USS Balch, a 1825-ton Porter class destroyer, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. She was commissioned in October 1936 and operated in the Atlantic until sent to the Pacific a year later. During the remaining peacetime years, Balch participated in fleet exercises and training in the waters off the west coast and in the Hawaiian area. She was at sea during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and took an active role in the great Pacific War that followed.
Balch was part of the carrier task force that raided the Marshall Islands and Wake in February 1942. She accompanied USS Enterprise during the Doolittle Raid on Japan in April and the Battle of Midway in early June 1942. In the latter action she was detached to support USS Yorktown and was present when that aircraft carrier sank on the morning of 7 June. Balch was again in Enterprise's screen during the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi in early August 1942 and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons later in that month.
In 1943, Balch went north to take part in the campaign to drive the Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands. She returned to warmer territory in time to join the operation that seized northern New Guinea in the spring of 1944. The following July she was transferred to the Atlantic and was thereafter employed escorting convoys between the United States and North Africa. Inactive after June 1945, USS Balch was placed out of commission in October and broken up for scrap in 1946.
USS Balch was named in honor of Rear Admiral George B. Balch, USN, (1821-1908).
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Balch (DD-363).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 61695 USS Balch (DD-363) Off the Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River Plant, Quincy, Massachusetts, 23 September 1936, probably during builder's trials. The ship's gun directors and 1.1" anti-aircraft machine guns have not yet been fitted. Note that Balch's bow numbers are painted close to the waterline. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 61694 USS Balch (DD-363) Underway, probably during trials in about September 1936. Her 1.1" anti-aircraft machineguns and main battery gun directors have not yet been installed. The hull numbers at her bow appear to have been retouched. Balch wore her bow numbers closer to the waterline at the time of her trials. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 585 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97951 USS Balch (DD-363) At anchor, circa the later 1930s Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 510 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-N-51207 USS Balch (DD-363) Off San Francisco, California, following overhaul, 30 August 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 510 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-51208 USS Balch (DD-363) Off San Francisco, California, following overhaul, 30 August 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-51213 USS Balch (DD-363) At San Francisco, California, following overhaul, 30 August 1943. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 103KB; 595 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 45221 USS Winslow (DD-359), USS Balch (DD-363) and USS Selfridge (DD-357) (listed from left to right) Moored together in San Diego Harbor, California, during the later 1930s. Courtesy of BMGC Ralph E. Turpin, USNR, 1963. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 435 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-422626 USS Balch (DD-363), USS Moffett (DD-362), USS Winslow (DD-359), and USS McDougal (DD-358) (listed from bottom to top) Moored together at San Diego, California, March 1939. A harbor oiler is alongside Balch, and what appears to be a garbage lighter is astern of the four destroyers. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-17061 Battle of Midway, June 1942 USS Yorktown (CV-5) being abandoned by her crew after she was hit by two Japanese Type 91 aerial torpedoes, 4 June 1942. USS Balch (DD-363) is standing by at right. Note oil slick surrounding the damaged carrier, and inflatable life raft being deployed off her stern. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 94643 "Seamanship -- Grind & Hard Work - Bering Sea May '43" USS Neosho (AO-48) refueling USS Balch (DD-363) -- on the opposite side -- and USS Wichita (CA-45) during operations in the Bering Sea in May 1943. Photographed from Wichita. The quoted title is that penned on the original print by VAdm. Giffen. Collection of Vice Admiral Robert C. Giffen. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 61693 USS Balch (DD-363) Fitting out at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, on 13 October 1936, a week before she went into commission. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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NOTES:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 2 May 2002
Coding updated 5 May 2009