KENNETH EARL HUBBARD-US NAVY
The second Colhoun (DD-810) was launched April 10, 1944 by Todd Pacific Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash.; sponsored by Captain K.K. Johnson, WAC; and commissioned July 8, 1944, Commander G. R. Wilson in command.
Colhoun arrived at Pearl Harbor Oct. 10, 1944 for training and patrol duty. Arriving off Iwo Jima February 19, 1946, she screened transports, served as radar picket and gave fire support for the invasion. On March 1st she was hit by a salvo from heavy enemy batteries ashore, which killed one man and injured 16. After repairs at Saipan, Colhoun sailed for Okinawa arriving March 31st for a radar picket duty.
At 1630 on April 6, 1946 during the first heavy kamikaze raid Colhoun received a request for help from Bush (DD-529) and sped to her aid. Interposing her guns between the crippled Bush and the attacking suicide planes, Colhoun downed three planes before a kamikaze crashed into the 40mm mount scattering flaming wreckage across the ship and dropping a bomb into the after fire room where it exploded. Retaining power and using emergency steering, Colhoun awaited the next attacking trio, splashing the first two and taking the third on the starboard side. The bomb from the suicide plane exploded, breaking Colhoun’s keel, piercing both boilers, ripping a 20’ by 4’ hole below the waterline and starting oil and electric fires. Operating the remaining guns manually, Colhoun gamely faced yet another wave of three attackers splashing one, damaging another, and taking the third suicide plane aboard aft. This air plane’s bomb bounced overboard and exploded, adding another 3’ hole to allow more flooding. Colhoun valiantly struggled to stay afloat, but the final suicide plane crashed into the bridge in a mass of flames. At 1900 LSC-48 took off all but a skeleton crew which remained on board while a tug attempted to tow Colhoun to Okinawa. Heavy listing, uncontrolled flooding, and fires made it impossible to save her and she was sunk by gunfire from Cassin Young at 27 degrees 16’N., 127 degrees 48’E. Her casualties were 32 killed, 23 wounded, two of whom later died.
Colhoun received one battle star for WWII service.
Ken was then aboard the USS Wayne APA-54
Afoundria was laid down under a maritime commission contract (MChull 476) on April 20, 1942 at Chickasaw, Ala., by the Gulf Shipbuilding Corp.; renamed Wayne and classified as a transport, AP-99, on October 26, 1942; launched Dec. 6, 19142; launched on Dec. 6, 1942; reclassified as an attack transport, APA-54 on Feb. 1, 1943; acquired by the Navy on April 30, 1943, and simultaneously placed in commission “in ordinary.” Taken to the Bethlehem Steel Co., Baltimore, Md., Wayne was converted for naval service.
USS Colhoun (DD-801)
Career (US)
Namesake: Edmund Colhoun
Builder: Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down: 3 August 1943
Launched: 10 April 1944
Commissioned: 8 July 1944
Honours and
awards: 1 Battle Star
Fate: Sunk in action, 6 April 1945
General characteristics
Class and type: Fletcher class destroyer
Displacement: 2,050 tons
Length: 376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
Beam: 39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft: 17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion:
60,000 shp (45 MW)
* 2 propellers
Speed: 38 kn (70 km/h)
Range: 6500 nm @ 15 kn (12,000 km @ 28 km/h)
Complement: 273
Armament: 5 × 5 in/38 cal guns (127 mm),
10 × 40 mm AA guns,
7 × 20 mm AA guns,
10 × 21 in torpedo tubes,
6 × depth charge projectors,
2 × depth charge tracks