The Fight to Save GLENNON
8-10 JUNE 1944
THE FIGHT TO SAVE GLENNON
USS GLENNON (DD-620), JEFFERS (DD-621), and BUTLER (DD-636) spent June 7th close inshore against “Utah” beach, the former expending 430 five-inch rounds against enemy pillboxes and machine gun nests from which American soldiers were being mauled. The following morning GLENNON was again holding her station, dodging the scattered fire of a Germany 4″ battery, when suddenly at 0803 there was a massive explosion under her stern. Sixteen sailors were pitched overboard; two standing on the fantail were thrown 40′ into the air, one suffering two broken legs. A 600# (unarmed) depth charge was torn from its rack and crashed into the #3 torpedo launcher. Her stern began to settle, the mine blast having gripped the crew with alarm. The skipper, CDR Clifford A. Johnson, sternly passed word over the 1MC, “The ship will not sink; all hands remain aboard, repair parties proceed with rescue and salvage work.”
Quickly the minesweeper STAFF (AM-114) arrived to pass a towline, while THREAT (AM-124) swept the area ahead. But a destroyer dead in the water is an inviting target, and while these lines were being passed a German shore battery opened. GLENNON’s own 5″ guns answered, and a call for more assistance brought LCDR E.A. Michael in the destroyer escort RICH (DE-695). However, as Michael rounded GLENNON’s stern another explosion was heard. This time RICH reeled from a mine that knocked her into the air. Minutes later a second explosion blew away 50 feet of RICH’s stern; then a third mine detonated under her fo’castle. “Abandon ship” was passed and within ten minutes the destroyer escort was gone.
Meanwhile STAFF had failed to budge GLENNON, whose starboard prop had been driven into the bottom by the explosion. As gunfire from the shore continued, Johnson ordered all crewmen except gunners and salvage parties removed. These men fought the ship while pumping fuel forward and working to jettison topside gear from her stern. The powerful salvage tug KIOWA (ATF-72) made a second futile try, but even with GLENNON’s remaining crewmen crowded into the stricken lady’s bows, she stood fast. Sunrise on the 9th brought sporadic fire from shore. Heavy salvage gear now arrived and GLENNON’s crew was brought back aboard.
But by dawn on June 10th their best efforts had still not been fruitful. By now a German battery near Quinneville had found its range. Their second salvo caught GLENNON amidships and cut all power. A third salvo struck as well, forcing Johnson to abandon ship. The gun crews volunteered to stay until the last and worked her guns for the time it took to remove all hands to an LCM. Struck over twenty times by 4″ shore fire, the tenacious destroyer stayed up until 2145, when she finally rolled and sank.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 14 JUN 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 3 “G-K”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977, p. 108.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol 11 The Invasion of France and Germany. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1957, pp. 171-73.
Parkin, Robert Sinclair. Blood on the Sea: American Destroyers Lost in World War II. New York, NY: Sarpedon, 1995, pp. 225-29.
Roscoe, Theodore. United States Destroyer Operations in World War II. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1953, pp. 354-56.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: GLENNON lost 25 killed and 38 wounded during this three-day fight and salvage effort. RICH lost 27 killed, 73 wounded and 62 missing. Among the dead were Pharmacists Mate 2nd Class George Burnes of GLENNON and PM1c Hardy L. Pilkinton of RICH.
Partly to confuse the enemy and partly out of respect, the names Glennon and Rich were passed to later destroyers of WWII. GLENNON (DD-840) was launched 14 July 1945.
GLENNON remembers RADM James Henry Glennon, a combat veteran of the Spanish-American war and Philippine Insurrection and a Navy Cross recipient as Commander of Battleship Division 5 during World War I. RICH remembers LTJG Ralph McMaster Rich, a WWII Naval aviator and a posthumous Navy Cross awardee for actions at the battle of Midway.
