(DE-699) USS Marsh

The USS Marsh, (DE-699) served her country for 25 years between 1944 and 1969. She received four battle stars for Korean service and one for World War II service. The USS Marsh was laid down in 1943, June 23rd by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company of Bay City, Michigan. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Ben R. Marsh, mother of Ensign Marsh, and launched September 25, 1943. Lt. Commander P.M. Fenton commanded the Marsh at her commissioning January 12, 1944.

Atlantic and Mediterranean Duty

After a shakedown cruise to Bermuda, the Marsh conducted training exercises and escorted convoys along the northeast coast. On her first transatlantic convoy, March 25, she steamed from New York, heading for Plymouth, England. On May 1, she returned to the east coast before heading to the North African coast on the 23rd. After escorting two more convoys, she was assigned to the Mediterranean theater. The Marsh entered the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar July 9 and conducted convoys between North Africa, Malta and southern Italy. On August 14, she sailed with assault forces from Naples to operation "Anvil," the invasion of southern France. She provided gunfire support in the Mediterranean for the next month and convoying supplies in the area.

Pacific WWII

Reassigned to the Pacific, the USS Marsh departed Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria on September 28, 1944. She sailed through the Panama Canal in mid October en route to Eni wetok, an atoll in the Marshall Islands, arriving on December 20th. She escorted convoys to Guam, Saipan, Ulithi, and Iwo Jima for the next five months. The Marsh joined in the active pacification of bypassed islands in the Marianas in May 1945. The Marsh broadcasted propaganda messages in Japanese and Okinawa as she sailed among the various islands of that group; eg, Asuncion, Anatahan, Almazan, Sarigan, Maug, and Agrihan, taking on prisoners as they surrendered. The Marsh escorted landing parties and provided gunfire support for the completion of their missions where the broadcasts were not successful. Resistance on some islands remained stiff by mid-July. The Marsh, flagship of the Northern Marianas Expeditionary Force, continued to lead her small force against the holdouts to provide safe-dit! ch areas for pilots returning to Allied bases from raids on the enemy home islands. With the securing of the islands, weather stations and aircraft beacons were set up to further aid the pilots.

Post WWII

On August 11, 1945 the Marsh detached from the Expeditionary Force, and sailed for Okinawa. She resumed escort duties and steamed back to the Marianas and then on to Tokyo. Departing Tokyo on August 31st, she sailed for Peal Harbor, arriving there on September 24th. At Pearl Harbor, she was transformed into a mobile power unit. Her torpedo tubes were replaced with an electric generator and power cables. With this new conversion, she was able to return to Guam on October 26, to provide ship-to-shore power services until the end of the year.

In early 1946, the destroyer-escort returned to the U.S. for shipyard overhaul at San Pedro, California. She once again departed for the South Pacific on May 16th, arriving at Kwajalein on May 31st to provide power to that island until September. She then sailed for Guam where she received orders for Tsingtao and Fusan, Korea where the 7th fleet lent support to the aims of the American policy in China and in the United States occupation zone of Korea. Marsh returned to her home port in Pearl Harbor on March 31, 1947. For the next three years she operated in the Hawaiian Islands and off the coast of California, deploying in 1948 for two months duty at Eniwetok

Duty in the Korean Conflict

After the invasion of South Korea by Communists in June, 1950, the USS Marsh was deployed, arriving at Yokosuka on on September 7th and departing on the 14th for Pusan, where she supplied power to the city for the next two weeks. She entered Inchon Harbor on October 9th, and remained as support for that area?s defense until the end of the month. She supplied power at Masan, a seaport on Chosen Strait, for the next month starting on November 9th and then returned to Pusan where she remained as a ship-to-shore power unit for the remainder on her tour.

In Pusan, on February 8, 1951, several of her crew were credited with heroic actions in fighting fires which had broken out in the Army gasoline dump adjacent to the pier where the ship lay. On March 26th, the Marsh returned to the West Coast and remained at San Francisco for the next three months, reporting to the Fleet Sonar School at San Diego. She conducted training exercises until April 1952 for the school and with other units of the fleet off the southern coast of California.

Marsh once again joined the battle line off the Korean coast on May 15, 1952. She patrolled the west coast, operating primarily in the Sochon-Do area, until the end of May. Returning to Korea on 21stt of June, she steamed to Okinawa for hunter-killer exercises. Taking up aircraft carrier screen duties, she operated with USS Bataan and HMS Ocean in the Yellow Sea. She headed south again in July, this time to serve with the Formosa Patrol, then on August 22nd, she returned to the battle line. She patrolled off the West Korean coast initially, but in late September she was moved to the east coast to blockade.

She participated periodically in the shelling to troop and transportation centers in the Songin and Wonsan areas. She sailed again to the Korean coast on October 22nd, where she conducted patrols until steaming for Yokosuka and the U.S. on November 14th.

Late 1950s California and Western Pacific

The Marsh operated out of San Diego primarily for the next five years, splitting time between serving with the Fleet Sonar School and in the western Pacific. The Marsh conducted oceanographic survey tests concerned with the temperature and content of the waters of the Marianas, and the Marshalls during these West Pac cruises in addition to her regular duties.

Marsh entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard on September 10, 1957, for overhaul and then went in reserve. She conducted two cruises before decommissioning, one to Mexico and one to Hawaii. She de-commissioned at San Diego on August 16, 1958, but remained in service as an anti-submarine training ship of the Selected Reserve Forces.

Marsh conducted training cruises for the selected reserve crews at Long Beach California and when they were not embarked, served as a training ship for other Naval Reserve units in the Long Beach-Los Angeles area.

1960s in Pearl and Vietnam

Marsh and her reserve crew were ordered activated for a one year period during the summer of 1961. On December 15 she was re-commissioned, sailing for her new home port of Pearl Harbor on January 6, 1962. She departed Hawaii for deployment in the western Pacific on February 10th. Operating out of Subic Bay, the Marsh conducted training exercises for and patrolled with units of the South Vietnamese Navy, from March 18th to May 21st. On July 17th she returned to Long Beach and on was placed in service in reserve August 1. Reassigned as a Naval Reserve training ship, she continued that duty until 1969.