USS ''Colhoun'' (DD-801), a , was the second ship 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 ...

to be named for

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Edmund Colhoun Edmund Ross Colhoun (6 May 1821 – 17 February 1897) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy who served during the Mexican War and the American Civil War, in which he was commended for his participation in the bombardment and capture of F ...

(1821–1897). ''Colhoun'' was launched 10 April 1944 by Todd-Pacific Shipbuilding Corp.,

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

; sponsored by

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 ...

K. K. Johnson, WAC; and commissioned 8 July 1944.

Service history

''Colhoun'' arrived at

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 ...

10 October 1944 for training and patrol duty. Arriving off

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

19 February 1945, she screened transports, served as

radar picket A radar picket is a radar-equipped station, ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a nation or military (including naval) force to protect it from surprise attack, typically air attack, or from cr ...

and gave fire support for the invasion of Iwo Jima. On 1 March, she was hit by a salvo from heavy enemy batteries ashore, which killed one man and injured 16. After repairs at

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 est ...

, ''Colhoun'' sailed for

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, arriving 31 March for radar picket duty. At 1530 on 6 April 1945, during the first heavy ''

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 ...

'' raid of the

battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

, ''Colhoun'' received a request for help from USS ''Bush'' and sped to her aid. Interposing her guns between ''Bush'' and the attacking suicide planes, ''Colhoun'' downed three planes before a ''kamikaze'' crashed into the mount scattering flaming wreckage across the ship and dropping a bomb into the aft fireroom where it exploded. Retaining power and using emergency steering, ''Colhoun'' awaited the next attacking trio, shooting down the first two while the third struck her on the starboard side. The bomb from the second ''kamikaze'' exploded, breaking ''Colhoun''s keel, piercing both boilers, ripping a hole below the waterline, and starting oil and electrical fires. Operating the remaining guns manually, the crew gamely faced yet another wave of three attackers shooting down one and damaging another, while the third ''kamikaze'' struck her aft section. This airplane's bomb bounced overboard and exploded, adding another hole to allow more flooding. ''Colhoun'' valiantly struggled to stay afloat, but a final ''kamikaze'' crashed into the bridge in a mass of flames. At 1800, took off all but a skeleton crew, which remained onboard while a tug attempted to tow ''Colhoun'' to Okinawa. Heavy listing, uncontrolled flooding, and fires made it impossible to save her, and she was sunk by gunfire from at . Her casualties were: 34 killed and 21 wounded.

Awards

''Colhoun'' received 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 se ...

for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

service.

References

*Brown, David. ''Warship Losses of World War Two.'' Arms and Armour, London, Great Britain, 1990. . *

External links

*
hazegray.org: USS ''Colhoun''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colhoun Colhoun (DD-801) Ships built in Seattle World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean 1944 ships Colhoun (DD-801) Ships sunk by kamikaze attack Maritime incidents in April 1945 Destroyers sunk by aircraft