Izard (DD 589), flagship of DesRon 46.
Destroyer Squadron 46
1943
Destroyer Division 91
USS Charrette (DD 581)
USS Conner (DD 582)
USS Bell (DD 587)
USS Burns (DD 588)
USS Izard (DD 589), flag
Destroyer Squadron 46 was the first squadron of 2,100-ton
Fletcher-class destroyers attached to the Pacific Fleet’s Fast Carrier Forces on joining the Pacific war. It consisted of nine square-bridge ships commissioned between March and August 1943 as follows:
Destroyer Squadron 46 World War II Operations
OPERATIONS
All nine ships of the squadron earned 11, 12 or 13 engagement stars, primarily for screening duty with Third and Fifth Fleet Fast Carrier Forces. For most of them, their first assignment was the raid on Makin Island in early fall 1943. There followed screening duty for assaults on the Gilberts, Bismarcks and Marshalls, strikes on Truk and Hollandia and operations in the Marianas, Palaus and western New Guinea. After raids on Okinawa and Formosa, most of the squadron moved on to Leyte.
In 1945, while flagship Izard and DesDiv 91 continued on to Luzon and then Borneo with the Seventh Fleet, DesDiv 92 went to the West Coast for overhaul before rejoining the Fifth and Third Fleets for their operations against Okinawa and Japan. Thereafter, Bradford and Brown remained in the war zone for minesweeping operations while Izard, which had missed the Okinawa operation, was attached to the North Pacific Force operating out of Adak in the Aleutian Islands until the end of the war.
DECORATIONS
Cowell was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and
Bradford and
Brown the Navy Unit Commendation for action at Okinawa in April through June 1945.
