05/25/2026
Eighty years ago today, the destroyer es**rt, USS ULVERT M. MOORE, was decommissioned for the first time in her career, in San Diego. She honored Ulvert Mathew Moore, who was born on 26 August 1917, in Williamson, West Virginia. Moore enlisted in the Naval Reserve on 15 October 1940 for aviation training. After instruction in Jacksonville and Miami, Fla., into the summer of 1941, Moore then received advanced carrier training in Norfolk, Va. Assigned to Torpedo Squadron (VT) 8, Moore embarked in USS HORNET (CV-8).
Flying an obsolete Douglas TBD-1 Devastator at Midway, Moore was part of VT-8's attack on the Japanese carriers. On 4 June 1942, Ens. Moore and ARM3c W.F. Sawhill, his radioman gunner, perished in VT-8's gallant torpedo attack against the Japanese carrier force. Led by Lcdr. John C. Waldron, Moore was awarded a posthumous Navy Cross for pressing home his attack, despite being grimly aware that VT-8 had neither fighter cover nor enough fuel to return to Hornet.
However, the attack drew down the Japanese combat air patrol and left the skies above open for the attack of the dive bombers, which soon crippled three Japanese carriers on the first day of the battle. and thus paved the way to an American victory.
His namesake, the John C. Butler class, USS ULVERT M. MOORE (DE-442), was laid down on 2 December 1943, in Houston, Texas, by the Brown Shipbuilding Co. She was launched on 7 March 1944, and was sponsored by Mrs. L. E. Moore, the mother of Ens. Moore. The ship was commissioned on 18 July 1944, with Lcdr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., USNR, the son of the President, in command.
Following shakedown off Bermuda, the es**rt joined the Pacific Fleet and arrived in Pearl Harbor on 30 October. Hunter-killer duty with the es**rt carriers CORREGIDOR (CVE-58) and TULAGI (CVE-72) followed, before reaching Ulithi on December 7. Following this duty, ULVERT M. MOORE served as part of the screen for 14 es**rt aircraft carriers, which furnished close air support for the landing operations on Luzon.
ULVERT M. MOORE went to general quarters twice in the predawn hours of 4 January 1945, fueled from SUAMICO (AO-49), and spent the afternoon delivering mail via highline transfer to other ships in the task force. While she was casting off from alongside MINNEAPOLIS (CA-36), her lookouts noted a Japanese plane slipping into the return flight pattern of the carriers. This kamikaze soon crashed into OMMANEY BAY (CVE-79) shortly after 1714, resulting in the loss of that carrier.
With bogies in the vicinity at 0039 on 5 January 1945, at 1655, ULVERT M. MOORE received reports of approaching enemy aircraft. Soon Japanese torpedo planes attacked the starboard side of the formation, giving ULVERT M. MOORE a few moments, before three "Oscar" fighters approached from port. Opening fire from 5,000 yards with her 5-inch battery and from 3,000 yards with her 40-millimeter Bofors guns, ULVERT M. MOORE downed one "Oscar", which burst into flames and disintegrated.
When Japanese planes crashed into USS STAFFORD (DE-411), ULVERT M. MOORE closed to port and took off 54 men and 3 officers, while HALLIGAN (DE-584) nudged alongside to starboard and took off additional crewmen. ULVERT M. MOORE received orders to stand by STAFFORD, along with Halligan and the fleet tug QUAPAW (AT-12), which arrived to take the stricken destroyer es**rt in tow.
Gunfire from HALLIGAN and ULVERT M. MOORE splashed a "Val" dive-bomber early on the 6th, before RALPH TALBOT (DD-390) relieved HALLIGAN at 1849 on that day. Another Japanese plane ventured too close to the little formation on the 7th, and ULVERT M. MOORE's gunners splashed it. After transferring the crewmen of STAFFORD, who had been embarked in ULVERT M. MOORE, to RALPH TALBOT, the destroyer es**rt resumed antisubmarine patrols in the vicinity of Mindoro Island as part of Task Unit (TU) 77.4.1.
While thus engaged, she received orders to assist La VALLETTE (DD-448) in searching for a Japanese submarine, reported by a plane to be running on the surface in the vicinity. Accordingly, GOSS (DE-444) accompanied ULVERT M. MOORE and joined La VALLETTE and JENKINS (DD-447). At 1557 on 30 January, La VALLETTE made contact and dropped a depth charge barrage, but observed no results and soon lost the contact. The group continued to search throughout the night with negative results.
On 31 January 1945, ULVERT M. MOORE received orders to assist in the search, and arrived at the scene to complete the hunter-killer group. The destroyer es**rt detected the submarine at 2152, but briefly lost the contact. Regaining the contact at 2210, she fired her first "hedgehog" pattern four minutes later. She made a total of seven attacks before midnight. The eighth attack proved to be the killer; for, 15 seconds after the "hedgehog" depth charges hit the water, three violent explosions sent out concussions felt by topside personnel in ULVERT M. MOORE and the three other ships. A last explosion rumbled up from below, the death agony of an RO class submarine.
