USS Laffey (DD-459)

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USS Laffey
USS Laffey
Overview
Shipyard

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation

Keel laying January 13, 1941
Launch October 30, 1941
1. Period of service flag
Commissioning March 31, 1942
Whereabouts Sunk on November 13, 1942
Technical specifications
displacement

1620  ts (standard)

length

114.10 m (347 ft 10 in)

width

11.83 m (36 ft 1 in)

Draft

3.85 m (11 ft 10 in)

crew

208

drive

4 steam boilers,
2 turbines;
2 screws, 50,000 WPS

speed

37  knots (68 km / h)

Armament

4 × 5 "(127 mm L / 38) gun,
3 × 21" (533 mm) torpedo tube,
5 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannon,
5 × depth charges (Hedgehog),
2 × depth charges -Drain rack

The USS Laffey (registered DD-459) was a destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II and the first ship to bear that name. She belonged to the Benson class and was named after Seaman 1st Class Bartlett Laffey .

The ship's godmother was Miss Eleanor G. Forgerty, granddaughter of Bartlett Laffey; First in command was Lieutenant Commander William E. Hank.

The shipyard was the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation (a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel ) in San Francisco

Mission history

Second World War

After a phase of training voyages , the Laffey first ran at Pearl Harbor , from where she continued to Efate and arrived there on August 28, 1942. There she was assigned to the U-boat defense shield until she was assigned to TF 18 (Task Force 18) on September 6, 1942. After the sinking of the USS Wasp , the flagship of the TF 18, on September 15, 1942 , the Laffey rescued numerous survivors and brought them to Espiritu Santo . The Laffey was then parked for TF 64 and ran into Noumea , New Caledonia on September 18, 1942 .

The ship's first combat mission was on October 11th and 12th, 1942 in the Battle of Cape Esperance . The destroyer operated in the cruiser formation of Admiral Norman Scott to prevent enemy reinforcements to Guadalcanal .

When the unit split up into individual columns on October 11, the Laffey was accompanied by two other destroyers. In the course of the battle, the Laffey fought a gun battle with the Japanese cruiser Aoba .

After the battle, she escorted a transport from Nouméa to Lunga Point on November 11 , where she arrived on November 12.

On Friday, November 13, 1942, the Laffey was in a column of eight destroyers and five cruisers under the command of Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan , when she was already on a Japanese ship formation under Kaigun-Chusho Abe Hiroaki , consisting of two battleships, a light cruiser and 14 destroyers. In the subsequent naval battle of Guadalcanal, the Laffey attacked the enemy ships several times. In the dark there was almost a collision between the destroyer and the Japanese battleship Hiei , in which the Laffey was released just six meters from the bow of the battleship. The Laffey shot her torpedoes (without causing damage) and fired with the machine guns on the bridge of the Hiei , where Admiral Abe was wounded and his chief of staff was killed.

In the meantime, however, the destroyer had maneuvered itself into a precarious position. With a battleship at the stern, another on port , and two destroyers on port abeam, the Laffey fought a hopeless battle at the shortest range. Badly damaged by a 355 mm shell, among other things, the ship received a torpedo hit in the stern area and was thus incapacitated.

Shortly after the order to abandon the ship, a huge explosion tore the destroyer apart, which immediately sank and took a large number of sailors with it.

The Laffey was awarded the credit for sinking a cruiser and two destroyers of the Japanese armed forces.

Honors

The Laffey received the Navy Presidential Unit Citation (an award for exceptional bravery given only to units), the American Campaign Medal , the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three Battle Stars, and the World War II Victory Medal .

Laffey sinking site

Web links