View source for USS Mertz

{{Short description|Fletcher-class destroyer}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
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|Ship image=[[File:USS Mertz (DD-691), circa in 1944 (19-N-58113).jpg|300px|USS Mertz]]
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1946}}
|Ship name=''Mertz''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship laid down=10 May 1943
|Ship launched=11 September 1943
|Ship commissioned=19 November 1943
|Ship decommissioned=23 April 1946
|Ship struck=1 October 1970
|Ship honours=10 Battle Stars
|Ship fate=Sold 16 December 1971, scrapped
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class={{sclass|Fletcher|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=2,050 tons
|Ship length={{convert|376|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|39|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|17|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion={{convert|60,000|shp|abbr=on}}; 2 propellers
|Ship speed={{convert|35|kn}}
|Ship range={{convert|6500|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn|km/h|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=336
|Ship sensors=
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|Ship armament={{Fletcher class destroyer armament}}
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'''USS ''Mertz'' (DD-691)''' was a {{sclass|Fletcher|destroyer}} in the service of the [[United States Navy]] from 1943 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1972.

==Namesake==
Albert Mertz was born on 26 March 1851 in [[Richmond, Walworth County, Wisconsin|Richmond, Wisconsin]]. He graduated from the [[United States Naval Academy]] in June 1872. Commissioned [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] on 15 July 1873, he was assigned to the Coast Survey on 26 November 1877 until he returned to regular duty in the Navy on 6 July 1878, serving on the {{USS|Wyoming|1859|6}} and {{USS|Alliance|1875|6}}, among other ships. Following promotion to [[Commander (United States)|Commander]] on 11 April 1902, he took command of his first ship, {{USS|Newport|PG-12|6}} on 20 July 1903. On 20 December 1909 he reported for duty as commandant, [[Naval Station Cavite]] and [[U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay|Olongapo]], [[Philippines]]. Appointed [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] 20 October 1910, he departed the Philippines on 3 February 1912 to become Governor of the [[Philadelphia Naval Asylum|Naval Home]], [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]] on 25 March. He retired on 26 March 1913 and died at [[San Diego]], [[California]] on 21 July 1936.

==Construction and commissioning==
''Mertz'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] by [[Bath Iron Works]] Corp., [[Bath, Maine]] on 10 May 1943 and [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 11 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Selma M. Allen, daughter of Rear Admiral Mertz The ship was [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] at [[Charlestown, Massachusetts]] on 19 November 1943.

==Service history==
===Arrival in the Pacific===

After shakedown off [[Bermuda]], ''Mertz'' departed [[Norfolk, Virginia]], 26 January 1944 for the central Pacific, via the [[Panama Canal]] and [[San Diego, California]], arriving at [[Pearl Harbor]] 5 March. On 9 March, the destroyer got underway for the [[Marshall Islands]] as convoy escort, arriving [[Majuro Atoll]] 6 days later. ''Mertz'' sailed on 22 March to join TG 58.2 and on 26 March and act as escort back to Majuro. En route on 31 March, she caught a Japanese maru at 0600 in the glare of her searchlights. The enemy merchant ship maneuvered to get away, only to go down under the hail of {{convert|5|in|mm|adj=on|0}} projectiles from ''Mertz''. The task group reached Majuro 6 April. Five days later ''Mertz'' steamed for the [[New Hebrides]] as a screen for the [[escort carrier]] {{USS|Barnes|CVE-20|2}}, arriving at [[Espiritu Santo]] on 15 April.

In mid-May, the destroyer returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the [[Marianas]] campaign. She took fire support and patrol station close ashore to [[Saipan]] on 14 June, pounding gun emplacements in the daytime and at night maintaining illumination over the enemy lines until 22 June, when she began screening convoys.

===Peleliu and Angaur===

''Mertz'' participated in the [[Battle of Peleliu|occupations of Peleliu]] and [[Battle of Angaur|of Angaur]] in the [[Palau Islands]], arriving 10 September. She retired to Manus, [[Admiralty Islands]], on 23 September to prepare for the invasion of [[Leyte (island)|Leyte]], [[Philippines]].

