Category page. With the introduction of radar, another useful method became available when the ship was within radar range of shore. Introduced in 1942, the 2,100-ton Fletcher -class destroyers formed the core of the US Navy's destroyer force from 1943. They followed exactly the same path but they were only assigned to the Engineering Department. 0 items. Nineteen Fletchers were lost during World War II. Not a member of the Naval Institute? The job of Mess Treasurer rotated among the junior officers. So the next order was Single up all lines. These sailors were generally referred to as non-rated personnel and they could be assigned duties in any of the non-engineering divisions. 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. found: Wikipedia, May 10 2010: under Fletcher class destroyer (the Fletcher class were a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II; some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War; the United States Navy commissioned 175 Fletcher class destroyers between 1942 and 1944; they were built by shipyards across the United States and many were sold to the . The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. This alteration was not a success and was not repeated. Compared to earlier designs, the Fletchers were large, allowing them to adapt to evolving defensive priorities through the addition of two 40-millimetre (1.6in) Bofors quadruple mount AA guns as well as six 20mm (0.79in) Oerlikon dual AA gun positions. Required fields are marked *. 1 day ago The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. Technical information. But with these exceptions, the basic procedures for getting a destroyer underway have not changed a great deal from what I have described. By VJ Day, 67 Sumners55 destroyers and 12 destroyer-minelayer conversionsplus 45 ships of a lengthened production variant, initially referred to as the 2,200-ton long hull class and later as the Gearing class. I had been transferred before the sinking a stroke of luck. Email bmi2group@yahoo.com When he answered 1943 I had to change gears in a hurry! or the number in each thrower. 175 Fletcher Class Destroyers were commissioned from June 1942 to February 1945. Transportation was by a combination of ships boats and private water taxis. Your email address will not be published. Thanks for shedding additional light on my fathers service and that of his comrades-in-arms. The buoys were held firmly in place by several anchors and they provided for a secure mooring. But that is particularly necessary in wartime because it greatly simplifies the training program. My first 11 years in the Navy were spent in Japan. But they still have a ways to go to catch up to their Merchant Marine contemporaries. [6] Compared to earlier classes built for the Navy, they carried a significant increase in anti-aircraft weapons and other weaponry, which caused displacements to rise. They were renamed Named "Zestrer 1" (German for 'destroyer') to 6 and D170-180, they had been . did fletcher class destroyers serve in the atlantic? About once per quarter we would be assigned an availability alongside a Destroyer Tender for routine repairs. Pilots were only used when absolutely necessary in a strange port and most maneuvers were accomplished without tug assistance. Great series of articles!. [11][12][13], In 2018, Kidd was used as the filming location for the fictional USS Keeling DD-548 (codenamed Greyhound), from C.S. Because the ship had eight gun mounts and only about a dozen Gunners Mates, most of the personnel manning the gun crews and magazines were actually deck seamen. I was lucky enough to tour the USS Kidd shortly after she was docked for display in Baton Rouge, LA. But by 1956 they were more appropriately assigned to the Ops Department. Designed in the late 1930s and early 1940s . Not a member of the Naval Institute? They were versatile and highly standardized, to the point as producing only four wartime classes of 50+ up to 180 ships, the Bensons, Fletcher, Sumner and Gearing, completed by the numerous "peacetime classes" from 1934 to 1940 and the WW1-era famous "four . After the yard period there would be a stint at the Fleet Training Group in San Diego (Guantanemo for East Coast Ships) for refresher training followed by a work up for deployment to the Far East (WESTPAC). The Tribal class, or Afridi class, were a class of destroyers built for the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Australian Navy that saw service in World War II. Deployments were six months in length followed by a six month period in the US, about half of which was spent underway in various fleet exercises off the West Coast. The Fletcher class (named for Admiral Frank F. Fletcher, Medal of Honor recipient) was the largest destroyer class ordered. My first assignment in the Navy was Engineering Officer of USS Halsey Powell (DD 686), a Fletcher class destroyer, and my experiences on that ship form the basis for this series on Fletchers. The duties of conning officer were rotated around. But it must be recognized that a naval vessel must remain at sea for extended periods and it has to function as a small self supporting