USS
Chung-Hoon (DDG-93)
Namesake
USS
Chung-Hoon (DDG-93) is an
Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer serving in the United States Navy (USN).
Chung-Hoon was named in honor of Rear Admiral Gordon Pai'ea Chung-Hoon (1910–1979), recipient of the Navy Cross and the Silver Star.
Gordon Paiʻea Chung-Hoon (July 25, 1910 – July 24, 1979) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who served during World War II and was the first Asian American flag officer. He received the Navy Cross and Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary heroism as commanding officer of USS
Sigsbee from May 1944 to October 1945.
World War II
Chung-Hoon served on the battleship USS
Arizona as a lieutenant, but was in Honolulu on a weekend pass during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Chung-Hoon heard the attack from Honolulu and attempted to return to his ship but was delayed by roadblocks and traffic jams. By the time he reached the
Arizona the ship had already exploded and sunk.
After the sinking of
Arizona, Chung-Hoon served as a naval liaison officer with coastal artillery before becoming executive officer on a destroyer in 1942, working convoy details in the Atlantic. He also served on board the cruiser USS
Honolulu.
From May 1944 to October 1945 Chung-Hoon commanded the destroyer USS
Sigsbee. In the spring of 1945,
Sigsbee assisted in the destruction of 20 enemy planes while screening an aircraft carrier strike force off the Japanese island of Kyūshū. On April 14, 1945, while on radar picket station off Okinawa, a kamikaze crashed into
Sigsbee, reducing her starboard engine to five knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) and knocking out the ship's port engine and steering control. Despite the damage, then Commander Chung-Hoon kept his antiaircraft batteries delivering "prolonged and effective fire" against the continuing Japanese air attack while simultaneously directing the damage control efforts that allowed
Sigsbee to make port under her own power.
The damage had been severe enough that Admiral William Halsey, Jr. told Chung-Hoon to scuttle the ship. However, Chung-Hoon declined to do so, telling the admiral "No, I have kids on here that can't swim and I'm not putting them in the water. I'll take her back."
The next day Chung-Hoon led a burial at sea for the dead. One crewmate said of Chung-Hoon during the burial, "I often remember that the only man tough enough not to duck, was also the only man tender enough to cry."
For Chung-Hoon's service aboard
Sigsbee he received the Navy Cross and the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary heroism.
During the war, two of Chung-Hoon's brothers served in the army in the Pacific theater.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Chung-Hoon