Commanding Officers

CDR Benjamin Francis Tompkins                  Dec 30 1943 - Aug 8 1944 (Later RADM)
CDR James Henry Hogg                                  Aug 8 1944 - Dec 17 1944 (Later RADM)
CDR James Beattie Denny                              Dec 17 1944 - May 5 1946
LCDR George E. Clapp                                     May 5 1946 - Jan 15 1947
(Decommissioned Jan 15 1947 - Feb 28 1951)
CDR Norvell Gardiner (Bub) Ward                 Feb 28 1951 - Jun 18 1952 (Later RADM)
CDR Arthur Frederick Fischer Jr.                    Jun 18 1952 - Jun 17 1954
CDR William Anderson Walker III                 Jun 17 1954 - Jan 12 1956
CDR Chester Frank Pinkerton                         Jan 12 1956 - Feb 25 1958
CDR William Thomas Easton                         Feb 25 1958 - Sep 30 1958

(Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves)

About DD-541

John Joliffe Yarnall, born in Wheeling, Va. (now W.Va.) in 1786, was appointed midshipman in the Navy on 11 January 1809. Between 1809 and 1812, Yarnall cruised the coastal waters of the United States in Chesapeake and Revenge performing duty that was tantamount to blockading his own country to enforce President Madison's embargo on trade with the European adversaries during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1813, he was transferred to Oliver Hazard Perry's command on the Great Lakes and became the first lieutenant on board Perry's flagship, Lawrence. He participated in the decisive Battle of Lake Erie on 10 September 1813, and, though wounded, refused to leave his post during the engagement. When Perry shifted his flag to Niagara during the battle, Lt. Yarnall assumed command of Lawrence. After the battle, he took the squadron's wounded on board and carried them back to Erie for medical attention. For his gallantry in the battle, Yarnall earned Perry's commendation as well as a medal expressing the gratitude of Congress and the country.

In the spring of 1815, Yarnall sailed from New York with Stephen Decatur in the frigate Guerriere for the Mediterranean Sea. On 17 June, off the Algerian coast, his ship encountered and captured Meshuda, the flagship of the Algerine "Navy." While defending his country's honor and rights during that engagement, the valiant Yarnall again suffered wounds. Probably because of his wounds, Lt. Yarnall was chosen as the bearer of dispatches from Decatur's squadron to the government in Washington. In July 1815, he embarked in the sloop-of-war Epervier for the voyage home. The warship was last seen on 14 July 1815 as she passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Atlantic. Presumably, Yarnall and all others on board went down with her during the transatlantic voyage.
The second Yarnall (DD-541) was laid down on 5 December 1942 at San Francisco, Calif., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 25 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Earl Groves; and commissioned on 30 December 1943, Comdr. Benjamin F. Tompkins in command.

The destroyer spent the first two months of 1944 conducting her shakedown cruise and other training exercises in the San Diego operating area. She departed the west coast early in March and arrived at Oahu on the 19th. For the next 10 weeks, Yarnall carried out additional tactical exercises in the Hawaiian Islands.
On 31 May, the warship stood out of Pearl Harbor with Task Group (TG) 52.17 and set a course, via Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, for the invasion of Saipan in the Marianas. For that operation, Yarnall was assigned to Fire Support Group 1 under Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. When her task group began its prelanding bombardment of Saipan on 14 June, Yarnall screened Cleveland (CL-55) and Montpelier (CL-57) and managed to add 148 rounds of 5-inch shell of her own to the effort. On 15 June, the day of the assault, she continued to screen Cleveland and, on the following day, carried out her first call fire mission, a dual-purpose action to help repulse an enemy counterattack and to destory a bothersome pillbox.

On the 17th, as a result of the submarine sightings of the Japanese fleet moving toward the Marianas, Yarnall and 20 other destroyers were detached from direct support for the invasion and ordered to screen the fast carriers. Yarnall joined TG 58.7, Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee's hastily composed battle line, in preparation for what would be the Battle of the Philippine Sea. She tasted her first antiaircraft combat at 0515 on 19 June when a "Zeke" tried to bomb Stockham (DD-683) and then began a strafing run on Yarnall. Three guns of her main battery quickly took the intruder under fire and began scoring hits on him. As the plane closed the destroyer's port quarter, it exploded and splashed into the sea to give Yarnall her first victory over the enemy.

