: , , meaning Bird's Head in Indonesian and Dutch) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai'') is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesia ...
peninsula proper on its northwestern coast at
Cape Sansapor A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used th ...
, General MacArthur concluded that his forces needed airfields farther west than those the Allies already possessed, and the island of Noemfoor, though relatively well defended, met his requirements perfectly. ''Beale'' and her colleagues in the cruiser-destroyer force arrived off the invasion beaches at
Kamiri ''Kameruka'' and ''Kamiri'' were near identical ferries that served on Sydney Harbour. ''Kamiri'' was built in 1912 and ''Kameruka'' was launched on 8 February 1913. They were double-ended " K-class" steam ferries, a type that was prolific on Sy ...
on Noemfoor's northwestern coast early on the morning of 2 July, and they pummelled the objective with a preliminary bombardment that pounded the defenders into what historian
Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...
described as "...that desirable state known to pugilists as 'punch drunk'." That happy result allowed the assault troops to storm ashore and capture all their initial objectives against a resistance that scarcely deserved the name. It also obviated the immediate need for ''Beale'' and her consorts to provide gunfire support for the troops' initial movement inland from the beaches. Accordingly, she headed for Humboldt Bay that same day and arrived there on the 3d. After maintenance and overhaul work at Hollandia and Manus she returned to the northern coast of New Guinea in mid-July to help defend the eastern flank of the Allied enclave at Hollandia against pressure from the bypassed enemy garrison at Wewak. Her part in that endeavor consisted of patrols along the coast to interdict Japanese barge and truck traffic carrying reinforcements and supplies to their forces trying to breach the Aitape roadblock and contest Allied possession of the Hollandia region. Training exercises and further patrols along New Guinea's northern coast occupied ''Beales time until the end of the month when she helped cover the unopposed landing at Cape Sansapor on the Vogelkop peninsula, the last rung on the New Guinea ladder. At the beginning of August, she left New Guinea for a voyage to Australia and spent the period, 11 to 25 August, receiving major maintenance work at Sydney. Revitalized, the destroyer returned to the northern shores of New Guinea at the end of the month to resume patrols along stretches of the coast still held by isolated enemy forces and to prepare for the Allies' next move on the southwestern Pacific chessboard, the jump from the head of the New Guinea bird into the
Molucca Islands The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
at Morotai. ''Beale'' departed Humboldt Bay on 13 September and headed for the point near the Vogelkop where the warships covering the seizure came together for the approach. Reunited there with many of her colleagues from the long series of operations from the Bismarcks to the Vogelkop, the destroyer set off with them on the latest quest. The force arrived off Cape Gila on the southwestern coast of Morotai early on the morning of
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, 15 September, and the cruiser-destroyer force to which ''Beale'' belonged parted company with the main group to cross the strait between Morotai and
Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
to bombard a Japanese strongpoint reported to be located at Galela. After pounding the target for more than an hour without reply, the destroyer accompanied her consorts back across the strait to provide gunfire support for the landing itself. Her guns, however, remained silent because an absent enemy allowed the assault troops to occupy the objective unmolested. Since her gunfire support proved unnecessary, ''Beale'' retired from Morotai and rendezvoused with TG 77.1 near
Mios Woendi Mios Woendi island is an island in the Schouten Islands of Papua province, eastern Indonesia. It lies in Cenderawasih Bay (or Geelvink Bay) off the northwestern coast of the island nation of Papua New Guinea. Description The island is in a ...
on the 16th. For almost a month, she occupied her time with training exercises in the vicinity of the Admiralty Islands, evolutions punctuated by repair periods in Seeadler Harbor at Manus. By 12 October, the destroyer was back at Humboldt Bay readying herself for the invasion of the Philippines at
Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...
