30 January. From 2 February to 24 March she escorted resupply convoys between Subic Bay and San Pedro Bay. Fate On 24 March 1945 she departed Leyte escorting and screening units of TF 51 which landed heavy artillery on Kelse Shima for the support of the main landings on Okinawa. She was detached from this duty 1 April and assigned radar picket duty off Kerama Retto. About 07:40, 4 May, Japanese kamikaze (suicide) planes were intercepted by the combat air patrol in the vicinity of Luce. Two enemy planes avoided the interceptors and attacked her from the portside. Luce shot down one, but the explosion from the bomb it carried caused a power failure. Unable to bring her guns to bear in time, she was struck in the aft section by the second kamikaze. The port engine was knocked out, engineering spaces flooded, and the rudder jammed. At 08:14 Luce took a heavy list to starboard and the order to abandon ship was passed. Moments later she slid beneath the surface in a violent explosion carrying 126 of her 312 officers and men with her. Honors Luce received five battle stars for World War II service. References Brown, David. Warship Losses of World War Two. Arms and Armour, London, Great Britain, 1990. . 'DD 522: Diary of a destroyer: the action saga of the USS Luce from the Aleutian and Philippine campaigns to her sinking off Okinawa (Hardcover) by Ron Surels (Author) External links navsource.org: USS Luce hazegray.org: USS Luce Luce (DD-522) Ships built in Staten Island World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean 1943 ships Luce (DD-522) Ships sunk by kamikaze attack Maritime incidents in May 1945 Destroyers sunk by aircraft Naval magazine explosions