Hemminger DE-746

Hemminger

Cyril Franklin Hemminger enlisted in the Navy 26 May 1920. Working his way up through the ranks, he was appointed Boatswain 3 April 1942 and reported to cruiser Astoria for duty in the Pacific S days later. Hemminger was commissioned Ensign 15 June 1942 and in the early stages of the Guadalcanal Campaign, was killed during the Battle of Savo Island.

(DE-746: dp. 1,240; 1. 306'; b. 36'8"; dr. 8'9", s. 21 k.: cpl. 186; a. 3 3", 2 40mm., 10 20mm., 3 tt., 2 dct., 8 dcp.1 dcp. (h.h.); cl. Cannon)

Hemminger (DE-746) was launched 12 September 1943 by Western Pipe & Steel Co., San Francisco, sponsored by Mrs. Sue Frances Hemminger, widow, and commissioned 30 May 1944, Lt. Comdr. J. R. Bodler, USNR, in command

Shakedown completed, Hemminger reached Pearl Harbor in August 1944 I.o train submarines for war patrols. She also patrolled between Pearl and Eniwetok and worked in hunter-killer antisubmarine operations. On 28 February 1945 while on a HUK mission with Corregidor and CortDiv 53, the destroyer escort was diverted to participate in the fruitless search for Lieutenant General M. F. Harmon, Commander Army Air Forces Pacific, \whose plane had disappeared. After patrol duty in the Marshall Islands, Hemminger sailed 30 April to escort a resupply convoy to Okinawa, where battle still raged. From 16 May to 20 June, she acted as screen for a carrier group engaged in neutralization of Sakishima Gunto and supported ground forces on Okinawa as well as the air attack on Kyushu.

Hemminger joined CortDiv 63 and Kassan Bag for further hunter-killer patrol around Guam and Eniwetok until sailing for the Philippines 27 September. Detached from the Pacific Fleet, Hemminger reached Norfolk 2 December via Saipan, Pearl Harbor San Diego, and tho Panama Canal. Training out of Green Cove Springs, Fla.. occupied Hemminger until she decommissioned there 17 June 1946 and went into reserve.

After a period of duty with the reserve training program, Hemminger recommissioned at Norfolk 1 December 1950. In the following years her career assumed a pat tern of local operations along the coast punctuated by reserve training cruises to Canada and the Caribbean. One reserve cruise in June 1952 took Hemminger to Lisbon while others saw her at Rouen, France; Barranquilla, Colombia; Cadiz, and New Orleans.

Hemminger also participated in several fleet exercises and worked with the Turkish submarine Gun in August 1954. Departing Little Creek, VA., 23 November 1957 she reported to New York Naval Shipyard for inactivation. Hemminger decommissioned there 21 February 1958 and joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She was loaned to Thailand 22 July 1959 under the Military Assistance Program, and serves the Royal Thai Navy as Pin Klao.