USS Zane (DD-337/DMS-14/AG-109) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for Randolph Zane.
History
Zane was laid down on 15 January 1919 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California; launched on 12 August 1919; sponsored by Miss Marjorie Zane, the daughter of Major R. T. Zane; re-classified DD-337 on 17 July 1920; and commissioned at Mare Island on 15 February 1921.
1920s
After fitting out and shakedown, Zane fueled at Port Costa, California, late in June 1921 and sailed northward to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, for stores. Returning south to Mare Island once more, Zane joined Destroyer Division 14 at San Francisco, California, on 22 June and departed that port the following day, bound for the Asiatic Station.
Sailing via Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guam, Zane reached Cavite, Philippine Islands, on 24 August. The destroyer then operated in the Philippines—out of Cavite, Manila, Olongapo, and Lingayen Gulf—on maneuvers and exercises through the spring of 1922. She departed Manila on 3 June 1922, bound for Chinese waters.
Zane reached the Yangtze estuary on 6 June and, while steaming to the mouth of the Huangpu River, en route to Shanghai, spotted the Chinese river steamer Tse Kiang approaching from the starboard quarter. She maintained course and speed, doing nothing to avoid a collision. Zane attempted to avoid a fouling when that seemed imminent, but too late. At 1158, Tse Kiang rammed the destroyer aft.
Fortunately, the damage was minor; and Zane proceeded on her way, reaching Shanghai two and a half hours later and moored alongside sistership at the American buoys. Zane entered the Yangtsepoo drydock on 15 June for repairs and was undocked on the following day.
Underway for Chefoo on 5 July, Zane reached that North China port on the 7th and remained there until the 30th, when she shifted to Chinwangtao, the seaport at the base of the Great Wall of China, to send leave parties to Peking. She lay at Chinwangtao from 31 July to 5 August, when she got underway to return to Chefoo on the latter day.
Zane set sail from Chefoo, homeward bound, on 25 August and visited Nagasaki, Japan, on the first leg of her voyage back to the west coast of the United States. Subsequently, touching at Midway and Pearl Harbor, the destroyer reached San Francisco on 2 October. Shifting to the Mare Island Navy Yard on 9 October, Zane turned in all torpedoes, torpedo gear, and landing force equipment over the three days that ensued. She then fueled at Martinez, California, before reaching San Diego and San Pedro. Decommissioned at San Diego on 1 February 1923, Zane remained on "Red Lead Row" for seven years.
1930s
Recommissioned on 25 February 1930, Zane operated actively as a unit of the Battle Force for the next decade, except for one brief period during which time she was attached to Rotating Reserve Squadron 20 in late 1934. Initially assigned to Destroyer Division 10, Destroyer Squadron 4, Destroyers, Battle Force, Destroyer Flotilla 2, the ship served through the 1930s in a variety of squadrons, but all within the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla.
She participated in some of the inter-war fleet problems - the large-scale fleet maneuvers instituted in the early 1920s to develop equipment and tactics. She ranged from the west coast of the United States into the Caribbean and western Atlantic Ocean, as well as off the Panama Canal Zone.
However, with the new destroyer construction programs turning out more modern, faster, and heavily armed ships, the need to retain the old "flush-deckers" in the destroyer role diminished. At the same time, there grew a need for high-speed minesweepers, fast minelayers, seaplane tenders, and the like to meet the ever-growing demands on the Navy.
Destroyer minesweeper (DMS)
Converted to a high-speed minesweeper at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard and reclassified as DMS-14 on 19 November 1940, Zane operated primarily in Hawaiian waters on the eve of World War II.
Pearl Harbor
On the morning of 7 December 1941, she was moored off Pearl City in a nest with her three sisterships of Mine Division 4— , , and .
The crew was just finishing breakfast when, at 0757, a signalman on watch topside observed a single plane drop a bomb on the southern end of Ford Island after a long gliding approach from the northward. Only then did the men topside realize it was a Japanese plane.