US Destroyers

[John Odom]

I found this book on Google Books:

U.S. destroyers By Norman Friedman, Arthur David Baker

Search for it on Google and you will find a copy of the book online to read. I have just started, but it is very interesting to me, and I think to many of you.

In several places it mentions differences in US and RN design philosophy.

[CGRET]

John,

It's a very good read! I too have the book on my book self.

Regards
Charles

[kookaburra]

John and Charles,

I thought you might enjoy this photograph: a reverential welcome Down Under (Newcastle NSW) for one of the truly legendary USN Fletcher Class destroyers of WW11 - USS Mullany.

Built by Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Union Plant in San Francisco and commissioned on August 23, 1943, Mullany had a battle starred record in the South Western Pacific, from the Admiralty Islands to Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima.

It became a battle scarred record on April 6, 1945 - a day when I think 10 US destroyers were hit by kamikaze off Okinawa. Mullany (Cmdr Albert O. Momm) was struck on the stern deckhouse by a blazing kamikaze and her depth charges exploded. While fighting the fires, the ship was attacked by three more kamikaze, and her forward gunners downed two and drove off the other.

She suffered 21 killed, nine missing and 36 wounded.

When Momm received reports that the aft magazine bulkheads were heating and in danger of exploding, however, the order was given to 'abandon ship.' USS Gherardi came alongside and took off many crew, and USS Execute rescued 70 more from the water.

USS Purdy, another destroyer, then came alongside and somehow managed to extinguish the fires. Mullany was re-manned by a skeleton crew. After first being towed out of the area she finally managed to reach Pearl Harbour under her own power.

She was repaired and returned to the war, before being decommissioned on Feb 14, 1946 , and placed in the reserve fleet at Charleston, South Carolina. Recommissioned again in 1951, she went on to see active service again during the Vietnam War.

She was the oldest destroyer in the US Fleet when finally de-commissioned from the USN on Oct 6, 1971.

But that wasn't the end of her. She was sold to the Republic of China (Taiwan China) and served on in their Navy as Chiang Yang for many years, finally being stricken from the list on July 16, 1999. She was sunk as an artificial reef on November 1, 2001.

She had seven battle stars and Wikipedia says she had circumnavigated the world more than 40 times.

Quite a ship! Here's her website:

http://www.ussmullany.org/


Hope you like our photo too. I do. Cute little fella with a gob hat but our flag. That's the highest form of salute. Here it is ...K.

[CGRET]

Kook,

Thanks for the web-site! Great naval story from from WW2. I like the photo of the Kids on the pier, the little sailor is the best!

Regards
Charles

[John Odom]

Great post about a great ship! The "little boys" get less press in comparison to the job they do than the bigger ships. I LIKE DESTROYERS!

[steve roberts]

Hi John. Here is another famous US Destroyer of WW2 fame.She is the USS JOHNSON DD557 of the Fletcher class.Launched in March 1943 under the command of (Then)Lt Cdr Ernest E Evans,who is reported to have said to his crew on commissioning Day "This is going to be a Fighting Ship,any of you who dont want a fight had better get off now!" She sure was a fighting ship,in action almost since the day she reached the Pacific Theatre of Operations,earning the nickname by her Crew of GQ JOHNNY,because of the time she spent at General Quaters! Her fighting end came at the first American landings on the Phillipenes in 1944.She was operating with Task Force "TAFFY 3",and after ADM Halsey had gone north with all the task force battle ships after a Japanese diversion with their last 4 Aircraft Carriers,the rest of the task force was left to defend the light Escort Carriers covering the Landings.The full story of the battle near Sumara Bay,and this ships gallent end can be seen on Wikipedia under USS Johnson. Her captain was awarded a posthumous MEDAL OF HONOUR and the ship a PRESIDENTIAL UNIT SITATION.What a way she went full of honour and bravery.Even the Captain of the Jap destroyer who finished her off is reputed to have saluted her as he sailed past the sinking hulk. Steve

[JarrowDave]

Everybody interested in US Warship design, whatever the type, should read Norman Friedman's works.

He also wrote an excellent tome on British Carrier Aviation.

I think he passed into the light some years back.

He's one of my favourite naval historians.


JD

[Don Boyer]

So many fine warriors among the destroyers of the RN and allies and the United States it would take a huge book to cover them all. (And I wish somebody would!) An let's not forget the Japanese deployed some really tough warriors too, worthy of respect and honor for their actions as well.

But throughout all the battles against the odds, kamikaze attacks and battles "The Slot", one destroyer story always gives me goose bumps.