. On the 13th, ''Beales Close Covering Group, TG 77.3, stood out of the bay in company with the Northern LST Group whose landings on Leyte near
Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...
at the head of San Pedro Bay it was to support. The warship and her colleagues escorted the Northern Attack Force into
Leyte Gulf Leyte Gulf, also known simply as the Leyte, is a gulf in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. The bay is part of the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and is bounded by two islands; Samar in the north and Leyte in the west. On the ...
during the night of 19–20 October, and together they made their way toward the northwestern corner of the gulf. While the amphibious forces approached their stations and took up their positions, the battleships of the Fire Support Unit, North, subjected the target area to a withering barrage. At the conclusion of that overture, ''Beale'' and her compatriots in TG 77.3 moved in to play their supporting roles in the opening act of the performance. Her cruiser-destroyer force opened fire at about 09:00, and, about 30 minutes later when the assault craft started their runs toward shore, ''Beale'' and her mates shifted their attention inland. The destroyer remained "on call" in San Pedro Bay for four days to provide gunfire support for the troops ashore whenever they requested it. During that space of time, she fought to repel frequent enemy air raids. Those attacks exacted a toll from ''Beales neighbors. On the 20th, a
torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...
scored a hit on that forced her return to the United States for repairs which occupied her for the remainder of the war. The next day, she fired upon a suicide plane but failed to prevent him from crashing . On the 22d, another
kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
crossed her sights, but again her efforts to thwart him succeeded only partially. Though diverted from ''Beale'', he struck ''LCI-105'' in nearby waters. At that point, danger loomed from a different quarter. By midday on the 23d, vague fears of a surface threat to the amphibious units assembled in Leyte Gulf began to take more tangible form as contact reports from
submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
s and aircraft confirmed the approach of at least three separate Japanese naval forces. The following afternoon, Vice Admiral
Thomas C. Kinkaid Thomas Cassin Kinkaid (3 April 1888 – 17 November 1972) was an admiral in the United States Navy, known for his service during World War II. He built a reputation as a "fighting admiral" in the aircraft carrier battles of 1942 and commanded th ...
organized his warships in the gulf to bar entry to the enemy. ''Beales unit headed south to await the forces of Vice Admiral
Shoji Nishimura A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaque ''fusuma'' is used (/closet ...
and Vice Admiral
Kiyohide Shima was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Biography A native of Miyazaki prefecture, Shima was a graduate of the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1911, ranking 69th out of 148 cadets. As a midship ...
in
Surigao Strait Surigao Strait (Filipino: ''Kipot ng Surigaw'') is a strait in the southern Philippines, between the Bohol Sea and Leyte Gulf of the Philippine Sea. Geography It is located between the regions of Visayas and Mindanao. It lies between northern ...
, the passage between Leyte and
Dinagat Island Dinagat Island is an island located northeast of Mindanao in the Philippines. Until December 2006, it was part of the province of Surigao del Norte. Being its main island, almost all municipalities of the province of Dinagat Islands are locate ...
s. Posted on the right flank forward of the battle line, she participated in the second torpedo attack by destroyers on Nishimura's advancing warships just before 03:30 in the morning of 25 October. Though her own torpedoes failed to score on the enemy, several of those from her colleagues achieved their purpose. One hit
battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
and slowed her briefly while another delivered the
coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; ) is an act of mercy killing in which a person or animal is struck with a melee weapon or shot with a projectile to end their suffering from mortal wounds with or without their consent. Its meaning has extended to refer to ...
to destroyer , damaged almost an hour earlier by DesRon 54 in the first destroyer torpedo attack. ''Beale'' and her consorts then retired to give the cruisers and battleships a clear field of fire. Once the left flank destroyers executed the third torpedo attack and cleared the area, the battle line and the cruisers completed the destruction so ably initiated by the destroyers. Of Nishimura's two battleships, one
heavy cruiser A heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in calibre, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval Treat ...
, and four destroyers, only the cruiser and a destroyer, both heavily damaged, escaped that encounter. The cruiser, , did not last long for the Japanese sank her later in the day after she suffered further pounding from both surface gunfire and aerial attacks. Vice Admiral Shima's foray into Surigao Strait was a very desultory affair, and ''Beale'' and her colleagues, having already yielded the field to the heavy units after launching torpedoes at Nishimura's approach, never came in contact with the enemy's second, halfhearted attempt to force the strait. Upon confirming to his own satisfaction that Nishimura's force was effectively destroyed, Shima displayed surprising prudence for a Japanese commander by retreating with his own vastly inferior force. The magnitude of the American victory increased as word of the successes won in the actions fought farther north off Samar and off Cape Engaño filtered into the gulf during the few days that ''Beale'' remained there guarding the amphibious force against submarine and air attack. On 29 October, the destroyer embarked upon a voyage that soon brought even more joy to her crewmen when they learned that their destination was the United States. Steaming by way of
Ulithi Atoll Ulithi (, , or ; pronounced roughly as YOU-li-thee) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap, within Yap State. Name The name of the island goes back to Proto-Chuukic ''*úlú-diwo''. Overview U ...
