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USS ZANE (DD-337 / DMS-14 / AG-109)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign - NUMN

CLASS - CLEMSON As Built.
Displacement 1,215 Tons, Dimensions, 314' 5" (oa) x 31' 8" x 9' 10" (Max)
Armament 4 x 4"/50, 1 x 3"/23AA, 12 x 21" tt..
Machinery, 26,500 SHP; Geared Turbines, 2 screws
Speed, 35 Knots, Crew 114
Operational and Building Data
Laid down by Mare Island Navy Yard January 15 1919.
Launched August 12 1919 and commissioned February 15 1921.
Decommissioned February 1 1923, Recommissioned February 25 1930.
Converted to High Speed Minesweeper DMS-14 November 19 1940.
Reclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary AG-109 June 5 1945.
Decommissioned December 15 1945.
Stricken January 8 1946.
Fate Sold to Luria Brothers & Co. October 22 1946 and broken up for scrap.

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Namesake
Zane 232kRandolph Talcott Zane was born on 12 August 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Rear Admiral Abraham Vanhoy Zane. He was appointed a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on 6 January 1909 and, a month later, reported for duty to the Headquarters, United States Marine Corps in Washington, D.C. After instruction at the Marine Officers' School, Port Royal, S.C., Zane joined the Marine detachment in battleship New Hampshire at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 27 December 1909. Detached from New Hampshire in the summer of 1911, Zane next served ashore at the Naval Prison, Portsmouth, N.H., until December. Reporting to the Marine Barracks at Washington, D.C., on Christmas Day, 1911, Zane became post quartermaster on 1 January 1912 and held the post until 15 February 1913. Zane then saw temporary expeditionary service in early 1913, sailing from Norfolk, Virginia, with Company "I," 2d Regiment, 2d Provisional Brigade of Marines, on board auxiliary cruiser Prairie and disembarked at Guantanamo Bay on 27 February. Reembarked in Prairie exactly three months later, Zane returned to Washington on 2 June. After subsequent shore duty at the Marine Barracks at Puget Sound and Mare Island, and sea duty in the armored cruisers South Dakota and West Virginia, Zane joined the 4th Marine Regiment at San Diego, Calif., on 29 December 1914. He next served two more tours ashore at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, and at Quantico, before America joined the World War One fighting.

Zane embarked in the transport Henderson on 19 January 1918, bound for France. By that point a major, Zane served his first tour of duty "over there" in the Bourmont, France, training area, with the 6th Marine Regiment. Then, he went to the front lines, southeast of the famous battlefield at Verdun, where he remained from mid-March to mid-May. After moving with his unit to Vitry-le-Francois and then to Gisors-Chaumont-en-Vexin, Zane and his companions received urgent orders sending them to the Chateau-Thierry sector. Major Zane participated in the fighting in the vicinity of Belleau Wood, when the untried marines came up against the 461st Imperial German Infantry, a unit that Colonel Robert D. Heinl called "the largest single body of combat-seasoned regular troops which Marines had confronted since Bladensburg." He recevied the Navy Cross for his actions during the fighting at Bouresches, where "he displayed such bravery as to inspire the garrison to resist successfully a heavy machine-gun and infantry attack by superior numbers." He also received the Army Distinguished Service Cross for the same action.

Zane took part in the second phase of the assault, when the 2d and 3d Battalions, 6th Marines, entered the wood, and remained in action through the entire period of fighting. Tragically, Zane was wounded and shell-shocked on 26 June. Following his partial recovery, he served as Provost Marshal at Le Havre. Developing complications, however, Zane died of influenza after ear surgery on October 24, 1918. He is buried at the Somme American Military Cemetery, Bony, France.

Image of Randolph T. Zane, from Los Angeles Evening Express, 13 November 1918.

