USS Claxton (DD-571)
_off_the_Mare_Island_Naval_Shipyard_on_13_May_1944_(19-N-66231).jpg) USS Claxton on May 13, 1944 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | destroyer |
| Shipyard |
Consolidated Steel Corporation |
| Keel laying | April 25, 1941 |
| Launch | June 21, 1942 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| Commissioning | August 12, 1942 |
| Decommissioning | April 18, 1946 |
| Whereabouts | sold to the German Navy |
| 2. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | December 16, 1959 |
| Decommissioning | 1981 |
| Whereabouts | as a spare parts donor to Greece |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
2,100 ts |
| length |
114.7 meters |
| width |
12.2 meters |
| Draft |
5.4 meters |
| crew |
9 officers, 264 men |
| drive |
|
| speed |
35 knots |
| Range |
6,500 nautical miles (11,700 km) at 15 knots |
| Armament |
upon commissioning
|
USS Claxton (DD-571) was a destroyer of Fletcher class and was approved by the US Navy in the Pacific War used. The ship was loaned to the German Navy in 1959 as armaments aid and was in service there until 1981.
history
construction
The launch of the Claxton took place on April 1, 1942 at the Consolidated Steel Corporation in Orange , Texas . The ship was christened by Mrs. AD Bernhard in the name of Thomas Claxton , an officer in the British-American War . The commissioning took place on December 8, 1942, the first commandant was Herald F. Stout.
The Claxton drove in a convoy to Casablanca in March 1943 , then back to South Carolina , from where it transferred to the Pacific Fleet in May 1943. There the Claxton protected landing troops in Rendova and the Solomon Islands . In November 1943 she took part in the naval battle of the Kaiserin Augusta Bay , where she carried out attacks on Japanese ships. After the battle, the Claxton towed the damaged destroyer USS Foote into Purvis Bay. At the end of the month the ship took part in the Battle of Cape St. George , in which several Japanese warships were also sunk.
In February 1944, the Claxton was damaged during the bombardment of Bougainville . It was hit by two projectiles in the stern, but continued to fire with its forward guns. Eventually she withdrew to Purvis Bay, where 15 wounded were cared for. Then she drove to the west coast of the USA for repairs.
From September 1944, the repaired Claxton took part in the invasion of Palau and the Philippines . In October, the destroyer was used in the sea and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte . She then patrolled this area of the sea until she was hit by a kamikaze pilot on November 1st. Large parts of the hull were flooded, five seamen died and 23 were wounded. Damaged, the Claxton saved 187 sailors from the sunken USS Abner Read .
After the ship had been repaired again, she fought in the Gulf of Lingayen in January 1945 and in the following weeks shelled the coasts of the Philippines and protected landing troops. From May 1945 she served as a radar station in front of Okinawa , where she shot down twelve Kamikaze planes on June 6th .
On October 19, the Claxton in Washington DC received the Presidential Unit Citation for its services, was then overhauled in New York and placed in reserve on April 18, 1946.
Destroyer 4 (D 178)
→ see also: Class 119
In 1959 the destroyer was completely overhauled and modernized in the Charleston Navy Yard. The cannon 53 was removed, as well as all 20 mm anti-aircraft guns and the forward torpedo tube group. Six 3 "flak were installed in double carriages as well as German navigation devices and the pole mast was replaced by a three-legged mast. The conversion costs amounted to around 5 million US dollars. On December 15, 1959, it was handed over to the Federal Republic of Germany on loan as part of the Military Assistance Program , which put the ship into service as Destroyer 4 (D 178) . After trials and exercises, Destroyer 4 left Charleston and drove to Flensburg . Destroyer 4 belonged to the 3rd destroyer squadron .
The ship was rebuilt several times during the shipyard layover. So the bridge was enlarged, eliminating the open bridge and two U-defense torpedo tubes were set up on the upper deck at the level of the torpedo tube group. At the beginning of the 1960s there was a conversion to two 40 mm Flak L / 70 in single mounts; the 76.2 mm flak were expanded. In 1962 the ship was retrofitted again. In 1973 the remaining torpedo tube group was expanded. The slewing ring remained on board and the resulting gap was bridged by a walkway. For experimental purposes, the destroyer 4 received a complete module with a 76-mm gun from Oto Melara in 1974 on the position of the aft 76.2-mm anti-aircraft twin. The module was expanded again in 1975. The 76.2 mm anti-aircraft gun did not come back on board.
The destroyer 4 was removed from the list of warships of the US Navy on October 1, 1974, and in 1976 it was bought by the Federal Republic of Germany for around DM 375,000 . On February 26, 1981 it was decommissioned in Greece by the German Navy and at the same time taken over by the Greek Navy as a material replacement part carrier. In June 1992 the ship was canceled in Eleusis .
Commanders
| No. | Surname | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | Sea captain Dieter Klages | January 1981 | February 1981 |
| 15th | Frigate Captain Alfred Thomas | January 1980 | December 1980 |
| 14th | Frigate Captain Martin Tetzlaff | October 1977 | December 1979 |
| 13. | Frigate Captain Gerhard Krancke | April 1976 | September 1977 |
| 12. | Frigate Captain Hein-Peter Weyher | December 1974 | April 1976 |
| 11. | Frigate captain Ulrich Borgemeister | April 1973 | December 1974 |
| 10. | Frigate Captain Wachendorf | December 1970 | March 1973 |
| 9. | Frigate Captain Joachim Guse | March 1970 | December 1970 |
| 8th. | Frigate Captain Heinz Siewert | November 1968 | March 1970 |
| 7th | Frigate Captain Wolfgang Benzino | October 1966 | March 1968 |
| 6th | Frigate Captain Joachim-Albrecht von Holleuffer | October 1965 | September 1966 |
| 5. | Frigate Captain Erwin Rau | September 1964 | September 1965 |
| 4th | Frigate Captain Buhring | October 1963 | August 1964 |
| 3. | Frigate Captain Hardtke | July 1963 | September 1963 |
| 2. | Frigate Captain Hans-Helmut Klose | February 1962 | June 1963 |
| 1. | Frigate Captain Book | December 1959 | February 1962 |
Awards
The Claxton received eight Battle Stars and one Presidential Unit Citation during World War II .
literature
- Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Destroyer of the US Navy. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-86047-587-8 .
- Alan Raven: Fletcher Class Destroyers. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1986, ISBN 0-87021-193-5 .
- Jerry Scutts: Fletcher DDs (US Destroyers) in action (Warships No. 8). Squadron / signal publications, Carrollton (Texas) 1995, ISBN 978-0-89747-336-1 .
- Gerhard Koop, Siegfried Breyer: The ships, vehicles and planes of the German Navy from 1956 until today. Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn 1996, ISBN 3-7637-5950-6 .
- German Navy Federation: Cast off! 4-2011. ISSN 1432-9069
- Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis 1953, ISBN 978-0-87021-726-5 .
Web links
- History of USS Claxton (DD-571) in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
- navsource.org: USS Claxton (English)
- hazegray.org: USS Claxton (English)
- USS Claxton (DD571)
- USS Claxton