and Pearl Harbor, she ended her transpacific journey at
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, Washington, on 27 November. From there, the warship headed south to San Francisco, where she began an extended repair period. She completed those repairs on 17 January 1945 and departed San Francisco the next day, bound for San Diego and two weeks of post-overhaul refresher training. On the last of day January, ''Beale'' stood out of San Diego on her way to rejoin the Pacific Fleet in prosecuting the final stages of the war against Japan.


1945

''Beale'' arrived in Hawaii on 8 February and, the following day, commenced gunnery and antisubmarine warfare training in the local operating area. She remained so engaged for nearly a month and, as a consequence, missed out on the assault on Iwo Jima carried out on 19 February; but she put to sea for the western Pacific in plenty of time to be on hand for the
invasion of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The initial invasion of Okinawa on 1 April ...
. The destroyer sailed from Pearl Harbor on 5 March and, after a voyage that took her back via Ulithi Atoll, arrived at Leyte once again on
St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...
1945 to be incorporated into the fleet gathering there for the assault on the
Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...
. After 10 days of preparations, she stood out of Leyte Gulf on 27 March in the screen of a fast echelon of TF 55, the Southern Attack Force, and set a course for Okinawa. ''Beale'' and her companions caught up with the slower echelons of the task force along the way, and together they arrived off the objective early in the morning of 1 April —
Easter Sunday Easter, also called Pascha (Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek language, Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, de ...
,
April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...
, and
L-Day The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa by United States Army and United States Marine Corps forces against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Pacific War, Impe ...
for
Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...
all rolled into one. Later that morning, 5th Fleet staged its own version of an Easter parade when the vast amphibious force there assembled landed soldiers of the XXIV Army Corps and United States Marine Corps, Marines of the U.S. III Amphibious Corps, III Amphibious Corps on the island's western coast at beaches to either side of the mouth of the Bisha River. At that point, the destroyers in the screen received other assignments, and ''Beale'' joined TF 54, the Gunfire and Covering Force, to serve as a seaborne artillery battery for the Army and Marine Corps while they consolidated their beachheads and started their advance inland. Both the troops ashore and their brethren supporting them in the warships afloat marveled at the enemy's feeble responses to the initial assault. The relative ease of that first thrust, however, only masked the gathering storm; and the calm lasted but a few days. On shore, the soldiers began to run into stiffer opposition as the first week drew to a close; and, by the opening of the second week, so had the marines. The land campaign became a ponderous slugfest that dragged on until early July. At sea, the "Divine Wind" blew on the fleet surrounding Okinawa for the first time on 6 and 7 April. During that first of eight major aerial assaults that the Japanese launched upon the ships at Okinawa, ''Beales guns contributed to the antiaircraft barrage with which those ships tried to defend themselves. In spite of that collective effort, some of the intruders succeeded in their missions. In one such instance on the afternoon of the 6th, her sister ship suffered crashes by four kamikazes in the space of an hour while on station some 10 miles (18 km) north of Zampa Misaki. Another sister, nearby , went to ''Newcomb'''s aid immediately while more distant ''Beale'' rushed to offer her help as well. When the fourth suicide plane to hit Newcomb slid across to ''Leutze'''s fantail before exploding, the damage he caused forced her to pull away from ''Newcombs side and leave ''Beale'' to succor Newcomb alone. As a result of the prompt assistance ''Beale'' and ''Leutze'' rendered, ''Newcomb'''s crew quelled the raging inferno on board their ship within half an hour, and busy towed her into the anchorage at Kerama Retto the following day. After seeing ''Newcomb'' and ''Tekesta'' safely into