USS Hudson (DD-475)

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USS Hudson in May 1943
USS Hudson in May 1943
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Boston Navy Yard

Keel laying February 20, 1942
Launch June 3, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

April 13, 1943-31. May 1946

Whereabouts November 1973 sold for demolition
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 Hudson (DD-475) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy . She took part in the Second World War between 1943 and 1945 . After the end of the war it was part of the reserve fleet and was sold for demolition in 1973.

Namesake

William Levereth Hudson (1794–1862) was an officer in the US Navy. He took part in the United States Exploring Expedition from 1838 to 1841 as commander of the USS Peacock . In March 1857, Captain Hudson, as commanding officer of the USS Niagara , made the first attempt with British ships to lay a transatlantic cable. Between 1858 and 1862 he headed the Boston Navy Yard , which later became the shipyard of the destroyer named after him.

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Hudson 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 was five 5 "/ 38 Mk.30 single turrets and ten 21" torpedoes in two torpedo tube sets. There were also various anti-aircraft guns . The anti-aircraft armament was reinforced in the course of the war due to the increased threat.

The USS Hudson 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 Hudson was laid down in the Boston Navy Yard on February 20, 1942 . She was baptized on June 3, 1942 by Flaurence Oliphant Hough, wife of Rear Admiral Henry Hughes Hough , and entered service on April 13, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Richard R. Pratt. The USS Hutchins was part of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 89 of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 45 .

1943

After the test drive and escort services along the east coast of the United States , the USS Hudson was moved to the Pacific . On November 1, 1943, together with USS Guest , USS Bennett , USS Fullam , USS Renshaw , USS Conway , USS Terry , USS Anthony , USS Wadsworth , USS Braine and USS Sigourney , she escorted a convoy consisting of twelve troop carriers with approximately 13,300 US Marines on board to Bougainville . After reaching the landing section at Cape Torokina in the north of the Kaiserin Augusta Bay , the destroyers supported the invasion by using their artillery and formed the air defense. During a Japanese air raid on the American beachhead on November 8, the USS Hudson shot down two aircraft and was involved in the downing of a third machine.

1944

After the mission off Bougainville, the USS Hudson operated against enemy shipping in the sea area off Truk and took part in the operations against the Green Islands . She belonged to Task Group (TG) 31.8 , which, in addition to the USS Hudson, consisted of the rapid transporters USS Talbot , USS Waters and USS Dickerson as well as the destroyers USS Guest , USS Bennett and USS Guest . In the early morning of January 31, 1944, TG 31.8 was off the Green Islands and disembarked the Green Raider Detachment , a unit consisting of New Zealand and American soldiers. The task of the Green Raiders was to scout out the Japanese defense positions. When the raiders resumed the next morning , the USS Fullam located a vehicle 10,500 yards away using radar at 4:11 a.m. USS Guest and USS Hudson were split off to identify contact. Since American PT boats also operated in this sea area, the destroyers approached the unknown vehicle without opening fire to illuminate it with the searchlight. At 3,500 yards away, the contact disappeared from the radar screen. So it was certain that it was a submarine. A short time later, the submarine was located by sonar and the destroyers started the depth charge. USS Guest made two attempts and sinking noises were heard. USS Hudson also dropped depth charges on the submarine. The submerged submarine was the Japanese 1,400 ts submarine I-171 .

The USS Hudson was used off Bougainville until April . After a short stay in Australia , she ran to Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Atoll to meet the ships that were being pulled together there for Operation Forager , the conquest of the Mariana Islands . On June 10, the destroyer left Kwajalein to take part in the Battle of the Mariana Islands . The USS Hudson supported the American troops with its artillery during the landing on Saipan on June 15, 1944. Subsequently, on June 19, it was in the fight against four massive Japanese air raids on Vice Admiral Marc Andrew Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force during the battle in the Philippine Sea involved and was able to shoot down two Japanese planes. In mid-July, the USS Hudson was used to escort the troop transports during the landing on Guam and was able to shoot down another enemy aircraft. She rescued three American and one Japanese pilots from distress.

In September she left the Mariana Islands for Palau to support the landings on Peleliu and Angaur between September 12th and 25th . On October 4th it ran from Manus to San Francisco , where it came in two weeks later and was overtaken.

1945

After completing the overhaul and training at Pearl Harbor , the USS Hudson reached Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945 , where it was used as a radar outpost during the Battle of Iwo Jima . On March 8, she rescued eight survivors of a B-29 Superfortress that had crashed at sea .

From April 1, it was used as a radar outpost off the Okinawa Islands during the Battle of Okinawa . On April 5, she sank the Japanese submarine RO-41 . As a radar outpost, it was constantly exposed to enemy air strikes and was the target of a kamikaze attack on April 22, 1945 , but only one man was wounded as the plane crashed into the sea near the destroyer. On May 4th, the USS Hudson became known as the destroyer that rescued an aircraft carrier . The escort aircraft carrier USS Sangamon was hit by a kamikaze. Although ammunition exploded on board the carrier, the destroyer went alongside three times to deploy a total of 16 hoses. The overhanging flight deck damaged the destroyer's superstructure when burning wreckage and a flaming aircraft, pushed overboard by the crew of the USS Sangamon , fell on the depth charges on the destroyer's stern. When the fire on board the carrier was brought under control, the destroyer was also badly damaged and was released to Guam on May 10 for repairs.

After the repair, the USS Hudson encountered the 3rd US fleet off Okinawa on June 22 and then ran to Eniwetok to be used in the escort service in the area of ​​the Marshall Islands . After escorting a convoy to the Aleutians , she headed for northern Japan six days after the signing of the Japanese surrender . From Japan she ran to Alaska to take part in Operation Magic Carpet . She then ran to Bremerton to be prepared in the Puget Sound Navy Yard for the planned decommissioning.

post war period

On March 15, 1946, the USS Hudson set course for San Diego , where it was decommissioned on May 31 and reassigned to the reserve fleet. In January 1947 she was mothballed on the Mare Island Naval Shipyard .

Whereabouts

The USS Hudson was removed from the list of warships on December 1, 1972 and sold for demolition on November 27, 1973.

Awards

The USS Hudson was awarded nine Battle Stars .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II , p. 243
  2. ^ Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II , p. 272
  3. ^ Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II , pp. 498-499

literature

Web links