Rear Admiral Champlin

 

'She was sold 8 May 1972 and scrapped."

"Born in Enid, Oklahoma, on December 28, 1904, Jackson Selover Champlin was appointed Midshipman from the Eighth Congressional District and entering the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 1921. He was graduated and commissioned Ensign on June 3, 1925, and through subsequent promotions attained the rank of Captain on August 30, 1944, to date from July 20, 1943.

Following graduation from the Naval Academy in June 1925, he was assigned to USS Colorado for two years, and to USS Rochester for two years. He received a Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for his performance of duty as Secondary Battery Control Officer aboard the Rochester during the 1928-1929 Gunnery Year Competition. Remaining at sea, he served aboard USS Detroit from May 29 to October 5, 1929. 

 Ordered next to the New York Shipbuilding Company, at Camden, New Jersey, he assisted in fitting out USS Salt Lake City, and served aboard that cruiser from her commissioning, December 11, 1929 until June 25, 1932. During that period, the Salt Lake City operated as a unit of Cruiser Division 5, Scouting Force.

After a year’s instruction in General Line at the Postgraduate School, Annapolis, Maryland, he was placed in charge of the Fire-Control Instrument School at the Ford Instrument Company, Long Island, New York, from June 1933 until July 1934.  

He next had duty afloat aboard USS Pennsylvania, flagship of Commander in Chief, US Fleet. He was detached on May 31, 1937, and a month later returned to the Navy Academy for duty as an instructor in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery.

On December 11, 1939 he recommissioned and assumed command of USS Haraden.  

He remained in command of that destroyer until February 3, 1940, shortly before her transfer to Great Britain under “lend-lease.” On March 1 he joined USS Colorado as Gunnery Officer. 

 He remained aboard the battleship until August 1943, when he was designated Aide and Flag Secretary on the staff of Commander Cruiser Division during action against enemy Japanese forces in operations ranging from the Solomon Islands through the Gilberts, the Marshalls, the Marianas and culminating in the First Battle of the Philippines, during the period September 5, 1943 to August 18, 1944…”

“Tireless and skilled in discharging the responsibilities of this important duty, (he) participated in the capture and occupation of many heavily fortified Japanese-held islands during the steady advance of our forces westward toward the enemy’s home waters… Captain Champlin contributed materially to the effective surface support of vital invasions and to the damage inflicted on the Japanese by our naval forces…”

He reported to headquarters, Twelfth Naval District, in August 1944, and on October 7, 1944 was ordered to a shore assignment in the Bureau of Ordnance, Navy Department, Washington, DC, where he was placed in charge of research and development of naval guns, mounts and missile launchers.  

Detached in October 1948, he assumed command of USS Mt. Olympus, and continued in command of that Amphibious Force, Flagship, in the Atlantic, until December 1949. 

 He next had thirty-three months’ duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, attained to the Division of International Affairs as Chief of Foreign Military Aid Matters.

From September 1951 to July 1953 he served as Sub Chief, Naval Mission to Brazil.  

The Brazilian Government awarded him the Order of Naval Merit, degree of Commander, which was presented personally by the Brazilian Chief of Naval Operations on October 9, 1953.

Since his return to the United States, he has been assigned to the staff of the Commander, Ninth Naval District.

In addition to the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V,” and the Brazilian decoration, Captain Champlin has the Secord Nicaraguan Campaign Medal; the American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; the American Campaign Medal; the World War II Victory Medal; and the National Defense Service Medal.

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Sources

Adapted from "Captain Jackson Selover Champlin, United States Navy, Deceased" 

 [biography, dated 10 March 1954] in Modern Biographical Files collection, Navy Department Library.

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USS Mount Olympus (AGC-8) was a Mount McKinley-class amphibious force command ship, named for the highest peak in the Olympic Mountains of the State of Washington. She was designed to be an amphibious forces flagship—a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations. 

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"USS Champlin (DD-601) was a Benson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second ship named for Stephen Champlin." 