Kerama Retto, ''Beale'' resumed duty with TF 54 providing gunfire support for the troops on Okinawa. Though call fire remained one of the warship's primary missions during her 12 weeks of service in the Ryūkyūs, the frequency and intensity of the Japanese aerial counterstrokes diverted her attention incessantly from that assignment to air defense. Antiair warfare also intruded upon her other major role at Okinawa, service in the ubiquitous antisubmarine screen. In providing protection from both submarines and aircraft, ''Beale'' divided her time between the gunfire support units and the ships that retired each night to safer waters some distance from the shores of Okinawa. The desperate, aerial tactics that the Japanese relied upon as their response to the Okinawa invasion, however, made antiair warfare the predominant form of combat carried out by Navy units in the campaign. ''Beale'', therefore, continued to cross swords with enemy aviators throughout her participation in the island's subjugation. On 16 April, while she screened the fire support ships of TG 51.5 near Ie Shima, three enemy planes attempted attacks on ''Beale''. Her gunfire damaged the first intruder – misidentified as a German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 — when he tried a suicide dive, and he splashed into the sea well clear of the ship. Almost immediately, though, two "Val" dive bombers pushed over into conventional bombing attacks, coming in on ''Beales starboard side abeam. Her guns opened up on them at a distance of about and continued to fire until a Marine Corps F4U Corsair, F4U "Corsair" flew into her field of fire in his attempt to intercept the two "Vals." The destroyer ceased fire quickly, but all three planes, the two enemies and one friend, splashed into the ocean at some distance from ''Beale''. Fortunately, the "Corsair" pilot managed to bail out, and a destroyer escort rescued him. During the month of May, the warship experienced two more close calls with Japan's airborne fanatics. After dark on the 4th, a single engine plane, unrecognizable in the darkness, tried to crash ''Beale''; but again her gunners rose to the challenge and sent the interloper tumbling into the sea a scant away on the port beam. On 28 May, another "Val" sought to make ''Beale'' his funeral pyre; but he, too, succumbed to her antiaircraft barrage and fell into the sea close aboard. By the beginning of June, enemy resistance at Okinawa was on the ebb, both in the air and on the ground. Few planes penetrated the cordon of radar pickets stationed around the island with any regularity or frequency, and the land defense found itself bottled up in several relatively isolated pockets. On 3 June, ''Beale'' helped to eradicate of one of those pockets when she supported the landings on Iheya Retto, one of Okinawa's satellite island groups located about 11 miles (20 km) north of the Motobu Peninsula. Organized resistance in the Ryūkyūs ended at the start of the last week in June, and the campaign for Okinawa closed officially on 2 July. In the meantime on 24 June, ''Beale'' shaped a course for Leyte in the Philippines, where she conducted some minor repairs and took on supplies. The destroyer returned to Okinawa on 16 July and joined TF 95, the unit with which she spent the next three weeks of carrying out antishipping sweeps along the China coast, in the Yellow Sea, and in the Sea of Japan. She returned to Okinawa on 8 August, and the war ended during the four weeks that she remained there. Japan agreed to capitulate on 15 August, and her representatives signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, surrender document on 2 September. ''Beale'' departed Buckner Bay on 6 September and laid in a course for Japan. She arrived in Nagasaki, Nagasaki, Nagasaki on the 15th and began duty in support of the Allied occupation. During the next two months, she visited several Japanese ports while engaged in courier duty, demilitarization inspections, and escort missions. On 15 November, the destroyer stood out of Sasebo, Nagasaki, Sasebo for the voyage back to the United States. ''Beale'' steamed by way of Pearl Harbor and arrived in San Diego on 6 December. Four days later, she returned to sea bound for the East Coast. The warship transited the Panama Canal on the 18th and entered port at Charleston, South Carolina, two days before Christmas 1945. Following a three-month inactivation overhaul, ''Beale'' was decommissioned at the Charleston Navy Yard on 11 April 1946. She remained in reserve for almost six years.


