USS Little (APD-4)

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USS Little
The Little 1942
The Little 1942
Ship data
flag United StatesUnited States (national flag) United States
Ship type Destroyers , express transporters
class Wickes class
Shipyard Fore River Shipyard , Quincy
Build number 274
Keel laying June 18, 1917
Launch November 11, 1917
Commissioning April 6, 1918
Whereabouts Sunk on September 5, 1942
Ship dimensions and crew
length
95.8 m ( Lüa )
94.5 m ( Lpp )
width 9.68 m
Draft Max. 2.64 m
displacement 1090  ts standard
 
crew 133 men
Machinery from 1940
machine 2 × Yarrow boiler
2 × Curtis turbines and Gear march turbine
Machine
performance 		13,500 hp (9,929 kW)
Top
speed 		24 kn (44 km / h)
propeller 2
Armament from 1940

USS Little (DD-79 / APD-4) was created as a destroyer of Wickes class of the United States Navy , which was put into service the 1,918th As early as 1922, the destroyer was assigned to the reserve, in which the ship remained in Europe until the start of the war. Before being put into service again, the ship was converted into a fast troop transport and came back into service with the fleet on November 4, 1940 with the tactical ID APD-4 (since August 2, 1940). On September 5, 1942, the Little was sunk with her sister ship Gregory by Japanese destroyers near Guadalcanal .

History of the ship

The Little 1918

The keel of the Little took place on the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy (Massachusetts) with the hull number 274 as "Destroyer No.79" on June 18, 1917. On November 11, 1917, it was the first ship in the US Navy after Captain George Little (1754–1809) named destroyer and came into service with the Navy on April 6, 1918 as one of the first ships of the new destroyer class. The Fore River Shipyard delivered 25 ships of the Wickes class, which are also referred to as the Little (sub) class along with other ships built by Bethlehem Steel shipyards .

On May 5, 1918, the Little Norfolk (Virginia) left to join the Patrol Force on the French coast. At the end of June, the Little was one of seven destroyers of various classes ( Conner , Cummings , Porter , Jarvis , Smith and Reid ) that had picked up a convoy of eight large transporters in the Atlantic to guide the ships loaded with US troops to the coast. On the evening of July 1, 1918, the German submarine U 86 torpedoed the Covington transporter (ID 1409), the former Cincinnati of the Hamburg-America Line, about 150 nautical miles from its destination . The convoy tried to escape further attacks and left the destroyers Little and Smith with the drifting ship to protect the Covington . The destroyers and summoned tugs were able to rescue 770 men from the sinking, formerly German ship. Only six Covington men died in the attack.

The sinking Covington

After the war, part of the American flotilla led by Little the George Washington (formerly NDL ) with the US President Woodrow Wilson on board to Brest , who at the Paris Peace Conference wanted to participate.

The Little returned to Boston on January 18, 1919 and joined the Destroyer Force, Atlantic . In this capacity, on July 6-8, she once again accompanied American President Wilson on his return to New York . On November 17th the destroyer came to "ComDesRon 3" in the reserve of the Navy. As early as January 4, 1921, the destroyer was activated again and used on the Atlantic coast until it was assigned to the Philadelphia Reserve on July 5, 1922. The renewed phase out of service should last over 18 years.

Conversion to a fast transporter

In 1936, the American Navy tested new landing craft without satisfactory results. Thereafter, and in 1938 and 1939, the entrepreneur Andrew Jackson Higgins offered the Marine Corps and Navy the Eureka boat he had developed . He offered 36-foot-long “ Landing Craft, Personnel ” (LCP) and “ Landing Craft, Personnel (Large) ” (LCPL), which were superior to the Navy designs and convinced during landing exercises. The first boats did not have a bow ramp, which Higgins developed based on photos and descriptions of Japanese landing craft for his design "Landing Craft, Personnel (Ramped)" (LCPR). From 1940 the Navy procured the first boats, of which 2193 LCPL and 2631 LCP (R) as well as 23,358 LCVP ( Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel ) were delivered and contributed significantly to the Allied victory in World War II. The boats should initially be launched from converted merchant ships shortly before the target.

The Marine Corps wanted small and fast transport ships for its operations. From November 28, 1938, the converted, oldest glattddeck destroyer Manley became a test ship. During the renovation, the two front boilers and chimneys were removed, the armament was changed and finally space was created for 120 marines. Instead of the four torpedo sets, a support point for "Higgins boats" was created. The first attempts at the conversion led to further requests for such ships and orders to convert old destroyers.

