USS Mahan (DD-364)

Mahan at sea c. 1938
History
United States
Name	USS Mahan
Namesake	Alfred Thayer Mahan
Builder	United Dry Docks Inc., Staten Island, New York
Laid down	12 June 1934
Launched	15 October 1935
Commissioned	18 September 1936
Identification	DD-364
Fate	Disabled by Japanese kamikaze; sunk by US destroyer on 7 December 1944.
General characteristics
Class and type	Mahan-class destroyer
Displacement	1,500 long tons (1,524 t) (standard) 1,725 long tons (1,753 t) (deep load)
Length	341.3 ft (104.0 m)
Beam	35.6 ft (10.9 m)
Draft	10 feet 7 inches (3.2 m)
Installed power	46,000 shp (34,000 kW) 4 Babcock & Wilcox or Foster Wheeler boilers
Propulsion	2 General Electric steam turbines
Speed	37 kn (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range	6,940 nmi (12,850 km; 7,990 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	158 officers and enlisted men
Armament	(as built) 5 × 5 inch (127mm)/38cal DP (5×1), 12 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3×4), 4 × .50 cal (12.7mm) Machine guns (4×1), 2 × depth charge stern racks (1942) 4 × 5 inch (127mm)/38cal DP (4x1), 12 × 21 inch (533mm) torpedo tubes (3x4), 2 × Bofors 40 mm guns (2x2), 5 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannons (5x1), 2 × depth charge stern racks

USS Mahan (DD-364) was the lead ship of the United States Navy's Mahan-class destroyers. The ship was named for Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, a 19th-century naval historian and strategic theorist. Her design ushered in major advances over traditional destroyers. Among them were a third set of quadruple torpedo tubes, protective gun shelters, and emergency diesel generators, along with a steam propulsion system that was simpler and more efficient to operate.

Mahan began her service in 1936. She was first assigned to the US Atlantic Fleet and then transferred to Pearl Harbor in 1937. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Mahan was at sea with Task Force 12. The task force's mission to Midway Island was aborted to participate in the post-attack search for the enemy strike force. Unable to locate it, the task force returned to Pearl Harbor.

Early in World War II, Mahan took part in raids on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, Admirals Chester Nimitz and William Halsey commended the destroyer group (of which Mahan was a member) for a stellar effort in screening the aircraft carriers Hornet and Enterprise against heavy odds. During the New Guinea campaign to take the northeast coast from the Japanese, Mahan was engaged in the amphibious landings at Salamaua, Lae, and Finschhafen. She participated in landings at Arawe and Borgen Bay (near Cape Gloucester), New Britain, and provided support for the troop landing at Los Negros Island in the Admiralty Islands.

Late in the Pacific War, the Japanese kamikaze relentlessly plagued US Naval operations. On 7 December 1944, a group of suicide aircraft overwhelmed and disabled Mahan at Ormoc Bay, Leyte, in the Philippine Islands. On fire and exploding, the ship was abandoned, and a US destroyer sank her with torpedoes and gunfire.