1951 – 1962

While still part of the inactive fleet, the warship was moved to the Boston Naval Shipyard for conversion to an escort destroyer. Redesignated an escort destroyer, DDE-471, ''Beale'' was recommissioned at Boston on 1 November 1951. She remained at Boston finishing her conversion until the second week of 1952. On 8 January, she embarked upon her shakedown cruise which, after a short visit to Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, Virginia, she conducted in the West Indies. After post-shakedown availability at Boston between late March and early May, she reported for duty with the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Atlantic Fleet at Norfolk on 5 May. Near the end of the month, the destroyer headed for the Gulf of Mexico where she spent the month of June operating as planeguard for during training operations out of Naval Air Station Pensacola, Pensacola, Florida She returned to Norfolk on Independence Day 1952 and resumed normal operations from that port. Training duty in the Virginia Capes operating area and upkeep at Norfolk occupied her time for the remainder of 1952. Late in January 1953, ''Beale'' moved south on her way to the large annual fleet exercise called "Springboard." After preliminary drills with off the Florida coast near Mayport, she continued on to the vicinity of Puerto Rico where the maneuvers were carried out in late February and early March. The warship arrived back in Norfolk on 13 March and stayed there for a little more than a month. On 17 April, she stood out of Chesapeake Bay bound for exercises in the waters around the British Isles, followed by a short cruise in the Mediterranean. During that deployment, she visited Londonderry in Northern Ireland and Plymouth, England, before transiting the Strait of Gibraltar to call at Golfe Juan, France, and Naples, Italy. The destroyer departed Naples on 13 June, plotted a course back to the United States, and reentered Norfolk on the 26th. She conducted local operations during July and the first part of August and then sailed north to the coast of Nova Scotia where she spent the rest of August serving as planeguard for . ''Beale'' arrived back at Norfolk on 4 September and took up the usual routine of local operations and upkeep until the beginning of October. On 2 and 3 October, she made the short voyage to New York, where she began a three-month overhaul, her first since rejoining the active fleet. After refresher training off the Cuban coast near Guantanamo Bay early in 1954, the destroyer returned to Norfolk in March to prepare for an assignment overseas. On 11 May, she embarked on a tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea. Service with the U.S. 6th Fleet, 6th Fleet kept her busy until early that fall when she headed back to the United States. ''Beale'' reached Norfolk again on 10 October 1954. The warship spent the rest of the year in port. In January 1955, she took up East Coast operations once again, ranging from Naval Station Newport, Newport, Rhode Island in the north to Puerto Rico and Key West in the south. ''Beale'' remained so engaged until late May when she began six weeks of upkeep at Norfolk. At the end of the first week in July, she departed Norfolk and headed back to Newport whence she conducted exercises with carriers briefly before proceeding to the vicinity of Bermuda where she carried out operations with recently commissioned . After assisting in the evaluation of the capabilities of the first nuclear-powered submarine, ''Beale'' stood into Norfolk once more on 6 August. A month later, she returned to sea for an abbreviated deployment overseas to participate in two NATO exercises, Operation "Centerboard" and Operation "New Broom IV", both of which were carried out in the Atlantic off Portugal. Leaving Lisbon on 10 October, the destroyer reentered Norfolk on the 23d. Following an upkeep and repair period that lasted through the end of the year, ''Beale'' resumed local operations off the Virginia Capes early in January 1956. In mid-February, the warship headed south to participate in the annual "Springboard" fleet exercise carried out in the waters between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Back in Norfolk on 22 March, she conducted type training and similar evolutions in the immediate vicinity through the end of May. On the 31st, ''Beale'' left Hampton Roads bound for the Gulf of Mexico where she engaged in further training missions punctuated by visits to Pensacola, Florida, Pensacola, New Orleans, and Galveston, Texas, Galveston. The destroyer departed the latter port on 5 July and headed home, arriving back in Norfolk on the 9th. Regular overhaul at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard occupied her time from the middle of July until early November. On 10 November, ''Beale'' put to sea for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and a month of post-overhaul refresher training. Back in Norfolk a week before Christmas, she drilled in the local operating area through the first 11 weeks of 1957. On 18 March, she embarked upon a voyage in the course of which she circumnavigated the African continent. Unable to use the Suez Canal, closed as a result of the hostilities between Israel and Egypt that followed in the wake of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nasser's nationalization of the canal the