Pretty much everyone is familiar with the Wickes-class destroyer USS Ward, (DD-139) which was the first American destroyer in the Pacific to fight in WWII. Ward was named in honor of Commander James H. Ward, USN, (1806-1861), the first U.S. Navy officer to be killed in action during the American Civil War. Under command of Lt. William W. Outerbridge (who took command of Ward on December 5, 1941) she was the destroyer that fired on the midget submarine trying to penetrate Pearl Harbor several hours before the Japanese aircraft showed up, and was credited with sinking the sub (recently confirmed by discovery of the sub on the bottom off Pearl Harbor with a neat hole in her conning tower, just as Ward's crew said).

Ward was a resurrected WW I "four piper" destroyer many of which were activated just before and during the early days of the Pacific war until enough new Fletchers and Bensons showed up. Like many other old four pipers, Ward was converted to and APD (APD-16), a fast destroyer transport used to move small groups of troops and supplies quickly into battle. She returned to the Pacific, participating in actions from Tulagi to Ormoc Bay.

On December 7, 1944, three years to the day since her NO. 3 gun had destroyed the midget sub at Pearl Harbor, Ward was operating off Ormoc Bay, covering the landings there. Ward came under attack by several aircraft and was hit amidships and severly damaged. Fires could not be controlled and the ship was abandoned. the destroyer USS O'Brien was assigned to sink Ward by gunfire, which she did. The USS O'Brien's commanding officer at the time? Cdr W.W. Outerbridge.

[designeraccd]

Another book specifically on US WW2 DDs is United States Navy Destroyers in World War II by John C. Reilly Jr. It is nowhere near as complete, or large and expensive as Freidman's excellent book, but it is quite nice for the price and size.

I bought my copy at a used book store. It does a decent job of briefly going into each class, starting with the Farraguts, used by USN in WW 2. There is a brief look at earlier DDs, too. Many photos are used to show all the classes covered. DFO :)

[Don Boyer]

Theodore Roscoe's "United States Destroyer Operations In WWII" remains a valuable reference work for the actions of US destroyer during the war. The book is now showing it's silver hair, being published around 1949 (a companion to his book on Submarine Operations). It is a great companion to the design histories, although some PC-oriented people are uncomfortable with it's references to "Japs" and "Nips" and the like. (Anybody that sensitive should go read Reader's Digest anyway.) The photographs and drawings are still fresh and vivid today.

The book is a great read just as a general history, but of course suffers from having been published close to the end of the war, and repeats many errors and myths since corrected in later historical research based on more complete source documents. (And for submarine fans, the companion volume is also excellent, with the same limitations.)

Is there an equivalent volume on RN Destroyers out there? I have not run across one, design history or otherwise that is complete.

Bye the Bye, unless I missed something recent, Norman Friedman is still alive and well.

Regards,

[designeraccd]

Speaking of "destroyers" (if a 9500 ton ship really qualifies?), this just showed up on the net.........

After 2-plus decades, Navy destroyer breaks record
By DAVID SHARP,
BATH, Maine – Cruising through the darkness in rough seas, the USS Ross encountered a rogue wave that smashed into the destroyer's bow, sending a shudder along the entire ship that knocked sleeping crew out of their bunks and damaged the sonar housing.

As alarms sounded, sleepy sailors scrambled to shore up the leak.

"We cracked the hull and kept on going like it was nothing," retired sailor Jonathan Staeblein, of Hagerstown, Md., recalled. In fact, the 510-foot destroyer was never out of service for repairs during any deployment in the three years he served aboard as an electronic warfare technician.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers such as the USS Ross and USS Cole, which survived a terrorist suicide bombing in Yemen, have proven to be durable workhorses in the U.S. Navy.

Over the 22 years since construction of the first one began at Bath Iron Works, the ship has steamed into the record book: The destroyer's production run has outlasted every other battleship, cruiser, destroyer and frigate in U.S. Navy history. The only warship in production for longer was the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, said Norman Polmar, a naval historian, author and analyst.
Thanks to a decision by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Arleigh Burke destroyer production will continue for at least a few more years. The defense budget signed by President Barack Obama in December includes money for the first of at least three more ships. There's talk of many more being built.

At Bath Iron Works, along the banks of the Kennebec River, there are three of the ships in various stages of production.

"They're fast and they move. And they're a lot of fun to drive," said Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Brooks, executive officer of USS Wayne E. Meyer, a Bath-built destroyer commissioned in October.

Retired Rear Adm. Michael K. Mahon, the Navy's former deputy director of surface warfare, said the ships run no risk of being outdated any time soon.

