USS Downes (DD-375)
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Norfolk Naval Shipyard |
| Rebuilder: | Mare Island Naval Shipyard |
| Launched: | 22 April 1936 |
| Commissioned: | 15 January 1937 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 June 1942 |
| Recommissioned: | 15 November 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 December 1947 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap 18 November 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Mahan-class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1,500 tons |
| Length: | 341 ft 4 in (104.04 m) |
| Beam: | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m) |
| Speed: | 37 knots (69 km/h) |
| Complement: | 158 officers and crew |
| Armament: |
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USS Downes (DD-375) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II. She was the second ship named for John Downes, a US Navy officer.
Downes was launched 22 April 1936 by Norfolk Naval Shipyard; sponsored by Miss S. F. Downes, descendant of Captain Downes; and commissioned 15 January 1937, Commander C. H. Roper in command.
Downes reached San Diego, California from Norfolk, Virginia 24 November 1937, and based there for exercises along the west coast, in the Caribbean, and in the Hawaiian Islands until April 1940, when Pearl Harbor became her home port. In March and April 1941 she joined in a cruise to Samoa, Fiji, and Australia, and visited the west coast later in the year.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941, Downes was in drydock with Cassin and Pennsylvania. The three came under heavy attack and an incendiary bomb landed between the two destroyers, starting raging fires fed by oil from a ruptured fuel tank. Despite heavy strafing, the crews of the two destroyers got their batteries into action, driving off further attacks by Japanese planes. The drydock was flooded in an effort to quench the fires, but the burning oil rose with the water level and when the ammunition and torpedo warheads on board the destroyers began to explode, the two ships were abandoned. Later Cassin slipped from her keel blocks and rested against Downes. Both ship's hulls were damaged beyond repair but machinery and equipment were salvaged and sent to Mare Island Navy Yard where entirely new ships were built around the salvaged material and given the wrecked ship's names and hull numbers.Downes was officially decommissioned 20 June 1942.
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