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USS Monssen, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer built at Staten Island, New York, was commissioned in February 1944. She went to the Pacific in time to take part in the June 1944 assault on Saipan, during which she used her guns to shell Japanese forces ashore. In mid-June she supported Task Force 58 during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and in July she assisted with the invasion of Tinian. Monssen next saw action during the September 1944 landings in the Palaus. She covered the Leyte invasion in October 1944 and, during the Battle of Surigao Strait on the night of 24-25 October, took part in torpedo attacks that hit three Japanese destroyers and the battleship Yamashiro.
After convoy escort service and rehersals for more landings, in January 1945 Monssen helped fight Japanese suicide plane attacks during the Lingayen invasion. In February and March she screened the fast carriers as they attacked the Japanese home islands and also participated in the amphibious assault on Iwo Jima. Monssen's duty with the carriers continued through the Okinawa campaign. In addition to plane guard and radar picket missions, on 9 April she teamed with USS Mertz (DD-691) to destroy the Japanese submarine RO-56. During June, July and August 1945 Monssen took part in air and surface raids against targets in Japan. She also participated in initial occupation operations after the enemy gave up the fight in mid-August.
Monssen returned to the U.S. west coast in the fall of 1945 and was decommissioned there in April 1946. Some five years later, as the Korean War and the Cold War generated a demand for a larger fleet, she was pulled out of "mothballs". Recommissioning at the end of October 1951, Monssen reported to the Atlantic Fleet in March 1952. She deployed overseas twice, operating in the Far East during June-October 1954 and in the Mediterranean Sea in 1956. Decommissioned again in September 1957, Monssen was laid up as part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On 6 March 1962, while being towed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she went ashore in heavy weather on the New Jersey coast. Though eventually pulled off the beach, USS Monssen was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in February 1963 and sold for scrapping in October of that year.
USS Monssen was named in honor of Lieutenant Mons Monssen (1867-1930), who received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his heroism during the 13 April 1904 turret explosion and fire on board USS Missouri (Battleship # 11) .
This page features all the views we have related to USS Monssen (DD-798).
| 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.
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Photo #: NH 97961 USS Monssen (DD-798) Off Staten Island, New York, upon completion of construction by the Bethlehem Steel Company's Staten Island Shipyard, 12 February 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97962 USS Monssen (DD-798) Underway soon after she was recommissioned, circa 1951-1952. The ship is still essentially in her late World War II configuration, with ten torpedo tubes, 20mm guns, and wartime radars. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 128KB; 740 x 615 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-625694 USS Monssen (DD-798) Underway off Newport, Rhode Island, on 17 July 1953. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 65540-KN (Color) Insignia: USS Monssen (DD-798) This emblem was on file at the Naval Historical Center in 1967. It had probably been received during the mid-1950s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 112KB; 650 x 675 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 81458-KN (Color) USS Monssen (DD-798) Cloth patch of an insignia used in 1957. Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN(Retired), 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 152KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Monssen (DD-798). 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".
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Starboard broadside aerial view of USS Monssen (DD-798) underway in wavy seas, photographed from a Naval Air Station New York aircraft, 1 March 1944. Port bow aerial view of USS Monssen (DD-798) underway, circa 1951-52. This photo was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, but was taken just after she reentered active service in the early 1950s. 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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Historical Center home page.Page made 17 May 2002
Minor text correction 28 September 2002