===Philippines campaign===

On 20 October, D-Day for the Leyte landing forces, ''Mertz'' escorted [[landing craft]] through air attacks to the beach and later in the day patrolled off [[Dinagat Island]] at the entrance to [[Leyte Gulf]]. Early in the morning of 25 October as the Japanese Southern Force approached Leyte Gulf through the [[Mindanao Sea]], ''Mertz'' and {{USS|McNair|DD-679|2}} patrolled between Desolation Point and [[Homonhon Island]], lest the enemy fleet choose to steam north along the east coast of Dinagat Island to attack the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] beachhead. When the Japanese entered [[Surigao Strait]], Rear Admiral [[Jesse B. Oldendorf]]’s force met and destroyed the enemy armada in the classic "crossing-of-the-T" maneuver known as the [[Battle of Surigao Strait]], part of the overall [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]]. Later that same day ''Mertz'' splashed a [[Mitsubishi A6M|Zero]] at several hundred yards with heavy machinegun fire.

With the Leyte beachhead established, the destroyer got underway 26 October for [[Jayapura|Hollandia]], [[New Guinea]], anchoring in Humboldt Bay on the 30th to replenish. She got underway for Leyte again 9 November escorting a reinforcement convoy arriving 5 days later. ''Mertz'' then continued on to [[Seeadler Harbor]], Manus, to join a task unit staging for the daring expedition through the [[Sulu Sea]], controlled by the enemy since early 1942, to capture [[Mindoro]]. The American ships had to contend with both a [[typhoon]] and heavy air attacks. ''Mertz'' splashed a [[Nakajima Ki-43|Ki-43]] ("Oscar") 15 December and assisted in the destruction of several others. Departing [[San Pedro Bay (Philippines)|San Pedro Bay]] 4 January 1945, she made another voyage through the Sulu Sea, to support the invasion of [[Luzon]] at [[Lingayen Gulf]] on 9 January before returning to San Pedro Bay on 16 January.

===Attacks on Japan===

On 10 February, ''Mertz'' steamed from [[Ulithi]] for three months at sea with the Fast Carrier Task Force. During this time, she played a role in the airstrikes on the [[Tokyo]] area 16 February, the landings on [[Iwo Jima]] 19 February, and the raids on [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] 1 March. While screening the flattops off [[Kyūshū]], Japan, in March, she downed two more enemy planes. While operating off Okinawa ''Mertz'' helped sink the {{Jsub|I-56|1944|2}} on 18 April.<ref>Fitzsimons, Bernard, general editor. ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare'' (Phoebus, 1978), Vol 13, p.1409, "''I54''". He mistakenly identifies ''I-56'' as ''I-58'', however.</ref> The destroyer retired to Ulithi 14 May, before returning to Okinawa on 24 May. She next steamed to [[Okino Daito Jima]] which she bombarded on 9 June. The next day, she got underway for Leyte Gulf, anchoring at San Pedro Bay 13 June.

As part of [[Admiral|Adm.]] [[William Halsey, Jr.|Willam F. Halsey]]’s [[United States Third Fleet|3rd Fleet]] she cleared San Pedro on 1 July, and nine days later arrived at the launching area off the southeast coast of Tokyo for strike on the Japanese home islands. Beginning with the attacks on Tokyo 10 July, ''Mertz'' ranged up and down the coasts of Japan until she joined an antishipping sweep in the [[Kuriles]] while en route to the [[Aleutians]]. The destroyer arrived at [[Adak Island|Adak]] 14 August, the day of Japan's capitulation.

===End of World War II and fate===

''Mertz''{{'}}s first and only peacetime duty came 31 August, when she departed Adak for Japan, arriving [[Ominato]], northern [[Honshū]], on 8 September, to operate with the 3rd Fleet during the occupation of the northern Honshū-[[Hokkaidō]] area. On 15 September the destroyer departed Ominato Harbor for the west coast, arriving San Francisco on 30 September.

On 1 December, ''Mertz'' steamed to San Diego, where she decommissioned 23 April 1946 and entered the [[Pacific Reserve Fleet]]. She was reassigned to the [[Long Beach, California]], group 1 July 1951 and the [[Stockton, California]], group 1 January 1959. ''Mertz'' was finally sold for scrap on 16 December 1971.

==Awards==
''Mertz'' received 10 [[battle star]]s for World War II service.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/mertz.html}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|USS Mertz (DD-691)}}
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/691.htm        navsource.org: USS ''Mertz'']
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd691txt.htm  hazegray.org: USS ''Mertz'']

{{Fletcher class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mertz (DD-691)}}
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Bath, Maine]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:Fletcher-class destroyers of the United States Navy]]