About five hours after that attack, the ship received word of the first of the four large air raids launched by the Japanese Mobile Fleet to attempt to break up the American invasion force off Saipan. At about 1045, Yarnall and Stockham encountered the first carrier-based air of the battle when five "Val" dive bombers peeled off to attack the two picket destroyers. Yarnall's guns opened up on them and splashed one before the remaining four flew off to attack the larger ships of the American fleet. Word of the approach of the second raid arrived at 1110; and, 35 minutes later, about 20 enemy planes managed to break through the reception committee of F6F Hellcats vectored out to intercept them. Yarnall took seven of those planes under fire and splashed one. That was her last combat of the day. Though the Japanese mounted two more raids, they approached Task Force (TF) 58 from directions which did not bring them in close proximity to Yarnall.

On the 20th, no enemy planes attacked TF 58. Instead, the Japanese began their retirement toward Japan. American carrier search planes found the enemy late in the day, and TF 58 launched air strikes from extreme range. After darkness fell that evening, Yarnall's searchlights helped to guide the returning airmen to their carriers. The following day, the destroyer returned to the coast of Saipan to resume call fire missions supporting the troops fighting ashore. She continued her labors in the Marianas until 8 July, when the warship left in the screen of a convoy bound for the Marshalls. After arriving at Eniwetok on the 12th, she took on ammunition, provisions, and fuel and headed back to the Marianas on the 15th. There, she resumed patrol and antisubmarine screening duties and kept at such tasks until the 25th when she moved inshore to provide gunfire support for the troops occupying Tinian.

The warship alternated screening and bombardment missions in the Marianas until 16 August when she again sailed for the Marshalls. Yarnall remained at Eniwetok from 20 to 29 August. On the latter day, she left the anchorage in company with TG 38.2 for an aerial sweep of the Philippine Islands in preparation for the invasion of the archipelago at Leyte. Following those raids, the carriers and their escorts rested at Ulithi Atoll between 1 and 6 October.
On the latter day, Yarnall sortied with the entire Fast Carrier Task Force for a three-day aerial sweep of Japanese air bases on Formosa. During that operation, Yarnall provided aircrew rescue services and performed antiaircraft and antisubmarine screening duties. During the first day of that attack, the destroyer fired on 15 enemy planes and splashed two of them. The following evening, she barely evaded a bomb which exploded close astern. She emerged unscathed from another bombing attack on the 14th.

Following the Formosa raid, Yarnall's unit steamed south to operate off Luzon. She screened the carriers while their planes suppressed Japanese land-based air-power in the vicinity during the landings at Leyte. During the three-phased Battle for Leyte Gulf which thwarted the Japanese attempt to break up the American liberation of Leyte, Yarnall continued to screen the carriers as they raced northward to destroy Admiral Ozawa's decoy force built around planeless aircraft carriers. After successfully completing that mission, TF 38 made a fueling rendezvous on 30 and 31 October and then resumed its duty pounding enemy installations on Luzon.

At the end of the first week in November, the carriers and their escorts once again retired to Ulithi. The destroyer returned to sea on 14 November to screen TF 38 during further aerial attacks on Japanese installations in the Philippines. On 23 November, she headed back to Ulithi with TG 38.1 for logistics. In December, she returned to the Philippines with TG 38.1 to support the landings on the island of Mindoro and to continue the pressure on Japanese air forces based on Luzon. During that mission, she successfully weathered the famous typhoon on 17 December 1944 which claimed destroyers Hull (DD-350), Monaghan (DD-354), and Spence (DD-512). She returned to Ulithi on 24 December and remained there until January 1945.

On New Year's Day, TG 38.1 stood out of Ulithi to provide air support for landings on Luzon at Lingayen Gulf. The planes hit Formosa on the 3d and 4th, pounded airfields on Luzon on the 6th and 7th, and returned to Formosa installations on the day of the landings, 9 January. That night, Yarnall accompanied the fast carriers through Bashi Channel into the South China Sea to begin a series of raids on Japan's inner defense line. Unopposed by the Japanese Fleet, TF 38 sent planes against bases at Camranh Bay and Saigon in Indochina, then against Formosa on 15 January. Fighters attacked Amoy, Swatow, and Hong Kong in China as well as Hainan Island in the Gulf of Tonkin. On the 16th, they returned to Hong Kong and Hainan for a repeat performance and for good measure made a sweep of Canton. The task force exited the South China Sea via Balintang Channel and then hit Formosa and the Nansei Shoto on 21 January. Okinawa felt the carriers' punch on the 22d; and, two days later, TF 38 set a course back to Ulithi.

