Scott # 634 Naval Ship Cover USS Alden

Navy Cover, Dated 5/28/1935

Alden was en route to her destination when, at 0300 on 8 December 1941, she received word that “war has been started by Japan.” At Singapore, reports of a Japanese invasion convoy standing toward British Malaya compelled Admiral Phillips to act before his reinforcements could arrive, and he cleared Singapore on the evening of 8 December with Prince of Wales and Repulse, screened by four destroyers, to seek out the enemy.

Reaching Singapore on the morning of 10 December, Alden moored at 1113, and embarked a liaison party consisting of a Royal Navy lieutenant and four signalmen at 1130. She and her sister ships were still preparing for sea as Japanese high-level and torpedo bombers, flying from bases in Indochina, overwhelmed Prince of Wales and Repulse off Kuantan, Malaya, that afternoon and sank them both. Underway at 1509, Alden and her sister ships soon cleared Singapore, and stood toward the scene of the action in response to Admiral Phillips’ desperate signal, sent early in the battle, for destroyer assistance. Accompanying British and Australian destroyers had already rescued the survivors from the two capital ships, however, and were retiring toward Singapore.

Alden and her division mates subsequently entered the waters in which the battle had taken place earlier that day, looking for survivors, but only sighted pieces of wreckage, eventually winding up the search effort during the mid-watch. En route back to Singapore, Alden noted a “probable submarine attack,” at 0630 on 11 December, and Edsall left the formation to investigate the source of “torpedo wakes” but found nothing. Alden and her sister ships reached port later that morning; Alden mooring alongside RFA Francol at 1041 to replenish her fuel bunkers. While in port, she lowered her flag to half-mast in tribute to the men lost in Prince of Wales and Repulse. Alden remained at Singapore until the morning of the 14th when, after disembarking the Royal Navy liaison party, she got underway with the rest of the division for Surabaya, Java. She reached that Dutch port late on the afternoon of 15 December.

Underway on the 20th for Australian waters, Alden sailed for Port Darwin in the screen of Houston, breaking up the routine of the voyage by sending boarding parties to investigate and establish the friendly character of various small craft and ships sighted en route. She fell in with another formation of American ships moving to Australian waters, Pecos, Otus, and Gold Star, two days before Christmas, and fueled at sea from Pecos the same day. The destroyer ultimately saw her charges safely to Darwin, dropping anchor in that north Australian port at 13:05 on 28 December.

1942

Alden, soon reassigned to DesDiv 58, spent the next several weeks escorting troop and supply convoys in support of efforts to defend the Malay Barrier. During the course of one such evolution, she was screening Trinity to Port Darwin, on the morning of 20 January 1942, when Trinity reported torpedoes fired at her. Alden immediately reversed course in the predawn darkness and carried out a depth charge attack, but, in the ensuing moments, lost contact with the “submarine”.

“Mindful of leaving (the) convoy unprotected” if she continued to seek out the submarine, Alden returned to her screening station and arrived at Port Darwin without further incident. At 1620 that afternoon, though, while she was taking on fuel from the tanker British Sailor, Alden received orders to accompany Edsall to the scene of the above attack. Underway at 1641, leaving a third of her crew behind to break out stores on board Black Hawk, Alden rushed to the scene, finding Deloraine already dropping depth charges.

Alden and Edsall patrolled one area in proximity of the submarine contact, while two Australian ships patrolled another. Alden developed a good contact early the following morning (21 January) and dropped six charges, with no result. A plane from Langley reported carrying out an attack on a submarine a short time later, and Alden steamed to the scene. Seeing oil still rising, she attacked, expending the rest of her depth charges in the tracks. Bringing up more charges from below, the destroyer carried out another attack soon afterward. Then, having expended her last charge, Alden returned to Port Darwin.

Edsall and the Australian ships, accompanied by a PBY Catalina, returned to the scene but were unable to locate the slick, last seen by Alden, because of a heavy rain squall in the vicinity. A short time later, it was determined that the victim of the earlier attack by Edsall and Deloraine was I-124, a large Japanese mine-laying submarine had laid 27 mines near Darwin that had already sunk three Allied merchantmen.

Clearing Darwin on 3 February, Alden sailed with a convoy, bound for Java. Fueling from Trinity en route, the destroyer reached Tjilatjap, on the south coast of Java, late on the afternoon of 10 February. Getting underway late the following day, Alden joined Paul Jones and Ban Hong Liong on the morning of 12 February, and convoyed the Briton to the port of Koepang, Timor. The convoy arrived on 16 February, with the destroyer returning to Tjilatjap three days later, after refueling from Pecos. The following day, the destroyer briefly patrolled off the harbor entrance, covering the sortie of Black Hawk.

