USS Ingraham (DD-694)

USS Ingraham (DD-694), March 9th, 1944
History
US
Namesake	Duncan Ingraham
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Laid down	4 August 1943
Launched	16 January 1944
Commissioned	10 March 1944
Decommissioned	15 June 1971
Stricken	16 July 1971
Fate	Sold to Greece 16 July 1971
History
Greece
Name	Miaoulis
Namesake	Andreas Vokos Miaoulis
Acquired	16 July 1971
Stricken	1992
Fate	Sunk 9 October 2001, target of Greek Navy
General characteristics
Class and type	Allen M. Sumner class destroyer
Displacement	2,200 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.8 m)
Beam	40 ft (12.2 m)
Draft	15 ft 8 in (4.8 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (44.7 MW); 2 propellers
Speed	34 knots (64.3 km/h)
Range	6500 nmi. (12,000 km)   @ 15 kt (27.8 km/h)
Complement	336
Armament	6 × 5 in./38 guns (127 mm), 12 x 40mm AA guns, 11 x 20mm AA guns, 10 × 21 in. (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

For other ships with the same name, see USS Ingraham.

USS Ingraham (DD-694) was a United States Navy Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, the third ship in U.S. Navy history to be named for Duncan Ingraham. She was in commission from 1944 to 1971.

Construction and commissioning

Ingraham was launched on 16 January 1944 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey, sponsored by Mrs. George Ingraham Hutchinson and commissioned on 10 March 1944 with Commander H.W. Gordon in command.

Service history

World War II, 1944-1945

After shakedown in Bermuda and training out of Norfolk, Virginia, Ingraham sailed for duty with the United States Pacific Fleet, arriving at Eniwetok on 31 October 1944 in time to begin the final World War II Allied push against the Japanese toward the Japanese Home Islands.

In mid-November 1944, Ingraham commenced screening aircraft carriers during strikes on Luzon in the Philippine Islands in which considerable damage was done to the dwindling Imperial Japanese Navy and aircraftof the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army. Ingraham continued patrol and antisubmarine duty until 12 December 1944, when she departed for the assault and landings on Mindoro. On 15 December 1944, in company with destroyer USS Barton (DD-722), she sank a Japanese cargo ship off the southwest tip of Mindoro.

After a brief stay, she departed San Pedro Bay on 2 January 1945, for the operations in the Lingayen Gulf. Arriving off the Gulf on 6 January 1945, she added her powerful anti-aircraft fire to that of the invasion fleet, and bombarded the shore targets behind the beaches.

At the end of January 1945, Ingraham joined a fast carrier task force for strikes on the Japanese homeland. Following repairs at Saipan on 20 February 1945, she joined the invasion fleet off Iwo Jima on 23 February 1945, and provided accurate call fire for the United States Marines.

On [21 March]] 1945 Ingraham took up radar picket duty in support of the Okinawa-Gunto operation. On 5 May 1945, she came under concerted air attack, and shot down four Japanese planes before a fifth crashed into her above the waterline on the port side, its bomb exploding in the generator room. With only one gun operative, and with 51 casualties aboard, Ingraham retired to Hunter's Point, California, for repairs. She was still in the United States when World War II ended on 15 August 1945.

Post-World War II, 1946-1952

After additional repairs, Ingraham operated along the United States East Coast until 7 May 1946 when she departed for the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

Those duties completed, Ingraham departed San Diego, California, on 24 February 1947 for the Far East. She engaged in various exercises and in late June 1947 arrived in Manila to act as official U.S. representative at the Philippine Independence anniversary. She returned to San Diego on 8 October 1947.

Ingraham operated along the California coast until 4 April 1949 when she departed San Diego for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving there on 20 April 1949. She participated in training exercises in the Atlantic Ocean until 24 November 1950, when she departed Norfolk for four months of duty with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. She commenced exercises in the Atlantic Ocean during the summer of 1951, then made another cruise to the Mediterranean during the fall of 1951 and summer of 1952.

Korean War, 1953

Ingraham departed Norfolk 24 April 1953 to escort aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) to Japan via the Mediterranean and Suez Canal. She arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, on 9 June 1953 and later that month joined the aircraft carrier task force providing air support to United Nations forces in Korea during the Korean War. Her accuracy was excellent as she destroyed gun emplacements and supply areas.

