USS Halford (DD-480)

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USS Halford with catapult and aircraft on July 14, 1943
USS Halford with catapult and aircraft on July 14, 1943
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Puget Sound Navy Yard

Keel laying June 3, 1941
Launch October 29, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

April 10, 1943-15. May 1946

Whereabouts Sold for scrapping April 2nd, 1970
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 Halford (DD-480) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy and participated in the Second World War in part.

It entered service on April 10, 1943 and was used in the Pacific . After the end of the war, the USS Halford was part of the reserve fleet until 1968 and was sold for demolition in 1970.

Namesake

William Halford (1841-1919), Medal of Honor holder , was a deck officer in the United States Navy . He was later made officer and promoted to lieutenant .

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Halford 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 .

Board aircraft

The USS Halford was one of six Fletcher-class destroyers to be equipped with a Mark VI aircraft catapult and a Vought Kingfisher aircraft. Besides the USS Halford , only two others ( USS Stevens (DD-479) and USS Pringle (DD-477) ) actually received a catapult. The catapult and the crane to pick up the aircraft were located aft of the second funnel instead of the second torpedo tube set, gun # 3 and the second deck of the deckhouse, on which most Fletcher had a 40mm twin anti-aircraft gun. The 40-mm gun was on the quarterdeck just before the depth charge drainage rails, where 20-mm guns were otherwise.

The original plan was that the aircraft should serve as a reconnaissance aircraft for the destroyer flotilla, to which the USS Halford belonged. The launch should be done by catapult, the landing near the destroyer on the water. The aircraft was then lifted back onto the catapult by crane. With the construction of new cruisers and fast battleships, which were also equipped with aircraft on board, as well as aircraft carriers in connection with the changed mission profile of the destroyers, the concept proved to be obsolete. Another reason was the weight reserves used up to the limit by the catapult and aircraft, which no longer permitted an increase in anti-aircraft armament that was recognized as necessary. At the end of 1943 the catapult of the USS Halford was removed.

Armament and Electronics

The main armament of the USS Halford when it was commissioned was its four 5-inch, 127-mm-Mark-30 single turrets. The armament was changed after the catapult was removed and a fifth 5-inch turret was added. There were also various anti-aircraft guns . The anti-aircraft armament was further strengthened in the course of the war.

The USS Halford 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 Halford was laid down on June 3, 1941 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton , Washington . She was baptized on October 29, 1942 by Eunice Halford, the daughter of the namesake, and commissioned on April 10, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander G. N. Johansen.

1943

USS Halford on December 3, 1943 after reconstruction

On July 5, the USS Halford left San Diego and headed for Pearl Harbor , where it came in five days later. During the following three and a half months, it served to test the feasibility of aircraft operations on smaller ships. Due to tactical changes and the increased number of aircraft carriers began on October 27, 1943 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, the conversion of the ship, in which the catapult was removed. By equipping the USS Halford with a fifth 5 "turret and a second torpedo tube set, its armament largely corresponded to that of its sister ships after the conversion. On December 6, the USS Halford set sail and ran via Pearl Harbor, Funafuti and Espiritu Santo to Tutuila , Samoa At the end of December 1943, she escorted the Lurline troop transport with US Marines as reinforcement for Guadalcanal , where she subsequently led the anti-submarine force, and also used her artillery to support the bridgehead at Bougainville .

1944

In January 1944, the USS Halford was used together with USS Waller and USS Wadsworth against Japanese shipping off the east coast of New Ireland , against coastal positions in the Buka Passage area and facilities on Choiseul .

The USS Halford was the flagship of Admiral Wilkinson in the attack on the Green Islands . Wilkinson's group transported the 3rd New Zealand Division under the command of Major General Barrowclough from Vella Lavella and the Treasury Islands . On the morning of February 15, 1944, the unit reached Barahun and began disembarking the troops. The destroyer took up position off the coast. Two hours after the start of the landing, all 5,800 soldiers of the division had landed.

