That number was necessary to allow around the clock manning of gun mounts, repair parties, and other watch stations. Posted on 26 Feb in greenshield pharmacy intervention codes 0 Likes I have been interested in the Fletcher class ships for several years now and your articles are fascinating. 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. (The seventh, the Taney [WPG-37], would spend most of World War II in the Pacific.) Suddenly, at 2315, Sasso heard the screw beats of a U-boat only 1,200 yards ahead. Bennett (DD 473) lays stack and chemical smoke in the Shortland Islands, 1944. off Korea in the 1950s and some even off Vietnam in the 60s, she was condemned in 2010 as a derelict and hazard to navigation and scrapped in 20102011. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. During this time, KIDD was credited with having rescued a total of 35 carrier personnel. This areaknown as the Devil's Gorge, the Black Hole, or Torpedo Junctionwas a prime hunting ground for U-boats. (DESDIV 96) within Destroyer Squadron 48 (DESRON 48), KIDD functioned in the many roles demanded of the U.S. Navys destroyers: anti-submarine picket duty, picking up downed pilots, shore bombardment, and anti-aircraft platform. Next we will describe the process for getting underway from alongside another ship or a pier. Since 1975 all new destroyer, cruiser, and frigate types have been powered by aircraft derivative gas turbine engines. The WWII battle focused on Germany's effort to cut off transatlantic supply lines by gaining control of the Atlantic Ocean. Of the four preserved Fletcher-class destroyers, she is the only destroyer remaining in her World War II appearance and is now on exhibit in her wartime camouflage paint, Measure 22.. The venerable destroyer had earned twelve battle stars during her career: eight for service in World War II and four for service in Korea. Without waiting for Bruns' order, the U-boat's engineer gave the command to surface. The valuable wartime contributions of the Bibb, Campbell, Duane, Ingham, and Spencer, however, did not end when they were relieved of North Atlantic convoy duty. The lowest numbered Fletcher was the USS FLETCHER (DD445), although the USS NICHOLAS (DD449) was the first ship commissioned on June 4, 1942. She and the other ships of her squadron were among the first to encounter the Japanese planes which came out to meet the great armada threatening Japans shores. The Royal Navy primarily covered the western approaches to England, the U.S. Navy protected the mid-Atlantic from its bases in Newfoundland and Iceland, while the Royal Canadian Navy protected the convoys as they departed or arrived off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. At 1955 her radar picked up the convoy about 16,000 yards ahead. A Pacific Fleet destroyer operated on a two year cycle in those days. U-175 was 65 feet deep when the explosions cracked and twisted her pressure hull. She continued rescue operations all the while maneuvering to avoid bombs and airborne torpedoes while simultaneously engaging the enemy. The ship's 20-mm guns and aft starboard 3-incher, however, took her in their sights and opened up. Arnold Hague, The Allied Convoy System 1939-1945 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000). She whispers stories of courage, bravery, and sacrifice. 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. Sailing for the western Pacific again in February of 1945, KIDD and her sister ships joined Task Force 58, then forming for raids against the Japanese home islands and the invasion of Okinawa. The plaque was mounted on KIDDs quarter deck in their memory. years the big cutters would play a key role in the United States' efforts to patrol the Atlantic Ocean, escort convoys, and sink U-boats. Copyright 2023 HistoryvsHollywood.com, CTF Media, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, subscribe to the History vs. Hollywood YouTube Channel. She returned to San Diego and was decommissioned on December 10, 1946, placed in the Reserve Fleet until such time as she would be called upon again. After seven minutes, the ships ceased firing and a Coast Guard boarding party from the Spencer headed for the smoking U-boat. . The plant has to be started up from the Central Control Station below decks, but once it is ready for operation throttle control can be transferred to the bridge. was one of some notoriety. A lot more information is available on the bridge from GPS, Electronic Chart Displays (ECDIS), etc. The USS Kidd has been docked in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for years, where it has served as a tourist . 2 Friedman, Norman, U.S. Destroyers, an illustrated design history, page 111, 1982, United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD. My first 11 years in the Navy were spent in Japan. . The only ports we got to visit during my deployments were Yokosuka and Sasebo in Japan, Hong Kong, Kaoshung Taiwan, and Subic Bay in the Philippines. The Allies had yet to set up a convoy system, and according to the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, between January and July 1942, 86 ships sank off the coast of North Carolina, claiming the lives of more than 1,100 merchant seamen. Though the book's story is fictional, it was heavily researched and takes place at the midpoint of World War II during the Battle of the Atlantic in the winter of 1942. In August of 1943, she transited the Panama Canal along with three other destroyers providing escort for USS ALABAMA (BB-60) and SOUTH DAKOTA (BB-57) and proceeded to Pearl Harbor. 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. At the end of the year, DesDiv 101 continued on to Luzon, where Haraden was again damaged while escorting a carrier task force in the Sulu Sea and again returned to the West Coast for repairs. But with the advent of suicide tactics by the Japanese, destroyers on escort duty faced an even greater peril than before. The ship's CO, Commander George McCabe, knew from hard experience that the sonar's pinging could be heard by a U-boat beyond the range an escort could detect the sub. Lookouts spotted flags flying at half-mast. Twiggs also operated in the Atlantic early in her career, from Norfolk as a training ship until May 1944. At several points in the film, a German U-boat uses Greyhound's transmitting frequency and broadcasts threatening messages over the ship's loudspeakers. 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. At 1138, U-175 popped up 2,500 yards from the Spencer, and the cutter's gunners opened fire. 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. The entire process of raising steam was started by making up a burner, igniting the torch with a match, inserting it into the furnace, and opening the fuel valve. May her victories be triumphant and conclusive!. Destroyers were normally tied up to a pier with six mooring lines, numbered consecutively from forward to aft. Faced with a shortage of escort ships, the Navy requested on 31 October that all Coast Guard cutters be transferred to its control. [2] Two months later, she was involved in a show of force off the coast of the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, which had just overthrown the Trujillo dictatorship. These conditions refer to degrees of closure to minimize the effects of potential damage. East Coast deployments tended to be much better because ports in the Mediterranean are much closer together than in the Far East and there never were as many potential shooting situations over there that demanded that we be underway for prolonged periods. Thus there were two groups of 2,100-tonners: one-third (58) were high- or round-bridge ships; two-thirds, (117) were low- or square-bridge ships. By the time it reached the submarine, she was quickly sinking and boarding her was too dangerous. Battery containers were smashed, releasing toxic chlorine gas, and two of the bow torpedoes began hot runs but could not be fired because of the sub's depth. On 5 September, as Bibb and Campbell raced toward their rendezvous, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had declared a Neutrality Zone along the East Coast of the United States. This method was still in general use in the Navy even into the 1990s and there are still some ships that still use it, even though burner management systems have been common on commercial ships since the 1970s. Commander-in-Chief, U.S.; Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic; and Eastern Sea Frontier Operations logs, message logs, and after-action reports; NARA. The USS KIDD (DD-661) is a Fletcher-class destroyer, the six hundred sixty-first destroyer built by the United States Navy. The Navy, however, did not have enough ships to watch the vast area effectively and immediately asked for Coast Guard assistance. Downtown Baton Rouges Fletcher-class destroyer USS KIDD (DD-661) and the Louisiana Veterans Museum. At that time, there was still an uneasy tradition that having a woman aboard a naval ship was to invite bad luck. Twenty of the 21 men in those spaces were instantly killed. Following this action, KIDDalong with the other ships of DESRON 48sailed for Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California for a major overhaul and refitting. She was placed in the Philadelphia Shipyard to await her final fate, one that befell so many of her sister ships: the cutting torch. Destroyer Squadron 51 Her keel was laid on Oct . George W. Stewart is a retired US Navy Captain. Several months later, the President also ordered the U.S. Navy to help escort Allied convoys. The next step depended on how we were moored. KIDD was decommissioned for the last time on June 19, 1964, after over twenty years of service. David W. Taylor returned to join them in time for Okinawa, after which she and John D. Henley closed out the war with the Third Fleet off Japan while the other surviving ships of the squadron returned home. 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 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. The latter part of 1958 saw her engaged in a similar role patrolling the straits between Formosa (Taiwan) and mainland China while international tempers flared over the Chinese bombardment of the offshore islands of Quemoy and Matsu. did fletcher class destroyers serve in the atlantic? It is set when a ship is in the harbor. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987). With these symbolic changes, the Navy subsumed the Coast Guard for the duration of the war. On 17 December, the Ingham was on the western edge of the air gap, sweeping ahead of eastbound Convoy SC-112. The crew quickly adopted the pirate Captain Kiddwho ironically hailed from New Yorkas their mascot and hired a local cartoonist to paint the famed buccaneers image high of the forward smokestack. Navy to help escort Allied convoys the enemy is a retired US Navy Captain set when a ship is the. And a Coast Guard assistance Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987 ) Navy.! 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