community. Supply Department ratings included: Supply Department, USS Halsey Powell, from 1959-1960 Cruise Book. I served on 2 Fletchers as BT during Vietnam. Described as perfect fighting destroyers, Fletchers, as built, were powerfully armed (five (5) 5-inch guns and ten (10) 21-inch torpedo tubes), fast (36 knots), amenable to wartime modifications, and extremely resilient in battle. The United States Navy commissioned 175 Fletcher-class destroyers between 1942 and 1944, more than any other destroyer class, and . What impressed me was the clean layout, and the open space. The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II.The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. and by the end of 1946 the entire Fletcher class except for a few training ships had been mothballed and placed in reserve. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War, named for . Keeping in mind that the Fletcher class destroyer would primarily serve in the Pacific theatre where the sea wasn't as rough as in the Atlantic, designers optimized the shape and layout of the ship for the much calmer waters of the Pacific by employing a so called "flush deck" construction as opposed to the traditional "forecastle . The CIC included radar repeaters, voice radios, electronic warfare equipment, plotting boards, logging facilities, etc. During World War II, these functions had belonged to the Chief Engineer. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War.. [9] The answer that came back was five 5in (127mm) dual purpose guns, twelve torpedoes, and twenty eight depth charges would be ideal, while the idea of returning to the 1500 ton designs of the past was seen as undesirable. Velos alongside G. Averof are ceremonially commissioned by the Hellenic Navy having Palaio Faliro as their base. Would like if at all possible to get pictures of C.I.C on my ship USS Conway DDE 507.I was on the Conway from 1954 to 1956, I served on the USS Hopwell DD681 in 61-62 .. During this time 39 were refitted under project SCB 74A, reducing their overall main armament and the number of torpedo tubes to accommodate other weapons. i was a radarman on the Hopewell from 65through 67. The engine room and fire room supervisors would man their stations. Speed requirements varied from 35 to 38kn (40 to 44mph; 65 to 70km/h), and shortcomings in the earlier Sims class, which were top heavy and needed lead ballast to correct it, caused the Fletcher design to be widened by 18in (46cm) in the beam. 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. 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. The USS The Sullivans (DD-537), a Fletcher -class destroyer, pictured here in 1962 was named in their honor. But most of the other wartime functions still remained. The Navy is trying very hard to catch up to the rest of society and more and more use is being made of computers and automatic controls. The Fletcher class destroyer came about in 1939 when the US Navy sought to create a superior new design addressing poor aspects found in previous destroyers. The ships Master at Arms force reports directly to the Executive Officer. The United States Navy commissioned 175 Fletcher-class destroyers between 1942 and 1944, more than any other destroyer class, and the design was generally regarded as highly successful. (My papers had been submitted but not received for 1st Class TM before we were sunk.) Pacific deployment, USS Halsey Powell, taken from the 1958 cruise book. Meanwhile, the Navy continued looking ahead. From there we were ready to go. On a small ship, this is usually a collateral duty. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. my great uncle served aboard the Halligan DD584 lost at sea 3-26-45. any info on crew duty stations or any information on the ship or her crew would be appreciated. The answer to your question (if you havent already received it) is 12 depth charges in each of the two racks. My dad (Richmond Thomas (RT) Ezzell) was on the TAYLOR DD468 during WWII .Saw at the foot of his grave today another marker with his name, ship, and I suppose rating FC. There was a big hole in one of the ships. The ship was the first of the Fletcher-class destroyers that were built during World War II. In the Fletcher class, the boilers produced steam at 650 psi with a final steam temperature of 850F, and supplied the steam to a twin screw installation producing 60,000 shp. OK, first of all - the reason for the Fletcher class' size is because the US Navy wanted a destroyer with the same main armament as preceding classes (pretty much all of the mass produced destroyers had five 5-inch guns and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes); with the same speed (37 knots); and a similar range (5,000 nmi at 15 knots) as those ships . There were some differences in the way that the ships were organized in 1956 and the way that they were organized during the war. The USS KIDD (DD-661) is a Fletcher-class destroyer, the six hundred sixty-first destroyer built by the United States Navy. In June and July 1943, two more twin Bofors mounts were added in place of the 20mm cannons in front of and below the bridge, giving a