On 10 February, Yarnall left Ulithi with TF 38 to attack the Japanese home islands for the first time since the Halsey-Doolittle raid and to provide strategic cover for the assault on Iwo Jima. For two days, 16 and 17 February, the skies over Tokyo rained death and destruction. On the 18th, Yarnall steamed south with the carriers to lend the marines a hand during the Iwo Jima landings. While TF 38 planes supported the assualt, Yarnall protected their floating bases from enemy air and submarine attacks. She remained in the vicinity of the Volcano Islands until the 22d when she and the carriers again headed toward the Japanese home islands for another swipe at Tokyo on the 25th. Then, after rendevousing with TG 50.8, the logistics group, TF 38, sent its planes to strike Okinawa on 1 March.
On 3 March, Yarnall received orders transferring her from TG 58.2 to TG 59.6 for a practice attack on the main body of TF 59. While closing the objective on the night of 4 and 5 March, she collided with Ringgold (DD-500). Ringgold suffered a sheared off bow while Yarnall also suffered one man killed and six others injured. Towed to Ulithi by Molala (ATF-106), she reached the anchorage on 7 March. On the 8th, her bow broke off and sank. While at Ulithi, she had a false bow fitted for the voyage back to the United States for permanent repairs. She stood out of Ulithi on 5 April and steamed via Pearl Harbor to the Mare Island Navy Yard where she underwent repairs until 2 July.

The warship returned to Pearl Harbor in July and conducted training operations in the Hawaiian Islands through the end of the war. Two days after the cessation of hostilities, Yarnall set a course for Tokyo, Japan, to participate in the postwar occupation. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September when Japanese officials signed the surrender document on board Missouri (BB-63) and remained in the Far East supporting minesweeping operations until the end of October. On the 31st, she put to sea and shaped a course for San Diego, Calif., where, though she remained in commission, she was placed in an inactive status. Berthed at San Diego with the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Yarnall was finally placed out of commission on 15 January 1947.

The outbreak of the Korean conflict in June 1950 brought many ships out of the "mothball fleet." Yarnall was ordered back into active service on 31 August 1950, and she was recommissioned at San Diego on 28 February 1951. She reported for duty with the Pacific Fleet on 20 March and conducted shakedown training and other exercises along the west coast until mid-May. On 15 May, Yamall departed San Diego for Japan. Steaming via Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Yokosuka on 7 June and, three days later, got underway for her first tour of combat duty in Korean waters. For the most part, Yarnall served in the screen of TF 77, the carrier task force, though on occasion she did close the coast of Korea to provide gunfire support for the United Nations troops operating ashore. Her first Korean War deployment was punctuated by periodic port calls, mostly at Yokosuka, but also at Okinawa and at Keelung, Taiwan. In August, she served briefly with the Taiwan Strait patrol before returning to the Korean combat zone in September.

Her first Korean War deployment lasted until December. On 8 December, the destroyer departed Yokosuka and steamed via Midway and Pearl Harbor to San Diego where she arrived on the 21st. From there, she moved to Long Beach early in 1952 for an overhaul. The warship completed repairs early that summer and returned to San Diego on 11 June. A month and a day later, she departed San Diego; set a course via Pearl Harbor and Midway for the western Pacific; and arrived in Yokosuka on 6 August. On the 8th, she again got underway and, after an overnight stop at Sasebo on 10 and 11 August, headed for the Korean operating area. Again, her duties consisted of screening TF 77 carriers and providing bombardment services, frequently at the besieged port city of Wonsan. As during the previous deployment, she alternated tours of duty in Korean waters with port calls at Japanese ports for repairs, upkeep, rest, and relaxation. Later, in November, she returned to the Taiwan Strait patrol before resuming her tours of duty with TF 77 and on the bombline. On 30 January 1953, she concluded her second Korean War deployment by departing Sasebo for the United States. Steaming via Midway and Pearl Harbor, Yarnall arrived in San Diego on 16 February.

While Yarnall enjoyed her stateside rotation, hostilities in Korea ceased when an armistice was finally signed on 27 July 1953. The warship, however, continued to make annual deployments to the Far East and frequently operated in Korean waters with TF 77. She continued to alternate deployments to the Orient with periods of normal operations out of San Diego until September of 1958 when she was decommissioned.

Berthed at Stockton, Calif., Yarnall remained inactive for almost a decade. On 10 June 1968, she was transferred, on a loan basis, to the R.O.C. (In Taiwan) Navy which she served as Kun Yang (DD-19). She was returned to the United States Navy in 1974 for disposal. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 25 January 1974, and she was retransferred back to Taiwan, R.O.C. by sale. As of early 1980, Kun Yang remained active with the R.O.C. Navy.
Yarnall (DD-541) earned seven battle stars during World War II and two battle stars during the Korean conflict.

