USS Haynsworth

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Haynsworth departed New York on 20 September 1944 escorting Queen Mary with Prime Minister Winston Churchill on board. Rendezvousing with British escorts, she returned to New York and sailed on 26 September via the Panama Canal Zone and San Pedro, arriving Pearl Harbor on 20 October. Haynsworth sailed on 16 December for Ulithi and joined Vice Admiral John McCain's Fast Carrier Task Force 38 for the final assaults on the Japanese. During the next three months, she operated with the 3rd and 5th Fleets as part of the screen for the Fast Carrier Task Force. Their primary mission was to conduct air strikes against strategic Japanese positions along the China coast, and Formosa, and to harass enemy shipping during the landings at Luzon on 9 January 1945.

The day after the invasion was launched, Task Force 38 moved into the South China Sea and conducted raids on the China coast and Indochina, doing much damage to the enemy. Launching one final raid against Okinawa, Haynsworth retired to Ulithi on 26 January. She sortied on 10 February with Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58 for strikes against airfields, factories, and shipping in the Tokyo area. Heavy fighter sweeps were launched on 16 February to cover the airfields around Tokyo Bay. Despite heavy weather with low ceiling, most of the target areas were effectively neutralized. During the afternoon, three Japanese picket boats that had evaded detection in thick fog were spotted by Haynsworth and promptly sunk, taking 12 prisoners. In addition to damaging aircraft frame and engine plants, a number of ships and small craft were attacked and sunk in Tokyo Bay, the biggest prize being the 10,600-ton Yamashiro Maru.

As the Pacific war approached its climax, Haynsworth again sailed from Ulithi for further strikes against Japan. Massive air attacks were launched against airfields on Kyushu and ships in the Inland Sea 18 and 19 March, inflicting heavy damage on the dwindling Japanese air and sea power. After participating in the bombardment of enemy shore positions on Minami Daito Shima 28 March, she sailed for Okinawa. Landings were made on the Japanese fortress 1 April, with Task Force 58 providing support, and Haynsworth frequently aiding in the destruction of enemy aircraft during the many attacks, where "the fleet had come to stay." Only after she was crashed by a kamikaze 6 April did she have to retire to Mare Island via Ulithi for repairs.

After repairs Haynsworth had duty at Treasure Island, California, as a training ship from 17 July to 5 September. After several months of operations at Pearl Harbor, she sailed for the east coast on 14 January 1946, reaching Boston on 26 April for a year in the Reserve Fleet. Returning to active service in March 1947, Haynsworth based her operations from Algiers, Louisiana, conducting reserve training cruises in the Gulf and in the Caribbean until the summer of 1949.

Haynsworth sailed 6 September 1949 for her first duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean, returning to Norfolk on 7 February 1950. She arrived Charleston 10 days later, decommissioned there 19 May and joined the Reserve Fleet.

With the expansion of operations due to the Korean War, Haynsworth recommissioned at Charleston 22 September 1950, Commander Herbert F. Rommel in command. Following training and operations along the East Coast and in the Caribbean she sailed 3 September 1951 for duty in the Mediterranean.

USS Haynsworth in the South Pacific c. 1945

After more operations on the East Coast and in the Caribbean, and a midshipman cruise to the North Atlantic, Haynsworth sailed from Norfolk on 2 November 1953 for a round-the-world cruise. While in the Pacific she was assigned duty for four months in the Far East with the 7th Fleet. While conducting night antisubmarine exercises off Pusan on or around 23 December 1953, Haynsworth collided with the destroyer Ault, killing a sailor on board Haynsworth and damaging her bow. The accident required both ships to proceed to Yokosuka for repairs. Haynsworth returned to Norfolk 4 June 1954 to resume her support of the 6th Fleet. In 1958, with the Suez crisis still unsettled, Navy units stood by in the eastern Mediterranean and evacuated U.S. nationals from Egypt. Haynsworth aided the Navy's preparedness in the event of any conflict. Between 1956 and 1960, she made five deployments to the Mediterranean, supporting the Navy's peacekeeping role and keeping a watchful eye on the troubled spots of the free world. In 1959, Haynsworth took part in the historic Operation Inland Seas, commemorating the opening of the mighty St. Lawrence Seaway, steaming up the St. Lawrence to Montreal.

Late in 1961, while in the Mediterranean, Haynsworth delivered emergency food rations to flood-ravaged Africa, and on 3 October 1962, she stood by off Cape Canaveral as a rescue ship and witnessed the take off of astronaut Comdr. Walter Schirra in Mercury-Atlas 8. Later that month, under much more serious circumstances, she hastened to the Caribbean and participated in the naval quarantine of Cuba, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In February 1963, Haynsworth deployed to the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden for operations with the 6th Fleet. After returning to Norfolk, she embarked midshipmen for an Atlantic cruise from 1 August to 10 September; then underwent overhaul at New Orleans, and Orange, Texas, before arriving Galveston, Texas on 28 February 1964 to begin duty as a Naval Reserve training ship.

After being assigned to Reserve Destroyer Squadron 34, Haynsworth operated out of Galveston while providing valuable on board training facilities for hundreds of Naval Reservists. Manned by a nucleus crew, she steamed to ports along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and numerous training cruises carried her into the Caribbean.

On 12 May 1970, Haynsworth was transferred to Taiwan and renamed Yue Yang. Yue Yang served for almost 30 more years before being decommissioned on 6 January 1999 and sunk as artificial reef on 13 October 2001.