USS Buckley (DE-51)
_underway_in_the_Atlantic_Ocean_on_10_June_1944_(80-G-236608).jpg) USS Buckley |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Escort destroyer |
| Keel laying | June 29, 1942 |
| Launch | January 9, 1943 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| Commissioning | April 30, 1943 |
| Decommissioning | June 1, 1968 |
| Removed from ship register | June 1, 1968 |
| Whereabouts | Scrapped in 1969 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
Standard: 1,432 ts |
| length |
93.27 m |
| width |
11.25 m |
| Draft |
3.43 m |
| crew |
213 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
24.5 kn (45.3 km / h) |
| Range |
5,000 nm at 15 kn |
| Bunker quantity |
340 ts of oil |
| Armament |
1944
|
The USS Buckley was an American destroyer escort and at the same time the lead ship of the Buckley class of the same name , which was built from the summer of 1942 and introduced into the United States Navy . The ship was laid down on June 29, 1942 at the Bethlehem Steel shipyard in Hingham , Massachusetts , and was launched on January 9, 1943. The commissioning took place on April 30, 1943. The official identification of the ship was DE-51. The destroyer escort was named after John D. Buckley (1920-1941), an Aviation Ordnanceman who was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 .
Operations in World War II 1943–1944
After commissioning, the destroyer escort was used under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alvin W. Slayden between summer 1943 and spring 1944 off the American east coast and served as a training ship for officers and hull crews for the other units of the Buckley class .
From April 1944, the Buckley was posted to the mid-Atlantic to carry out anti-submarine hunting operations and security missions for Allied convoy flights. The destroyer escort, now under the command of Lieutenant Commander Brent M. Abel, joined the Hunter / Killer Group Task Group (TG) 21.11 from April 22, 1944 , which previously consisted of the escort aircraft carrier USS Block Island and five other escorts had been formed. In the following period, the TG 21.11 was mainly used in the sea area around the Azores and off the West African coast.
The sinking of U 66
In the early morning hours of May 6, 1944, shortly after 3 a.m., two Radar-equipped Grumman TBF Avengers from Block Island west of Cape Verde discovered the German submarine U 66 (Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Seehausen) and flew several attacks which the submarine's diving tanks were damaged. The Buckley then ran at top speed towards the position of U 66 , located it in the dark with radar and fired at the submarine, which was not clear, with its 7.62 cm guns. However, since the artillery fire did not have the desired effect and the submarine also shot a torpedo at the destroyer escort, which could only just be avoided , the Buckley rammed the submarine at 3:28 a.m. Both units wedged themselves together bow to bow for about five minutes and parts of the German submarine crew climbed the fore section of the escort ship, armed. In a seemingly anachronistic boarding match , which was fought at the shortest possible distance with rifles, bayonets , hand grenades and pistols, the Americans were able to force the Germans off board again. Finally, the destroyer escort was able to detach itself from the submarine and backed off. Five German sailors stayed on the Buckley and were captured.
In the darkness, ran U 66 first on the battlefield, but was against 3:39 again by using radar equipped Buckley asked. The Germans now recognized the hopelessness of the attempt to flee and went on a collision course for their part. The ram impact of U 66 hit the Buckley on the starboard side at 3.41 a.m. and tore a hole in the hull level with the engine room . Once again there was a short and confusing close combat between the crews of the two units, with bottles, cups, pots and empty ammunition boxes being thrown from the escort ship onto the deck of the submarine.
The submarine was meanwhile so badly damaged by the two rams that it began to sink rapidly around 3.44 a.m. and only a few minutes later sagged under the Buckley's hull. A total of 24 German seafarers were killed. 36 submarine drivers were rescued by the Americans. In total, the Buckley crew fired over 300 7.6 cm shells, around 2,200 rounds of 20 mm and 28 mm ammunition and almost 400 rounds from handguns during the fight with U 66 .
The destroyer escort had also suffered severe damage to the bow and amidships as a result of the two collisions, and part of the engine room was also under water, and then had to move to New York , where the damage was repaired by June 14, 1944. Lieutenant Commander Abel was later awarded the Navy Cross for sinking U 66 . In addition, the Buckley was given a Navy Unit Commendation .
War missions 1944–1945
After the repair and an extensive break for the crew in Casco Bay ( Maine ), the USS Buckley was used for further convoy protection missions from July 1944. Until November 1944, she escorted two convoys from the American east coast to North Africa. From November 1944 to the end of the war in May 1945, the ship was assigned to Task Group 22.10 and took over security tasks in the west Atlantic and off the American east coast, among other things, the ship was also used in April 1945 as part of Operation Teardrop . The Buckley sank on April 19, 1945, together with the destroyer escorts USS Reuben James , USS Scroggins and USS Jack W. Wilke , east of Halifax, the approaching German submarine U 548 (First Lieutenant Erich Krempl). The submarine was pushed under water by the destroyers and sank after several depth charges. The entire crew of 58 men went down with the boat.
The ship was awarded three Battle Stars for missions in World War II .
post war period
After the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Buckley moved to the 16th US fleet in Jacksonville (Florida). The ship anchored in the St. Johns River , which flows into the sea near Jacksonville, and was transferred to reserve status in July 1946, where she received the identification DER-51.
On September 29, 1954, the ship was put into service again and given the identification DE-51. A relatively uneventful period followed, apart from the temporary alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, during which the ship only carried out training and maneuvering missions and mostly served as a station ship. On June 1, 1968 , after more than 25 years of service, the Buckley was finally withdrawn from service and removed from the naval register. From the summer of 1969, the ship was scrapped.
literature
- Whitley, Mike J .: Destroyers in World War II. Technology, classes, types . Motorbuch Verlag. Stuttgart 1995, pp. 303-306.
- Paul Kemp: The German and Austrian submarine losses in both world wars . Munich 1998, p. 197f.
