U.S.S. SHIELDS

USS SHIELDS (DD-596)

The keel of the destroyer Shields was laid on 10 August 1943 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Bremerton Washington. Sponsored by First Lieutenant Margaret Shields Farr WAC the great-granddaughter of Purser Shields the destroyer was launched on 25 September 1944 and commissioned on 8 February 1945 Commander George B. Madden USN in command.

Shields' shakedown cruise interrupted by a 9 day escort assignment with lowa (BB-61) lasted from 7 March to 18 April 1945. She departed Puget Sound on 6 May and after several days of operations in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor Hawaii shoved off for Eniwetok Atoll with convoy PD-413-T. Her short period of combat service in World War II 24 May-15 August 1945 consisted almost entirely of escort duty between and patrol duty around Eniwetok Ulithi Leyte Okinawa and Borneo. Shields saw actual combat only once during the war she shelled Japanese shore installations at Miri Borneo in support of Australian ground forces on 26 June 1945.

Shields was at Buckner Bay Okinawa on 15 August 1945 when she received orders from CINCPACAREA to "cease all offensive activity against the Japanese." After a short cruise to Leyte Subic Bay and back to Okinawa she got underway to rendezvous with TG 78.1 and serve as escort to units of Transron 17 at that time ferrying occupation troops to Jinsen Korea. The occupation commenced without opposition and on 12 September she steamed out of Jinsen with TU 71.5.1 bound for the waters off northern China.

For most of the remainder of 1945 Shields remained in the area of the Gulf of Po Hail Her primary assignment here was to participate in the naval demonstrations being conducted off the coast of northern China. Throughout this period she also reconnoitered the unstable situation at the port of Chefoo. Her travels while operating off northern China took her to most of the major ports on the Gulf of Po Hai including Chefoo Chinwangto Weihaiwei Taku Dairen and Port Arthur.

Shields rounded out her first Far Eastern tour with a mission to escort Antietam (CV-36) and Boxer (CV-21) to the end of the Seventh Fleet's area of responsibility and patrol duty with the Yangtze River Patrol Force based at Shanghai. She returned to San Pedro Bay California on 19 February 1946 having stopped along the way at Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor. She remained on the west coast until being decommissioned and placed in reserve on 14 June 1946.

Though decommissioned Shields continued in an in service status participating in the reserve program. She was called back into active service at the outbreak of the Korean conflict and recommissioned on 15 July 1950. Shields arrived in the Far East in September 1951 for the first of three Korean War tours. During this cruise which lasted until February 1952 she patrolled the Korean coast in the area of the bombline and Kojo providing fire support for the First ROK Corps and the First Marine Division. She participated in the assault on Kojo and provided harassing and interdiction fire. Her second Korean War tour commencing on 1 November 1952 found her again cruising off the Korean coast near the bombline supporting the First ROK Corps and the Eighth Army. Later she took part in antisubmarine warfare exercises off the coasts of Japan and Okinawa and concluded the deployment training Chinese Nationalist naval forces at Taiwan. Stopping at Hong Kong and Japan Shields returned to San Diego on 1 June 1953.

After six months on the west coast she departed for her third Far Eastern cruise. Arriving off Korea on 11 February she operated there with TF 77 until being detached on 21 February to proceed to the Philippine Islands. Shields conducted operations out of Subic Bay during the months of March and April patrolling the coast of Indochina with Carrier TG 70.2. On 7 May she embarked for Yokosuka Japan stopping en route for a diplomatic representation at Hong Kong. After a week of tender upkeep at Yokosuka Shields put to sea with TF 77 to conduct battle exercises. She returned to San Diego on 18 July 1954.

Between 18 July 1954 and 30 November 1963 Shields was deployed to WESTPAC seven times. When not assigned to the western Pacific she engaged in normal destroyer activities out of her home port San Diego. One of the highlights of this decade of Shields career was her participation in the commemoration of the triumphant return of Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" to San Francisco. Another important occasion was the award of the Battle Efficiency "E'' for overall combat readiness in August 1960.

On 30 November 1963 Shields ceased operations as an active fleet unit and was assigned as a Naval Reserve Training ship part of Reserve Destroyer Squadron 27. With her full-time crew cut more than 50% she spent the next 8 years working with the Development and Training Command to maintain the combat efficiency of reservists. After a survey of Shields in March 1972 it was determined that the cost of her modernization would be prohibitive and that she was only of marginal value to the Navy without it. Consequently Shields was decommissioned on 1 July 1972 and sold to the Brazilian Navy.

Shields was awarded the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and three battle stars for service in the Korean Conflict.

[Note: The above USS SHIELDS (DD-596) history may or may not contain text provided by crew members of the USS SHIELDS (DD-596) or by other non-crew members and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]