USS Wasmuth ( DD - 338 ) USS " Wasmuth " ( DD - 338 / DMS - 15 ) was a " Clemson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I . She was named for Henry Wasmuth . History . " Wasmuth " was laid down on 12 August 1919 at the Mare Island Navy Yard , Vallejo , California ; designated DD - 338 on 17 July 1920 ; launched on 15 September 1920 ; sponsored by Miss Gertrude E . Bennet , stepdaughter of Lieutenant Colonel R . H . Davis , USMC , an officer on duty at Mare Island ; and commissioned on 16 December 1921 , Cmdr . W . P . Gaddis in command . " Wasmuth " was fitted out at Mare Island until 27 February 1922 , when she sailed for Richmond , California , to commence her shakedown cruise . Operating off Sausalito and Mare Island , the new destroyer completed her trials on 14 March , putting into her builder ' s yard on that day for post - shakedown repairs . She sailed for San Francisco , California on 1 May and calibrated her sound signal apparatus at that port until the 4th , when she shifted to San Pedro . " Wasmuth " then spent the next month operating in connection with battleship torpedo practices , a duty broken on 7 May by dispatch service to San Diego . Returning to that port from San Pedro on 8 June , she commenced preparations for decommissioning soon thereafter . Placed out of commission at San Diego on 26 July 1922 , " Wasmuth " remained in reserve for nearly eight years during the 1920s , when treaty restrictions and cuts in operating funds reduced the Navy ' s active seagoing forces . Recommissioned on 11 March 1930 , Lt . Cmdr . I . C . Sowell in command , " Wasmuth " operated as a destroyer for the next decade , participating in an intensive slate of tactical exercises and maneuvers , varying that routine with upkeep and training . She also operated with the Battle Force ' s Destroyer Flotilla 2 from the western seaboard into the Caribbean . Only for one brief period , in the autumn of 1934 , was " Wasmuth " not fully active , being then assigned to Rotating Reserve Squadron 10 . With the construction of newer , more heavily armed and far - ranging destroyers , the need for the old " flush - deckers " in their designed destroyer role diminished . While , of course , a great many of those World War I - authorized ships lay in reserve on both coasts , the Navy was expanding as the 1930s had progressed and , in view of ominous developments in Europe and the Far East , was broadening its operational horizons . Aviation - oriented and mine - warfare types of ships - seaplane tender s and fast minesweeper s and minelayer s - were needed . Accordingly , some of the old " flush - deckers " were converted to other roles . " Wasmuth " , a unit of the fleet in Hawaiian waters since the permanent basing of the ships there in April 1940 , was among the " Clemson " - class ships chosen for conversion to high - speed minesweepers of the " Chandler " - class . " Wasmuth " , reclassified as DMS - 15 on 19 November 1940 , underwent the metamorphosis at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard . Retaining her full four - gun main battery and an antiaircraft battery of . 50 - caliber machine guns , as well as depth - charge tracks , the ship lost her torpedo capability when minesweeping gear replaced her dozen 21 - inch torpedo tubes . Upon completion of that conversion at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on 5 April 1941 , " Wasmuth " sailed for Palmyra Island and operated there until 19 April , when she set course to return to Pearl Harbor . The high - speed minesweeper subsequently remained in Hawaiian waters until 10 June , when she sailed for the west coast of the United States . Returning to Hawaii in early July , " Wasmuth " operated out of Pearl Harbor through the autumn of 1941 , as tensions increased in the Far East . She operated on local patrol and minesweeping exercises during that time , as the fleet maintained an intensive training schedule . World War II . Shortly before 0800 on 7 December 1941 , planes from six Japanese aircraft carrier s swept down upon the fleet units present at Pearl Harbor , in a surprise attack . " Wasmuth " ( among the ships in port that Sunday ) lay at buoys D - 7 and D - 7S inboard in a nest with three sister ships of Mine Division ( MineDiv ) 4 : , , and , at the mouth of Pearl Harbor ' s Middle Loch and just off Pearl City . " Wasmuth " went to general quarters at once and Lt . ( jg . ) J . R . Grey ( in the absence of both the commander and executive officer ) assumed command of the ship . Within three minutes , her gunners had all of the . 