USS Yarnall (DD-541) - Iwo Jima and Okinawa

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

On 10 February, Yarnall left Ulithi with TF 38 to attack the Japanese home islands for the first time since the Halsey-Doolittle raid and to provide strategic cover for the assault on Iwo Jima. For two days, 16 and 17 February, the skies over Tokyo rained death and destruction. On the 18th, Yarnall steamed south with the carriers to lend the marines a hand during the Iwo Jima landings. While TF 38 planes supported the assault, Yarnall protected their floating bases from enemy air and submarine attacks. She remained in the vicinity of the Volcano Islands until the 22d when she and the carriers again headed toward the Japanese home islands for another swipe at Tokyo on the 25th. Then, after rendezvousing with TG 50.8, the logistics group, TF 38 sent its planes to strike Okinawa on 1 March.

On 3 March, Yarnall received orders transferring her from TG 58.2 to TG 59.6 for a practice attack on the main body of TF 59. While closing the objective on the night of 4 and 5 March, she collided with Ringgold (DD-500). Ringgold suffered a sheared-off bow while Yarnall also suffered one man killed and six others injured. Towed to Ulithi by Molala (ATF-106), she reached the anchorage on 7 March. On the 8th, her bow broke off and sank. While at Ulithi, she had a false bow fitted for the voyage back to the United States for permanent repairs. She stood out of Ulithi on 5 April and steamed via Pearl Harbor to the Mare Island Navy Yard where she underwent repairs until 2 July.

The warship returned to Pearl Harbor in July and conducted training operations in the Hawaiian Islands through the end of the war. Two days after the cessation of hostilities, Yarnall set a course for Tokyo, Japan, to participate in the postwar occupation. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September when Japanese officials signed the surrender document on board Missouri (BB-63) and remained in the Far East supporting minesweeping operations until the end of October. On the 31st, she put to sea and shaped a course for San Diego, Calif., where, though she remained in commission, she was placed in an inactive status. Berthed at San Diego with the Pacific Reserve Fleet, Yarnall was finally placed out of commission on 15 January 1947.