USS Drexler

USS Drexler (DD-741), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was named for Ensign Henry Clay Drexler, a Medal of Honor recipient.

History
United States
Namesake	Henry Clay Drexler
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Laid down	24 April 1944
Launched	3 September 1944
Commissioned	14 November 1944
Honors and awards	One Battle star
Fate	Sunk by kamikaze 28 May 1945
General characteristics
Class and type	Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
Displacement	2,200 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.8 m)
Beam	40 ft (12.2 m)
Draft	15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed	34 knots (63 km/h)
Range	6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt
Complement	357
Armament	6 × 5 in./38 guns (12 cm), 12 × 40mm AA guns, 11 × 20mm AA guns, 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

The Drexler was launched on 3 September 1944 by Bath Iron Works Corp., in Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. L. A. Drexler, the mother of Ensign Drexler; and commissioned on 14 November 1944.

Service history

Sailing from Norfolk on 23 January 1945 to escort Bon Homme Richard to Trinidad, Drexler then sailed on to reach San Diego on 10 February. Three days later she got underway for Pearl Harbor for antiaircraft and shore bombardment exercises until the 23rd, when she sailed on escort duty to Guadalcanal and Ulithi, the staging area for the Okinawa invasion.

Drexler departed Ulithi 27 March 1945 bound for Okinawa and duty on a radar picket station. On 28 May at 07:00, two kamikazes attacked Drexler and Lowry. The first was downed by the combined fire of the two destroyers and planes from the combat air patrol. The second tried to crash onto Lowry but missed, hitting Drexler instead and cutting off all power and starting large gasoline fires. Despite the heavy damage, she kept firing, aiding in shooting down two planes which attacked immediately after the crash. At 07:03 she was hit by another aircraft, a twin-engined "Frances" P1Y1 bomber, and the impact rolled her on to her beam ends, causing her to sink in less than 50 seconds" at 27°6′N 127°38′E. Because of the speed with which she sank, casualties were heavy: 168 dead and 52 wounded. The captain was one of the wounded.

Awards

Drexler received one battle star for World War II service.

References

• Brown, David. Warship Losses of World War Two. Arms and Armour, London, Great Britain, 1990. ISBN 0-85368-802-8.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• navsource.org: USS Drexler
• hazegray.org: USS Drexler
• [1] Home Port of the U.S.S. Drexler Survivors' Reunion Association (Official website of the Organization)
• Oral history interview with William Burrows, a seaman on the Drexler, describing the sinking Archived 2012-12-12 at archive.today from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University