USS Atherton

John McDougal Atherton, born in Harrods Creek, Ky., on 3 August 1918, graduated from Harvard in 1940 and enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on 28 June 1940, He served on board the training ship[ Wyoming (AG-17), where he received his initial training, until August. His enlistment was terminated on 15 September so that he could accept an appointment the next day as a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipman School located at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. On 12 December 1940, Atherton took the oath of office as an ensign in the Naval Reserve. He was released from active duty on the 13th.

On 3 February 1941, Ens. Atherton reported for duty in conjunction with the outfitting of the destroyer Meredith (DD-434) at the Boston Navy Yard. Meredith went into commission on 1 March 1942, and Atherton served in her while she carried out patrols in the Atlantic Ocean. Even after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December, Atherton's ship continued to operate in the Atlantic, escorting convoys and prosecuting the war against U-boats. On 18 February 1942, however, his destroyer departed Boston in company with the battleship Washington (BB-56) and shaped a course for Norfolk. There, the two warships joined a task force built around carrier Hornet (CV-8).

The force, designated TF 18, stood out of Chesapeake Bay on 4 March 1942 and embarked upon a long and famous voyage. Steaming by way of the Panama Canal and San Diego, TF 18 entered the Golden Gate on 20 March and moored at San Francisco, where Hornet loaded 16 Army B-25 medium bombers and embarked 70 officers and 64 enlisted men under the command of Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle. Ens. Atherton sailed with his ship in the screen of TF 18 on 2 April. The Hornet force rendezvoused with Enterprise (CV-6) near Midway Island 11 days later, and the combined force, TF 16, headed toward Japan. Discovery by a Japanese guardboat on the morning of 18 April, about 600 miles from Japan and some 200 miles short of the intended launch point, forced the Tokyo raiders to take off from Hornet earlier than planned and execute the raid from extreme range. While the material damage inflicted by the bombers was small, the psychological effect of an air raid on the Japanese capital itself was great. Most importantly, the Halsey-Doolittle Raid ended all debate within the Japanese high command whether or not a thrust against the important U.S. advanced naval base at Midway should be attempted. .

Continue to the full service history →About 1,290 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Atherton (DE-169)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.