. He currently holds the title of Chief Marine Engineer at Marine Design Dynamics. Bush fulfilled one of his promises to the crew upon taking command at Ulithi: the pirate, which had been ordered painted over in late 44, was restored to the Number One stack. Naval Institute is maintaining and preserving the former Naval Historical Foundation website so readers and former NHF members can still access past issues of Pull Together and other content. After the war, the ships reverted to Coast Guard control and were reconfigured as peacetime cutters. At 14:09, KIDDs crew observed a dogfight between Japanese aircraft and the fighters of the combat air patrol. Screened by McNAIR (DD-679), KIDD retreated southward. Just before 1100, one of the Spencer's sonarmen detected a U-boat attempting to slip past the convoy's escort screen. The real-life clash that may have inspired the duel in the book happened on November 1, 1943 between the USS Borie and U-boat U-405. She provided escort for the carrier task force which launched air raids on Wake Island in October of 1943 and then again, in November, for the carriers ESSEX (CV-9), BUNKER HILL (CV-17), and INDEPENDENCE (CV-22) in strikes against Rabaul and Bougainville. Half of the year, she rides the currents of the Mississippi; the other half, she sits dry-docked in a cradle where visitors can see her full dimensions. has slowly been restored back to her August 1945 configuration. Pingback: Manning Fletcher Class Destroyers | Naval Historical Foundation, Pingback: Fletcher Class Destroyer Operations - Part II | Naval Historical Foundation. While Commander McCabe was certain he had sunk a U-boat, the Navy was not convinced. It was an entirely different Navy! Christened USS Fletcher, she carried over several design features from the earlier classes, such as a rounded pilot house. A sister ship of the Fletcher-class, USS CAPERTON (DD-650), provided the quintuple Mk-14 21-inch torpedo tubes that were missing, as well as a Mk-27 torpedo director, two Mk-63 gun directors, and her boat boom. The American ships then headed to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, for supplies, training, and, hopefully, liberty. This article describes destroyer operations as I remember them during the late 1950s. Following a tumultuous eastbound Atlantic crossing as part of the escort group for Convoy HX-170, she was detached to take in tow the Navy storeship Yukon (AF-9), which was disabled 600 miles southeast of Iceland. As they neared Reykjavik on 29 January 1942, the Hamilton turned the tow over to a British tug. Twenty of the 21 men in those spaces were instantly killed. Charles A. Bellis coming aboard as commanding officer. The mid-ocean U.S. escort groups were built around either the Campbell or Spencer, supported by a few U.S. Navy destroyers and corvettes from the Canadian, Free Polish, and/or Free French navies. Allied Warships Destroyers Fletcher class 175 ships The destroyer USS Saufley (DD 465) of the US Navy . Of the 1,103 passengers on board, 118 men, women, and childrenincluding 28 Americanswere killed. On 4 January 1945, Fletcher sortied from San Pedro Bay to provide close cover for the Luzon Attack Force as it sailed toward its objective. Meanwhile, medium-size Coast Guard cutters and U.S. Navy destroyers covered waters closer inshore. Normally the crew stood duty on one day out of every three. The Pirate of the Pacific began a series of WESTPAC cruises which lasted from 1954 to 1959. 7. Suddenly, at 2315, Sasso heard the screw beats of a U-boat only 1,200 yards ahead. The Pirate of the Pacific began a series of WESTPAC cruises which lasted from 1954 to 1959. Slow but reliable, the Coast Guard's Secretary-class cutters were the backbone of the United States' North Atlantic escort force during World War II. A 36 searchlight and platform, a Mk-12/22 fire-control radar antenna, four more K-guns, and several smaller items were salvaged from USS TOLMAN (DD-740/DM-28) prior to her disposal by the Navy as a target ship. Completed in June 1942, she arrived at Guadalcanal in October and soon proved herself during a vital time when the US Navy's posture in the Pacific war was changing from defensive to offensive, an auspicious beginning to a 27-year career. She serves as a reminder of all those who have gone before us. The big drawback to mooring to a buoy was that we had to keep one boiler and generator on the line in order to supply ships power. The raids that developed that day werent out of the ordinary, in spite of the fact that three approaching formations of enemy aircraft were reported. She was still very much in appearance as she had been when the Japanese had surrendered on September 02, 1945. She serves as a reminder of all those who have gone before us. Beginning in the fall of 1939, the large white-hulled cutters were assigned the outer limits of the Neutrality Zone. 27 2023 . Parts of her radar array were scavenged for use aboard CASSIN YOUNG (DD-793) which had also survived a suicide attack and was preparing to go back out on the line. ), Bloody Winter, rev. Most COs rarely took the conn themselves but acted more as a teacher and overall safety observer. The Chief Engineer would be in the Forward Engine Room and the Main Propulsion Assistant would be in the After Engine Room. The Alexander Hamilton was one of the first cutters actively engaged in convoy escort