USS Ward (DD-139)

**USS *Ward* (DD-139)**
	USS Ward (DD-139) 1941
Ship data
flag	United States
other ship names	from 2.43: APD-16
Ship type	Destroyer , ; fast transporter
class	Wickes class
Shipyard	Mare Island Navy Yard
Keel laying	May 15, 1918
Launch	June 1, 1918
Commissioning	July 24, 1918 - July 21, 1921 ; January 15, 1941
Whereabouts	Sunk by kamikaze attack on December 7, 1944
Armament
	upon commissioning 4 - 4 inch L / 50 cannons on a single mount; 1 - 3 inch / L / 23 cannons on a single mount; 4 × 3 - 21 inch torpedo tubes ; after conversion to a troop transport; 3 - 3 inch L // 50 cannons on a single mount; 1 × 2 - 40 mm L / 56 Mk, 1/2 cannon,; 5 - 20 mm L / 70 Mk. 4 machine guns ,; 4 water bombs -Werfer, 2 expiration rails; 4 landing craft, up to 144 soldiers;
Sensors
	1941 sonar , 1943 radar
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	101 men
Machine system
machine	4 Normand- boiler; 2 Parsons - transmission turbines
Machine ; performance	27,000 PS (19,858 kW)
Top ; speed	35 kn (65 km / h)
propeller	2
Machinery from 1943
machine	2 Normand- boilers; 2 Parsons - geared turbines
Machine ; performance	13,000 PS (9,561 kW)
Top ; speed	24 kn (44 km / h)
propeller	2

The USS Ward was in World War I built American destroyer of Wickes class . The ship was by James H. Ward named (1806-1861), the first in the American Civil War fallen US Marine officer. With the sinking of a Japanese micro-submarine used for reconnaissance an hour before the start of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the American destroyer fired the first shot of the Pacific War .

Three years later, Ward, now converted into a destroyer express transporter, was sunk by a kamikaze attack.

construction

The Curtiss NC-4

The Ward was laid down on May 15, 1918 at the Mare Island Navy Yard in California . The naval shipyard in Vallejo (California) built (five) destroyers of this class since December 1917. Due to the First World War, the construction of the Ward was driven forward with the greatest possible speed, the launch took place on June 1 and on July 24, 1918, after a construction period of fourteen months, she was put into service as the third ship of this class in the yard. Nevertheless, the destroyer, which was moved to the Atlantic towards the end of 1918 , did not take part in any combat operations.

In May 1919, the Ward was one of 54 destroyers that were used in support of the transatlantic flight of the Curtiss NC flying boats . The destroyer occupied position 6 on the route from Newfoundland to the Azores, on which 22 destroyers marked the way for the flying boats at a distance of about 50 nm . In July 1919, the destroyer was relocated to the Pacific, where it remained until its first decommissioning and mothballing as part of the reserve fleet in July 1921.

In July 1920 the destroyer was assigned the ship identification DD-139 .

Second World War

After the outbreak of the Second World War and the increased need for destroyers resulting from the course of the war, the Ward was reactivated after almost 20 years in January 1941. She was assigned to the Pacific Fleet and used there for local patrols in the waters of Hawaii.

Fuse in front of Pearl Habour

A Ko-hyoteki two-man submarine

On the night of December 6th, 1941, the destroyer patrolled under its new commanding officer, Lieutenant William W. