![]() ![]() Five days later she reached the New York Navy Yard. Mason then steamed to Bermuda for repairs, entering St. Unable to regain contact, the ship returned to the contact point, where searchlight revealed the target-a wooden derelict about 100 by 50 feet (30 by 15 m). She rang up full speed with all battle stations manned to attack the presumptive submarine, rammed, and dropped depth charges. ![]() Four days later the Mason made radar contact with a surface target. Continuing to Algeria, she entered Oran on 5 January for the formation of Task Group 60.11. Two days later she sailed in convoy for Europe, passing by Gibraltar on 4 January 1945 to be relieved of escort duties. Mason joined Task Force 64 at Norfolk, Virginia, on 17 December. The crew of Mason was not awarded a letter of commendation until 1994 for meritorious service during this action. The ship suffered and self-repaired critical structural damage and still rescued ships from the convoy. On 18 October, Mason supported Convoy NY-119 in a severe North Atlantic storm. Mason reached Falmouth, Cornwall, with part of the convoy 18 October, and she returned to New York from Plymouth, England, and the Azores on 22 November. On 2 September, she arrived at New York City to steam on 19 September in the screen for convoy NY.119. She got underway from Belfast, Northern Ireland, headed for the East Coast on 26 July, arriving at Boston Harbor on 2 August for convoy duty off the harbor through August. David Mason, the mother of Ensign Mason, and commissioned on 20 March 1944.įollowing a shakedown cruise off Bermuda, Mason departed from Charleston, South Carolina, on 14 June, escorting a convoy bound for Europe, arriving at Horta Harbor, Azores, on 6 July. She was launched on 17 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Mason's keel was laid down in the Boston Navy Yard, on 14 October 1943. Mason was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his skill and courage in battle. Later reassigned to Fighting Squadron 2 (VF-2), Ensign Mason 's first and only aerial combat occurred during the Battle of the Coral Sea on, when he disappeared during action with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft and was declared missing in action, probably the victim of Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters from the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōkaku. ![]() Navy Fighting Squadron 3 (VF-3) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga as a Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter pilot in September 1941, he reported to VF-3 while it was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Territory of Hawaii, in January 1942 after Saratoga had been damaged by a Japanese submarine torpedo. He enlisted as a seaman in the United States Naval Reserve on 7 November 1940 and on 10 February 1941 was appointed an aviation cadet. Mason was born in New York City on 24 December 1918. Newton Henry Mason (24 December 1918 – May 1942) was a decorated United States Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Following the war, Mason was sold for scrap and broken up in 1947. Entering service in 1944, the vessel was used for convoy duty in the Battle of the Atlantic for the remainder of the war. These two ships were manned by African Americans as the result of a letter sent to President Roosevelt by the NAACP in mid-December 1941. The other was USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser. USS Mason was one of two US Navy ships with largely African-American crews in World War II. USS Mason (DE-529), an Evarts-class destroyer escort, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named Mason, though DE-529 was the only one specifically named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |