The USS Wyman (DE 38) was a destroyer escort that served in the Pacific during World War II. Construction on the USS Wyman began on the 7th of September 1942 at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington. Upon completion the ship was 238 feet 6 inches long (at the waterline) and 35 feet wide.[1] Originally this ship was commissioned by the British Royal Navy, but on June 16th, 1943, only two weeks after the initial launch and christening of the ship, the Royal Navy canceled the transfer of the ship. The United States Navy jumped on the opportunity and shortly there after took control of the ship and designated it DE-38. Receiving its designation as a destroyed escort, it was then named the USS Wyman, posthumously for Ensign Eldon P. Wyman who perished during the attack on Peral Harbor. Ensign Wyman had been serving on the USS Oklahoma (BB 37) during the attack and became trapped after the vessel rolled over as a result of four aerial torpedoes striking the ship. DE 38 was named after Ensign Wyman because destroyer escorts were typically named after Naval heroes or other note worthy Navy men.

           The USS Wyman had  a brief but action-packed commission in the US Navy. Only serving in the Pacific fleet from September of 1943 to December of 1945, the USS Wyman saw extensive action in the Pacific, with one of its main objectives being to hunt down Japanese submarines and sink them. For this purpose, the Wyman was armed with depth charges and a hedgehog. A depth charge was an explosive that was dropped of the deck of the ship and would explode near the desired target. This explosion would create hydraulic shock close to the target causing devastating effects. The hedgehog was a piece of armament that would propel up to twenty-four explosives forward from the ship. These explosives were around seven inches in diameter and had an explosive charge of thirty-five pounds.[2]

           Twice within a ten-day period the USS Wyman would employ this weapon with deadly precision and skill to successfully sink two Japanese submarines in 1944. The USS Wyman would encounter enemy submarines on both the 18th and 28th of July, 1944. On the 18th, the task group the USS Wyman was attached to first picked up radar contact with a Japanese submarine at 1305 GCT (1:05).[3] Approximately twenty minutes later the USS Wyman detached from its task group to investigate. Shortly after 1416 GCT (2:16) the Wyman had gotten close enough to the submarine to release the explosives from the Hedgehog armament on board. Firing all twenty-four explosives it is estimated that five explosives went off, but the explosions were so close together it was hard to give a concrete number. Five minutes following the initial explosions, two more violent explosions occurred deep under water. The Wyman was rocked by the blast so hard that initially it was thought the ship was hit by a torpedo. Upon further investigation the ship had not been hit. It was concluded that a submarine had been sunk following a thirty-one-hour patrol and an oil slick that was ten miles long by two miles wide. It is believed that it took so long for debris and oil to rise to the surface because the depth of the ocean at the point of action was around 19,000 feet. Ten days later the USS Wyman would take action in hunting and killing another Japanese submarine. At 0614 GCT (6:14) the Wyman would again strike with deadly precision. It is estimated that ten explosions occurred seventeen second following the firing of the Hedgehog. Following these explosions, two smaller and then one large final explosion were recorded. The USS Reynolds, another Destroyer Escort, was in the area and fired twenty-four more explosives following the final explosion and found no result. By the morning of the 29th of July, an oil slick appeared along with debris from the submarine. After searching and patrolling the area for forty eight hours, no contact with the Japanese vessel had been established and an oil slick approximately fifteen miles long and three miles wide covered the surface of the water. The oil was so thick on the water it could be removed by lowering a bucket to the waters surface.

          These two submarine attacks were closely documented and were in the after-action reports found in the National Archives in Washington DC. It is possible that the USS Wyman encountered more submarines, but these two encounters are the documents that were made available for this project. The USS Wyman would serve in the Pacific until it was decommissioned on December 17th, 1945. The Wyman was active for only a little over two years but during that time had four different commanding officers: those being Lieutenant Commander Robert Witcher Copeland (Sep. 1, 1943- Feb. 1, 1944), Lieutenant Commander Edwin Peter Parker (Feb. 1, 1944 – June 1, 1945), Lieutenant Dudley Talbot (June 1, 1945 – Oct. 1, 1945), and Lieutenant Robert Edward Jose (Oct. 1, 1945 – Dec. 17, 1945).
           

 

[1] Waterline of the ship is where the surface of the water meets the hull. Paul R. Yarnall, “USS Wyman (DE 38),” Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive,  http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/038.htm

[2] WWII: Anti-Submarine : Hedgehog, n.d., https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-atlantic/battle-of-the-atlantic/anti-submarine-warfare/hedgehog.html

[3] GCT = Greenwich Common Time