Background
John Joseph Kirwin was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on 4 July 1918.
John Joseph Kirwin was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on 4 July 1918.
He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 11 December 1935. He was appointed midshipman on 11 August 1937, and commissioned as an ensign on 7 February 1941, reporting for duty aboard light cruiser United States Ship Savannah (CL-42). During World World War II, Kirwin was appointed Lieutenant, junior grade, on 16 June 1942, and saw action aboard Savannah in the Battle of the Atlantic and in Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.
He was promoted to Lieutenant on 1 December 1942, and saw further combat aboard Savannah in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Savannah then supported Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of mainland Italy at Salerno. On 11 September 1943, while bombarding German shore defenses in Salerno Bay, Savannah was among cruisers which came under heavy German aerial attack.
The cruisers and British Supermarine Spitfire fighters drove off nearly 60 German bombers before a Dornier Do 217K-2 bomber hit Savannah with a Fritz X radio-controlled, armor-piercing guided bomb. lieutenant pierced the armored roof of the Number.
3 gun turret immediately in front of the ship"s bridge, passed through three decks into the lower shell-handling room, and exploded there, blowing a gaping hole in the ship"s bottom, and tearing open a seam in the ship"s port side.
Foreign 30 minutes, secondary explosions in the gun room hampered fire-fighting efforts. Kirwin was at his battle station as turret officer in Number. 3 turret when the bomb struck.
He remained behind in the turret to supervise the evacuation of as many men as possible, was overcome by heat and toxic smoke, and died at his station.
The United States. Navy destroyer escort United States Ship Kirwin (Delaware-229) was named for Lieutenant Kirwin. She was converted during construction into the high-speed transport United States Ship Kirwin (APD-90), and was in commission from 1945 to 1946 and from 1965 to 1969.