(Named after Rear Admiral Daniel Ammen, served from 1836 to 1878. Known to her crew as the “Flaming Ammen”.)

Type and Characteristics - DD-527 destroyer, built by the Bethlehem Steel Corp.; displacement. 2,050 tons; length 376'5"; beam 39'7"; draft 17'9"; speed 35.2 kts; main engines: 60,000 SHP; Westinghouse Turbines, 2 screws; crew. 329; armament: 5 5", 10 40mm., 7 20mm., 10 21" tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct.

Log Period and Areas of Service - 1942-61; Aleutians, western and eastern Pacific, Japan, and in the Atlantic Fleet.

Summary of Service

[Note: Ammen (DD-527) earned eight battle stars during World War II. A more extensive accounting is at DANFS.]

17 September 1942 - Launched sponsored by Miss Eva Ammen.

20 March 1943 - Commissioned with Cmdr. John Cheshire Daniel in command, and went to sea for shakedown cruise.

23 April 1943 - Embarked upon a voyage to Alaskan waters as part of the screen for Task Force (TF) 51 with LtCdr. Henry Williams Jr. in command.

11 May 1943 - participated in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, providing antisubmarine and antiaircraft protection for the ships of the invasion force.

11 July 1943 - Went on escort duty for convoys bound for Alaska and patrolling in the Aleutian Islands.

26 November 1943 - Embarked for the southwestern Pacific as a unit of the 7th Fleet, focusing on the series of operations that wrested control of the northern coast of New Guinea from the Japanese, until October 1944.

11 May 1944 - Cmdr. James Harvey Brown Jr took command.

15 October 1944 - She became a unit of the screen for the invasion of the Philippines at Leyte. 

1 November 1944 - A burning Japanese bomber crashed into the destroyer between her stacks, caroming off the ship into the sea, but caused considerable topside damage and inflicted 26 casualties, including five dead. 

21 December 1944 - Arrived at Mare Island Navy Yard, CA, for repairs.

9 February 1945 - Performed training and carrier escort missions in the Hawaiian Islands.

17 March 1945 - Arrived back at Leyte in the Philippines.

27 March 1945 - Joined TF 55, the Southern Attack Force, bound for the assault on Okinawa, providing antisubmarine and anti-aircraft protection for the troop and cargo ships unloading there. There was frequent contact with Japanese planes throughout the following weeks.

20 April 1945 - A Japanese plane dropped a bomb fairly close on her starboard quarter, exploding in the water, showering the warship with fragments, and eight of her crew suffered wounds. 

14 June 1945 - LtCdr. George Van Rogers took command.

7 September 1945 - She departed Okinawa on her way to Japan proper, at Nagasaki and Sasebo.

17 November 1945 - Embarked upon the voyage back to the United States by way of Midway, Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and the Panama Canal to Charleston, S.C.

15 April 1946 - Placed out of commission and berthed with the Charleston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

5 April 1951 - Recommissioned for duty with the Atlantic Fleet due to the Korean War, Cmdr. Ralph P. Desmond in command.

2 August 1952 - Cruised in the Mediterranean Sea with the 6th Fleet, Cmdr. Charles Louis Browning in command.

February 1953 - Operated from Newport with the 2nd Fleet in the Atlantic.

10 August 1953 - Left Boston to join the 7th Fleet in the Far East, frequently in waters adjacent to Korea. 

14 January 1954 - Returned to Newport by way of the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.

1 July 1954 - Cmdr. Blaine Edward Eader took command.

30 November 1954 - She left Newport to rejoin the 7th Fleet in the Far East, under the command of Cmdr. Richard Henry Woodfin Jr.

January 1955 - She supported the evacuation of Nationalist Chinese from the Tachen Islands and then served on the Taiwan Strait patrol.

19 June 1955 - Returned to San Diego to take up normal 1st Fleet operations, conducting training and exercises.

7 February 1956 - She left San Diego to rejoin the 7th Fleet in the Far East again.

11 August 1956 - Returned to San Diego.

6 November 1956 - Returned to active duty with the 1st Fleet under the command of Cmdr. George Ransom Brines.

16 April 1957 - She left San Diego to rejoin the 7th Fleet in the Far East, going via Fiji  to Melbourne, Australia, for the 15th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, and then north via Manus in the Admiralty Islands and Guam to Yokosuka.

29 September 1957 - Returned to San Diego for duty with the 1st Fleet.

25 June 1958 - She left San Diego to rejoin the 7th Fleet in the Far East again, this time having engineering casualties while working with the fast air carriers.

5 September 1958 - Command was given to Cmdr. Zaven Mukhalian.

18 December 1958 - Returned to San Diego.

June 1959 - After repairs at San Francisco, active duty with 1st Fleet resumed.

15 August 1959 - Left San Francisco for operations between Pearl Harbor and Guam.

19 July 1960 - At 9am while making the transit in fog between Seal Beach and San Diego for decommissioning, Ammen was struck by Collett (DD-730). The collision killed 11 Ammen sailors and injured 20 others. She was initially towed into Long Beach and, later, from there to San Diego.

20 Aug 1960 - LtCdr. Mortimer Stevens Jr. took command of the disabled ship.

15 September 1960 - She was decommissioned. 

1 October 1960 - Ammen's name was struck from the Navy list.

Fate - Wrecked 19 July 1960, decommissioned 15 September 1960, sold 17 August 1980 to the National Metal & Steel Corp. for scrapping.

Links: DANFS, Wikipedia

USS Ammen 1953

USS Ammen (DD-527) underway at sea off Newport, Rhode Island on 4 June 1953

A general note on the sources.