duty. Logistically, moving approximately 40 ships as a cohesive unit was anything but easy. A large portion of the movie was shot aboard the USS Kidd (DD-661), a Fletcher-class Navy destroyer named after Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, who lost his life on the bridge of the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Allied long-range shore-based aircraft extended their patrols as far as 600 miles, but there remained a significant gap in their coverage. No. The edition of TIME magazine that week carried a photo of KIDD, announcing that it had been one hundred years since the Jolly Roger had flown in New York Harbor. With carrier-based aircraft pounding the Japanese installations on the island, KIDD moved off to investigate a submarine contact miles away from the formation. At her launch 29 October, she was sponsored by Mrs. Marguerite Chevalier, wife of LCdr. Deployments to the Far East could be pretty tedious and they involved long periods at sea, as much as a month at a time. 10. The edition of TIME magazine that week carried a photo of KIDD, announcing that it had been one hundred years since the Jolly Roger had flown in New York Harbor. She screened the amphibious operations, serving as a fire-support ship during the landings on Leyte. She was placed in the Philadelphia Shipyard to await her final fate, one that befell so many of her sister ships: the cutting torch. By early 1942, U-boats had begun to wreak havoc directly off the east coast of North and South America, easily picking off merchant ships that were poorly defended. The best is probably Wolfgang Petersen's 1981 movie Das Boot, which does a superb job recreating the deplorable conditions, boredom, and nerve-racking tension experienced by the crews. Ships' logs, war diaries, and after-action reports for the Coast Guard cutters: USS Bibb, Campbell, Duane, Alexander Hamilton, Ingham, and Spencer; National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (hereinafter cited as NARA). She saw her first duty covering the North Atlantic sea lanes near Argentia, Newfoundland. Construction (top) and disposition following World War II (bottom). Assigned to DESDIV 152, she joined Carrier Task Force 77 at Wonsan, Korea, with division mates UHLMANN (DD-687), HOPEWELL (DD-681), and WEDDERBURN (DD-684). The date was Wednesday, April 11, 1945. Fred M. Bush assumed command of KIDD and, temporary repairs completed, she returned to San Francisco and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard for repairs. Consequently, later that day, Roosevelt signed an order transferring the entire Coast Guard to the Navy. On July 03, 1997, KIDDs torpedo tubes were reloaded for the first time since 1964, finishing out her full armament. The strategy that the Allies used was to send a group of merchant ships across the Atlantic in a convoy that was escorted by a group of warships, and, when feasible, aircraft. The cutters would then usually escort fully loaded ships from either an SC or HX convoy back to Iceland. (read it here). About 12 of the enlisted men were Chief Petty Officers. She is a Fletcher-class destroyer and is named after Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, the first US flag officer to die during the Second World War. On 12 June 1944, a new Gearing -class destroyer, USS Chevalier (DD 805) was laid downlike the 451, the third ship of her class from Bath Iron Works. May her victories be triumphant and conclusive!. World War II Operations. Since his retirement from active naval service in 1986 he has been employed in the ship design industry where he has specialized in the development of concept designs of propulsion and powering systems, some of which have entered active service. Despite talk of returning her to the United States as a museum ship, she was condemned in 2010 as a derelict and hazard to navigation and scrapped in 20102011. The movie's fictional incident is based on an event that unfolds in The Good Shepherd book from which the film was adapted. There were also fueling stops at Midway and sometimes Guam. At the time scheduled in the plan of the day, the boatswains pipe would whistle and the word would be passed Now set the Special Sea and Anchor Detail. 5. USS The Sullivans was named after the five Sullivan brothers who were killed when USS Juneau was lost in action in mid-November 1942. If we were backing out of a slip you would hear a prolonged blast on the whistle. The actual hookup was made by detaching one of the anchor chains from its anchor and passing it down to the mooring crew on the buoy, who would then connect it to a shackle. Now, on the eve of impending war, the U.S. was ready to take destroyer design to the next level. Destroyers have been called upon to perform a wide variety of duties. The cycle would start at the end of a shipyard overhaul, in our case at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. KIDD departed the Far East for San Diego and an overhaul in March of 1953. Still, 80 percent of Allied convoys completed the journey safely. single-barreled gun mounts, two 40mm quad-barreled anti-aircraft mounts, three 40mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft mounts, six 20mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft mounts, 305 South River Road Baton Rouge, LA 70802. Downtown Baton Rouges Fletcher-class destroyer USS KIDD (DD-661) and the Louisiana