In my previous two articles (read Part 1 here, read Part 2 here) I gave technical and manning overviews of the U.S. Navys highly successful Fletcher class destroyer. Commissioned back into service on March 28 of that year under the command of Cdr. Destroyer Squadron 51 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. It is set under battle conditions. The pre-war classes of destroyer had been constrained by the London Naval Treaty of 1930 and by the country's reluctance to invest in a stronger Navy, but they did advance destroyer design in a number of ways. During the attack on Rabaul, KIDD stopped to pick up the crew of a downed plane from the ESSEX, falling behind the main force of the fleet, and came under attack from a group of eight Japanese dive bombers. Deployments to the Far East could be pretty tedious and they involved long periods at sea, as much as a month at a time. 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. Several films are told from the point of view of the German U-boat crews. Commander James A. Hirschfield, the cutter's skipper, believed the target might be a submarine that had run between ON-166's columns of merchant ships, firing torpedoes at the vessels, and was now making her escape on the surface. Meanwhile, medium-size Coast Guard cutters and U.S. Navy destroyers covered waters closer inshore. KIDD departed the Far East for San Diego and an overhaul in March of 1953. All fittings marked with a black X are kept closed at all times and opened only for temporary access. Her single-pole mast was still in place, though her own post-war damage control plans showed her with a tripod mast. Allan B. Roby, the Silver Star for gallantry. The U.S. Navy was to patrol this expanse to report on belligerent activity and prevent British, French, and German warships from attacking merchant ships within the zone's boundaries. In conducting our Greyhound fact check, we discovered that up to 80,000 Allied sailors, airmen, and merchant seamen were killed during the six-year-long Battle of the Atlantic, which spanned almost the entirety of WWII. Over the years, KIDD has slowly been restored back to her August 1945 configuration. At this point, the word would be passed Secure the Special Sea and Anchor Detail, Set the Regular Underway Watch. The Coast Guard, however, maintains that the cutter's attacks two days later destroyed the same U-boat. The Campbell and Spencer, meanwhile, worked out of Argentia, Newfoundland. 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. There, the earliest ones saw action in the nighttime surface battles in the Solomon Islands, many fought at Leyte and all completed in time for fleet screening and shore bombardment assignments and the notorious anti-kamikaze radar picket duty at Okinawa. Destroyers, dubbed "tin cans" because of their lack of armor . In fact, U-606 had torpedoed three of the convoy's ships, but the Polish destroyer Berza counterattacked with depth charges, driving her down to dangerous depths, more than 750 feet, and causing extensive external and internal damage. Both pilots were recovered and three enemy planes were shot down, with one more kill probable and hits scored on several of the remaining aircraft. Her name was listed as Ens. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War. The Chief Engineer would be in the Forward Engine Room and the Main Propulsion Assistant would be in the After Engine Room. She participated in a precautionary deployment in November, 1956, of American naval forces during the Suez Crisis. 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). Tom Hanks portrays Naval Commander Ernest Krause (named George Krause in the book), who after years of being a career officer is finally given command of a destroyer, the USS Keeling, whose radio codename is "Greyhound." My first 11 years in the Navy were spent in Japan. She put in at Inchon to wait out the storm, after which time she proceeded to the island of Koje to join a slow carrier task force traversing Koreas western coast. Two more depth charges were quickly dropped, and at full speed the Ingham turned and headed back to make another attack. 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. 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. It seemed like there was always something going on out there in those days and port visits were few and far between. 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. A member of the Duane's crew, Victor Bogard, remembered that "Whenever a shell exploded on the German submarine, many crew members would shout and cheer. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types. Serving as part of Destroyer Division 96 (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. Finally, the third Fletcher selected was KIDD, largely due to the efforts of Harold Monning, who served aboard her during World War II, and the shipmates of the DESRON 48 Reunion Association. The U.S. and Canada needed to maintain the vital flow of supplies and men to Europe in order to keep up the fight. The conditions are described as follows: The OOD would then execute a Getting Underway check list. From tax deductible donations to your time and skills, there are many ways you can contribute! The conning officer would then use an appropriate combination of rudder, engines, and lines to get the ship underway. It was early on at this point in her career when she picked up the nickname that would become her trademark. If we were backing out of a slip you would hear a prolonged blast on the whistle. Allied long-range shore-based aircraft extended their patrols as far as 600 miles, but there remained a significant gap in their coverage. The combat air patrol downed the remaining Japanese aircraft. Percentage-wise, it was the most severe loss of any of Germany's armed forces. By February, organization of the ocean escorts had been formalized into American, British, and Canadian groups. 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 Coast Guard would man 30 DEs, organized in five escort divisions, and 74 PFs, primarily assigned to weather-station duty. She returned to bombardment duty and rescuing downed pilots. Morale among the crew soared. The Chief Engineer would write Lighting Off Orders to be carried out by the duty section. The Pirates were one of the first tin cansdestroyersto have their very own ice cream machine, something usually reserved for the larger vessels of the fleet. Design for the class was not finalized until January 1940, but by the end of that year more than 100 ships had been On October 2, 1961, she found herself part of the rapid mobilization of the nations military forces in response to the Soviets construction of the Berlin Wall. When thinking about it at a later date, you wonder how a human can cheer at the sight of another person being killed. I am a retired Navy Chief. KIDDs 20mm and 40mm gunners took the plane under fire, scoring several hits, to no avail. Jeffery was reassigned, with Cdr. They were also the first US destroyers fitted with radar as built. 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. 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. Not long afterward, the Navy determined to set aside three Fletcher-class ships for use as possible memorials. On 21 February, the Campbell was on her way to rejoin Convoy ON-166 after rescuing 50 survivors of the torpedoed Norwegian freighter Nielson Alonso. ed. Krause commands a multi-national group of four escort ships tasked with protecting a convoy of merchant ships that are being hunted by German U-boats. She screened the amphibious operations, serving as a fire-support ship during the landings on Leyte. Allan B. Roby, the Silver Star for gallantry. She splashed at least one of the many Japanese aircraft which attacked on 8 January, and during the landings in Lingayen Gulf the next day, patrolled the Gulf. 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. 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. The Sullivans played a large role in World War II and the . All USN ships are worthy of their tails of history while securing the waters they sail and for protecting all of freedoms we so take for granted every day. 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. 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