50 - caliber Browning machine guns ready for action while the ship prepared to get underway . Inside the nest , however , the high - speed minesweeper could only bring her aftermost machine guns to bear against the approaching planes . Shortly after 0900 , about midway through horizontal bomber attacks ( carried out by Nakajima B5N bombers ) , Aichi D3A ' s ( later code - named " Vals " ) began glide - and dive - bombing attacks on the ships and shore installations , kicking off the fourth phase of the raid . Those planes , coming from a westerly direction , were targets for the eager gunners in the minesweepers and minelayers moored in Middle Loch . " Wasmuth ' s " gunners ( who expended 6 , 000 rounds of . 50 - caliber ammunition in the action ) opened fire whenever the planes came within range . One man , Seaman 1st Class James P . Hannpn , was given credit for shooting down an Aichi that crashed on Waipio Peninsula , near Middle Loch . The ship damaged several other planes as they came by . Lt Cmdr . L . M . LeHardy ( " Zane ' s " commanding officer and the senior officer present of MineDiv 4 ) ordered the ships to get underway , " Trever " leading the pack at 0932 . Five minutes later , Lt . J . W . Leverton , " Wasmuth ' s " executive officer , arrived as his ship edged out of Middle Loch , and took command , relieving Lt . ( jg . ) Grey who had fought the ship since the outset of the attack . Shortly thereafter , " Trever ' s " commander reported on board too , since his own ship was steaming down the channel without him . Proceeding out of her harbor herself soon thereafter , " Wasmuth " took up patrols off the channel entrance . Meanwhile , while the attack itself had ceased , jittery sailors , marines , and soldiers were not so sure . At sea , the forces searching for the retiring Japanese suspected the presence of enemy submarines , real or otherwise . At 1023 , " Wasmuth " dropped one depth charge " on suspicious water " but came up with only a negative result . At 1036 , the high - speed minesweeper dropped another depth charge , but only achieved the same result as the first attack - nothing . Although it brought up " large quantities of oil " there was no wreckage . Later that afternoon , " Wasmuth " and " Zane " swept the Pearl Harbor entrance channel before the former anchored at the coal docks when her sweep wire parted . After she retrieved the sweep gear , she headed back to the open sea , where her commanding officer , Lt . Cmdr . J . L . Wilfong , reported aboard . " Trever ' s " commanding officer , Lt . Comdr . D . M . Agnew , rejoined his own ship at 1635 . MineDiv 4 soon resumed its patrol operations . " Wasmuth " operated in the Hawaiian chain between Johnston Island and Pearl Harbor into the spring of 1942 . She departed Pearl Harbor on 31 May 1942 , and escorted Convoy 4111 to San Francisco , reaching her destination on 10 June . Departing there on the last day of July , " Wasmuth " returned to Pearl Harbor with Convoy 2113 , arriving on 12 August . Departing Pearl Harbor on the 14th , " Wasmuth " left Hawaii in her wake for the last time , bound for the Aleutian Islands . Reaching Kodiak , Alaska , on 20 August , the high - speed minesweeper spent the remainder of her career in this region as part of Task Force 8 , performing screen and escort duties for the supply ships necessary to bear the " beans , bullets , and black oil " to that theater . In the course of her operations that autumn and winter , the ship visited such picturesquely named places as Women ' s Bay , Dutch Harbor , Chernofski , Nome , Kodiak , and Point Mush . Fate . Two days after Christmas of 1942 , " Wasmuth " was escorting a convoy through a heavy Alaskan storm when two depth charges were wrenched from their tracks by the pounding sea , fell over the side , and exploded beneath the ship ' s fantail . The blasts carried away part of the ship ' s stern and the ship began to founder ; in the gale , the pumps could not make headway against the inexorably rising water below . Despite the heavy sea , came alongside the foundering " Wasmuth " . For three and a half hours , the tanker remained with the sinking high - speed minesweeper , battling the waves while successfully transferring her crew and two passengers . After completing that rescue , " Ramapo " pulled away ; " Wasmuth " eventually sank early on 29 December 1942 . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 3 September 1943 . Honors and awards . " Wasmuth " ( DMS - 15 ) received one battle star for her part in the defense of the Fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 . Postscript . As of 2012 , no other ship has been named USS " Wasmuth " .