Veterans Museum. These conditions refer to degrees of closure to minimize the effects of potential damage. U-175 was 65 feet deep when the explosions cracked and twisted her pressure hull. Shortly thereafter, at 1313, a torpedo fired by U-132 ripped into the cutter's starboard side, exploding between the boiler and engine rooms and rupturing steam pipes. Also at this time, long-awaited American destroyer escorts (DEs) and patrol frigates (PFs) appeared in significant numbers, augmenting or replacing older cutters and destroyers. Also in early 1942, Secretary cutters began running a convoy shuttle as part of U.S. Navy Task Force 24. From there we were ready to go. Without waiting for Bruns' order, the U-boat's engineer gave the command to surface. It was here, just ninety miles east of Okinawa, that KIDD suffered her most severe damage of the war. The Admirals nickname at the Naval Academy had been Cap (as in Captain Kidd) and he had gone by this nickname his entire life. Along with her signal flags, the Jolly Roger flies high from her mast and the image of the pirate looks out from her forward stack, greeting passers-by both on shore and aboard visiting riverboats. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Naval Historical Foundation 1306 Dahlgren Avenue, SE Washington Navy Yard, DC 20374 1-202-678-4333 info@navyhistory.org. Required fields are marked *. Not wishing to dishonor RADM Kidd, however, the crew obtained permission from Mrs. Kidd first. But suddenly, there was no movement from the boat, and the Ingham passed over her without dropping any charges. But on her third pass, the cutter again attacked, dropping 5,000 pounds worth of explosives. The Spencer and five of her 327-foot Secretary-class sisters helped keep the supply lifeline between North America and Britain open during the Battle of the Atlantic. The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. While all of this was going on, the crew of the HAMUL cast a brass plaque with the names of KIDDs thirty-eight fallen crewmen. In September 1941, it requested studies for a destroyer with greater anti-aircraft capability. Early that summer, President Roosevelt agreed to protect Iceland, and U.S. Marines replaced a British occupying force on the island. (similarly, the HMS James/Harry looks like it was modeled on a British Battle-class destroyer, which did not enter service until Jeffery was reassigned, with Cdr. Some that we were called upon to perform included: There are probably some others that I have forgotten about. Not all of the latter 1950s involved Cold War tensions. KIDD was one of several destroyers which stood guard for the beleaguered carrier while her crew fought to keep her afloat. Commander Harold S. Berdine, the cutter's commanding officer, ordered a barrage of 11 depth charges set to explode at only 50 to 100 feet. One hundred seventy-five of these ships were built between 1941 and 1945 - more than any other destroyer class. . As we parsed out theGreyhound true story from the movie, we learned that Commander Ernest Krause is a fictional character based on Commander George Krause from C. S. Forester's book The Good Shepherd. The Coast Guard would man 30 DEs, organized in five escort divisions, and 74 PFs, primarily assigned to weather-station duty. Once the first burner was lit, subsequent burners could be lit from the adjacent burner. While her sonar crews were attempting to verify the contact, lookouts spotted 15 low-flying enemy torpedo bombers which were headed toward the large troopships carrying thousands of Marines who would soon be storming the beaches. CAPT John M. Waters, USCG (Ret. The Navy, however, did not have enough ships to watch the vast area effectively and immediately asked for Coast Guard assistance. We also made fueling stops at Guam and Midway. did fletcher class destroyers serve in the atlantic? The USS Kidd has been docked in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for years, where it has served as a tourist attraction. The Fletcher class destroyers had a wartime complement of 329 personnel. Initially it was a 300-mile-wide strip of ocean bounded on the north by Canadian territorial waters then running south through the Caribbean. (The seventh, the Taney [WPG-37], would spend most of World War II in the Pacific.) Lookouts spotted flags flying at half-mast. Meanwhile, the Navy continued looking ahead. With a gaping hole in her side, most of her forward super-structure severely damaged, and radio communications down for the first hour after the attack, KIDD withdrew from the area under the covering fire of her sister ships. Six 25-man balsa life rafts were located in Seal Beach, California. gun mounts were still in place. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War. During Operation War Dance in December of that year, KIDD cruised at 10 knots around the harbor at Wonsan, drawing the fire of enemy shore batteries in order to reveal their positions. The peacetime manning was 14 officers and 236 enlisted men. From 1939 to 1945, the Allies lost roughly 3,500 merchant ships and 175 warships. A. Randle, omitting any mention of her gender. By any standard, that was an impressive display of warship mass production. . KIDD was one of several destroyers which stood guard for the beleaguered carrier while her crew fought to keep her afloat. 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