ULVERT M. MOORE next provided antisubmarine protection for the carriers, which would furnish close air support for the forces attacking Iwo Jima. The ship thus began her most grueling period, as she steamed continuously for 78 days, to support this operation and the subsequent one against Okinawa. She operated with USS TULAGI and, later, USS ANZIO (CVE-57), southeast of Okinawa. During the Okinawa operation, President Roosevelt died on 12 April, a loss felt not only by the nation and the Fleet, but by Cdr. Roosevelt, ULVERT M. MOORE's commanding officer.
Follow upkeep at Guam, on 19 June 1945, she put to sea with TG 30.8, the group providing logistics support for air strikes against the Japanese home islands. She operated with this unit until returning to Guam on 24 July. Three days later, the ship joined the hunter-killer group based around SALAMAUA (CVE-96), in operating on antisubmarine patrol northeast of Luzon.
ULVERT M. MOORE screened TG 32.1, the supporting es**rts for TF 32, then en route to Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender. On 2 September 1945, the es**rt vessel entered Tokyo Bay. After conducting antisubmarine and mine patrol duties in Japanese home waters. She es**rted Japan-bound transports with occupation forces embarked, and destroyed floating mines with light-caliber gunfire.
ULVERT M. MOORE operated in the Philippines into the winter, before she returned via Pearl Harbor to the United States. Arriving in San Diego on 22 November 1945, the destroyer es**rt was decommissioned there on 24 May 1946, and placed in reserve.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, ULVERT M. MOORE recommissioned in San Diego on 27 January 1951, and was assigned to CortRon 9. Arriving in Sasebo, Japan, on 17 May 1951, ULVERT M. MOORE joined Task Force 72 for Formosa patrol duty, standing guard off Taiwan. The destroyer es**rt was detached from this duty on 10 June, and arrived in Buckner Bay two days later. She then conducted hunter-killer exercises as she steamed north to Japan.
Arriving in Yokosuka on 16 June, she departed there nine days later, and headed for the west coast of Korea to join the British carrier, HMS GLORY, for screen and patrol duty. In August, ULVERT M. MOORE participated in bombardment and covering operations in Wonsan, Korea., during minesweeping operations there, and came under fire for the first time from communist shore batteries. After conducting frequent patrols north to Songjin and Chongjin, Korea, for shore bombardment and anti-junk patrol, the destroyer es**rt put into Sasebo on 25 August for refit.
The following month, ULVERT M. MOORE continued her operations off the coast of Korea, undertaking bombardment and call-fire missions in support of United Nations ground troops in Wonsan, Songjin, and Chongjin on the east coast of Korea. Arriving off Hungnam on 14 October, the destroyer es**rt proceeded to her interdiction patrol station, and watched for enemy junk traffic off the coast.
Early on the morning of 17 October, communist shore batteries shelled the ship, lobbing a salvo close aboard the es**rt vessel. One shell hit the after steering engine room, and fragments killed one man almost instantly. In addition, the splinters wounded an officer and an enlisted man. Efficient and rapid damage control work soon repaired the damage, allowing the ship to return to action.
ULVERT M. MOORE remained on the station, conducting shore bombardment, serving on antisubmarine patrol, and patrolling to locate and destroy enemy junks or mines, until she departed Korean waters on 6 November, arriving in San Diego, via Japan, on 26 November.
Departing San Diego on 18 October 1952, for her second Korean tour, ULVERT M. MOORE subsequently took part in operations interdicting communist coastal rail traffic and harassing enemy logistics movements. She remained thus engaged until 19 December, before conducting a period of hunter-killer exercises off Okinawa, between 27 December 1952 and 9 January 1953. She sailed for the west coast of the United States, making port in San Diego on 6 June 1953.
After conducting local operations, including antisubmarine, air defense, and type training evolutions, ULVERT M. MOORE again sailed for the Far East, departing the west coast for Yokosuka on 20 May 1954. During this tour, the ship's duties consisted primarily of es**rting fleet tankers and ammunition ships, as well as various training exercises.
She weathered three major typhoons during the deployment. Upon completion of her tour, ULVERT M. MOORE departed Yokosuka, bound for San Diego via Midway and Pearl Harbor. While en route home, she was battered by another storm for ten days. ULVERT M. MOORE subsequently conducted three more WestPac deployments into 1958.
Placed out of commission, in reserve, on 10 October 1958, in Astoria, Oregon, the destroyer es**rt remained inactive until struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1965. She was authorized for destruction as a target vessel on 18 April 1966, and subsequently sunk off San Nicholas Isle on 13 July 1966 by aircraft from CORAL SEA (CVA-43), and by surface gunfire.
