Meanwhile, medium-size Coast Guard cutters and U.S. Navy destroyers covered waters closer inshore. (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. Upon reaching Ulithi, another devastating blow to morale was waiting for them. The next order would be to Take in the Brow. 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. Once the first burner was lit, subsequent burners could be lit from the adjacent burner. 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. 3. Required fields are marked *. Over the next 3?? Navy ships never use this method any more, as sufficient pier space is provided in all of the navys home ports and all necessary services are provided from shore. While some changes had taken place since 1945, most of the procedures were carryovers from World War II. 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. Charles A. Bellis coming aboard as commanding officer. Once this was accomplished, the OOD would pass the order to stand by to answer all bells to the engine room and them report ready to get underway to the CO. The search for hard-to-find World War II vintage equipment has gone around the world. Jeffery was reassigned, with Cdr. The plane departed trailing smoke. During this time, she served as a training ship for Naval Reservists, cruising up and down the East Coast. 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. 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. 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. That task accomplished, KIDD departed Philadelphia, arriving under tow at Baton Rouge on May 23, 1982, to a welcoming crowd of over ten thousand. In those days, the Navy had been heavily influenced by carrier task group operations during the war and the experiences with the Kamikazes during the Battle of Okinawa. Preparations would start several hours before getting underway, primarily down in the engineering spaces. A subsequent sonar sweep failed to find a contact, and with the convoy approaching the area, McCabe broke off the search. 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. Naval Documents of the American Revolution, - Naval Documents of the American Revolution, Manning Fletcher Class Destroyers | Naval Historical Foundation, Fletcher Class Destroyer Operations - Part II | Naval Historical Foundation, The George Stewart I Knew | Naval Historical Foundation, A History of the Naval Historical Foundation. Lookouts spotted flags flying at half-mast. Less than six weeks after the transfer, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States formally entered World War II. About 12 of the enlisted men were Chief Petty Officers. 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. I spent 22 years in the Navy. Commander-in-Chief, U.S.; Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic; and Eastern Sea Frontier Operations logs, message logs, and after-action reports; NARA. Regardless of who it was, it was very important for him to announce I have the Conn so that all bridge personnel would know who to take their orders from. He is a 1956 graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. The nine ships came from three yards as follows: Six 25-man balsa life rafts were located in Seal Beach, California. USS Halsey Powell backs away from a pier in Subic Bay. Under the command of Cdr. She was dispatched to relieve the destroyer BROWN (DD-546), bombarding targets of opportunity on the eastern coastline of Korea from Nan-Do Island southward below Kansong. CAPT John M. Waters, USCG (Ret. Early that summer, President Roosevelt agreed to protect Iceland, and U.S. Marines replaced a British occupying force on the island. She participated in a precautionary deployment in November, 1956, of American naval forces during the Suez Crisis. We were forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan as part of DESRON 15. While in the shipyards, Cdr. Earl Skinner, a crewman in the Spencer, observed a 5-inch shell hit the conning tower of the surfaced U-boat as survivors jumped into the water. Fully repaired and ready for action in the eminent invasion of Japans home islands, KIDD was en route to Japan via Pearl Harbor just days after the first atomic bomb struck Hiroshima, heralding the end of World War II. 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. This is the third in a series of articles by Captain Stewart detailing the technical specifications, manning, and operations of the U.S. Navys Fletcher class destroyers. Commissioned back into service on March 28 of that year under the command of Cdr. In addition, the Coast Guard ships' commissioning pennants were replaced with the Navy flags. Again, the terms is and was are used interchangeably in this article. This never happened in real life. The Campbell and Spencer, meanwhile, worked out of Argentia, Newfoundland. David W. Taylor, attached to a task force striking the Bonin Islands meanwhile, sustained an underwater explosion, probably a mine, and also went home. But with the advent of suicide tactics by the Japanese, destroyers on escort duty faced an even greater peril than before. 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. Laid down beginning in 1941, all 175 Fletchers were completed between June 1942 and February 1945, launched an average of 212 days after keel laying and commissioned after an average of 152 days more or 364 days totalnearly 10 per cent faster than the repeat Bensons and Gleaves that preceded them. I much preferred WESTPAC! After the three ships met at night on 9 September, the cutters helped care for and transport the survivors back to the United States. U-175 was 65 feet deep when the explosions cracked and twisted her pressure hull. KIDD departed the Far East for San Diego and an overhaul in March of 1953. As the first big ships to appear and because there were so many of them, however, the Fletchers are remembered as the signature US Navy destroyer class of the Pacific war. During this era, no other class of destroyer had more ships built. From there we were ready to go. My wifes first comment when I took her around the ship for the first time was You mean that you start all of this up with a match?. (The seventh, the Taney [WPG-37], would spend most of World War II in the Pacific.) From the 1958 Halsey Powell cruise book. 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. 2. An explanation of Material Conditions is in order. She was dispatched to relieve the destroyer BROWN (DD-546), bombarding targets of opportunity on the eastern coastline of Korea from Nan-Do Island southward below Kansong. References: Bauer and Roberts, Friedman, Raven, Hearn. This areaknown as the Devil's Gorge, the Black Hole, or Torpedo Junctionwas a prime hunting ground for U-boats. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau argued that turning over just the ships would result in logistical and administrative chaos. For the Leyte landings in October 1944, all nine ships operated with the Third Fleets Logistic Group. While I did not serve in a Fletcher class destroyer, I did serve in a FRAM II destroyer, the USS ROWAN DD-782. Not a member of the Naval Institute? We also made fueling stops at Guam and Midway. The USS KIDD (DD-661) is a Fletcher-class destroyer, the six hundred sixty-first destroyer built by the United States Navy. For six days the ships battled heavy seas. The days of surface to surface torpedo attacks had pretty well gone away, although we still retained that capability. 1 (Washington, DC, 1949). . 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. Pacific deployment, USS Halsey Powell, taken from the 1958 cruise book. The Admirals nickname at the Naval Academy had been Cap (as in Captain Kidd) and he had gone by this nickname his entire life. KIDD was in the vanguard position with BULLARD the following morning when they steamed to within eleven miles of the Japanese shoreline, her navigator taking bearings on enemy lighthouses. The Fletcher class formed the backbone of U.S. destroyer forces in World War II. She was placed in the Philadelphia Shipyard to await her final fate, one that befell so many of her sister ships: the cutting torch. Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. The venerable destroyer had earned twelve battle stars during her career: eight for service in World War II and four for service in Korea. The working part of the torch consisted of a rag wrapped around the end of the handle and secured by wire. KIDD was chosen, in part, due to her condition after years of sitting idle: she had escaped the cannibalization common to ships of the inactive fleet. Commissioned into service two months later on April 23, KIDD commenced her shakedown cruise at Casco Bay, Maine. The night was overcast with the seas running six to eight feet as the Campbell went to general quarters. Allan B. Roby, the Silver Star for gallantry. did fletcher class destroyers serve in the atlantic? The skipper reported to the task force commander: KIDD claims to be the best prepared ship in the Navy. The boat began an uncontrolled dive, and when her skipper, Lieutenant Heinrich Bruns, and crew were able to bring her under control, another barrage of Spencer depth charges caused further damage. As the cutter neared the target, however, Sasso lost the contact. The first 25 ships were ordered 28 June and 1 July 1940 (the first day of the 1941 fiscal year), with DD 445 actually belonging to the 1 July group. Several films are told from the point of view of the German U-boat crews. Enter the Fletcher Class. Commander James A. 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