USS Philip, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer, was built at Kearny, New Jersey. Commissioned in November 1942, she went to the south Pacific in time for the mid-1943 Central Solomons campaign. In August the new destroyer played an active role in the Vella Lavella invasion, during which her guns helped to fight off intense Japanese air attacks. Later in the year and in the first three months of 1944 Philip was kept busy with escort, anti-aircraft and bombardment missions during the Bougainville campaign.
In June and July 1944 Philip took part the conquest of Saipan and Tinian, shelling enemy targets on the islands and small craft just offshore. In December she was part of the force that invaded Mindoro, in the Philippine islands. This operation was marked by heavy attacks by Japanese "Kamikaze" planes, and Philip was lightly damaged by friendly anti-aircraft gunfire during one such engagement. She also helped save USS Gansevoort (DD-608) after that destroyer was hit. In the January 1945 Lingayen landings, Philip again helped protect the invasion force, destroying a suicide motor boat that came uncomfortably close. For the rest of World War II she supported the campaigns to recapture the southern Philippines and Borneo. After Japan's surrender Philip participated in mine clearance operations off China. She returned to the United States at the end of 1945 and later transferred to the Atlantic Coast, where she was placed out of commission in 1947.
Reclassified as an escort destroyer (DDE-448) in March 1949, Philip was modernized over the next year to better suit her for antisubmarine work, receiving a Weapon Alpha ASW rocket launcher and other new sensors and weapons. She recommissioned at the end of June 1950 and soon steamed back to the Pacific, where she would spend the rest of her career. Philip made two Korean War deployments to the Far East, once in 1951 and again in 1952-1953, taking part in escort, patrol and bombardment operations. Her visits to Asiatic waters continued after the Korean Armistice, involving nine more deployments there between 1954 and 1965. She was redesignated DD-498 in mid-1962 and, during her 1965 Far Eastern tour, took part in Vietnam War operations. USS Philip decommissioned at the end of September 1968 and was almost immediately stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold for scrapping in December 1971.
USS Philip was named in honor of Rear Admiral John W. Philip (1840-1900), who served in the U.S. Navy from before the Civil War until the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Philip (DD-498, later DDE-498 & DD-498).
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.
In addition to the views referenced above, the National Archives appears to hold other photographs of USS Philip (DDE-498 and DD-498). The following listing describes 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".
USS Philip (DDE-498) underway, during the early 1950s. The photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, but was definitely taken early in the decade. Port quarter aerial view. USS Philip (DDE-498) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, November 1961. Starboard bow surface view. The ship is flanked by palm trees in the foreground. USS Philip (DD-498) in Pearl Harbor, 11 July 1963. Port broadside surface view, somewhat toward the bow. The trunk and fronds of a palm tree frame the view at right and top. 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 above 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." |
Page made 11 July 2003