Published:Thu Nov 05 08:11:01 EST 2015 by Naval History and Heritage Command.

關於昆陽軍艦

昆陽軍艦原為美軍 Fletcher 級驅逐艦，編號 DD-541 ，一九四三年七月二十五日下水，同年十二月三十日成軍，成軍後參加第二次世界大戰。

五十七年六月十日我國依作戰需求及中美租借條款向美國租借該艦並在夏威夷完成移交。同年八月二十三日由大同艦拖回左營，九月四日啟封，十月七日由 前總司令馮啟聰上將主持成軍典禮，命名為「昆陽」編號為 DD-19，民國五十八年三月該艦納編海軍五八敦睦支隊，敦睦航程是遠度太平洋，穿越印度洋，訪問澳洲達爾文、凱恩斯、雪黎、墨爾本、伯斯、紐西蘭威靈頓、再由澳洲北部達爾文文經過赤道，轉回北半球泰國以及菲律賓馬尼拉，總計航行一六八○小時 八十八天，一六七六九‧九海浬，美國於六十三年一月二十五日正式同意售於我國，六十五年元月，舷號改為DD-934，六十八年十月一日改舷號為固定舷號DD-919，民國七十一年十一月二日武器系統換裝為「武進一號」，在同一時間也實施了艦體鋼板換新的「復陽計畫工程」。

昆陽軍艦服役三十年期間(若含美軍服役期間共四十一年)，納編服勤航行時數達五三、二○○小時，航行浬數計四六、四三○○浬，執行外島護航、運補、專送、近海偵巡、海偵及敦睦遠航等任務九百九十七次，本艦於八十八年十月十六日奉命除役，艦體在民國九十三年九月四日擔任漢光二十號演習靶艦，擊沉於宜蘭龜山島東南方2.5海浬處，作為人工魚礁，艦錨與俥葉目前存放於南投竹山公園， 鯨型小艇則存放於臺南麻豆軍史公園。

　　 DDG-919 Kuen-Yang was the ex-USS Yarnall, the Fletcher-class destroyer, DD-541, laid down by Bethlehem Steel, San Francisco, CA. on December 5, 1942, launched on July 25, 1943 and commissioned on December 30, 1943. She had
participated in World War II with splendid merits and great achievements, decommissioned in San Diego, CA on January
15, 1947, then re-commissioned for the outbreaks of Korean conflict in 1951. She was transferred, on the loan basis,
to R.O.C. Navy on June 10, 1968 at Hawaii and renamed as Kuen-Yang with the hull number DD-919. The commissioning
ceremony was held on October 7, 1968 by Admiral Feng Chih-Chung, the former Commander-In-Chief of R.O.C. (In Taiwan) Navy.
　　DDG-919 was tasked for the midshipmen training cruise in March 1969, and had visited Darwin, Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington and Manila etc. with total underway time for 1,680 hours and range of 16,169.9 nm, DDG-919 was one of the ships which sailed to the South hemisphere for R.O.C. Navy, and the first destroyer to perform the training cruise.
　　DDG-919 Kuen-Yang was in service of R.O.C. Navy for 30 years and the mission was patrolling the R.O.C. Strait and
surrounding waters to convoy offshore-islandssupport-and-supply, midshipman training cruise, task flotilla and various
missions. She played an important role on the Navy force built-up and fleet combat
readiness, secure the safety of R.O.C. Strait and Maritime communications. The overall underway hours are 53,200 hours and the range is 464,300 nm. Finally, the DDG-919 Kuen-Yang was decommissioned on October 16, 1999.

版權所有：海軍歷史文物數位典藏計畫

Reference

https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/541.htm

https://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd541txt.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Yarnall_(DD-541)

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/y/yarnall-ii.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/allied-ships-present-in-tokyo-bay.html

．昆陽軍艦昆陽沿革史 - 海軍歷史文物數位典藏 

https://nmda.teldap.tw/page_book01_22_ddg919.htm

． 58年（1969）敦睦遠航訓練支隊
 https://wentzaychuen.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/%E4%B8%AD%E8%8F%AF%E6%B0%91%E5%9C%8B%E6%B5%B7%E8%BB%8D%E6%95%A6%E7%9D%A6%E9%81%A0%E8%88%AA%E8%A8%93%E7%B7%B4%E7%B4%80%E5%AF%A6-join-the-navy-to-see-the-world/

．中華民國海軍陽字級軍艦誌 The Yang-class destroyers of R.O.C. Navy 老戰友工作室 臧持新 著

． 服役當時的官士兵口述。