Allied Warships

USS Dortch (DD 670)

Destroyer of the Fletcher class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Fletcher
Pennant	DD 670
Built by	Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Kearny, New Jersey, U.S.A.)
Ordered	14 Jun 1942
Laid down	2 Mar 1943
Launched	20 Jun 1943
Commissioned	7 Aug 1943
End service	13 Dec 1957
History	Decommissioned 19 July 1946. Recommissioned 4 May 1951. Decommissioned 13 December 1957. Stricken 1 September 1975. Transferred to Argentina 16 August 1961 being renamed Espora. Espora was stricken and broken up for scrap in 1977.

Commands listed for USS Dortch (DD 670)

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	Commander	From	To
1	T/Cdr. Robert Cumming Young, USN	7 Aug 1943	4 Oct 1944
2	Lt.Cdr. Richard Edwin Myers, USN	4 Oct 1944	30 Apr 1945
3	Paul Gress Adams, Jr., USN	30 Apr 1945	30 Sep 1945
4	Phillip L Williams, USNR	30 Sep 1945	19 Jul 1946

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Notable events involving Dortch include:

12 Feb 1944
Task Force 58 departed Majuro Atoll for operation HAILSTONE, a raid against the Japanese base at Truk Atoll.

Task Force 58 was made up of the following ships;

Task Group 58.1
Aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (Capt. M.B. Gardner, USN), USS Yorktown (Capt. R.E. Jennings, USN), light carrier USS Belleau Wood (Capt. A.M. Pride, USN), light cruisers Santa Fé (Capt. J. Wright, USN), Mobile (Capt. C.J. Wheeler, USN), Biloxi (Capt. D.M. McGurl, USN), USS Oakland (Capt. W.K. Phillips, USN) and the destroyers USS Clarence K. Bronson (Lt.Cdr. J.C. McGoughran, USN), USS Cotten (Cdr. F.T. Sloat, USN), USS Dortch (Cdr. R.C. Young, USN), USS Gatling (Cdr. A.F. Richardson, USN), USS Healy (Cdr. J.C. Atkeson, USN), USS Cogswell (Cdr. H.T. Deutermann, USN), USS Caperton (Cdr. W.J. Miller, USN), USS Ingersoll (Cdr. A.C. Veasey, USN), USS Knapp (Cdr. F. Virden, USN).

Task Group 58.2
Aircraft carriers USS Essex (Capt. R.A. Ofstie, USN), USS Intrepid (Capt. T.L. Sprague, USN), light carrier USS Cabot (Capt. M.F. Schoeffel, USN), heavy cruisers USS Wichita (Capt J.J. Mahoney, USN), USS Baltimore (Capt. W.C. Calhoun, USN), light cruisers USS San Francisco (Capt. H.E. Overesch, USN), USS San Diego (Capt. L.J. Hudson, USN), destroyers USS Owen (Cdr. R.W. Wood, USN), USS Miller (Cdr. T.H. Kobey, USN), USS The Sullivans (Cdr. K.M. Gentry, USN), USS Stephen Potter (Cdr. C.H. Crichton, USN), USS Hickox (Cdr. W.M. Sweetser, USN), USS Hunt (Cdr. H.A. Knoertzer, USN), USS Lewis Hancock (Cdr. C.H. Lyman, 3rd, USN), USS Stembel (Cdr. W.L. Tagg, USN) and USS Stack (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Wheeler, USN).

Task Group 58.3
Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (Capt. T.P. Jeter, USN), light carriers USS Monterey (Capt. L.T. Hundt, USN), USS Cowpens (Capt. R.P. McConnell, USN), battleships USS North Carolina (Capt. F.P. Thomas, USN), USS Massachusetts (Capt. T.D. Ruddock, Jr., USN), USS South Dakota (Capt. A.E. Smith, USN), USS Alabama (Capt. F.D. Kirtland, USN), USS Iowa (Capt. J.L. McCrea, USN), USS New Jersey (Capt. C.F. Holden, USN), heavy cruisers USS Minneapolis (Capt. R.W. Bates, USN), USS New Orleans (Capt. S.R. Shumaker, USN), destroyers USS Izard (Cdr. E.K. van Swearingen, USN), USS Charrette (Cdr. E.S. Karpe, USN), USS Conner (Cdr. W.E. Kaitner, USN), USS Bell (Cdr. L.C. Petross, USN), USS Burns (Cdr. D.T. Eller, USN), USS Bradford (Cdr. R.L. Morris, USN), USS Brown (Cdr. T.H. Copeman, USN), USS Cowell (Cdr. C.W. Parker, USN), USS Wilson (Lt.Cdr. C.K. Duncan, USN), USS Sterett (Lt.Cdr. F.J.L. Blouin, USN) and USS Lang (Cdr. H. Payson, Jr., USN).

25 Jul 1944
USS Iowa (Capt. J.L. McCrea, USN) topped off four of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Cotten (Cdr. F.T. Sloat, USN), USS Ingersoll (Cdr. A.C. Veasey, USN), USS Dortch (Cdr. R.C. Young, USN) and USS Sterett (Lt.Cdr. F.J.L. Blouin, USN), with fuel.

28 Jul 1944
USS Iowa (Capt. J.L. McCrea, USN) topped off four of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Hickox (Lt.Cdr. J.H. Wesson, USN), USS Dortch (Cdr. R.C. Young, USN), USS Hunt (Cdr. H.A. Knoertzer, USN) and USS Owen (Cdr. R.W. Wood, USN), with fuel.

6 Sep 1944
Late in the afternoon, USS Iowa (Capt. A.R. McCann, USN), topped off one of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Dortch (Cdr. R.C. Young, USN), with fuel.