USS Cassin (DD-372)

Figure 1: USS Cassin (DD-372) underway in the Pacific Ocean, 15 December 1939. Photographed by O.A. Tunnell. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Cassin (DD-372) off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 2 February 1937. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Cassin (DD-372) off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 2 February 1937. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. USS Downes (DD-375), at left, and USS Cassin (DD-372), capsized at right, burned out and sunk in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard dry dock on 7 December 1941, after the Japanese attack. The relatively undamaged USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is in the background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. USS Cassin (DD-372) burned out and capsized against USS Downes (DD-375), in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard dry dock on 7 December 1941, after the Japanese attack. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Cassin (DD-372), at left, and USS Downes (DD-375) under salvage in Dry Dock Number One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 23 January 1942. They had been wrecked during the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid. Photographed from the foremast of USS Raleigh (CL-7), which was undergoing battle damage repairs in the drydock. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Cassin (DD-372) in dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 23 January 1942, while under salvage. She was burned out and capsized in the dry dock during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Cassin (DD-372), at right, capsized, and USS Downes (DD-375) under salvage in Dry Dock Number One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 27 January 1942. They had been wrecked during the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid. Also in the dry dock is USS Raleigh (CL-7), which was under repair for torpedo damage received on 7 December. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS Cassin (DD-372) (capsized, right) and USS Downes (DD-375) (left) in Dry Dock Number One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 4 February 1942, while under salvage. Both destroyers had been wrecked in the dry dock during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In the background, also in Dry Dock Number One, is USS Raleigh (CL-7), being repaired for torpedo damage received in the Japanese attack. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: USS Cassin (DD-372), at right, and USS Downes (DD-375) under salvage in Dry Dock Number One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on 5 February 1942, the day Cassin was righted from her previous position capsized against Downes. They had been wrecked during the 7 December 1941 Japanese air raid. Also in the dry dock is USS Raleigh (CL-7), which was being repaired for torpedo damage received on 7 December. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 11: USS Cassin (DD-372) leaves the dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 18 February 1942, following salvage. She had been massively damaged during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 12: USS Cassin (DD-372) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 26 February 1944. The ship, which had been wrecked in the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has just completed a total reconstruction, with her original machinery and main battery installed in a new hull and superstructure. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 13: US Navy Photo 1301-44, broadside view of the new USS Cassin (DD-372) off Mare Island on 26 February 1944. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 14: US Navy Photo 1303-44, bow on view of the new USS Cassin (DD 372) departing Mare Island on 26 February 1944. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a naval hero in the war of 1812, USS Cassin (DD-372) was a 1,500-ton Mahan class destroyer that was built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 21 August 1936. The ship was approximately 341 feet long and 35 feet wide, had a top speed of 36.5 knots, and had a crew of 158 officers and men. Cassin was armed with five 5-inch guns, four 0.5-inch machine guns, 12 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

From 1936 to 1938, Cassin was assigned to the Atlantic and the Caribbean, sometimes steaming as far south as Brazil. In early 1938, Cassin was transferred to the Pacific where she took part in numerous naval exercises. As tensions mounted between the United States and Japan, Cassin was sent to the South Pacific and went as far west as Australia.

But when Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941, Cassin had the misfortune of being trapped in Dry Dock Number One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. Several bombs hit the destroyer, igniting a raging inferno on board the ship. The numerous bomb hits and the fire caused Cassin to roll off her blocks inside the dry dock and she capsized against the destroyer USS Downes (DD-375), which was also in the dry dock at the time of the attack.

After the attack ended and the massive fires were extinguished, both Cassin and Downes were thought to be total losses. However, after closer examination, it was discovered that Cassin’s main battery, hull fittings, and machinery were still (remarkably) in reasonably good condition. Salvage efforts began on Cassin and all of her guns and other topside equipment were removed from the capsized ship. Her hull was patched up so that the ship could be re-floated and turned upright within the dry dock. Salvage work continued through January 1942 and into February as the dry dock was periodically flooded to bring in or remove other damaged ships. Cassin was finally righted on 5 February and floated out of the dry dock on 18 February. It was an amazing achievement considering all of the damage sustained by the destroyer. Unfortunately, Cassin’s hull was destroyed beyond repair and was scrapped in October 1942. But all of her still-usable equipment was sent to the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for installation in a new hull.

The new hull and superstructure that carried all of the old ship’s equipment were given Cassin’s original number of DD-372. The “new” USS Cassin was commissioned in February 1944. She was assigned to escort duties in the central Pacific through the summer of 1944 and took part in the bombardment of Marcus Island in early October. Later that month during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Cassin escorted the fast carriers of Task Force 38. For the remainder of the war, Cassin operated out of the Marianas, bombarding Iwo Jima in November 1944 and January 1945. She took an active part in the battle for Iwo Jima and even managed to survive a major typhoon that struck the area in June. After her duties in the Pacific ended in August, Cassin was sent to the Atlantic later in 1945 and was decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, in December of that same year. She was sold for scrapping on 25 November 1947.

This is an amazing story of a ship that refused to die. Although almost demolished during the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, major parts of this ship lived on to fight another day. The salvage teams at Pearl Harbor performed heroically and they proved that, given half a chance, something of value could be saved from almost any severely damaged warship. The preservation of Cassin’s original hull number also symbolized that the ship was never technically “sunk,” even though it had sustained horrific damage.