The next operations of the Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 45 took the USS Halford off the west coast of New Ireland, where the destroyers were used against Japanese ship movements. Together with the USS Bennett, the USS Halford sank two coastal ships and damaged a patrol vehicle on the night of February 24th to 25th. For the next three days, the destroyers operated south of the Japanese naval base on Truk . Then the USS Halford ran to Purvis Bay to be supplied.

In the spring of 1944 the destroyer escorted supplies to the northern Solomon Islands . In early June, preparations were made to take part in the conquest of the Mariana Islands . In the initial phase of Operation Forager , during which the USS Halford was to remain at sea for 75 days, the ship fired at coastal positions on Tinian's west coast . On June 17, the USS Halford joined Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58 and took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. At the end of August, the Marianas were firmly in American hands.

By appearances before Guam the destroyers between 4 and 21 September 1944 bombarded Angaur to the landing on the island to prepare.

The Battle of Surigao Street

In October, was USS Halford of Task Group TG 77.2 , under the command of Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf assumed. TG 77.2 , consisting of six battleships , three heavy cruisers , two light cruisers and fifteen destroyers, fired at targets on Leyte on October 18 in preparation for the invasion . On October 24th the TG 77.2 received the order to block the Strait of Surigao and thus prevent the advance of Japanese forces into the Gulf of Leyte . The 1st Combat Group C, commanded by Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura , consisted of two battleships, a heavy cruiser and four destroyers. At 3:00 pm on the 25 October 1944 attacked the American destroyer radar supported with torpedoes Japanese Association and were able in a short time hit on the battleship Fuso , which broke up after half an hour and fell, and Yamashiro and the three destroyers of two sank, score. The fire from American ships, also guided by radar, and air strikes in the morning hours meant that only the destroyer Shigure remained of Nishimura's combat group . The American casualties amounted to 39 fallen and 114 wounded soldiers, mainly on the USS Albert W. Grant .

After the Battle of Leyte Gulf , the USS Halford left the area and participated in operations of the 3rd US Fleet from Ulithi . On December 2, 1944, she returned to the Gulf of Leyte and covered the landing troops. On December 6th, she escorted the damaged SS Antone Sautrain , which was lost in an air raid. Then the USS Halford was used in the escort service for supply transports to Ormoc Bay and troop transports to Mindoro .

1945

5 "bow guns of the USS Halford

On 2 January 1945, the left USS Halford to Hollandia and escorted for surgery Mike I transport ships of the Task Force (TF) 79 for Lingayen Gulf . On January 11, the destroyer and other ships shelled the port of San Fernando , which sank three smaller merchant ships, a landing craft and several barges. The next morning the USS Halford used its guns against Rosario .

While patrolling the Saipan Harbor area on February 14, the USS Halford collided with the MS Terry E. Stevenson in poor visibility . The damage was repaired on Mare Island , where it arrived on March 24th. After the repairs were completed, the USS Halford left the west coast on May 27, 1945 and moved to the Marshall Islands , from where it escorted transports from Eniwetok to Ulithi. On August 11, the destroyer, now part of the North Pacific Fleet, left Eniwetok for Adak , Alaska . Together with the task force consisting of light aircraft carriers , cruisers and other destroyers , she ran out of Adak on September 12 and headed for Japan in order to occupy the naval base Ōminato . On September 20, the USS Halford left Ōminato and returned to Alaska.

Whereabouts

The USS Halford left Juneau , Alaska on November 1, 1945 heading to Bremerton , Washington , where it was overtaken before inactivation. She then moved to San Diego on January 23, 1946 , where she was assigned to the reserve fleet on January 28. On May 15, 1946, the USS Halford was decommissioned, removed from the fleet list on May 1, 1968 and sold for scrapping on April 2, 1970.

Awards

The USS Halford was awarded 13 Battle Stars during World War II .

literature

Web links