USS Strong (DD-467)

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USS Strong in July 1943
USS Strong in July 1943
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Bath Iron Works

Keel laying April 30, 1941
Launch May 17, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

August 7, 1942 - July 5, 1943

Whereabouts Sunk
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 Strong (DD-467) was a destroyer in the United States Navy . The ship belonged to the Fletcher class and was the second destroyer of this class to be sunk in World War II .

Namesake

Rear Adm. James Hooker Strong (April 26, 1814 - November 28, 1882) was a US Navy officer who took part in the Battle of Mobile Bay on the Union side during the American Civil War .

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Strong 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 USS Strong when it was commissioned was its five 5-inch / 127-mm Mark 30 single turrets. There were also various anti-aircraft guns .

The USS Strong 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.

history

The USS Strong was laid down at Bath Iron Works on April 30, 1941 . The ship was launched on May 17, 1942. Godmother was Mrs. Hobart Olsen. The destroyer entered service on August 7, 1942 under the command of Commander Joseph H. Wellings.

1942

After her test drive, the USS Strong escorted a convoy to San Juan , Puerto Rico . She returned to Norfolk , Virginia on October 27, only to sail for New York two days later . The USS Strong escorted the convoy UGS-2 to North Africa from November 13th . She reached Casablanca on November 29th and returned to New York in convoy GUF-2 . On December 26th, the destroyer entered Norfolk and left the base on December 27th for the Pacific .

1943

The USS Strong reached Nouméa on January 27, 1943. By February 5, the destroyer was escorting convoys to Espiritu Santo , New Hebrides . From there she drove to the Solomon Islands and patrolled Guadalcanal until February 13th . She then joined Task Force (TF) 67 , which consisted of four cruisers and destroyers as protection. TF 67 operated in the waters of the Solomon Islands in March. On March 14, USS Strong , USS Nicholas , USS Radford and USS Taylor were bombarded by Japanese facilities on Kolombangara .

The association resumed patrols in the Solomon Islands in April. Radar contact was detected on the morning of April 5. The USS Strong used the searchlight to illuminate the target identified as a Japanese submarine . The accompanying USS O'Bannon ran to ram the submarine, but broke off the approach and both destroyers opened fire. USS Strong scored at least three hits with its five guns. The submarine RO-34 sank over the stern and was sunk with depth charges.

Together with the other units of TF 18, USS Strong escorted three destroyers converted into miners (DDM) to Blackett Strait between Kolombangara and Arundel . In the early morning hours of May 7th, they mined the sea area. The next morning, four Japanese destroyers ran into the minefield. One destroyer sank, two more were damaged and sunk by aircraft in the afternoon, the fourth destroyer was able to return badly damaged. On the night of May 12th and 13th, the ships of TF 18 shot at Kolombangara, Enogai Inlet and Rice Anchorage on New Georgia . Then the USS Strong took over patrol and escort services off Guadalcanal. On the afternoon of June 16, the destroyer was between Guadalcanal and Tulagi when 15 Japanese dive fighters attacked American ships. Between 2:14 p.m. and 2:21 p.m., USS Strong shot down three attackers.

On the morning of July 5, American troops landed at Rice Anchorage. USS Strong and TF 18 supported the landings by using their artillery against Vila-Stanmore, Enogai and Bairoko Harbor. Together with USS Nicholas , USS Strong entered Bairoko Harbor as the vanguard and shelled the harbor from 00:30 to 00:40. At about 12:49 a.m., the artillery officer of the USS Strong sighted the bubble trail of a torpedo that hit the destroyer on the port side of the stern. USS Chevalier deliberately rammed the sister ship's bow and threw nets and lines over to the damaged ship. In seven minutes, 241 men from the USS Strong were taken over. Japanese cannons on Enogai Beach opened fire with HE shells on the ships. USS O'Bannon began firing at the gun emplacements that hit the USS Strong . USS Chevalier had to cancel the rescue. USS Strong listed 40 ° to 60 ° to starboard and broke apart. During the sinking, several depth charges exploded, causing further losses among the survivors in the water. 46 men of the crew lost their lives in the sinking of the destroyer. On July 15, 1943, the USS Strong was removed from the fleet list.

The torpedo that sank the USS Strong came from a volley fired by four Japanese destroyers, led by the Niizuki , from a distance of 11 nautical miles (around 20 km). It is believed that this was one of the most distant torpedo hits in the whole of World War II and that it was probably accidental because the USS Strong made three changes of course during the torpedo's life .

A petition from the survivors of the USS Strong to put a new ship with the name Strong and the same crew into service was granted to the extent that a destroyer with the same name but with a different crew was put into service in 1944.

wreck

The wreck was discovered on February 6, 2019 by the research vessel Petrel in the Kula Gulf at a depth of 300 meters.

Awards

USS Strong received two Battle Stars .

literature

  • Jerry Scutts: Fletcher DDs (US Destroyers) in action (Warships No. 8) . Squadron / signal publications, Carrollton (Texas) 1995, ISBN 978-0-89747-336-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ USS Strong (DD-467). RV Petrel, accessed October 29, 2019 .