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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Bell (DD-587), 1943-1975

USS Bell, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer, was built by the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina. Commissioned in early March 1943, she spent most of the year on patrol and convoy duty in the north Atlantic. In November 1943 Bell went to the Pacific, where she began combat operations in late December, supporting aircraft carrier strikes on New Ireland. In January and February 1944 she participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands, then screened the fast carriers during February-May raids on Japanese-held islands throughout the central Pacific. Bell continued this work during the June invasion of Saipan, the resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea, the July reconquest of Guam, and related strikes on the Bonins and Caroline Islands. During September and October 1944 she was part of the task forces that raided the Palaus, Philippines, Okinawa and Formosa. After the cruisers Canberra and Houston were crippled by enemy torpedoes in mid-October, Bell helped cover their slow withdrawal, under tow, to safety.

Between early November 1944 and January 1945 Bell participated in carrier attacks on Luzon and supported the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. At the end of January she was one of the ships that sank the Japanese submarine RO-115. Soon after that, she steamed eastward across the Pacific to undergo overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. Arriving back in the war zone late in May 1945, the destroyer took part in amphibious landings on Borneo during June and early July. Bell completed her war service with patrol and escort service in the Philippines. Following Japan's capitulation she engaged in occupation duties. She left the western Pacific in mid-December 1945 and, early in the new year, arrived at San Francisco. In mid-June 1946 she was decommissioned and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet, at San Diego, California. USS Bell remained in "mothballs" until the beginning of November 1972, when she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. The ship was sunk as a target on 11 May 1975.

USS Bell was named in honor of Rear Admiral Henry H. Bell (1808-1868), who lost his life in a boat accident in January 1868, while commanding the Asiatic Squadron.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Bell (DD-587).

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 104659 USS Bell (DD-587) Underway off the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 11 June 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 595 pixels
Photo #: NH 104660 USS Bell (DD-587) Underway off the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 11 June 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 590 pixels
Photo #: 19-N-58158 USS Bell (DD-587) and USS Stevens (DD-479) Ready for launching at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 24 June 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 615 pixels
Photo #: NH 104666 USS Bell (DD-587) Sliding down the building ways after being christened at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, on 24 June 1942. USS Stevens (DD-479) is alongside, awaiting launching. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 137KB; 740 x 625 pixels

In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Bell (DD-587). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".

Photo #: 80-G-1026594 USS Bell (DD-587) dressed with flags, circa 1943-1945. Photograph received by the Naval Photographic Center in 1957, but taken about a dozen years earlier. Starboard broadside surface view. Bell is painted in what appears to be Camouflage Measure 21 (overall "Navy Blue", a darkish blue-gray, on all horizontal structure). Photo #: 80-G-263299 USS Bell (DD-587) highlining a person to another ship. Photo is undated, but was taken about 1945. Port side surface view, showing Bell's forward portion from just short of her stem to just aft of her Mark 37 gun director. The person being high-lined is about half way between Bell and the ship from which the photograph was taken. Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".

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Page made 28 February 2007