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Silhouette of a Fletcher-class destroyer, of the same type as USS Evans.

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

USS Evans (DD-552), 1943-1947

USS Evans, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer built at Chickasaw, Alabama, was commissioned in December 1943. She arrived in the central Pacific in late March 1944 to begin combat operations against Japan. In addition to performing antisubmarine patrols, she served as an escort to aircraft replacement and refueling groups during the Marianas and Palaus campaigns of June-September 1944. In January 1945 Evans bombarded Yap Island and, during February and early March, provided bombardment and escort services during the bloody fight to seize Iwo Jima.

From late March to early May 1945, as U.S. forces fought to capture Okinawa, Evans screened escort aircraft carriers that provided air support for the campaign. She was sent to radar picket duty off the embattled island on 10 May. Early the following day, in company with the destroyer Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) and four smaller vessels, she was the target of attacks by more than a hundred enemy aircraft. Though many of the planes were shot down, Evans was hit by four Kamikazes and seriously damaged. Thirty-two of her men were lost and nearly as many were wounded in the onslaught, which also left Hugh W. Hadley badly damaged. Determined efforts by the crews of the destroyers saved both ships and were later recognized by the award of Presidential Unit Citations.

Though towed across the Pacific to the West Coast, the end of the Second World War dictated that neither Evans nor Hugh W. Hadley were repaired. USS Evans was decommissioned in November 1945 and sold for scrapping in February 1947.

USS Evans was named in honor of Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans (1846-1912), who served actively as a U.S. Navy officer from the Civil War through the first decade of the 20th Century.

This page features the only view we have related to USS Evans (DD-552), and provides information on images that may be available from another institution.


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 #: 80-G-331077

Casualties from USS Evans (DD-552)


Are brought aboard USS PCER-855 from USS Ringness (APD-100), after Evans was damaged by Kamikaze attacks while on radar picket duty off Okinawa on 11 May 1945.
Photographed from on board PCER-855.

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

Online Image: 145KB; 740 x 530 pixels

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

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Evans (DD-552). 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-204640
    USS Evans (DD-552) underway on 22 December 1943. Photographed from a Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, aircraft.
    Starboard bow aerial view, taken from somewhat higher than the top of the ship's foremast. Evans is painted in an overall dark grey, probably Camouflage Measure 21.

  • Photo #: 80-G-264260
    USS Evans (DD-552) underway at sea, coming alongside USS Copahee (CVE-12), 12 June 1944. Photographed from Copahee.
    Port bow surface view, relatively tight on the bow, seen from about the height of Evans's Mark 37 gun director. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 7d.

  • Photo #: 80-G-263742
    USS Evans (DD-552) underway at sea, coming alongside USS Sargent Bay (CVE-83) to transfer an sick man, 5 October 1944. Photographed from Sargent Bay.
    Port bow surface view, seen from about the height of the top of Evans's pilothouse. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 7d.

  • Photo #: 80-G-331019
    Commander Robert J. Archer, Commanding Officer of USS Evans (DD-552), standing amidships in the area where a suicide plane had hit. Taken on 17 May 1945, while Evans was at Kerama Retto, near Okinawa.
    View orients vertically, showing Cdr. Archer from mid-calf upwards. The ship's after smokestack is partially visible in the upper left background.

  • Photo #: 80-G-331020
    Port side searchlight of USS Evans (DD-552), showing its shattered lens, 17 May 1945. The light had been damaged when Evans was hit by Japanese Kamikaze attacks on 10-11 May. Taken at Kerama Retto, near Okinawa, by Lieutenant Edward C. Sockerson of USS Ponaganset (AO-86).
    View orients vertically, showing part of the ship's after smokestack and nearly all of the searchlight platform on the stack's port side.

  • Photo #: 80-G-331021
    Hole in the superstructure of USS Evans (DD-552), over the starboard side of the galley near the forward torpedo tubes (which are partially visible), 17 May 1945. The damage was received when Evans was hit by Japanese Kamikazes on 10-11 May. Taken at Kerama Retto, near Okinawa, by Lieutenant Edward C. Sockerson of USS Ponaganset (AO-86).
    View orients vertically, and looks aft atop the superstructure from approximately alongside the forward smokestack's starboard side.

  • Photo #: 80-G-331023
    Damage to the superstructure of USS Evans (DD-552), received when the ship was hit by Japanese Kamikazes on 10-11 May 1945. Taken on 17 May at Kerama Retto, near Okinawa, by Lieutenant Edward C. Sockerson of USS Ponaganset (AO-86).
    View orients vertically, and looks aft from outboard of the ship's forward superstructure. Both smokestacks are partially visible. Also seen are her damaged forward torpedo tubes and the torpedo handling crane located near those tubes.

  • Photo #: 80-G-331022
    Mark 37 gun director atop the pilothouse of USS Evans (DD-552), showing "kill"markings painted on its side, 17 May 1945. Taken at Kerama Retto, near Okinawa, by Lieutenant Edward C. Sockerson of USS Ponaganset (AO-86) on 17 May 1945, after Evans had been damaged by Japanese suicide planes.
    View orients horizontally and was taken from off the ship's starboard side. The right side of the director is seen, with most of the fire control radar atop it cropped out of the view.

    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."


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    Page made 20 May 2003