On August 2, 1940, the official designation "APD" (Auxiliary Personnel Destroyer) was introduced for these transporters / destroyers to be converted. The prototype Manley received the tactical number APD-1, the Wickes destroyers DD-85 Colhoun , DD-82 Gregory , the Little , DD-90 McKean and DD-83 Stringham , all of which have been in reserve since the summer of 1922 lay. The conversions took place at the Norfolk Navy Yard after the experience with the Manley . The converted ships kept only three 10.2 cm guns, with the two side guns being replaced by one on the center line. In addition to the one 10.2 cm cannon, the old 7.6 cm anti-aircraft gun and the four torpedo tube triple sets were removed. The conversions now had six heavy 12.7 mm machine guns, four depth charges and two drainage tracks. For this purpose, the five conversions were equipped with four landing boats on large frames. In the space gained by downsizing the machine, u. a. Rooms for up to 144 Marines and their weapons. The modifications came back into service with the fleet in November / December 1940 and first formed the "Transport Division (TransDiv) 12" under Commander Hugh W. Hadley with the Little as the flagship.

The McKean on the way to Guadalcanal

Commander of Little , which was put back into service on November 4, 1940, was Lt. Comdr. K. Earl. In February 1941, the converted ship first took part in a maneuver of the Atlantic fleet in the Caribbean. The transport destroyer then moved to San Diego for further exercises with landing forces until March 9, 1941 . In the late summer, the Little moved back to the east coast and finally came to dry dock in Norfolk shortly before the outbreak of war for the United States on December 1, 1941.

Operations in World War II

As the flagship of the TransDiv 12, the Little moved to San Diego on February 14, 1942 for an overhaul. In April she moved back to Pearl Harbor to resume operational training. In June the ship was briefly at the Midway Islands and then moved to New Caledonia at the end of the month for the Solomon Islands campaign that began on July 7th . Due to the defeat in the battle of Savo Island on August 9 , the supply of American troops on Guadalcanal was endangered. On August 15, the transport destroyers Colhoun , Gregory , Little and McKean brought supplies for the American troops to Guadalcanal for the first time. Over the next few days, the destroyers were mostly in use in pairs. When on the 29th Little and Colhoun landed with a transporter more supplies, Japanese planes sank the Colhoun at 9 ° 24 '  S , 160 ° 1'  E , 52 men died on the destroyer and 18 were seriously wounded.

The end of the USS Little

The sister ship Gregory 1942

At the beginning of September the Japanese strengthened and supplied their troops on Guadalcanal and deployed two seaplane tenders , a mine-layer and two light cruisers and over 20 destroyers. The Americans fought these units from the air with moderate success, only the seaplane tender Akitsushima , the mine- layer Tsugaru and destroyer Akikaze were slightly damaged. The transports, mostly carried out at night, were usually secured by a destroyer division that was not involved in the transport. At the same time, the remaining transport destroyers supplied Little , Gregory and McKean the Marines on Guadalcanal.

On September 4, Little and Gregory brought naval troops to Savo Island to check if any Japanese had landed there as well. The rumor was not confirmed and the troops were brought back to Guadalcanal. The night was unusually dark and the division commander decided to stay near Lunga Point and not walk to Tulagi Habor at night if landmarks were unrecognizable . Around 1:00 a.m., it was believed that gunfire on board the Little was seen and an enemy submarine was approaching. Shortly afterwards, an American Catalina flew over the Savo Sound and dropped a number of flares to illuminate a suspected enemy submarine. In fact, the two transport destroyers were illuminated. The Japanese security destroyers Yūdachi (1936, 1685 ts, 5 - 12.7 cm), Hatsuyuki and Murakumo (both of the Fubuki class , 1928, 1750 t, 6 - 12.7 cm), who were also surprised , aimed their weapons at the two American ships and shot at Little and Gregory . Although considerably inferior, Little opened fire on the Japanese destroyers, but was hit immediately and burned at about 1:15 a.m. Gregory was hit at the same time. The Japanese ran towards the burning ships, continued to fire at them and are said to have also shot at shipwrecked people. First the Gregory sank around 1:40 a.m. and finally the Little about two hours later. 65 Little and 22 Gregory men did not survive the battle with the Japanese destroyer.

Despite the heavy loss, the sister ship McKean and the Manley brought another 600 men from Tulagi to Guadalcanal on September 7 and set them down east of the Japanese landing zone near Cape Taivu. With the landing in the rear of the Japanese troops, their preparations for an attack on the 12th were severely disrupted, especially since the American transporters Bellatrix (1942, 8045 ts) and Fuller (1919, 8000 ts) were able to deliver supplies near Lunga Point. Japanese bombers from Rabaul were unsuccessfully used against these transporters on the 8th. The Japanese 3rd destroyer flotilla ran out with the cruiser Sendai and eight destroyers, but could not find the freighters on the night of the 9th and instead shelled Tulagi. In doing so, however, the Americans gained the reins of action and from then on determined when and where the decisive actions took place.

The Little was subsequently awarded the Battle stars : Guadalcanal - Tulagi landings, 7 to 9 August 1942 and Capture and Defense of Guadalcanal, 4 to 5 September 1942 .