As the Japanese neared Java, the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) forces began gathering for a show-down. As part of this movement, Alden cleared Tjilatjap on the morning of 22 February for Surabaya and, along with Paul Jones, screened Houston during the passage. The three ships arrived at their destination on the afternoon of the 24th.

Intelligence information indicating the possibility of a Japanese landing attempt in the vicinity, a mixed Dutch and American force (Houston, De Ruyter and Java), two Dutch and five American destroyers (including Alden), sortied after dark on 25 February and conducted a sweep off the northern coast of Madura Island. Not making any contact, the Allied force returned to Surabaya early the following morning.

Later that same day, 26 February, the commander of the striking force, Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, called a meeting of his commanders, and promulgated his plans to meet the Japanese. At 1922 on 26 February, the striking force, reinforced by the arrival of Perth, Exeter, and three British destroyers, got underway and stood out of Surabaya.

Doorman’s force again swept along the north coast of Madura, but then, after having found the waters clear of enemy shipping, at 2212 on 26 February reversed course. During the early morning, the ABDA force continued past Surabaya, and shaped a course toward the entrance to the minefields at 1300 on 27 February. Fresh contact reports, however, indicated the presence of a Japanese force heading south from the vicinity of Bawean Island. At 1500, as Alden was about to enter the channel through the minefields, she observed De Ruyter reverse course and make a signal: “I am going to intercept an enemy unit….” The rest of the force followed, and stood toward the enemy.

At 1617, Alden observed gun flashes as the Japanese ships opened fire, answered shortly afterward by Houston, De Ruyter and Exeter. The American destroyers, Alden steaming second in column, took up their position on the disengaged side of the column of Allied cruisers, to Java‘s starboard quarter. “Straining every rivet” to keep up with the cruisers, Alden and her sister ships made all possible speed. At 1714, observers on board Alden noted Kortenaer take a torpedo which broke her in two. Soon afterward the Allied fleet changed course twice, in disarray due the accurate enemy gunfire and the threat posed by his superior torpedoes. The shell-damaged Exeter veered out of the allied battle line; to cover her retirement, Alden and her sister ships laid smoke.

After he had made one order to counterattack with torpedoes and canceled it, Rear Admiral Doorman again ordered the destroyers to counterattack. On Alden’s bridge, a man remarked: “I always knew these old four pipers would have to go in and save the day…”. All within earshot laughed, and the comment broke the tension as the American destroyers, the oldest ships in the ABDA line, steered a course toward the Japanese and launched torpedoes from their starboard tubes at 1822. Then, following the movements of John D. Edwards ahead, Alden reversed course and loosed her port “fish” at 1827. Alden‘s captain, Lieutenant Commander L. E. Coley, firmly believed that the American destroyers’ attack saved Exeter from destruction at that time.

Poor visibility and the increasing range soon ended that phase of the battle, and the Allied force retired, Japanese scoutplanes occasionally dropping flares above the Allied ships. At 1958, the cruiser column turned to westward where, before the night was over, De Ruyter and Java would be sunk, and Houston and Perth forced to flee. Alden and her sisters turned eastward, to retire independently toward Surabaya, their torpedo stocks exhausted. Entering the minefields at 2230, the American destroyermen anchored their ships at 0210 on 28 February.

Alden remained there throughout the daylight hours. She fueled at Holland Pier and anchored in the harbor, where she observed two waves of enemy high-altitude bombers carry out raids that afternoon. That afternoon, Commander Coley noted carrier-type aircraft overhead, indicating that “enemy air activity” would soon be on the increase.

“It seemed that our best chance of getting through to an allied base,” Coley wrote later, “was to evade the enemy and trust to the reduced visibility of night to get out of range of enemy aircraft.” Given permission to clear out as the noose around Java tightened, and to proceed to Exmouth Gulf, Australia, the four destroyers of DesDiv 58 sortied that night, clearing the minefield an hour before midnight on 28 February, their crews at general quarters. Alden and the others steamed as close to the Javan shore as they dared, hugging the coast, and turned, undetected, into Bali Strait. There, however, they soon encountered the Bali Attack Unit consisting of Hatsuharu, Nenohi, Wakaba, and Hatsushimo.

Around 0215, Alden spotted one destroyer almost due east of her, followed by two or more a short time later. Emerging from the coastal waters to clear a reef, the Americans apparently came into the enemy’s sight soon afterwards, since gunfire erupted from the Japanese ships within 15 minutes’ time. A five-minute running gun duel ensued between the two groups of destroyers before Alden and her sister ships checked fire and laid smoke. At a range of about 12 miles (19 km), the Japanese opened up again at 0250. The Americans, however, held their fire, reasoning that the enemy sought to force them into revealing their position by firing back.

Continuing on at 28 knots (52 km/h), the four “four-pipers” emerged from the encounter unscathed. As they neared their destination, Commander Thomas H. Binford, Commander, DesDiv 58, paired his ships, the ones with Australian charts (Alden and Paul Jones), with those which did not (John D. Ford and John D. Edwards), and the destroyermen reached Fremantle on the afternoon of 4 March.

