USS Daly (DD-519) - 1945

1945

Daly arrived off Iwo Jima 16 February 1945 in the screen of air support carriers. She rescued 11 survivors of Bismarck Sea (CVE-95), sunk by a suicide plane on 21 February. Daly cleared the area 7 March for San Pedro Bay, Leyte, to join forces preparing for the invasion of Okinawa. On 27 March she sortied to provide patrol and fire support during the assault and occupation of Okinawa. During a suicide attack on 28 April she took an enemy plane under fire and splashed it a scant 25 yards off the port beam. The plane's bomb exploded, killing three and injuring 16 of Daly's crew. Repairs were quickly accomplished at Kerama Retto and Daly resumed her hazardous patrol duty. On 25 May she aided Bates (APD-47), a kamikaze's victim, rescuing one badly burned survivor from the sinking ship. On 10 June she screened the carriers of the 3rd Fleet in their strikes on the Japanese mainland.

After replenishing at Leyte Gulf, Daly returned to Okinawa 16 July 1945. She joined with Task Force 95 (TF 95) to sweep the East China Sea for enemy shipping. Two more searches off the mouth of the Yangtze River and approaches to Shanghai were made before the end of the war. Daly arrived at Nagasaki 14 September for occupation duty, serving in Japanese waters until 17 November when she departed Sasebo for the United States, arriving at San Diego 6 December. She arrived at Charleston, S.C., 23 December, and was placed out of commission in reserve 18 April 1946.