After escorting a convoy to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, and another to the Panama Canal Zone, Champlin sailed from New York 11 December 1942 on her first convoy crossing to Casablanca, returning to New York 7 February 1943. She sailed again on 4 March guarding a convoy which was constantly shadowed by German submarines for 6 days after it passed the Azores on 12 March. On that day, a radar contact was made ahead of the convoy, and Champlin charged ahead to investigate, finding a submarine on the surface. She opened fire, and attempted to ram the enemy, which made a crash dive. Champlin hurled a pattern of depth charges into the swirl, and sank U-130 at position 37°10′N 20°21′W. As the convoy plodded east, Champlin and the other escorts fought a constant battle to protect it, but the convoy lost three merchantmen before reaching Casablanca. Champlin rescued every member of Wyoming's 127-man crew, as well as taking aboard two survivors from Molly Pitcher. The return convoy which arrived at Boston, Massachusetts 15 April was without incident.

Champlin sailed from New York 1 May 1943 with a slow convoy of small craft and support ships which called at Bermuda before arriving at Oran 26 May. She put to sea again to bring a convoy in from Gibraltar, then took part in training as well as conducting patrols in the western Mediterranean Sea. On 5 July, she cleared Oran for the invasion of Sicily, escorting a convoy to the transport area south of Scoglitti arriving 9 July. Leaving her charges, she sped ahead to join in the pre-assault bombardment the next day, during which she aided in driving off an air attack. While covering the landing and initial advances the same day, she answered the request from shore for a bombardment of the village of Camerina, so successfully that the enemy there surrendered.

Champlin left Sicily guarding a convoy for Oran and New York, arriving 4 August 1943. She made four more Atlantic crossings on convoy escort duty from New York to North Africa and the British Isles between 21 August 1943 and 11 March 1944. While undergoing refresher training in Casco Bay, Maine, in March 1944, Champlin was ordered out on a submarine hunt, joining an all-day operation 7 April. At 1632, she made contact and dropped deep-set depth charges, driving the submarine to the surface. Immediately, her guns opened fire and started a fire. Champlin rammed the stern of the submarine, and U-856 sank at position 40°18′N 62°18′W. Champlin's commanding officer, Commander John J. Shaffer III, was wounded by shrapnel during the attack and died the next morning despite emergency surgery.[1]

After repairs to her bow, damaged in the ramming, Champlin left New York 21 April 1944 with a convoy for Oran. On 15 May, she reported at Naples for duty supporting the operations striving to break loose from the Anzio beachhead. She conducted patrols, escorted convoys, and provided fire support for minesweepers, and the Army ashore. Returning to Palermo, she sailed from that port 13 August for the invasion of southern France, in which she was assigned to patrol southwest of the transport area as a reserve fire support unit. On 18 August, she rescued a downed Army pilot from his raft, and on 19 August, she was fired upon by shore batteries as she steamed off Cannes. Next day she returned to the area to locate those batteries and destroy them, and the 21st, blocked the Gulf of Napoule while German E-boats thus trapped were destroyed. Continuing her fire support, she knocked out a bridge across the Var River near Nice upon Army request on 24 August, and a week later left the area to guard merchantmen bound for Oran. She continued to New York, escorting a division of battleships, and began a program of training and plane guard operations which lasted through the remainder of 1944.

Atlantic convoy escort

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On 6 January 1945, Champlin returned to Atlantic convoy escort, sailing for Oran. On 30 January, she cleared Oran to rendezvous with the group bringing President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Malta, where he was to enplane for the Yalta Conference. She later escorted this same group back into the Atlantic, and on 20 February returned to Gibraltar for patrol and convoy escort duty in the western Mediterranean. On 22 April, she departed Oran for New York and preparations for deployment to the Pacific Ocean.

Champlin passed through the Panama Canal 4 June 1945, arrived at Pearl Harbor 10 July, and after training, sailed 24 July for the attack on Wake Island 1 August. Continuing to Okinawa, she arrived 12 August for local escort and patrol duty until 4 September, when she cleared on the first of two voyages to Japan in connection with occupation arrangements. On 31 October, she sailed from Okinawa with homeward-bound servicemen, calling to embark more at Saipan and Pearl Harbor. She disembarked her passengers at San Diego, California 21 to 24 November, then sailed for the east coast