USS Lindsey (DM-32)

USS Lindsey (DM-32) off San Pedro, California, September 5, 1944
Overview
Type	fast mine-layer
Shipyard	Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding
Keel laying	September 12, 1943
Launch	March 5, 1944
1. Period of service
Commissioning	August 20, 1944
Decommissioning	May 25, 1946
Removed from ship register	1st October 1970
Technical specifications
length	114.8 m
width	12.2 m
Draft	4.8 m
crew	336
drive	4 oil-fired steam boilers 2 sets of steam turbines, driven by 2 shafts 60,000 WPS
speed	34 kn
Range	6500 nm at 15 kn
Armament	6 × 12.7 cm L / 38 in twin towers 12 × 40 mm flak (two quadruple and two twin guns) 12 × 20 mm Fla- MK Depth charges 80 mines

The USS Lindsey (DM-32) was a destroyer of the Robert H. Smith Class laid down on and then after launching the minelayer rebuilt. She was in the service of the United States Navy from August 1944 to May 1946 .

history

The USS Lindsey , named after Lt. Comdr. Eugene E. Lindsey (1905-1942), the commander of Torpedo Squadron 6 during the Battle of Midway , was laid down on September 12, 1943 under the registration DD-771 at Bethlehem Steel in San Pedro , California . After the christening by the widow of the namesake, the destroyer was launched on March 5, 1944. He was reclassified as a miner on July 19 (identification DM-32) and was put into service with the US Navy on August 20, 1944 under the command of Commander TD Chambers.

After the first test drives off the southern California coast, the miner left San Francisco on November 25, 1944 and drove via Pearl Harbor to Ulithi , where he arrived on February 3, 1945. Five days later the course was set for Iwo Jima, where the Lindsey operated from February 17th to 19th and supported the invading forces. On February 23, she returned to Ulithi, where preparations for the invasion of Okinawa began.

The heavily damaged Lindsey two days after the attack on April 12, 1945

On March 19, the Lindsey left the atoll, five days later she arrived off Okinawa and began preparatory coastal bombardments. After the start of the invasion, it took Japanese gun emplacements under fire and brought wounded soldiers from the coast to the hospital ships . On the afternoon of April 12th, the Lindsey was caught in a massive kamikaze attack . The gun crews managed to shoot down seven attacking dive bombers, but two Aichi D3A Val still hit the forecastle and exploded. 57 seafarers were killed and 57 others wounded. The explosion of the second aircraft also tore off 20 meters of the front hull including the first gun turret. The Lindsey could only be prevented from sinking because the commander allowed the engines to “go back to full power” and thus reduced the pressure of the inflowing water on the bulkheads of the boiler room .

The badly ailing Lindsey was towed to the Kerama Islands the following night , where makeshift repairs were carried out over the next two weeks. On April 28, she left the island in tow for Guam , where she arrived on May 6. She received a makeshift bow and left Guam on July 8 for the US east coast. About Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal which met Lindsey on August 19 in Norfolk , Virginia one. After extensive repairs at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard , the mine- layer left Norfolk on March 6, 1946 and ran for Charleston , South Carolina , where she arrived the next day. The Lindsey was decommissioned on May 25, 1946 and transferred to the reserve fleet . On October 1, 1970, she was removed from the US Navy ship's registers and then scrapped.

The USS Lindsey received two Battle Stars for its service in World War II .

Web links

Commons : USS Lindsey (DM-32)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• History of Lindsey in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)