USS Gregory (DD-802)

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USS Gregory 1944
USS Gregory 1944
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Todd Pacific Shipyards

Keel laying August 13, 1943
Launch May 8, 1944
1. Period of service flag
period of service

July 29, 1944 - February 1, 1964

Whereabouts Sunk in 1971 as a target ship
Technical specifications
displacement

2,100 ts

length

114.7 meters

width

12.2 meters

Draft

5.4 meters

crew

329

drive
speed

35 kn

Range

6,500  nautical miles (11,700 km) at 15 knots

Armament

When commissioning:

The USS Gregory (DD-802) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy . The destroyer was used in World War II and the Korean War. From 1966 the ship was used as a training hulk named Indoctrinator and in 1971 towed to San Clemente Island , where she served as a target ship. In 1972 the wreck was moved to the west side of the island and used by US Navy SEALs for blasting exercises .

Namesake

Rear Admiral Francis Hoyt Gregory (1789–1866) was an officer in the United States Navy . He took part in the British-American War and the American Civil War.

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Gregory was 114.7 m long and 12.2 m wide. The draft was 5.4 m, the displacement was 2,100 tons . The ship was powered by two General Electric steam turbines, and the steam was generated in four Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The power was 60,000 shaft horsepower, the top speed was 35 knots .

Armament and Electronics

The main armament of the destroyer when it was put into service were the five 5 "/ 38 Mk.30 single turrets. In addition, there were various anti-aircraft guns , which were reinforced during the war.

The USS Gregory was equipped with radar . An SG and an SC radar were mounted on the mast above the bridge, with which aircraft could be located at distances between 15 and 30 nautical miles and ships between 10 and 22 nautical miles. A QC sonar was installed for underwater location .

history

The USS Gregory was laid down on August 13, 1943 at the Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle , Washington , and launched on May 8, 1944. Her godmother was Ann McGuigan. On July 29, 1944, the destroyer entered service under the command of Commander Bruce McCandless .

After completing the test drives, the ship went to Hawaii , where it entered Pearl Harbor on October 23, 1944 .

1945

In January 1945, the USS Gregory took part in drills in preparation for landing on Iwo Jima . On January 22nd, she set course for Iwo Jima via Saipan and Eniwetok . She reached the island on February 19, D-Day of the invasion. Until March 15, she protected the troop transports and used her artillery to support the troops that had landed. She arrived in Saipan on March 19, where preparations were being made for operations against Okinawa .

The USS Gregory left Saipan on March 27 and drove to Okinawa with the landing forces under the command of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance . The target area was reached on April 1st. Task of the task force, to which the USS Gregory belonged, was to carry out a landing on the southeast coast of Okinawa Hontō near Minotoga in order to distract the Japanese troops from the actual invasion of the west coast. The destroyer then patrolled the coast and was used as a radar outpost.

In the late afternoon of April 8, 1945, the USS Gregory was the target of a kamikaze attack . The first aircraft hit the destroyer on the port side amidships at the level of the waterline. Two more attackers could be shot down. The forward engine room and boiler rooms were flooded and the destroyer ran to the base on the Kerama Islands to be temporarily repaired there. On April 19, the ship escorted the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid to Pearl Harbor and continued on to San Diego , where the USS Gregory was docked on May 18. During the repairs, World War II ended with the surrender of Japan .

1946-1950

The destroyer was deactivated and preparations were made to transfer it to the reserve fleet . On January 15, 1947, the ship was decommissioned.

1951-1964

As a result of the outbreak of hostilities in Korea , the USS Gregory was returned to service on April 27, 1951 under the command of Commander HC Lank. On August 16, 1951, she reached the American base in Yokosuka and began patrols along the Korean coast. The main tasks included protecting the aircraft carriers from which air strikes on North Korean positions and supply routes were launched, as well as bombarding enemy positions on the coast. It was also used in Formosa Street to prevent an attack by the People's Republic of China on the Republic of China (Taiwan) . On January 19, 1953, the USS Gregory was on a SAR mission after a P2V Neptune crashed over sea when it was shot at by a coastal battery of the People's Liberation Army on Nan'ao Tao . The destroyer turned and continued its mission.

After the armistice in August 1953, the USS Gregory returned to San Diego. She was repeatedly relocated to the Far East and took part in various maneuvers there. During the Second Quemoy Crisis in the fall of 1958, she was stationed off the Chinese coast.

After a collision with the USS McDermut during an exercise in 1963, she was decommissioned again on February 1, 1964 and assigned to the reserve fleet.

1966-1971

On May 1, 1966, it was renamed Indoctrinator and used as a training hulk from May 20, 1966 to January 8, 1971. On March 4, 1971, she was put aground off San Clemente Island as a target ship.

Whereabouts

In 1972 the wreck was towed to the west side of the island and served there in the shallow water area for blasting exercises by the US Navy SEALs.

Awards

The USS Gregory received two Battle Stars during World War II and four Battle Stars for service in the Korean War .

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 TX 1995, ISBN 0-89747-336-1 .
  • Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis 1953. (1988, ISBN 0-87021-726-7 )

Web links