The fourth USS Dale (DD-353) was a Farragut-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. Dale received 14 battle stars for World War II service. She was named for American Revolutionary war hero Richard Dale.
Dale was launched 23 January 1935 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. E. C. Dale; and commissioned 17 June 1935. Rear Admiral Yates Stirling Jr., commandant of the Third Naval District and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, oversaw construction and presided over the commissioning. As a fourteen-year-old boy nearly 50 years earlier, Stirling had lived aboard the first USS Dale (1839) when the old sloop-of-war, her masts removed and at the end of her long service, was the station ship at the Washington Navy Yard under his father's command. Dale was decommissioned 16 October 1945 and sold 20 December 1946.
Pre-World War II
Dale made a southern cruise from 13 February to 6 March 1936, visiting Norfolk, Dry Tortugas, Florida, and Galveston, Texas, and acted as escort for President F. D. Roosevelt's cruise in the Bahamas before departing for the west coast. She took part in fleet problems, made a good will visit to Callao, Peru, served as training ship for the gunnery school at San Diego, and cruised to Hawaii, Alaska, and the Caribbean on exercises.
On 5 October 1939, Dale departed San Diego to join the Hawaiian Detachment for training and patrol.
Late 1941 Pearl Harbor Attack – early 1942
At the commencement of the raid on Pearl Harbor at 0750 on 7 December 1941, the Dale was moored with ships of Destroyer Division Two at Berth X-14. The order of ships in the nest, from starboard to port, was as follows: , , the Dale, and . The ship's head was 030, and boiler number three was in use for auxiliary purposes. The deck officer and acting commanding officer, Ensign F.M. Radel, saw the first plane attack the from westward. General Quarters was immediately sounded, and orders were given to set material condition Affirm and light all boilers. At 0810, fire was opened on Japanese planes using the after .50-caliber machine guns, followed shortly thereafter by the after five-inch anti-aircraft guns. The ships on either side of the Dale prevented the use of the forward guns, and the forward searchlight made it impossible to bring the director to bear in the direction of the level bombing attacks. The 5-inch guns operated in local control against a squadron of level bombers flying at about 10,000 feet above the battleships, but results were poor, with shots bursting well behind and short of the targets. At 0815, an enemy dive bomber attacking the from westward came under severe machine gun fire from all the ships in the nest, was struck, and crashed into the harbor.
At 0820 it was reported to the senior officer in the nest—Lieutenant Commander W.P. Burford, commanding the Monaghan—that the Dale was ready to get underway. While backing clear, a torpedo apparently aimed at the Raleigh passed under the bow of the Dale and exploded on Ford Island. At 0844 the Dale stopped while the Monaghan dropped depth charges against a Japanese submarine close aboard the starboard side of the . The Dale then changed speed to 25 knots and proceeded out of harbor ahead of the Monaghan. Until the Dale neared the submarine net she did not come under the direct fire of the planes; apparently the Japanese wished to sink a ship in the entrance, blocking the harbor, as the Dale came under severe dive bombing and machine gun attacks near the entrance. Machine-gun fire from the ship served to keep the attackers from approaching too closely, although there were several close misses which caused no damage.
At 0907 the Dale cleared the entrance buoys. By stopping the port engine and coming hard left rudder, she caused a flight of three Japanese dive bombers to overshoot their mark. As the flight passed by the starboard side close to the water, machine-gun fire from the Dale struck the leading plane, causing it to burst into flame and crash into the water. The remaining two planes attempted to attack again, but were driven off by machine-gun fire. At 0911, the Dale established offshore patrol in sector one, changing speed to 12 knots at 0927. Due to repeated airplane attacks the ship was forced to make frequent course changes and run at high speed. High-speed wakes and depth charging from other destroyers in the vicinity rendered the sound gear practically useless.