Like other goldplater squadrons, Destroyer Squadron 6 initially consisted of a Porter-class destroyer leader, Balch, plus two divisions of 1,500-tonners. In this case, DesDiv 11 consisted of the four Gridleys—Gridley, Craven, McCall and Maury—while DesDiv 12 was made up of the two Dunlap-class two-stackers—Dunlap and Fanning—plus the two low-numbered Benhams—Benham and Ellet. All were commissioned between June 1937 and March 1939.

On 7 December 1941, the entire squadron was at sea with Enterprise (CV 6) and cruisers Chester, Northampton and Salt Lake City under VAdm. William F. Halsey, Jr., which was returning to Oahu after flying off aircraft for Wake Island, and thus missed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

In January 1942, DesRon 6 sortied with VAdm. Halsey’s Task Force 8 to strike the Marshall Islands. Fanning and Gridley collided during a rain squall and retired. Dunlap and cruisers shelled Wotje Atoll, sinking one enemy gunboat and damaging another. McCall hit Wotje, Maleolap and Kwajalein. Balch and Maury and cruisers hit Taroa and Maleolap and—on a separate mission in late February—Wake Island. Thereafter, Dunlap operated from Hawaii and the West Coast before moving to Nouméa, New Caledonia in December.

After repairs, Fanning returned in April to join Balch, Benham and Ellet in VAdm. Halsey’s Task Force 16, again screening Enterprise during the Doolittle raid on Japan. Fanning then drew escort assignments similar to Dunlap’s before going to the Solomon Islands in November. After a year there in supporting roles, she returned to San Francisco for overhaul and then went to the Aleutians.

At the Battle of Midway in June, Balch, Benham and Ellet plus Maury from DesDiv 11 and Conyngham from DesDiv 5 were attached to RAdm. Raymond A. Spruance’s Task Force 16, screening Enterprise and Hornet. Balch and Benham respectively rescued 545 and 908 survivors when Yorktown and Hammann were sunk on the 6th.

Next, Balch, Benham, Ellet and Maury went to the Solomon Islands. For the Guadalcanal–Tulagi landings in early August:

• Balch, Benham and Maury operated with Gwin and Grayson in an air support force.
• Ellet operated with the Amphibious Force. She was not engaged at the Battle of Savo Island on the 9th but afterward rescued 502 cruisermen from Quincy and Astoria and, with Selfridge, torpedoed and scuttled HMAS Canberra.

Balch, Benham, Ellet and Maury were still with Enterprise, North Carolina, Portland and Atlanta for the Battle of the Eastern Solomons at the end of the month. Thereafter:

• Ellet missed the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October, but otherwise remained with Task Force 16 until May 1943. On 29–30 January 1943, she operated with Morris, Mustin, Hughes and Russell during the Battle of Rennell Island.
• Maury was still with Task Force 16 under RAdm. Thomas C. Kinkaid at Santa Cruz, operating with DesRon 5. She also participated in the Battle of Tassafaronga in November.
• Benham was torpedoed at the Battle of Guadalcanal on 14–15 November and subsequently foundered.

In May 1943, Balch detached from the squadron. She went to the Aleutians and then back to New Guinea in May 1944 and finally to the Atlantic that June. Meanwhile, Cummings and Case replaced Benham and Ellet, leaving the squadron with eight destroyers as shown in the accompanying table.

In June 1943, all eight ships plus anti-aircraft cruisers San Diego and San Juan formed the screen for carriers Saratoga and HMS Victorious (operating as USS Robin), which covered the launching of Operation “Cartwheel” in the Solomon Islands’ New Georgia Group.

• In July, Maury operated with DesRon 12 in the Battle of Kolombangara.
• In August, Craven and Maury joined Dunlap, flagship of DesDiv 12’s Commander Frederick Moosbrugger, for the Battle of Vella Gulf.
• In November, Gridley and Maury participated in the Gilbert Islands operation.

In January 1944, the full squadron was attached to RAdm. Samuel P. Ginder’s Task Group 58.3 with cruisers Boston, Baltimore and San Juan screening carriers Saratoga, Princeton and Langley in strikes on Wotje, Maloelap and Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.

In March and April, DesDiv 11 sailed from Majuro to screen the carriers in strikes on Palau, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai, covered the invasion of Hollandia, and raided Truk, Satawan, and Ponape. Moving to the Marianas in June, it and DesRon 46 and the cruisers, with Canberra and Oakland added, screened Hornet, Yorktown, Belleau Wood and Bataan in RAdm. “Jocko” Clark’s Task Group 58.1 during the Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19–20 June. In July, from Eniwetok, they struck Iwo Jima, Guam, Yap, Ulithi and the Volcano Islands. In September, they supported the Palau landings.