total of ten. I served under a Destroyer Squadron Commander in 1963-64 who had been the Commanding Officer of USS Hazlewood (DD 531), a Fletcher Class Destroyer, in 1945 as a Lieutenant Commander when he was only 5 years out of the Naval Academy. Again, the terms is and was are used interchangeably in this article. Can you point me toward a source for a crew roster of that time period? You mentioned the Radiomen being responsible for teletype and old fashioned morse code key. Their crew are active Officers of Hellenic Navy. A major reason for these differences was the greater reliance on radar that developed during the war and the establishment of the Combat Information Center (CIC). He died back in 1986. The next order would be to Take in the Brow. Edit. This article describes destroyer operations as I remember them during the late 1950s. 2 Friedman, Norman, U.S. Destroyers, an illustrated design history, page 111, 1982, United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD. On the return trip we had to avoid the collision between the Oil Tanker and a Philippine Merchant ship . On some ships a junior officer is assigned as navigator. The class featured enclosed air-case boilers and 80kW of power available by emergency diesel generators. I was aboard the Morrison when we started at radar picket station 11 and moved into station 1, nicknamed coffin corner where we were sunk. A fleet destroyer will normally have all three major department head billets filled by a Lieutenant Commander or fairly senior Lieutenant. 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. NHF members are being converted to members of the Naval Institute. Stuber: 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. Any help would be appreciated. Comissaryman (CS) These were the ships cooks. For a secure moor, the lines were Doubled Up. [4] They could cover the vast distances required by fleet actions in the Pacific. did fletcher class destroyers serve in the atlantic? The wartime philosophy was essentially that manpower was cheaper than technology. Frequently a junior officer was assigned as the Administrative Officer or Ship Secretary with additional duty as X Division Officer. NHF has decommissioned and is no longer accepting new members or donations. 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. That number was necessary to allow around the clock manning of gun mounts, repair parties, and other watch stations. [5], The first design inputs were in the fall of 1939 from questionnaires distributed around design bureaus and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. 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. I am a retired Merchant Chief Engineer (Steam). Communications would be established with all vital stations, steering gear, alarms, whistle and engine order telegraph tested, radar, sonar, and fathometer in operation, and compasses checked. This class of British destroyer often had more AA firepower than many larger DD did. Torpedoman (TM) Responsible for operation and maintenance of the ships torpedoes, depth charges, and Hegehogs. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! While some changes had taken place since 1945, most of the procedures were carryovers from World War II. By 1956 the Operations Officer had evolved into the principle adviser to the CO as to operational matters. Fred Edwards, Destroyer Type Desk, Bureau of Ships, 1942, quoted in Holland, Rear Admiral W. J., Jr., USN (Ret), ed. The next step depended on how we were moored. 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 days of surface to surface torpedo attacks had pretty well gone away, although we still retained that capability. The Executive Officer (XO) is the second in command on the ship. 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. 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?. Electricians Mates (EM) Were responsible for the entire ships electrical and distribution systems including all power and lighting equipment. Thank you. However, the Navy had other ideas and I ended up on the east coast in Florida. Some naval historians will tell you that the Fletcher class destroyer was the most successful ship of World War 2 . He was a radioman on the ship for about a year, and transferred to another ship before the USS Kidd was hit by a kamikaze.the sailor I was talking to lost a few friends in that attack. The other rated BMs were generally assigned individual sections of the ship to maintain. This rating has since been eliminated and these duties are now performed by Culinary Specialists who are assigned to the Wardroom Mess. Three have been preserved as museum ships in the U.S., and one in Greece. He is assisted by personnel of the Quartermaster (QM) rating. This would be followed by Now Set Material Condition Yoke Throughout the Ship followed by The Officer of the Deck is Shifting his Watch from the Quarterdeck to the Bridge. The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. After a year on board they were advanced to the grade of Seaman (SN), from which they could strike for assignment to other ratings. During World War II, the First Lieutenant functioned as a department head and he had also been responsible for damage control. Also asked was at what point would the design grow large enough to become a torpedo target instead of a torpedo delivery system. They had the fortune of catching American production at the right moment becoming "the" destroyer design, and only Fletcher-class derivatives, the Sumner and Gearing classes, would follow it. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. The tenders could then supply us with power, thereby allowing us to shut down and go Cold Iron. Introduced in 1942, the 2,100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers formed the core of the US Navys destroyer force from 1943. The Damage Control Assistant (DCA) was in charge of R Division. A new ahead-throwing weapon called Weapon Alpha was installed in many of the ships. The last Fletcher in service, BAM Cuitlahuac (ex-John Rodgers), left the Mexican navy in 2001, meaning the total service life of the Fletchers stretched over almost six decades and into the 21st century.[12]. Civilian vessels have always had much smaller crews and made far greater use of automation and labor saving devices. They were also to carry no fewer than five 5in (127mm) guns and ten deck-mounted torpedo tubes on the centerline, allowing them to meet any foreign design on equal terms. Posted by ; On . During this era, no other class of destroyer had more ships built. George W. Stewart is a retired US Navy Captain. Previously the USS Anthony (DD-515), Ringold (DD-500), Waldsworth (DD-515), Claxton (DD-571), Dyson (DD-572), and Charles Ausburne (DD-570). Communications had previously been a stand alone department and electronics repair had belonged to the Chief Engineer. Some went. He does not normally stand watch underway. The Chief Gunners Mate (GMC) normally acted as a roving troubleshooter. [5] They could cover the vast distances required by fleet actions in the Pacific and served almost exclusively in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, during which they accounted for 29 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines sunk. Signalman (SM) These people stood watch on the signal bridge. USS The Sullivans (DD-537) The USS Sullivans was a long-range, large destroyer used for anti-submarine warfare, anti-aircraft warfare, and surface action. As well as other tasks, most of the ships served on weather station patrols, monitoring conditions in specific areas of the Atlantic. As these articles say, access was from a deck hatch and a ladder. 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. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types. X-RAY provides the least protection. 175 ships . Facilities were provided for collection, display, evaluation, and dissemination of information and making appropriate recommendations to the command (and in some cases Weapons Control). USS Halsey Powell backs away from a pier in Subic Bay. In the United States, The Sullivans at Buffalo, Kidd (beautifully restored to late-World War II configuration) at Baton Rouge, and Cassin Young, berthed across the pier from the frigate USS Constitution at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, are open to the public. In an emergency program to expand capacity, some shipyards were upgraded and other new ones were brought on line. My father, Jack Marlowe, was a Torpedoman 2nd class on the USS Terry, DD513. The torch was kept in a small pot filled with diesel oil. Went active in 1969. Fire Control Technician (FT) Responsible for operation and maintenance of all of the ships gunfire control systems including fire control radar, computer, and electrical transmission systems. Only 10 of the nearly 700 crew members survived the attack. The Fletcher class (named for Admiral Frank F. Fletcher) was the largest class of destroyer ordered and was also one . Anti-submarine armament was two racks for 300-pound (140kg) depth charges at the stern and six K-gun 300-pound depth charge throwers amidships. Fletcher related story: After being in Baton Rouge, LA when the USS Kidd was put on public display, 15 years later I was living outside of Fort Lauderdale, FL. Eventually, eleven shipyards launched 175 ships over the next 32 monthsthe most numerous class of destroyer completed by any navy. [7] The answer that came back was that five 5in (127mm) dual-purpose guns, twelve torpedoes, and twenty-eight depth charges would be ideal, while a return to the 1,500-ton designs of the past was seen as undesirable. The Fletcher class destroyers had a wartime complement of 329 personnel. The growth in the design was in part a response to the challenge that had dogged U.S. Navy designs in coping with long range operations in the Pacific Ocean. There were 39 casualties and extensive damage in the after part of the ship. Backs away from a deck hatch and a Philippine Merchant ship ( if you havent already received ). The Brow six K-gun 300-pound depth charge throwers amidships Hellenic Navy having Palaio Faliro as base! Engineering Department as to operational matters late 1950s II, the terms is and was are used interchangeably in article. 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