USS Leutze (DD-481)

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USS Leutze off Seattle on April 5, 1944
USS Leutze off Seattle on April 5, 1944
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

March 4, 1944–6. December 1945

Whereabouts June 1947 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:

The USS Leutze (DD-481) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy and participated in the Second World War in part. The relatively long construction period earned it the name USS Never Sail . In April 1945 it was badly damaged in a kamikaze attack and could not be repaired until the end of the war. In 1947 it was sold for demolition.

Namesake

Rear Admiral Eugene HC Leutze (1847–1931) was an officer in the US Navy and the son of the painter Emanuel Leutze .

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Leutze 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 Leutze was one of six Fletcher-class destroyers to be equipped with a Mark VI aircraft catapult and a Vought Kingfisher aircraft. Three ships ( USS Stevens , USS Pringle and USS Halford ) actually received a catapult. The catapult and the crane for picking up the aircraft were to be installed aft of the second funnel instead of the second torpedo tube set, gun # 3 and the second deck of the deckhouse.

The original plan provided that the aircraft on board should serve as a reconnaissance aircraft for the destroyer flotilla, to which the USS Leutze 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. Even during construction, the aircraft was not equipped with the aircraft and the USS Leutze was equipped with the armament specified in June 1943 for destroyers of the Fletcher class.

Armament and Electronics

The main armament of the USS Leutze was five 5 "/ 38 Mk.30 single turrets. The anti-aircraft armament was ten 40 mm Bofors in five double mounts and seven 20 mm Oerlikon in single mounts. The torpedo armament consisted of ten 21" torpedoes in two torpedo tube sets. Two drainage racks for 600 lbs depth charges and six K- Gun launchers for 300 lbs depth charges were installed to combat submarines .

The USS Leutze 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 Leutze was laid down on June 3, 1941 along with the USS Halford at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton , Washington . She was christened on October 29, 1942 by Caroline Rowcliffe, granddaughter of the namesake, and entered service on March 4, 1944, almost a year after her sister ship, under the command of Commander BA Robbins, Jr. The delay in construction led to the name USS Never Sail .

1944

The USS Leutze completed the test drives and the training of its crew during its escort service to Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok in June and July 1944. On August 2, it left Seattle and prepared in Hawaii and the Solomon Islands for the imminent invasion of Palau . Three days before landing, she reached Peleliu on September 12 and shelled enemy positions on the coast. On 24 September 1944, it was withdrawn and Manus of Task Group (TG) 77.2 assumed that the invasion of the Philippines should perform. On October 24 and 25, 1945, she took part in the sea ​​and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte . During the night it torpedoed the ships of the southern Japanese group during the battle in Surigao Strait . In the battle, Admiral Shōji Nishimura lost two battleships and three destroyers. After losing the ships, the Japanese intensified their air strikes. On November 1 alone, four sister ships of the USS Leutze were hit by Kamikaze.

1945

Damage from the kamikaze attack

After overhaul in Kossol Roads on Palau, the USS Leutze set course for Luzon on January 1, 1945 to take part in the invasion of the Gulf of Leyte . They reached the Gulf of Lingayen on January 6th and shelled positions on Luzon. On January 7th, she sank a Japanese patrol boat and an explosive vessel .

The next target was Iwo Jima . On February 16, the USS Leutze reached the island. Despite the previous bombardment of the coastal positions, the destroyer was exposed to fire from Japanese batteries. During a mission by divers of the Underwater Demolition Team , the ship was hit and the commander was seriously injured. The next day she was ordered to go to Ulithi for repairs. She returned to Iwo Jima in early March, stayed there for four days and then prepared for Operation Iceberg , the conquest of Okinawa .

Operation Iceberg , the last major amphibious operation of World War II, took place, unlike Iwo Jima, within range of land-based Japanese aircraft. USS Leutze escorted battleship USS New York on March 27 to bombard Okinawa in preparation for landing. During this mission, the destroyer probably sank a Japanese micro-submarine . On a second mission, she reached Okinawa on April 3 as an escort for USS Mobile and USS Oakland . On April 6, the massive kamikaze attacks began. The USS Leutze was able to shoot down three machines of the first attack wave when the USS Newcomb was hit by three aircraft. The USS Leutze went alongside when a fourth plane crashed on the USS Newcomb . The machine slid over the deck and the bomb exploded on the port side of the stern of the USS Leutze . Lieutenant Leon Grabowski, commander of the destroyer, called the fire fighters back from the USS Newcomb and removed his ship from the other destroyer. The leak and fire defense troops brought the situation on board the USS Leutze under control so that it could be towed to the base on the Kerama Islands . Lt Grabowski was awarded the Navy Cross for helping and rescuing his own ship .

On July 10, the USS Leutze ran via Guam and Pearl Harbor to San Francisco , where it entered on August 3, 1945. She reached Hunter's Point Drydocks to be repaired. After the war ended, the repair work was stopped. The USS Leutze was decommissioned on December 6, 1945 and sold for demolition on June 17, 1947.

Awards

The USS Leutze was awarded four Battle Stars .

literature

Web links