From DesDiv 12, Case, too, continued on with the carriers. In March, meanwhile, Dunlap, Fanning and Cummings were detached.

• With Saratoga, they reported to the Combined Far Eastern Fleet, which consisted of British Dutch, French and Australian ships. Planes from Saratoga and HMS Illustrious struck targets on Sumatra in April and at Soerabaja, Java in May.
• In July, they escorted Baltimore (CA 68) with President Roosevelt embarked on an inspection cruise to Hawaii and Alaska. The president spent part of the cruise on board Cummings, from which he broadcast a nationwide address on the 12th.

On 11 October 1944, Craven retired to Pearl Harbor (and, in January, to the Atlantic) and was replaced in DesDiv 11 by Helm. Meanwhile, in a swap, Bagley, Mugford, Patterson and Ralph Talbot came over from DesRon 4 to form a new DesDiv 12 while Dunlap, Fanning, Case and Cummings, with Lamson, went to DesRon 4 as DesDiv 7.

Now screening Franklin, Enterprise, San Jacinto and Belleau Wood in RAdm. Ralph E. Davison’s Task Group 38.4, the reconstituted DesRon 6 and DesDiv 24 struck Okinawa and Formosa, struck the Japanese Center force in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea on the 24th and participated in the Battle off Cape Engaño on the 25th.

• On the 28th, Gridley and Helm sank submarine I-54.
• On the 30th, about 1,000 miles east of Samar, suicide planes hit both Franklin and Belleau Wood. On 2 November, Gridley screened them in retiring to Ulithi.
• On 5 December in Surigao Strait, Mugford was hit by a kamikaze. She returned to Mare Island, where she was under repair from 6 January to 4 March 1945.

After availability at Manus, the squadron was reassigned to RAdm. Calvin T. Durgin’s Task Group 77.4 built around escort carriers Makin Island, Lunga Point, Bismarck Sea, Salamaua and Hoggatt Bay, which sailed on 27 December for Lingayen Gulf to support the Luzon invasion. En route on 5 January, Helm was one of several ships crashed by suicide planes off Mindoro.

Tired and showing signs of structural failure that prevented them from mounting 40mm anti-aircraft guns to counter the growing kamikaze threat, however, the remaining three Gridleys did not last much longer on the front line:

• On 16 February, Gridley and Maury retired to Ulithi, from which they escorted battleship Mississippi back to Hawaii. Gridley went on to New York, arriving on 30 March. On 22 June, after overhaul, she went to the Mediterranean for seven months of passenger, freight and convoy operations between Casablanca, Oran, Naples and Marseilles. Maury remained at Pearl Harbor until June, when she, too, went to New York. There, an inspection team recommended that she be disposed of and on 18 August she proceeded to Philadelphia where she decommissioned 10 October.
• On 19 February, McCall arrived off the transport area at Iwo Jima, where she screened the transports and provided shore bombardment harassing and illumination fire services until 27 March, when she departed for Pearl Harbor and the West Coast, arriving at San Diego 22 April. Within the week, she got underway for a scheduled overhaul at New York. Her yard work completed by 4 August, she was undergoing refresher training at Casco Bay when Japan surrendered on 14 August.

Accordingly, DesRon 6 was reformed one more time. While all five Bagleys were combined in DesDiv 11, a new DesDiv 12 consisted of 1,630-tonners—the three survivors from DesDiv 34 and Satterlee, the only ship from DesDiv 36 not converted as a minesweeper. Reassigned to the Fifth Fleet in February, Bagley, Helm, Ralph Talbot and Patterson operated at Iwo Jima and in the spring, after Mugford returned, moved on to Okinawa with Shubrick and Tillman. There,

• On 27 April, Ralph Talbot sustained a hit and a near miss from suicide planes. Repaired at Kerama Retto, she was back in the antiaircraft screen on 20 May.
• On 29 May, Shubrick was crashed by a plane that also released a bomb into the ship. One of her depth charges also exploded. Towed to Kerama Retto for emergency repairs, she went home on one engine in July–August but was not repaired.

Thereafter, ships of the squadron screened escort carriers and escorted convoys, typically between Leyte, the Marianas and the Ryukyus, until the war ended, when two Bagleys were given the honor of participating in surrender ceremonies before repatriating prisoners of war and returning home:

• Bagley at Marcus Island on 31 August with Rear Admiral F. E. M. Whiting embarked.
• Ralph Talbot at Truk with cruiser Portland on 2 September.

Maury was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation “for outstanding performance in combat against enemy Japanese forces ashore and afloat in the Pacific War Area from February 1, 1942, to August 6, 1943.”

---

Sources: Morison, Rohwer, Roscoe, Hyperwar: United States Fleet Pacific Organization, 1 May 1945; Naval History & Heritage Command including Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships histories for individual ships.