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USS Long (DD-209)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Long (DD-209)

USS Long (DD-209) was laid down by William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 23 September 1918; launched 26 April 1919; sponsored by Mrs. Arnold Knapp; and commissioned 20 October 1919, Comdr. A. B. Cook in command.

After shakedown along the Atlantic coast, USS Long (DD-209) sailed late in the year for the Mediterranean. Assigned to Destroyer Division 26, she cruised the Adriatic and Mediterranean and served as station ship before steaming to the Philippines early in 1921 for duty with Asiatic station. Based at Cavite, Luzon, she cruised the South China Sea until July 1922 when USS Long (DD-209) was ordered to the United States. USS Long (DD-209) decommissioned at San Diego, Calif., 30 December 1922. Long recommissioned at San Diego 29 March 1930, Lt. Comdr. William J. Butler in command. Operating out of San Diego during the next decade, USS Long (DD-209) cruised primarily in the Pacific off North and Central America for division exercises and screen and plane guard duty.

USS Long (DD-209) left Pearl Harbor 30 June for patrol and escort duty in Alaskan waters. After colliding with USS Monaghan (DD‑354) in heavy fog 27 July, she repaired at San Francisco, returning to Kodiak 27 September for screen and ASW patrols. During the long Arctic winter she patrolled the approaches to Adak and guarded convoys as American seapower sought to wrest control of enemyheld garrisons in the western Aleutians. USS Long (DD-209) continued escort and patrol operations for the occupations of Attu and Kiska through the summer, returning to Pearl Harbor 16 September to escort merchantmen to San Francisco where she overhauled. After patrol in Hawaiian waters 15 November to 22 January 1944, USS Long (DD-209) joined in the westward drive that defeated the Japanese.

After repairs and training at Manus, USS Long (DD-209) departed 23 December to sweep for the landings at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon. Her group was attacked 2 January 1945 in the Mindanao Sea in the first of the frequent and futile air raids with which the Japanese desperately tried to repel the invasion of Luzon. USS Long (DD-209) went to 25 knots and opened fire, but the suicide plane crashed her portside below the bridge about 1 foot above the waterline. With fires and explosions amidships, USS Long (DD-209) lost power and internal communications, and was unable to fight fires forward. Later that afternoon a second plane attacked USS Long (DD-209) and exploded at the same spot, destroying the bridge and breaking the ship's back. USS Long (DD-209) capsized and sank the following morning.

For a complete history of USS Long (DD-209) please see its DANFS page.