Peacetime operations, 1953-1965

Following the truce that ended the Korean conflict, Ingraham operated on security patrol before returning to Norfolk on 27 October 1953. During 1954 she operated on antisubmarine hunter-killer operations, cruised to South America, and participated in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercises out of Northern Ireland. She resumed training operations following overhaul in June 1955 and steamed on a summer training cruise to the Scandinavian countries, returning to Norfolk on 6 September 1955.

Ingraham departed Norfolk on 28 July 1956 for duty with the United States Sixth Fleet as trouble flared over the Suez Canal during the Suez Canal Crisis. She returned to Norfolk on 4 December 1956. She returned to Norfolk 4 December to begin a series of training cruises climaxed by a NATO exercise in September and October 1957.

Ingraham returned to Sixth Fleet duty in February 1958 and operated on patrol and exercises in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. She returned to Norfolk, Virginia, on 2 July 1958 prior to the Lebanon crisis, in which the Sixth Fleet played a major role in the outcome in Lebanon. Ingraham then operated on the United States East Coast until 13 February 1959, when she departed for another tour with the Sixth Fleet, and during which a crisis with the Warsaw Pact over Berlin was averted. Departing the Mediterranean on 30 August 1959, she arrived at Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Virginia, on 7 September 1959 and began overhaul.

During 1960, Ingraham engaged in operations out of Mayport, Florida, before embarking on another cruise with the Sixth Fleet, beginning late September 1960. She resumed readiness training out of Mayport in March 1961, before undergoing an extensive eight-month overhaul at Portsmouth, Virginia.

Ingraham arrived at her new home port, Newport, Rhode Island, on 23 February 1962, then engaged in fleet operations in the Atlantic and in the Caribbean. In September and October 1962 she was assigned to the recovery area for the Project Mercury flight of “Sigma 7” and under more somber conditions took part in the 1962 blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which ended in the removal of Soviet ballistic missiles from Cuba. She continued operations along the United States East Coast until 1 October 1963, when she sailed for another deployment to the Mediterranean.

Regular deployment with the Atlantic Fleet occupied Ingraham's time until 29 September 1965.

Vietnam War, 1965-1966

On 29 September 1965, Ingraham departed Newport for the Western Pacific and service in the Vietnam War, arriving on 31 October 1965 at Yokosuka, Japan. for resupply before operations in the South China Sea. Though acting as a part of the screen for the aitrcraft carrier USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), she also fired support missions for ground troops ashore. On 12 November 1965, Ingraham steamed ten miles up the Saigon River in South Vietnam to bombard an enemy supply base, and, on 13 November 1965, shelled a Viet Cong assembly area some 300 miles (483 kilometers) from the site of her action the previous day.

In early December 1965, Ingraham maintained regular surveillance on a Soviet submarine off China's Hainan Island, bordering the Gulf of Tonkin. From 1 January 1966 to 24 January, Ingraham operated with Task Force 77 off Vietnam.

Ingraham left Vietnamese waters bound for Newport on 4 February 1966 by way of the Suez Canal.

Service, 1966-1971

Arriving on 8 April [1966]] at Newport, Ingraham began a repair and training period. From 14 June 1966 to 21 June 1966 she participated in Operation Beachtime, an amphibious landing in the Caribbean.

Ingraham spent 28 October 1966 to 28 November 1966 preparing for service in the Mediterranean. On 8 December 1966 she arrived at Gibraltar.

[1966-1971]

Decommissioning

Ingraham was decommissioned on 15 June 1971 and sold to Greece on 16 July 1971.

Greek Navy service, 1971-1992

In Hellenic Navy service, the ship was renamed Miaoulis after a 19th-century Greek naval hero. She was active in the Hellenic Navy until 1992, when she was decommissioned and struck from the active roster.

Final disposition

On 9 October 2001, Miaoulis was sunk as a target during a Greek naval exercise.

Honors and awards

Ingraham received the Navy Unit Commendation for her action off Okinawa and four battle stars for service in World War II. She earned a fifth battle star for service in the Korean War.

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• navsource.org: USS Ingraham
• hazegray.org: USS Ingraham