Robert M. Cieri
USS Zane (DD-337)
Zane 72kUndated, location unknown.Robert M. Cieri
Zane 44kUndated, location unknown.Ron Reeves
Zane 142kLaying the keel for Zane (DD-337) at Mare Island Navy Yard, 15 January 1919. Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 70576, courtesy of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 1970.Paul Rebold
Zane 116kZane's sponsors' party at the destroyer's christening ceremonies, Mare Island Navy Yard, 12 August 1919. The orginal NHHC caption identifies the lady on the right as Major Zane's daughter Marjorie, which seems unlikely, as she would have been five years old at the time. The lady is certainly Barbara Stephens Zane, Major Zane's widow. The woman on the left is probably her aunt, Mrs. John K. Wilson, while the unidentified Navy officer is believed to be Captain Harry George.
Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 70624, courtesy of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 1970. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Darryl Baker / Bill Gonyo
Zane 464kArticle about Zane's sponsors, from the San Francisco Chronicle, 12 August 1919.Dave Wright
Zane 158kUSS Zane (DD-337) and USS Wasmuth (DD-338) ready for launching at Mare Island, 12 August 1919.Darryl Baker
Zane 425k Zane (DD-337) sliding down the building ways at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 12 August 1919. Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 68734, from the William H. Topley Collection, courtesy of Charles M. Loring, 1969.Fred Weiss / Robert Hurst
Zane 160kBroadside view of the newly launched USS Zane (DD-337) at Mare Island, 12 August 1919.Darryl Baker
Zane 138kUSS Zane (DD-337) on sea trials, February 1921.Darryl Baker
Zane 235kUSS Zane (DD-337) operating in Chinese waters, circa 1922.Darryl Baker
Zane 230kPost World War I San Diego image including the USS Walker (DD-163), USS Lea (DD-118), USS Gamble (DD-123), USS Montgomery (DD-121), USS Roper (DD-147), USS Ramsay (DD-124), USS Tarbell (DD-142), USS Thatcher (DD-162), USS Evans (DD-78), USS Crosby (DD-164), USS Jacob Jones (DD-130), USS Hazelwood (DD-107), USS Gillis (DD-260), USS McLanahan (DD-264), USS Howard (DD-179), USS Schley (DD-103), USS Dorsey (DD-117), USS Tattnall (DD-125), USS Wickes (DD-75), USS Laub (DD-263), USS Zane (DD-337), USS Perry (DD-340) and USS Alden (DD-211).Mike Mohl
Zane
0533723
841kRPPC of USS Zane (DD-337) probably during the 1930s, location unknown.Dave Wright
Zane 445kUSS Zane (DD-337) photographed circa the 1930s, probably in San Francisco Bay. Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 67813, courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.Fred Weiss
Zane 841kUSS Zane (DD-337) at sea during the 1930s. Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 43775Fred Weiss
Zane 76kMoored at San Diego, CA, 06 February 1934.Marc Piché
Zane 839kBritish heavy cruiser HMS Exeter (marked by the check) in Balboa Harbor, Panama Canal Zone, 24 April 1934. Several U.S. Navy ships are also present, among them (from the foreground) USS Melville (AD-2) with USS Zane and another destroyer alongside; USS Medusa (AR-1); USS Litchfield (DD-336) and another destroyer; and USS Truxtun (DD-229) and another destroyer.
Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 60813
Fred Weiss
Zane 16kAt Ketchikan, Alaska, 1935Wayne Tudor
Zane 66kAt Ketchikan, Alaska, 1935Jon Burdett
Zane 126kUSS Perry (DD-340) and USS Zane (DD-337) moored at Skagway, Alaska, 25 June 1935.Darryl Baker
Zane 496kUSS Trever (DD-339) (at left) follows USS Zane (DD-337), in the center, and USS Borie (DD-215) as they make a high speed turn at Kelp Point, off Hecate Island, during their 1937 Alaska cruise
Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 51846
Fred Weiss
Zane 334kUSS Henley (DD-391) operating at sea with USS Zane (DD-337), 02 May 1938. Note that Henley's Mark 33 gun director is not installed. Naval History & Heritage Command photo NH 74271Fred Weiss
USS Zane (DMS-14)
Zane 589kUSS Zane (DMS-14) off San Francisco, California, 21 September 1943. Zane was underway that day to swing her compasses following overhaul at Mare Island. National Archives photo 19-N-57504.Fred Weiss

USS ZANE DD-337 / DMS-14 / AG-109 History
View This Vessels DANFS history entry at the Naval History & Heritage Command website

Commanding Officers
As DD-337
01LCDR Philip Seymour (USNA 1908)15 February 1921 - 10 August 1921
02LCDR Louis Collin Scheibla (USNA 1907)10 August 1921 - 30 August 1922
03LCDR Emory Fitch Clement (USNA 1907)30 August 1922 - 01 February 1923
 Decommissioned01 February 1923 - 25 February 1930
04LCDR Charles Jefferson Parrish (USNA 1913)25 February 1930 - 01 July 1931
05LCDR Thomas Calloway Latimore, Jr. (USNA 1914)01 July 1931 - 12 April 1934
06LCDR George Frederick Hussey, Jr. (USNA 1916)12 April 1934 - 29 March 1935
07LCDR Robert McLanahan Smith, Jr. (USNA 1919)29 March 1935 - 25 April 1937
08LCDR Charles Joseph Maguire (USNA 1921-A)25 April 1937 - 18 December 1938
09LCDR Frederick John Eckhoff (USNA 1922)18 December 1938 - 21 July 1940
As DMS-14 / AG-109
10LCDR Louis Marcel LeHardy (USNA 1926)21 July 1940 - 01 May 1942
11LCDR Peyton Louis Wirtz (USNA 1931)01 May 1942 - 07 September 1943
12LCDR William Talmadge Powell, Jr. (USNA 1935)07 September 1943 - 17 September 1943
13LT Burrough Bertram Anderson D-V(G), USNR17 September 1943 - 11 November 1943
14LCDR William Talmadge Powell, Jr. (USNA 1935)11 November 1943 - 01 October 1944
12LCDR Robert Hampson Thomas D-V(G), USNR01 October 1944 - 20 June 1945
12LT Lee Charles McFarland D-V(S), USNR20 June 1945 - 30 November 1945

Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Contact Name: Gatherings Plus
Address: P.O. Box 1023, Branson West, MO 65737
Phone: 417-338-4048
E-mail: None


Note About Contacts.

The contact listed, Was the contact at the time for this ship when located. If another person now is the contact, E-mail me and I will update this entry. These contacts are compiled from various sources over a long period of time and may or may not be correct. Every effort has been made to list the newest contact if more than one contact was found.


Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
NavSource Minesweeper Pages, USS Zane (DMS-14)
Tin Can Sailors Website
Destroyer History Foundation
Destroyers Online Website
Official U.S.Navy Destroyer Website

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This page was created by Fred Willishaw (ex ARG-4, AS-11 & DD-692) and is maintained by David L. Wright
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Last Updated 07 April 2023