USS Newcomb (DD-586)

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USS Newcomb
USS Newcomb
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Boston Navy Yard

Keel laying March 19, 1943
Launch 4th July 1943
1. Period of service flag
period of service

November 10, 1943-20. November 1945

Whereabouts Canceled in 1947
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 Newcomb (DD-586) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy . The destroyer was used in the Pacific during World War II . On April 6, 1945, the ship was hit by four kamikaze and badly damaged. In 1947 the destroyer was canceled.

Namesake

Frank Hamilton Newcomb (1846-1934) was a commodore of the United States Revenue Cutter Service . He became known through the battle of Cárdenas in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Newcomb 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 when it was put into service were the five 5 "/38-Mk.30 single turrets. In addition there were various anti-aircraft cannons . The anti-aircraft armament was reinforced in the course of the war.

The USS Newcomb 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 Newcomb was laid down in the Boston Navy Yard on March 19, 1943 and launched on July 4, 1943. Godmother was CC Baughman. On November 10, 1943, the destroyer was put into service under the command of Commander LB Cook. After its commissioning, the destroyer carried out test and training drives in the Caribbean.

1944

On April 4, 1944, the USS Newcomb reached the Marshall Islands and at the end of May was used for anti-submarine defense in front of the atolls Mili , Wotje and Jaluit , which were occupied by Japanese troops . During the Battle of Guam , from May 29 to August 5, she was the flagship of the destroyer umbrella and served as fire support during the landings on Saipan and Tinian . On June 22, she sank the Japanese submarine I-185 together with the USS Chandler and on July 4, 1944, she used her guns against a banzai attack north of Garapan from Saipan.

During the attack on the Palau Islands from September 6 to October 1, the USS Newcomb was used 23 times to bombard coastal targets, covering Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) used to command artillery.

As the flagship of the Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 56 , she took part in the landings on Leyte from October 12 to December 4, 1944 .

To stop the invasion, the Japanese fleet approached Leyte in three groups on October 24th . The USS Newcomb was part of the screen, which under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf standing Task Group (TG) 77.2 in the Surigao Strait protected. TG 77.2 was intended to intercept 1st Combat Group C , consisting of two battleships, a heavy cruiser and four destroyers, under the command of Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura . The USS Newcomb belonged together with USS Richard P. Leary and USS Albert W. Grant to Group I of DesRon 56 , which was positioned north of the cruiser group on the left flank. At 3:00 a.m., the American ships attacked the Japanese formation. DesRon 56 pushed through the line of cruisers, and at 3:55 a.m., Group I destroyers fired their torpedoes. At least one of the five torpedoes on the USS Newcomb hit the Japanese battleship Fuso , which sank at 4:15 a.m. When turning, the rear ship of Group I , the USS Albert W. Grant, came under fire from both its own and the enemy. She was hit by seven Japanese 120 mm shells and eleven American 6 " AP shells. Thirty-eight men fell and 104 were wounded. The USS Newcomb towed her sister ship out of combat and provided medical assistance. After the battle and early Tomorrow's air strikes left only one destroyer, the Shigure , of Nishimura's group .

During further operations in the waters of the Philippines, the USS Newcomb was used for air defense, bombardment of coastal artillery positions during the landing at Ormoc on December 9, and as escort of a convoy to Mindoro between December 19 and 24.

1945

On January 6, 1945, the USS Newcomb fended off the attack by two kamikaze while landing in the Gulf of Lingayen . It supported the further operations in the Gulf of Lingayen until January 24th and then prepared for participation in Operation Detachment , the Battle of Iwojima . Three days before the landing, it was used to cover minesweepers who cleared the landing sections of sea ​​mines in advance of the landing . During the invasion on February 19, she fought gun emplacements and supported the advance of the US Marines with her artillery . On February 25, they attacked a Japanese submarine with an unknown outcome.

Damage after the kamikaze attacks

The USS Newcomb left Iwo Jima on March 10 and joined on March 21, Task Force (TF) 58 with target Okinawa to. During Operation Iceberg , the landing on Okinawa , it again protected UDT missions and minesweeping operations, served as air defense, and shelled coastal positions. On April 6, 1945, she was escorting minesweepers in front of Ie Shima when Kamikaze attacks began at 4:00 p.m. Despite the deep cloud cover, several attackers were repulsed or shot down. In the next 90 minutes she was targeted by five kamikaze. The first aircraft hit the destroyer at about 6:00 p.m. at the height of the rear funnel. The ship quickly lost speed due to damage to the boiler. The second attacker was shot down at a distance of 6,000 yards. A third aircraft, flying together with the second aircraft, rammed the USS Newcomb at the level of the torpedo workshop. The explosion left her lying without a drive. Both turbine rooms, the rear boiler room and the superstructure amidships with the two torpedo tube sets and the 40 mm guns were destroyed. At around 6:10 p.m., the fourth plane crashed on them. The crew's efforts to keep the ship buoyant were supported by the USS Leutze , which was also badly damaged by the fifth attacker at 6:30 p.m., and the USS Beale . The fire that had broken out on board was under control at 7:00 p.m. and extinguished at 7:30 p.m. 18 men were killed in the attack, 64 wounded and 25 are missing. The unpowered and disabled USS Newcomb was towed by the USS Tekesta to the Kerama Islands , where the damage to the hull was repaired by the crew of the USS Vestal .

On June 14, she was towed via Saipan and Pearl Harbor to San Francisco , where she arrived on August 8, 1945. At the end of the war, the repair work was stopped. On November 20, 1945, the USS Newcomb was decommissioned.

Whereabouts

In 1947 the ship was canceled at the Mare Island Navy Yard .

Awards

The USS Newcomb received eight Battle Stars and five Navy Unit Commendations .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II. P. 487.