preceding summer, the warship deployed to the Indian Ocean via the long route around southern Africa. Steaming by way of the Azores, ''Beale'' reached the African coast at Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 30 March. She visited Naval Base Simon's Town, Simonstown, Union of South Africa, from 10 to 12 April before rounding Cape Agulhas, Africa's southernmost point, on her way to Mombassa, Kenya. After leaving Mombassa, the destroyer sailed to the Persian Gulf where she called at Qeshm, Iran, and Bahrain. From the Persian Gulf, she headed for the reopened Suez Canal via Massawa, Eritrea (now a province of Ethiopia). ''Beale'' transited the canal at the beginning of June and arrived at Piraeus, Greece, on the 4th. Between 5 and 14 June, she crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Spain, where she spent the ensuing four weeks making calls at the ports of Valencia, Spain, Valencia, Cartagena, Spain, Cartagena, and Barcelona. Following a two-day stop at Gibraltar, she embarked upon the voyage across the Atlantic on 14 July and stood into Norfolk again on 26 July. ''Beales homecoming lasted less than six weeks, however, for she put to sea again on 3 September bound for the British Isles. She arrived in Plymouth, England, on the 14th and spent the rest of the month engaged in NATO Exercise "Stand Firm." At the conclusion of the exercise, the destroyer paid a 10-day visit to Cherbourg. On 10 October, she left the French port to return to the United States. ''Beale'' entered Chesapeake Bay once more on 22 October and resumed normal operations along the East Coast. Near the end of March 1958, ''Beale'' received word of the cancellation of her scheduled deployment to the Mediterranean in favor of an assignment with Task Group Alfa, an experimental group formed to develop and teach new and advanced antisubmarine defense techniques and procedures. For more than five years, her work with the ASW developmental group kept her tied fairly closely to the East Coast and precluded any tours of duty farther away from the United States than the West Indies.


1962 – 1968

That extended assignment did not prevent her from participating in internationally significant events, however, for, after Fidel Castro's insurgents succeeded in overthrowing the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba in 1959, ships of the Navy performed almost constant patrols off that troubled island. ''Beale'' carried out her first such mission between 13 and 26 April 1961, and her second tour of duty in Cuban waters lasted from the end of June until mid-August 1962. On 30 June 1962, she resumed her former destroyer classification and the designation, DD-471. Later that year, after reconnaissance flights over the island revealed the presence of offensive nuclear weapon, nuclear ballistic missile, missiles, President John F. Kennedy declared a "quarantine" of Cuba to prevent the importation of additional missiles and to secure the removal of those already in place. ''Beale'' served on the Cuban Missile Crisis "blockade" from 25 October to 5 November 1962. During these operations, on Saturday, 27 October, the ''Beale'' dropped practice depth charges on Soviet submarine Soviet submarine B-59, ''B-59'' (Foxtrot) class, after which the submarine surfaced, upon which the ''Beale'' closed to within 500 yards on a parallel course, illuminating the Soviet vessel with its 24-inch searchlight. It was later revealed from Soviet sources that the depth-charging by the ''Beale'' had caused the commander of the Soviet submarine, Savitsky, who was unable to establish radio contact with base, to consider firing a 15-kiloton nuclear torpedo, and had asked two other senior officers to vote, with the dissenting vote of Vasily Arkhipov (vice admiral), Vasili Arkhipov preventing the launch. After an additional year of service along the East Coast and in the West Indies, ''Beale'' completed preparations in November 1963 to embark upon her first major overseas deployment in more than half a decade. On the 29th, she stood out of Norfolk on her way across the Atlantic Ocean. The warship arrived in Pollensa Bay, Majorca, on 11 December and relieved USS McCaffery (DD-860), ''McCaffrey'' (DD-860) the following afternoon. During her first eight weeks with the 6th Fleet, normal activities such as exercises and port visits occupied her time. Early in February 1964, however, orders sent her to the eastern Mediterranean where she joined a contingency force brought together in response to trouble on the island of Cyprus. Service with the contingency force received her undivided attention until the first week in March. Afterwards, ''Beale'' made a six-day liberty call at Istanbul, Turkey, and then returned to sea for further duty in the eastern Mediterranean, an assignment that included NATO exercises in the Ionian Sea. Late in March, she returned to the western portion of the "middle sea", where she spent the remaining six weeks of her deployment. Completing turnover formalities at Pollensa Bay near the end of the second week in May, ''Beale'' transited the Strait of Gibraltar on the 14th and shaped a course for Hampton Roads. Ten days later, she arrived at Norfolk and commenced post-deployment standdown. The destroyer remained in port for over a month, getting underway again early in July for an Independence Day visit to Baltimore, Maryland Following