USS Nicholas (DD-449)

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USS Nicholas (DD-449) in October 1943
USS Nicholas (DD-449) in October 1943
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Bath Iron Works

Keel laying March 3, 1941
Launch February 19, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

4 Jun 1942 - 30 January 1970

Whereabouts Sold for demolition in October 1970
Technical specifications
displacement

2,100  ts

length

114.7 meters

width

12.2 meters

Draft

5.4 meters

crew

329

drive
speed

38 kn

Range

6,500  nautical miles (11,700 km) at 15 knots

Armament

When commissioning:
Nickname

Nick

The USS Nicholas (DD-449) was a destroyer for the US Navy . She belonged to the Fletcher class and was in service from 1942 to 1970. The ship was used in World War II , the Korean War and the Vietnam War and is the ship of the US Navy with the most awards. In 1972 the USS Nicholas was demolished.

Namesake

Major Samuel Nicholas (1744–1790) was an officer in the Continental Marines during the American Revolutionary War . He commanded the first landing of the American marines in the attack on New Providence , Bahamas . On June 6, 1776, Nicholas was promoted to major.

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Nicholas 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 38 knots .

Armament and Electronics

The main armament of the USS Nicholas when commissioned was its five 5-inch / 127-mm-Mark-30 single turrets. There were also various anti-aircraft guns , the number of which was continuously increased in the course of the war. In 1948/49 the ship was converted into a submarine destroyer and received increased anti-submarine armament, including a Mk. 108 anti-submarine rocket launcher in front of the bridge.

The USS Nicholas 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 at distances between 10 and 22 nautical miles.

history

On March 3, 1941, the USS Nicholas was at Bath Iron Works Corp. , Bath , Maine , laid down. It was launched on February 19, 1942. Her godmother was Edward B. Tryon, great-great-great-granddaughter of Samuel Nicholas. The ship entered service on June 4, 1942 under the command of Lieutenant Commander William D. Brown.

1942

USS Nicholas was assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 21 . She left New York on August 23, 1942 and headed for the Pacific with the battleship USS Washington . After crossing the Panama Canal , she reached Espiritu Santo on September 27th. Three days later she began escorting convoys to Guadalcanal . Until 1943 she led the convoys from Espiritu Santo and Nouméa to Guadalcanal and Tulagi , protected them during unloading and returned with them to the starting point. In between, she was assigned offensive missions. She hunted Japanese submarines , cleared the strait between the island chains of the northern and southern Solomon Islands (called The Slot ), shelled land targets and supported the advance of the US Marines Corps and the US Army with their guns.

1943

Exploded gun # 3

Together with her sister ships USS Fletcher , USS Radford , USS Jenkins , USS La Valette , USS O'Bannon , USS Chevalier , USS Strong , USS Taylor and USS De Haven , which have since arrived , they formed the DesRon 21 , of which it was the flagship.

In January 1943, USS Nicholas was among the destroyers of Task Force 67 ( Cactus Striking Force ) who resisted the last Japanese counterattack on Guadalcanal by bombarding the newly built airfield on Munda on January 4th and 5th, attacking the retreat routes carried out between Kokumbona and Cape Esperance on January 19 and used their artillery against the supply area near Vila on Kolombangara on January 23 and 24 . On January 26th, Lt. Cdr. Andrew J. Hill in command of the USS Nicholas .

When the Japanese began Operation KE , the evacuation of Guadalcanal, on February 1, the destroyer covered the landing of the 2nd Battalion of the 132nd Infantry Regiment near Verahue and supported the further advance into the Cape Esperance area. On the way back to Tulagi, the USS Nicholas was traveling with the USS De Haven and three LCTs when the formation of 14 Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers were attacked. Three bombs hit the USS De Haven and a fourth ripped open its hull as a near hit. While her sister ship sank to the bottom of Ironbottom Sound , the USS Nicholas fought off eight planes and received a close hit that killed two crew members and damaged the steering gear .

After completing the repairs, she continued her various tasks. March was marked by convoy service and two missions against land targets in the Munda Kolombangara area of New Georgia . In April, she was assigned to Task Force 18 to patrol the slot . On April 19, she set course for Sydney , Australia , and returned to TF 18 on May 11, 1943 . On May 13, it was fighting targets on Kolombangara when Gun # 3 jammed and exploded. There were no losses. After repairs on Nouméa, she took on anti-submarine patrols and, towards the end of the month, convoy services between the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides .

On July 5, the USS Nicholas fired again at Kolombangara. In the early hours of June 6th, there was contact with enemy ships in the Kula Gulf. In the following Battle of Kula Gulf went cruiser USS Helena lost. While rescuing 291 survivors, USS Nicholas fought the Japanese ships with artillery and torpedoes. USS Nicholas and USS Radford were later awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for battle service.

On the night of June 12-13, the USS Nicholas took part in the Battle of Kolombangara. On June 15, 1943, she covered the rescue of shipwrecked people on the USS Helena from Vella Lavella and returned to Tulagi on June 16 to continue the escort service. Together with USS O'Bannon , USS Taylor and USS Chevalier , she ran out on August 17th to intercept four Japanese destroyers en route to Vella Lavella. The American destroyers used radar to locate the Japanese ships at 12:29 a.m. at a distance of 11 NM. To the west the radar showed a group of barges. At 12:50 a.m. the Americans turned towards the boats. At 00:56 they changed course again and headed for the Japanese destroyers. In the brief skirmish in front of Horaniu , the Japanese managed to drive a Crossing the T maneuver, but could not use this situation to their advantage. They broke off the fight at 01:03 a.m. The American ships took up chase, scored hits on the Isokaze , but then fell behind when problems on the USS Chevalier reduced her speed to 30 knots. They now turned their attention to the group of barges and sank two U-fighters, two torpedo speedboats and a barge.

USS Nicolas returned to Velle LaVella on August 19 to serve against Japanese shipping on August 19 and 20 and to protect minesweeping operations on August 24 and 25. She went to Australia at the end of August and was back in the Solomon Islands in October. On December 11th, USS Nicholas with Task Group 50.1 left Nadi , Fiji to carry out attacks on Kwajalein and Wotje . She then headed east and reached San Francisco on December 15, 1943 , to be overtaken.

1944

From February 12, 1944, USS Nicholas was used for escort service in the Central and South Pacific.

On April 5, she moved with the DesRon 21 to Milne Bay to serve temporarily with the 7th Fleet. On April 22nd, she was involved in the landing near Aitape , Papua New Guinea , and then escorted supply convoys on site and to Humboldt Bay until May 8th. After that, USS Nicholas returned to the Solomon Islands and the 3rd Fleet. On May 29th, the Medina plantation in New Ireland was shelled.

The first half of June the ship was used for submarine hunting and was reassigned to the 7th Fleet from June 14th and operated with Task Group 70.8 in the northern Solomon Islands.

On August 15, she headed for Manus to join Task Force 74 . She was deployed along the New Guinea coast until August 27. She then returned to Seeadler Harbor, from where she supported the fighting for Morotai between September 15 and 30, 1944.

In November she drove from Ulithi with USS Taylor and USS St. Louis to Kossol Roads, Palau . On November 12, a submarine approached the formation. USS Jenkins left the formation and sank the Japanese submarine I-88 with depth charges. Four days later, the destroyer was patrolling the southern part of the Leyte Gulf as part of Task Group 77.1 .

By December 6, 1944, she survived four kamikaze attacks on November 27 and 29 and on December 2 and 5. On December 6th, it operated in the Camotes Sea , shelled facilities of the Japanese Navy in the Bay of Ormoc and covered the Allied landing taking place there. On December 10, she set course for Manus and returned to Leyte on December 28 to resume escort services.

1945

As of January 1, the destroyer belonged to Task Group 77.3 , the support group for the landings on the Gulf of Lingayen . On the way to Luzon, the group was attacked by hostile micro-submarines and was exposed to almost constant air strikes. After two days of bombardment of the landing area, 68,000 soldiers of the 6th US Army landed on January 9, 1945. In the course of the next few days, a total of 203,608 soldiers landed on a 32 km long stretch of coast that stretched from Sual , Lingayen and Dagipan (XIV. Corps) in the west and San Fabian (I Corps) in the east. The USS Nicholas used its guns for fire support until January 18 . Then she patrolled with the escort group in the west of Luzon. On January 24th, she picked up a motorboat that was used by three Japanese to flee the island. USS Nicholas supported the landing in the province of Zambales with its artillery on January 29th .

In February she escorted ships between Leyte and Mindoro and shelled Corregidor , other islands in Manila Bay and coastal facilities near Mariveles . In mid-March she protected minesweepers in the Strait of Basilan and supported the occupation of Zamboanga .

