USS Ringgold (DD-500)
_during_a_towing_exercise_in_the_North_Sea,_in_March_1971.jpg) Destroyer 2 in the Hamburg training tow (1971) |
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | June 25, 1942 |
| Launch | November 11, 1942 |
| 1. Period of service |
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| Commissioning | December 24, 1942 |
| Decommissioning | March 23, 1946 |
| Whereabouts | Handover to the Federal Republic of Germany |
| 2. Period of service |
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| Commissioning | July 14, 1959 as Destroyer 2 (D171) |
| Decommissioning | September 18, 1981 |
| Whereabouts | Delivered to Greece, decommissioned there in 1987 and broken up in 1993 |
| Technical specifications | |
| Technical specifications |
see Fletcher class |
The USS Ringgold ( DD-500 ) was a destroyer of Fletcher Class . The United States Navy used them in the Pacific War . In 1959 she was loaned to the German Navy , in which she sailed as Destroyer 2 (D 171) until 1981 . The Greek Navy took over the ship in 1981 as Kimon (D 42). It was decommissioned in 1987 and scrapped in Turkey in 1993.
Namesake
The destroyer was the second ship in the US Navy to be named after Rear Admiral Cadwalader Ringgold (1802–1867). Ringgold participated in the United States Exploring Expedition and served in the Civil War .
USS Ringgold was launched on November 11, 1942. The baptism was carried out by Arunah Sheperdson Abell, great niece of Admiral Ringgold. On December 30, 1942, the USS Ringgold was commissioned under the command of Commander Thomas F. Conley . The acceptance journey took Ringgold from New York to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and back again. Until mid-July she was in the waters around Trinidad for training. On July 21, 1943, she left New York for the Pacific. On July 27th, she passed through the Panama Canal. It was in Pearl Harbor of Destroyer Division 50 allocated and was flagship of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 25 .
1943
After several weeks of training, the USS Ringgold was assigned to Task Force 50 with the aircraft carriers USS Yorktown (CV-10) , USS Essex (CV-9) and USS Independence (CVL-22) . The task force carried out attacks on Marcus Island on September 1, 1943 . Tarawa and Mankin were attacked on September 18 and 19 .
After an air and ship attack on Wake Island on October 5th and 6th, the next target of the task force was the landing of US Marines on Tarawa. USS Ringgold had the task of being the first to enter the lagoon with the destroyer USS Dashiell (DD-659) .
A radar contact was reported at 22:00. Although it was known that the submarine USS Nautilus (SS-168) was in the area, it was assumed that the USS Nautilus had left the area in the afternoon to rescue a downed pilot and that she would submerge when seeing their own strength. Because the Nautilus was near a reef, it stayed on the surface. Admiral Hill wanted to avoid encountering any Japanese patrols and gave the order to combat contact. The tower of the submarine was hit with the first volley of the USS Ringgold , but the grenade did not explode. USS Nautilus dived and, after repairing the damage, was able to reach Abemama.
The destroyers opened fire on the Japanese land batteries around 05:00 and the planned bombardment began at 06:22. The minesweepers USS Persuit (AM-108) and USS Requisite (AM-109) cleared a path into the lagoon under the protection of a smoke screen, and they also used their guns against the Japanese batteries. While USS Persuit marked the cleared route with buoys, USS Props led the USS Ringgold and USS Dashiell into the lagoon. USS Ringgold was hit by two Japanese shells, neither of which exploded, but caused the port turbine to fail. Since heavier units could not enter the lagoon, the two destroyers, together with the two minesweepers, bore the brunt of fire support for the landing marine infantry. Of the 5000 soldiers who reached the bank by evening, around 1500 were wounded or killed. During the day the destroyers USS Frazier (DD-607) and USS Anderson (DD-411) arrived in support. It was probably in the early hours of November 21 that Ringgold fired the shots that struck the bunker of Rear Admiral Keiji Shibazaki , the commandant of the defenders of Betio Island, killing Admiral Shibazaki.
On November 25th Tarawa was occupied by US troops.
1944
After the repairs were completed in December, the Ringgold took part in the landing on Kwajalein and Eniwetok in January and February 1944. Again she was used to provide fire support to the landing forces. On March 20, they shelled land targets near Kavieng in New Ireland . From April 24 to May 1, 1944, she was used in the conquest of Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea .
In June, the USS Ringgold took part in the Battle of the Mariana Islands . During the landing on Guam , it served as a Landing Craft Control Vessel (LCCV) to assist the landing craft with navigation and provided fire support. During the landing, she led 23 waves of landing craft to the beach. During the landings on Morotai on September 15 and on Panaon on October 20, the USS Ringgold again supported the landing of the troops with her artillery. On October 22, she was released for overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard .
1945
_underway_in_the_Pacific_Ocean,_circa_in_July_1945.jpg)
In early February 1945, the USS Ringgold was assigned to Task Force 58 under the command of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher , which carried out the first carrier-based attacks on the heartland and Okinawa to aid the landing on Iwojima . The attacks began on February 16, 1945 and during the two-day operation, the Japanese forces lost 416 in the air, another 354 were destroyed on the ground and an escort aircraft carrier was sunk.
After repairs on Ulithi and in Pearl Harbor, Ringgold belonged again to TF 58 from June 4, 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa . After the end of the company, the task force was transferred to the San Pedro Bay on Leyte , where it arrived on June 13th.
On July 1, the ship set sail again to carry out attacks on the Japanese heartland with Destroyer Squadron 25 and Cruiser Division 17 (CruDiv 17) .
Until the Japanese surrender, the USS Ringgold was involved in coastal operations as part of TF 38. On August 22, she was assigned to escort the USS Antietam (CV-36) to Guam , where she arrived four days later and repairs were carried out. Then she took 86 passengers on board in Okinawa on September 16 and brought them to Pearl Harbor to continue the journey to the east coast. On March 23, 1946, she was decommissioned and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in Charleston, South Carolina , where she remained until 1959. As part of the handover of the ship to the German Navy as part of the Military Assistance Program , it was modernized and equipped in the Charleston Navy Yard .
Federal Navy
The ship was handed over to the German Navy on July 14, 1959 as an American loan and was listed here under the name Destroyer 2 (D 171) in Class 119 . In the 1970s, the ships of the Fletcher class became federal property.
Whereabouts
After decommissioning, the ship was transferred to the Greek Navy in 1981 , continued to be operated as Kimon (D 42) and later scrapped .
literature
- Wolfgang Harnack: The destroyer flotilla of the German Navy from 1958 until today . Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-7822-0816-1 .
- Dylan Thomas: The Fletchers Fade Away , ( PDF file , 27 KB).
- German Navy Federation: Cast off! 4/2011, ISSN 1432-9069 .
Web links
- Pictures of the Ringgold at navsource.org (engl.)
- Service history (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berthold J. Sander-Nagashima, The Federal Navy 1950 to 1972: Concept and Structure , Oldenbourg, 2006, page 555, ISBN 978-3-486-57972-7