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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 43775:  USS Zane, photographed circa the 1930s

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

USS Zane (DD-337, later DMS-14 and AG-109), 1921-1946

USS Zane, a 1190-ton Clemson class destroyer built by the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, was commissioned in February 1921. After initial service along the west coast, she was deployed on the Asiatic Station between June and October 1922 and placed out of commission at the beginning of February 1923. Zane recommissioned in February 1930 and spent the nearly all of the 1930s as part of the Battle Force, operating in the Pacific and the Caribbean. In 1934, she was briefly attached to the Rotating Reserve.

In 1940, Zane was converted to a high-speed minesweeper, receiving the new hull number DMS-14 in November. During the next year she served in Hawaiian waters. When the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, she was moored in the harbor and fired her guns at attacking enemy aircraft. Later in the day, she swept the harbor entrance channel for possible mines and conducted anti-submarine patrols.

Zane was based in Hawaii and on the west coast until mid-1942, when she was sent to the south Pacific to participate in the planned attack on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. On 7 August, as Marines landed on both islands, she swept the assault area for mines and otherwise supported the landing forces. As the difficult campaign to hold Guadalcanal continued over the next few months, Zane was frequently called on to bring in reinforcements and supplies. On 25 October 1942, while on one such mission, she and sister ship Trever (DMS-16) were attacked by three much more powerful Japanese destroyers. Enemy shells took the lives of three of Zane's crew, but both minesweepers were able to escape.

After Guadalcanal was secured, Zane remained in the south Pacific, where she took part in the occupation of the Russell Islands in February 1943 and the invasion of New Georgia in late June. Damaged by grounding in the latter operation, she was repaired at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Zane returned to Hawaii in late September 1943. In January-February 1944, she participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands and in June and July supported the landings on Saipan and Guam.

The rest of the Pacific War saw the now-elderly Zane in target towing and escort roles in the central and western Pacific. She was reclassified AG-109 in June 1945 and left the Philippines in October, nearly two months after the fighting ended. After passing through the Panama Canal in November, Zane arrived at Norfolk, Virignia, where she was decommissioned in mid-December. She was sold for scrapping in October 1946.

This page features selected views of USS Zane (DD-337, later DMS-14 and AG-109).


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 43775

USS Zane (DD-337)


At sea, circa the 1930s.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 131KB; 740 x 565 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 67813

USS Zane (DD-337)


Photographed circa the 1930s.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 60813

HMS Exeter
(British Heavy Cruiser, 1931) --
by the check mark

In Balboa Harbor, Panama Canal Zone, 24 April 1934.
Several U.S. Navy ships are also present, among them (from the front) USS Melville (AD-2) with USS Zane and another destroyer alongside; USS Medusa (AR-1); USS Litchfield (DD-336) and another destroyer; and USS Truxtun (DD-229) and another destroyer.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 74271

USS Henley (DD-391)


Operating at sea with USS Zane (DD-337), 2 May 1938.
Note that Henley's Mark 33 gun director is not installed.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97792

USS Zane (DMS-14)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 31 May 1942.

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

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97791

USS Zane (DMS-14)


Plan view of the after half of the ship, taken while she was tied up alongside a more modern destroyer at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 30 May 1942.
Note her after deckhouse, with two 20mm guns, a 3"/50 gun and the after conn on its top; minesweeping cable reels and floats; and depth charge racks installed over the propeller guards.

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

Online Image: 135KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-57504

USS Zane (DMS-14)


Off San Francisco, California, 21 September 1943.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 580 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 70576

USS Zane (DD-337)


Keel laying, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 15 January 1919.

Courtesy of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 1970.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 70624

USS Zane (DD-337)


Ship's Sponsor, Miss Marjorie Zane (right), at Zane's christening ceremonies at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 12 August 1919. She was the daughter of Major Randolph Talcott Zane, USMC, for whom the ship was named.
Also present are her mother, Mrs. R.T. (Barbara) Zane (left), who was the Matron of Honor, and an unidentified Navy Captain.

Courtesy of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 1970.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 68734

USS Zane (DD-337)


Sliding down the building ways at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, during her launching, 12 August 1919.

Photograph from the William H. Topley Collection, Courtesy of Charles M. Loring, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 109KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 


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


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Page made 7 December 2001