The sister ships also lost

APD Surname Shipyard BNo Keel laying Launch finished a. D. APD Final fate
2 Colhoun Bethlehem Steel 280 September 19, 1917 February 21, 1918 June 13, 1918 June 28, 1922 December 11, 1940 Sunk off Guadalcanal on August 30, 1942 , 51 dead / 88 survivors
3 Gregory Bethlehem Steel 277 August 25, 1917 January 27, 1918 June 1, 1918 July 7, 1922 November 4th 1940 Sunk off Guadalcanal on September 5, 1942, 11 dead
  • The first Colhoun (Destroyer No. 85) came to the Atlantic Fleet after commissioning . From June 30 to September 14, 1918, the destroyer was used to secure convoys between New York and ports in Europe. From November 10, 1918, the destroyer from New London took part in experiments with devices for noise detection. On January 1, 1919, the destroyer ran out in support of the Northern Pacific, which was stranded at Fire Island, and transported 194 returning soldiers from her to Hoboken . The destroyer was used in the Caribbean and on the east coast in 1919 until it was decommissioned on December 1, 1919 at the Philadelphia Navy Shipyard with a reduced crew. The Colhoun was then overhauled at the Norfolk Navy Yard and relocated to the reserve in Charleston, South Carolina . In the summer the destroyer was relocated to Philadelphia, it was decommissioned on June 28, 1922, where the destroyer remained until 1940.
  • The first Gregory (Destroyer No. 82) came in June 1918 on convoy service from New York to Brest, but also to other Allied ports in Great Britain and France. On November 2, 1918, the destroyer was transferred to the security squadron in Gibraltar . In addition to security tasks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the Gregory then also transported passengers and supplies in the Adriatic and helped to implement the ceasefire conditions with Austria-Hungary . After six months in this task, the destroyer completed supply tasks in the eastern Mediterranean from April 28, 1919. It transported mail and supplies to Smyrna , Constantinople and Batum . Then the destroyer brought the American consul and several British officers from Tbilisi to Gibraltar. Without passengers, the destroyer then crossed the Atlantic to New York on June 13, 1919. After a few trips on the east coast, the destroyer came to the reserves in Tompkinsville (New York) , the Brooklyn and later the Philadelphia Navy Yard. From January 4, 1921, the Gregory from Charleston, SC was used until April 12, 1922. The use there ended on April 12, 1922, when the Gregory was overhauled in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and then decommissioned on July 7, 1922 and transferred to the reserve. This destroyer, too, only returned to service in the fleet after being converted into a transporter in 1940.

Honors

In addition to posthumous awards from the commanding officers, the APDs were also honored by naming new ships:

  • the second Little (ID: DD-803) was a Fletcher class destroyer , which came into service on August 19, 1944 and was lost on May 3, 1945 after several kamikaze hits off Okinawa;
    • The destroyer Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) of the Allen M. Sumner class , which entered service on November 25, 1944, was named after the commander of the first Little . The ship, which was badly damaged off Okinawa, was towed back to the United States, but could not be repaired.
  • the second Gregory (ID: DD-802) was a Fletcher- class destroyer that entered service on July 29, 1944;
    • after the commander of the first Gregory was Harry F. Bauer named a minelayer of the Robert H. Smith class , which was put into service on September 22 1944th
  • the second Colhoun (DD-801) was also a Fletcher class destroyer , which entered service on July 8, 1944 and was lost on April 6, 1945 off Okinawa by a kamikaze hit.

literature

  • John Campbell: Naval Weapons of World War Two , Naval Institute Press, 1985, ISBN 0-87021-459-4
  • Bernard Fitzsimons: The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare , Phoebus (London), 1978
  • Paul H. Silverstone: US Warships of World War I , Ian Allan 1970
  • Paul H. Silverstone: US Warships of World War II , Doubleday and Company 1968

Web links

Commons : USS Little (DD-79)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d e Little I (Destroyer No. 79)
  2. ↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 15/08/1942 South Pacific
  3. ^ Rohwer: Sea War , August 23-31, 1942 South Pacific
  4. ^ Gregory I (DD-82) on Naval History and Heritage Command
  5. ^ Rohwer: Sea War, September 1–9, 1942 South Pacific, Japan supplies and reinforcements. Troops on Guadalcanal.
  6. ↑ USS Little Wickes-class destroyer High-speed Transport (APD-4, DD-79)
  7. ↑ a b USS Colhoun, DD-85, APD-2
  8. ↑ a b USS Gregory, DD-82
  9. ↑ Little II (DD-803) 1944-1945
  10. ^ Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774)
  11. ↑ Gregory II (DD-802)
  12. ↑ Harry F. Bauer (DM-26)
  13. ↑ Colhoun II (DD-801) 1944-1945