USS Guest (DD-472)

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USS Guest off Boston on February 5, 1943
USS Guest off Boston on February 5, 1943
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Boston Naval Shipyard

Keel laying September 27, 1941
Launch February 20, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

December 15, 1942– June 4, 1946

Whereabouts On loan to Brazil
in 1959, in service there until 1979.Sunk
as a target ship in 1983
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:
Nickname

The USS Guest (DD-472) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy and participated in the Second World War in part. After the end of the war, the ship was temporarily decommissioned and in 1959 loaned to the Brazilian Navy , which baptized the destroyer Pará (D27) . In 1979 the ship was decommissioned and sunk as a target ship in 1983.

Namesake

Commodore John Guest (1822–1879) was an officer in the US Navy and served in the American-Spanish War and the War of Secession .

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Guest 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 USS Guest when it was commissioned was its five 5-inch / 127-mm Mark 30 individual turrets. There were also various anti-aircraft guns . The anti-aircraft armament was further strengthened in the course of the war.

The USS Guest 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.

history

The USS Guest was laid down on September 27, 1941 in the Boston Naval Shipyard . The ship was launched on February 20, 1942. Ann Guest Walsh, granddaughter of the namesake, was godmother. The destroyer entered service on December 15, 1942 under the command of Commander Henry Crommelin.

1943

After testing off Guantanamo Bay , the USS Guest ran to Trinidad together with the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22) . She then escorted a convoy from New York to Casablanca .

On May 31, 1943, she entered Boston , from where she took course to Hawaii on July 20 . After a short period of training, she reached Efate , New Hebrides, and was assigned to the 3rd US Fleet there. After operations against targets in the Santa Cruz Islands and convoy services to Nouméa , New Caledonia , the USS Guest left Efate on October 28 to participate in the landing on Bougainville . She protected the transporters during the first waves of landing and was involved in the downing of two Japanese bombers . During the following months, the destroyer escorted troop and supply convoys from Guadalcanal to Cape Torokina in the north of the Empress Augusta Bay . On December 4, 1943, the USS Guest fought enemy coastal artillery positions at Motupene Point on Bougainville.

1944

After further missions against land targets, the USS Guest protected the transport ships on January 31, 1944 when the Marine Raiders of the US Marine Corps landed on Green Island . During the embarkation of the raiders the next morning, they attacked a submerged submarine with depth charges in two attempts . Her sister ship USS Hudson (DD-475) was then able to sink the Japanese 1,400 ts submarine I-171 in another attack .

The USS Guest was used again to protect the transport ships during the invasion of Green Island on February 15, 1944. On February 25, they shelled Kavieng in New Ireland and on March 17, targets in Bougainville. On the same day, she rescued the crew of the PT boat PT-63 . On April 30, 1944, the USS Guest sank the Japanese freighter Meisy Maru with her artillery .

On June 10, the destroyer left Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein atoll to take part in the Battle of the Mariana Islands . The USS Guest supported the American troops with their guns during the landing on Saipan on June 15, 1944. It then helped repel four massive Japanese air strikes on Vice Admiral Marc Andrew Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force during the Battle of the Philippine Sea . In support of the landing on Guam , the USS Guest re-deployed its 5 "guns. It remained in the Guam area until August 9 and then headed for the Solomon Islands to take part in landing exercises.

The USS Guest left Purvis Bay on September 6, 1944 and, as part of Rear Adm. Jesse Oldendorf's Western Fire Group, shelled targets at Angar on Palau . The next day she rescued 7 officers and 45 men of the mine sweeper destroyer USS Perry (DMS-17), which had run into a sea ​​mine . The USS Guest set course for San Francisco on September 25, where it arrived on October 25 and went to the shipyard for overhaul.

1945

After the overhaul was completed, the USS Guest ran to Hawaii. On January 27, 1945 she went to Iwo Jima as part of a task group with a stay on the Mariana Islands . From February 19 to February 28, she was used again to combat coastal positions during the Battle of Iwo Jima . Then she ran to San Pedro Bay in the Philippines . From there, she set sail on March 27 to escort escort aircraft carriers who were being used to directly support the landing on Okinawa . On May 9, the USS Guest was west of Okinawa when the attacking aircraft hit its mast in a kamikaze attack and damaged a funnel. She remained on site until July 1, 1945, to then escort escort aircraft carriers via Ulithi and the Marshall Islands to Adak , Alaska . From there the association drove to Ōminato , Japan. The USS Guest served as plane guard off the coast of Honshu . On November 15, 1945, the destroyer reached the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard .

post war period

The USS Guest was decommissioned on June 4, 1946 in San Diego and assigned to the reserve fleet. On June 5, 1959, she was loaned to the Brazilian Navy, where she sailed as Pará (D27) until it was decommissioned in 1979 .

Whereabouts

After being decommissioned, the ship was used as a target ship for testing Exocet MM 38 guided missiles launched by the frigate Niterói (F 40) . On February 22, 1983, the ship was sunk by the Brazilian submarine Ceará (S 14) with two torpedoes 80 NM south of the lighthouse of Cabo Frio .

Awards

The USS Guest received eight Battle Stars for service in 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 0-89747-336-1 .
  • José Ribeiro de Mendonça, A Marinha Brasileira de 1940-2000 . Rio de Janeiro 2001.
  • Norman Friedman: US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History . MD. United States Naval Institute, Annapolis 1980.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CT Pará - D 27. ( Memento from April 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Web links