"It's the envy of the world," said Mahon. "Every surface warship officer in every navy in the world would love to command an Arleigh Burke."

The original warship was conceived during the Cold War, when Bath Iron Works was abuzz with shipbuilders pounding, grinding, welding, plumbing and wiring ships at a furious pace to meet President Ronald Reagan's audacious goal of a 600-ship Navy. Shipbuilders toiled long hours working elbow-to-elbow in a haze created by welders inside steel hull segments that were sweltering in the summer and cold in the winter.

The number of Bath shipbuilders peaked at 12,000 by the time the USS Arleigh Burke was commissioned on July 4, 1991.

Some Bath shipbuilders have spent virtually their entire careers doing nothing by making Arleigh Burke destroyers.

Gil Rines, a welder, joined Bath Iron Works as construction was beginning on the first ship. Since then, he has raised two children and become a grandfather. The shipyard changed hands and is now owned by General Dynamics. The number of shipbuilders has dropped to 5,500.

But one thing remained a constant: The shipyard kept churning out Arleigh Burke destroyers, more than 30 of them. The same ships are also built at Northrop Grumman's shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., which has churned out more than 20.

"It's a great ship. That's why the Navy stuck with it," said Rines, a third-generation shipbuilder.

The 9,500-ton ships can easily top 30 knots while simultaneously waging war with enemy ships, submarines, missiles and aircraft. Their combat system, called Aegis, uses powerful computers and a phased-array radar to track more than 100 targets — the exact number is classified.

They're also the only surface warships in the Navy's arsenal that can be sealed off to withstand a biological, chemical and nuclear attack.

The latest improvements are software upgrades and SM-3 missiles that allow the Aegis system to be used for ballistic missile defense. An Aegis-equipped cruiser built by Bath Iron Works shot down a failed satellite in 2008. Several Aegis destroyers and cruisers are now equipped with the upgraded system.

The Navy originally envisioned building 29 of the ships, but has since extended the line to 62 ships through 2011. With the continued production, there will be at least three more, keeping shipbuilders in Maine and Mississippi busy while the Navy decides whether to build more Burkes, or to build something else.

The Navy's decision is partly budget-driven. Burkes are less costly to build than the next-generation stealth destroyer, which the Navy and defense contractors spent 10 years designing.

Burkes currently cost about $1.2 billion apiece; the stealthy, and much larger, DDG-1000 Zumwalt will cost more than double that. In the end, the Navy decided to truncate production to just three Zumwalts.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, gives credit to the Navy for scaling back the costly Zumwalts and focusing on the tried-and-true Burkes.

The DDG-51 Arleigh Burke, he said, is now in a rare class of military systems that's so durable and versatile that it continues for generations, like the C-130 Hercules cargo transport, an airplane that first went into production in 1957.

"The fact that the Navy can't come up with something better than the DDG-51 isn't necessarily bad news," he said. "It may be commentary on how good the DDG-51 is."


Any one know more about their hull problems in heavy seas?? DFO :eek:

[CGRET]

Dennis,

Yes, indeed!

I spent many day in the Bering Sea with the bow in wind facing the mountainous waves head on, with green water hitting the bridge. NOT the way most sailors would want to spend there day's with a damage bow section and the threat of flooding.

Regards
Charles

[NASAAN101]

Guys,
I have been looking at USS Ludlow and i believe her sister, Niblack. were can i find more info on both ships?
Nikki

[JarrowDave]

I hope that I'm wrong and the Norman Friedman is still alive, he's as good a historian as you could get.

A perceptive man!

JD

[designeraccd]

Apparently he is, so hopefully we can look forward to more of his excellent Naval books. I know my shelves have numerous volumes he wrote...all very interesting and well researched!

Found this, no mention anywhere of his passing.........

An internationally known strategist and naval historian. He is the author of nearly 30 books, including the award-winning Seapower as Strategy and The Fifty-Year War, a history of the Cold War that won the Royal Services Institute’s Westminster Medal for the best English-language military book for the year 2000. He also writes a monthly column on world naval developments for the Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, and his articles have appeared in Joint Forces Quarterly, Jane’s International Defence Review, Asian Pacific Defence Reporter, Defense Electronics, The Journal of Electronic Defense, The International Countermeasures Handbook, Armada, Defence, ORBIS, Military Technology, Naval Forces, Jane’s Navy International, Signal, The Wall Street Journal (U.S., European, and Far Eastern editions), DPA, RUSI Journal, and the Journal of Cold War Studies, among others.


DFO :)