Reporting to Commander, Australia-New Zealand area, on 28 March, Alden operated in the waters of the Southwest Pacific until sailing for Pearl Harbor, reaching her destination on 7 June en route to the west coast of the United States. Following an overhaul at Mare Island, Alden commenced convoy escort duty between San Francisco and Hawaiian waters on 11 August.

1943

Over the next eight months, Alden carried out prosaic escort duty until she departed Mare Island on 9 April 1943 for the Caribbean. Transiting the Panama Canal on 16 April and reporting that day to Commander, Caribbean Sea Frontier, she continued on to Trinidad, arriving there on 25 April.

The destroyer spent the next two months shuttling convoys between Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay, before she proceeded north to the New York Navy Yard, which she entered on 28 June for repairs and alterations. Upon completion of this availability, Alden sailed for Norfolk, Virginia on 11 July, and joined a Morocco-bound convoy soon afterwards, reaching Casablanca on 28 July. After returning to the United States via Gibraltar, the ship entered the Charleston Navy Yard for a drydocking on 27 August. She sailed for Port of Spain, Trinidad, on 7 September and ultimately proceeded to Brazilian waters, reaching Recife on 8 October.

Underway for the Caribbean on 4 November, Alden reached Trinidad ten days later, and sailed on 26 November as escort for the Army transport George Washington. Seeing that ship safely to her destination, Key West, Florida on 1 December, the destroyer proceeded to Charleston, arriving there on the 3rd for upkeep. She steamed from there to Casco Bay, Maine, and refresher training, before she headed back to Norfolk, arriving at that port on the last day of the year 1943.

1944

Alden sailed for North African waters on 5 January 1944, in an antisubmarine group formed around Guadalcanal. On 16 January, a pair of Grumman TBF Avengers from Guadalcanal‘s Composite Squadron 13 (VC-13) caught a pair of U-boats on the surface, rendezvousing near the Azores, and attacked, sinking U-544 before she could transfer radar detection gear to U-129. Reaching Casablanca on 26 January, the task unit sailed for the United States three days later, and reached Norfolk on 16 February. Shifting to the Boston Navy Yard for repairs and alterations soon afterwards, Alden returned to Norfolk on 12 March.

The destroyer sailed the following day for Tunisia as one of the 16 escort vessels shepherding convoy UGS-36, 72 merchantmen and 18 tank landing ships. Escort vessels drove off what was believed to be a U-boat late on 31 March, and six hours later, early on 1 April, 22 German aircraft attacked UGS-36. Alden, in the rear guard, aided the defense of the convoy, as the escorts shot down two enemy aircraft and probably damaged two others. Ultimately, UGS-36 reached its destination, Bizerte, on 3 April. Nine days later, Alden sailed for the United States, reaching Hampton Roads on 1 May.

Following a brief availability at the Boston Navy Yard, Alden departed Boston, Massachusetts on 27 May for New York, reporting for duty under Commander, Service Force, Atlantic Fleet, soon after. She then operated out of Norfolk during June, principally on local escort duty. During this time, she screened Wisconsin during a phase of that new battleship‘s shakedown training.

Following emergency repairs to a damaged propeller, Alden resumed escort operations, this time with Elokomin, as she convoyed the ship from Norfolk to Baytown to Galveston, thence to Guantanamo Bay and back to Galveston, before she escorted the oiler on a trip from Galveston to Bermuda, Casco Bay and Norfolk.

Undergoing routine maintenance at the Norfolk Navy Yard upon conclusion of this duty in August 1944, Alden escorted Chicopee from Norfolk to Bermuda before the destroyer then convoyed Adair and Mount Hood from Norfolk to the Canal Zone. Relieving John D. Edwards under the auspices of Commander, Panama Sea Frontier, Alden operated in Panama waters as a training ship with submarines into November, after which time the destroyer returned to Norfolk.

1945

After she had suffered damage in a collision with Hayter on 31 January 1945, Alden underwent repairs in the Norfolk Navy Yard. These ended on 28 February, Alden emerged from the yard soon afterwards and joined the escort of a Mediterranean-bound convoy, UGF-21, on 1 March. Subsequently, returning to the United States with convoy GUF-21, the warship escorted Mattaponi between Bermuda and Guantanamo, and Chiwawa between Guantanamo and Bermuda before the destroyer returned to Norfolk. Then, following tender availability at Tompkinsville, Alden sailed for Mayport, Florida, on 2 June, where, upon her arrival, she was assigned plane guard duty with Guadalcanal, the ship assigned to conduct carrier qualifications for fledgling pilots out of the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida. Completing this tour on 13 June, she proceeded thence to the Delaware capes.