Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

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

Photo # NH 99191:  USS Cowell underway, 1951

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

USS Cowell (DD-547), 1943-1971

USS Cowell, a 2050-ton modified Fletcher class destroyer built at San Pedro, California, was commissioned in August 1943. During November and December of that year she operated with the fast carriers during the Gilbert Islands invasion and its associated raids on Japanese bases in the central Pacific. She continued to serve with the carriers throughout 1944, taking part in the Marshalls, Marianas, Palaus, Morotai and Leyte operations, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and many raids. In mid-October she aided the cruisers Canberra and Houston after they were crippled by Japanese aerial torpedo attacks during operations off Formosa.

Following a West Coast overhaul, Cowell returned to the western Pacific war zone in time for the invasion of Okinawa in late March 1945. During the next four months she was active off that embattled island, covering landing operations and earning a Presidential Unit Citation for her steadfast performance as a radar picket ship. Though attacked several times by suicide planes, she escaped all but minor damage and provided assistance to other ships that had been hit by the "Kamakazes". After Japan's surrender Cowell took part in occupation operations, then returned to the U.S. in November 1945. She was decommissioned in July 1946 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

The intensified Cold War brought Cowell back into commission in September 1951. She served in the Atlantic during 1952, then deployed to the Far East for duty off Korea during the Korean War's final half-year. The destroyer returned to the U.S. East Coast by way of the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean in mid-1953 and made a cruise in the Atlantic and Mediterranean in early 1954.

Following modernization to "four-gun Fletcher" configuration, Cowell went back to the Pacific in January 1955 and spent the rest of her long career there. She deployed six times to the western Pacific between 1955 and 1962 and made another "WestPac" cruise in 1964. After returning to the West Coast at the conclusion of that tour Cowell was assigned to Naval Reserve Training duty, based at San Francisco, California. While in that assignment she made many brief cruises along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to British Columbia. In August 1971 Cowell was decommissioned and transferred to Argentina. Renamed Amirante Storni, she served in that nation's navy until 1981.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Cowell (DD-547).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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

Photo #: NH 99191

USS Cowell
(DD-547)

Underway, probably at the time she was recommissioned in September 1951.
This photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, but was taken some eight years earlier.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-2203

USS Cowell
(DD-547)

Returns a pilot to his aircraft carrier, after rescuing him during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Photo is dated 28 October 1944, a few days after the battle.
The carrier may be USS Intrepid (CV-11).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 105KB; 595 x 765 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

Note:
Though this was originally a color image, the original "Aero Kodacolor" transparency has lost all colors but red, and can now only be reproduced in monochrome.
For an example of this situation, which is typical of this film type, see Aero-Kodacolor Transparency 80-G-K-1560.

 
Photo #: NH 98069

USS Ajax (AR-6)


Flagship of Commander Service Squadron THREE, with five Seventh Fleet destroyers alongside, circa 1962.
The destroyers are (from left to right):
USS Ernest G. Small (DDR-838);
USS Rupertus (DD-851);
USS Trathen (DD-530);
USS Cowell (DD-547); and
USS Black (DD-666).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 520 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99187

USS Cowell
(DD-547)

Rear Admiral and Mrs. Charles W. Parker, USN (Retired) pose with Cowell's Commanding Officer, Commander Alvin Brand, USN, when they visited the ship during her twenty-fifth anniversary celebration, 23 August 1968. RAdm. Parker, then a Commander, was Cowell's first Commanding Officer, placing her in commission on 23 August 1943.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99188

USS Cowell
(DD-547)

Crew members and their guests watch a demonstration of firefighting techniques on the ship's fantail, during a Dependents' Day cruise, 21 September 1968.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 119KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99189

USS Cowell
(DD-547)

Ship's Commanding Officer, Commander Alvin Brand, USN (left) greets Rear Admiral George Muse, USN, Commander U.S. Naval Reserve Training Command, during his visit to Cowell in November 1968.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99190

USS Cowell
(DD-547)

MM3 John E. Banks and MM3 Phillip Hunt prepare a pump for Cowell's InSurv inspection, November 1968.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 67176-KN (Color)

USS Cowell (DD-547)

Jacket patch of the ship's insignia, as used in about 1963.

Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 143KB; 650 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 67253-KN (Color)

USS Cowell (DD-547)

Jacket patch of the ship's insignia, as used in 1967.

Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 163KB; 650 x 675 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Cowell (DD-547). 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-374222
    USS Cowell (DD-547) underway off Okinawa, 23 June 1945. Photographed from USS California (BB-44).
    Port bow surface view, taken from about the height of Cowell's bow.

  • Photo #: 80-G-374346
    USS Cowell (DD-547) underway. Photographed from USS California (BB-44), this photo was probably taken at about the same time as 80-G-374222 (above). It was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 13 June 1946.
    Port bow surface view, rather tight on the bow, taken from atop one of California's after turrets, at about the height of Cowell's pilothouse. California's aircraft crane, a Curtiss SC floatplane and the barrels of some of her after 14-inch guns are visible.

  • Photo #: USN 1045336
    USS Cowell (DD-547) underway, probably at the time she was recommissioned in 1951. Image was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, but was taken about eight years earlier, while Cowell was still in essentially her late World War II configuration.
    Port quarter high aerial view.

  • Photo #: USN 1074511
    USS Cowell (DD-547) underway at sea, March 1961. Taken by a photographer from USS Midway (CVA-41).
    Port bow surface (or low aerial) view, taken from about the level of half-way up Cowell's foremast. The ship has been modified to typical "four-gun Fletcher" configuration.

  • Photo #: USN 1078544
    USS Cowell (DD-547) in Pearl Harbor, sometime after 1955 and before mid-1961.
    Starboard broadside (somewhat toward the bow) surface view, with the ship framed in palm fronds.

  • Photo #: KN-7518 (color)
    USS Cowell (DD-547) underway at good speed off Oahu, Hawaii, 8 July 1963. Photographed by PH2 Marvin M. Pierce, of Utility Squadron ONE (VU-1).
    Starboard broadside (somewhat toward the bow) low aerial view, taken from about the level of half-way up Cowell's foremast. Oahu is visible in the distance.

  • Photo #: KN-7519 (color)
    As KN-7518, but starboard bow low aerial view (rather tight on the bow), taken from about the height of the top of Cowell's gun director. No land is visible.

  • Photo #: KN-7520 (color)
    As KN-7519, but port bow low aerial view (very tight on the bow).


    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".


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 March 2004