USS Nicholas returned to Luzon in April to assist the US 6th Army in conquering the island. On April 24th she was deployed in the Dutch East Indies . Support missions followed during the conquest of Tarakan until May 5th . After repeated missions in Luzon, she was part of Task Unit 30.12.2 and set course for Okinawa on June 15. Until the end of hostilities on August 15, 1945, she was a member of Task Group 30.8 and from August 11 of Carrier Task Group 38.4 , whose aircraft carrier she protected on August 13 during the attacks on Tokyo .

Admiral William Halsey , commander of the 3rd Fleet, ordered the presence of the USS Nicholas and her sister ships USS O'Bannon and USS Taylor in the surrender of Japan in Tokyo Bay "because of their valiant struggle during the long journey from the South Pacific to the end" . Halsey's flagship Task Group assigned that brought Nick Japanese pilots and peace envoy to the ships of the fleet, the guided battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay and transported Allied and US representatives for the formal signing of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri on the second September 1945.

On October 5th, the USS Nicholas set course for Seattle , where it entered on October 19th. She continued on to San Pedro and began preparations for inactivation on November 1st.

1946-1959

After decommissioning on June 12, 1946, the USS Nicholas remained in the Pacific Reserve Fleet until the emerging hostilities in Korea required it to be reactivated. On March 26, 1949, she was reclassified to escort destroyer DDE-449 . Rebuilding began in November 1950, and on February 19, 1951, the USS Nicholas (DDE-449) returned to service. After the test drive , she ran to Pearl Harbor and was assigned to the Escort Destroyer Division (CortDesDiv) 12 , Escort Destroyer Squadron (CortDesRon) 1 . On June 10, 1951, she entered Yokosuka . She stayed in the Far East until November 14 and protected the aircraft carriers of Task Force 77 off the west coast of Korea, conducted anti-submarine exercises between Yokosuka and Okinawa and patrolled Formosa Strait . Between May and July and between November 1952 and May 1953 she was used again in the Far East. After Korea, services alternated in the West and East Pacific. In 1954, USS Nicholas was involved in Operation Castle , a series of nuclear weapons tests.

1960-1970

The Hornet and the Nicholas take fuel from the tanker Cimarron

From December 1959 to July 1960, the USS Nicholas was rebuilt in the Fram II program. Her first trip abroad took her back to the South China Sea for the first time since the Second World War . On July 1, 1962, the ship was reclassified to DD again . In March 1965 she was one of the first ships in the Operation Market Time participated and patrols along the South Vietnamese coast through led to the smuggling of people, weapons and supplies by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese to prevent. On April 15, USS Nicholas was released to Pearl Harbor and returned to Vietnam in mid-September. From October 1st, she carried out surveillance tasks and fire support. On December 3, she moved to Formosa Street. In early 1966 she ran back to Vietnam and was deployed to Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin . She then took part again in Operation Market Time . She returned to Pearl Harbor on March 17, 1966.

During her deployment to Vietnam between November 1966 and May 1967, she took part in Operation Deckhouse Five in the Mekong Delta area and in missions near the DMZ . Most of its West Pacific deployment in 1968, the USS Nicholas again spent in Vietnamese waters at Yankee Station and with fire support operations. On their return in the eastern Pacific the ship was ordered to the Apollo program of NASA support. From October 8 to 23, 1968, the USS Nicholas was ready for Apollo 7 and from December 19 to 22, 1968 for Apollo 8 in the Pacific. She returned to Pearl Harbor and carried out exercises in the waters off Hawaii in preparation for the next mission in the Western Pacific.

After becoming the oldest active destroyer in the US Navy eight years earlier, Nick was decommissioned on January 30, 1970 at Pearl Harbor. This time, too, was her sister ship the USS O'Bannon , with which she had been frequently used during her service.

Whereabouts

After being decommissioned, it was towed to Portland , Oregon , sold for demolition in October 1970, and scrapped in 1972.

Awards

In addition to Presidential Unit Citation, USS Nicholas was awarded 16 Battle Stars during World War II . Of all the destroyers, only her sister ship the USS O'Bannon received more. She received five other Battle Stars for her assignments in the Korean War and nine in the Vietnam War. With a total of 30 Battle Stars, she is the most frequently awarded ship in the US Navy.

literature

Web links

Commons : USS Nicholas (DD-449)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files