the celebration, she embarked upon the familiar routine of training missions along the East Coast and in the West Indies. That employment took up her time for the remainder of 1964, while a regular overhaul at Norfolk occupied her during the first few months of 1965. After refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay in the summer of 1965, ''Beale'' resumed normal operations from Norfolk. After nearly a year of training duty out of her home port, she departed Norfolk on 1 June 1966 bound for the Far East and her first combat assignment in more than two decades. On the outward voyage, she traveled by way of the Panama Canal, Hawaii, and Guam before arriving at the U.S. 7th Fleet, 7th Fleet's base at Subic Bay in the Philippines near the end of the second week in July. Following a tour of duty as station ship at Hong Kong, ''Beale'' entered the combat zone in the waters adjacent to Vietnam on 24 July. The next day, she began service as a gunfire support ship on the "gunline" just off the Vietnamese coast. At the end of two weeks as a floating artillery battery, the warship returned to Subic Bay to replenish and perform maintenance. Late in August, ''Beale'' resumed duty on the "gunline." In September and October, she served in the screen of the carrier, . Early in November, the destroyer concluded her final tour in the combat zone and began the voyage home. Steaming via the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean, she completed a circumnavigation of the globe when she pulled into Norfolk on 17 December. The extended standdown period that ''Beale'' began upon her return lasted well into 1967. The destroyer did not put to sea again until March, two weeks of which she spent carrying out type training in the Virginia Capes operating area. On 10 April, the warship stood out of Chesapeake Bay for Key West and nearly a month of duty as a school ship for the Fleet Sonar School located there. Back in Norfolk on 8 May, ''Beale'' remained relatively inactive until June when she participated in Exercise "New Look", a 36-ship ASW training effort that involved units of four NATO navies. In July, a board of inspection and survey looked her over and mandated a restricted availability, which she carried out at Baltimore, Maryland, in August. She resumed normal operations out of Norfolk in September, and those evolutions occupied her until the middle of October when she started preparations for her final deployment overseas. On 14 November, the warship passed between Cape Henry, Capes Henry and Cape Charles (headland), Charles and laid in a course for the Mediterranean Sea. Steaming in company with a quartet of DesRon 32 destroyers that included ''Beales sister ship and frequent colleague , she arrived in Pollensa Bay, Majorca, on the 24th. She spent the bulk of her last deployment in the western Mediterranean, sailing east of the Italian "boot" only once when she entered the Adriatc in late January 1968 to call at Split, Yugoslavia. Her activities in the western basin consisted of a mix of exercises – unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral in composition – and visits to a variety of French and Italian ports, as well as one brief call at Malta. After being relieved by at Málaga, Spain, ''Beale'' got underway for Norfolk on Easter Sunday 1968. A note of sadness, however, intruded upon the satisfaction usually associated with a homeward bound voyage. Of the four DesRon 32 ships that had accompanied her to the Mediterranean the previous fall, only three joined her in the return trip. A storm at Rhodes early in February had reduced ''Bache'', her frequent comrade over the years, to an unsalvageable wreck. ''Beale'' and her depleted complement of traveling companions arrived back in Hampton Roads on 23 April. Following post-deployment leave and upkeep, ''Beale'' commenced her last weeks of operations with the Navy late in May. She steamed north to Newport, Rhode Island, where she served as a training platform for the Destroyer School until the latter part of June. On 25 June, the warship returned to Norfolk and began preparations for another review by a board of inspection and survey. The inspection, carried out at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard early in August, resulted in a recommendation that ''Beale'' be retired. She was ship decommissioning, decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia on 30 September 1968, and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 October 1968. The former warship performed her last service to the Navy on 24 June 1969 when she was sunk as a target about 250 miles (460 km) east of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.


Awards

''Beale'' earned six battle stars for World War II service and one battle star during the Vietnam War.


References

*
The Submarines of October
U.S. and Soviet Naval Encounters During the Cuban Missile Crisis, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 75, October 2002


External links


navsource.org: USS ''Beale''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beale (DD-471) World War II destroyers of the United States Cold War destroyers of the United States Ships built in Staten Island Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast 1942 ships Fletcher-class destroyers of the United States Navy Maritime incidents in 1969 Ships sunk as targets