Wyman I (DE-38)
1943-1946
Eldon Paul Wyman, born in Portland, Oregon, on 11 January 1917, attended the University of Oregon from 1936 to 1940 before he enlisted in the U. S. Naval Reserve as an apprentice seaman on 22 August 1940 at Portland. After training in the heavy cruiserTuscaloosa (CA-37), he accepted an appointment as midshipman in the Naval Reserve on 17 March 1941.
Attending the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipman's School at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, Wyman received an ensign's commission on 12 June 1941 and reported to the battleship Oklahoma (BB-37) on 19 July. That battleship subsequently operated out of Pearl Harbor as a unit of Battleship Division 1 on exercises in the Hawaiian Operating Area and off the west coast as tensions increased in the Pacific and in the Far East.
On 7 December 1941, Wyman, serving as junior watch officer of the ship's "F" (fire control) division, died when his ship suffered fatal aerial torpedo hits and capsized outboard of Maryland (BB-46). In 2008, his remains were identified and, in accordance with wishes of his family, he was buried in Portland, Oregon.
The second Wyman (T-AGS-34) was named for Rear Adm. Robert Harris Wyman (1822-1882). See Wyman II for complete biography.
I
(DE-38: displacement 1,140; length 289'5"; beam 35'1"; draft 8'3"; speed 21.0 knots; complement 156; armament 3 3-inch, 4 1.1-inch, 9 20 millimeter, 8 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog); class Evarts)
BDE-38) was laid down on 7 September 1942 at Bremerton, Wash., by the Puget Sound Navy Yard for the Royal Navy; launched on 3 June 1943; and sponsored by Mrs. Joe L. Aprill, the recent bride of a navy yard workman. However, the ship's transfer to the United Kingdom was canceled, and the escort vessel was designated DE-38 on 16 June; named Wyman on the 23rd; and was commissioned at her building yard on 1 September 1943, Lt. Cmdr. Robert W. Copeland, DE-V(G), USNR, in command.
Following shakedown, Wyman departed Puget Sound on 7 November 1943, bound for Hawaii, and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on the 14th. Assigned to duty with Submarines, Pacific Fleet, the destroyer escort operated out of Pearl Harbor on submarine exercises from 1 December 1943 through the spring of 1944.
Detached from this duty on 22 June 1944, Wyman sailed for the Marshall Islands and began antisubmarine operations on the American convoy routes between Eniwetok and Saipan. Joining Task Group (TG) 12.2, based around the escort aircraft carrier Hoggatt Bay (CVE-75), Wyman departed Eniwetok on 5 July and headed for the operating area. En route, she left her formation to investigate a submarine contact which had been developed and depth-charged by Lake (DE-301). Wyman fired one barrage of depth bombs from her Hedgehog but did not come up with evidence that she had either damaged or destroyed her enemy.
The destroyer escort arrived in her patrol zone on 9 July 1944 and refueled from the oiler Guadalupe (AO-32) on the 11th. She remained in the area from 12 to 18 July before proceeding to investigate a surface radar contact at 0024 on the 19th. The escort vessel closed the range until she lost radar contact at 0045 and switched immediately to her sonar. Wyman picked up a strong metallic echo and, at 0051, fired a full pattern of Hedgehog projectiles, with negative results. She reloaded, opened the range, and then closed for a second attack, as Reynolds (DE-42) closed in the meantime.
At 0125, Wyman launched a second full pattern from her Hedgehog, dead on the target. A series of violent explosions rocked the ship Wyman circled to starboard and passed through her own firing point in order to regain contact but picked up only a "mush" echo, indicative that her contact had been destroyed.
Remaining on the scene of the action, Wyman lowered her 26-foot motor whaleboat to recover oil samples from the water and to retrieve debris. In the large, spreading, oil slick, men in the boat picked up two five-gallon oil cans, one small gasoline can, and a piece of teak wood. As it was gathering this materiel, Wyman's motor whaler was strafed by two planes from Hoggatt Bay, whose pilots had mistaken the boat for a surfaced submarine. Fortunately, there were no fatalities; and the injured men were soon transferred to Hoggatt Bay for medical treatment.
Oil from the sunken submarine, later identified by a postwar examination of Japanese records as RO-48 (Lt. Cmdr. Ichitomi Kiyota, commanding), on her first war patrol, continued to bubble up in copious quantities into the next day. Satisfied that the kill was definite, Wyman rejoined TG 12.2 and arrived at Eniwetok on 22 July.
Her respite was short, however, for she again got underway on 26 July 1944. Two days later, at 1733, lookouts in Hoggatt Bay and Wyman simultaneously spotted what appeared to be a Japanese submarine on the surface. Wyman and Reynolds charged after the enemy sub as she went deep in an effort to escape. Wyman picked up the target on sonar at 1805. Eight minutes later, the escort vessel fired a Hedgehog pattern which struck its target. Wyman's sound operators heard the sounds of heavy explosions from beneath the sea. While opening the range at 1819, a further set of explosions rocked the sea. Reynolds then added a Hedgehog pattern, but her target had already perished. Large quantities of debris and oil, visible evidence of Wyman's second "kill," soon came to the surface.
With the dissolution of TG 12.2 on 9 August 1944, Wyman joined TG 57.3 for escort duty in waters between the Marshalls and Marianas. On 31 August, the escort vessel shepherded fuel ships of Task Unit 30.8.10 to a rendezvous with TG 38.4 and back to link up with TG 38.2 and Task Force 34. After completing this mission on 20 October 1944, the day of the first landings in the Philippine Islands, Wyman resumed escort operations between the Marshalls and Marianas and also participated in hunter-killer operations into early 1945, supporting the invasion of the strategic island of Iwo Jima.
She departed from Ulithi on 13 March 1945 and proceeded to the fueling area for TG 50.8 for duty as escort with the Logistics Support Group for the invasion of Okinawa. During this tour of duty, which lasted into the spring of 1945, she sank three floating Japanese mines by gunfire.
The escort vessel remained with the Fifth Fleet until 10 June 1945, continuing her unglamorous but vital role, screening the important convoys bringing men and munitions to the war zone for the drive against the Japanese homeland. After a stop at Guam, Wyman headed for the United States, proceeding via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok, and arrived at San Francisco on 15 July.
The end of the war changed the Navy's plans for the ship. On 17 August 1945, while in the midst of her scheduled 42-day overhaul during which she was to receive her "ultimate approved armament," all work on the ship "except that necessary to place the ship in safe and habitable condition" was halted. Declared surplus to the needs of the postwar Navy, Wyman was decommissioned on 17 December 1945 and struck from the Navy Register on 8 January 1946.
Having been stripped prior to her decommissioning, the ship's hulk was sold to the National Steel & Metal Co., Terminal Island, Calif., on 16 April 1947 for scrapping, a process completed by 14 March 1948.
Wyman received six battle stars for her service on convoy-escort and hunter-killer operations.
Robert J. Cressman
Updated, 28 February 2024
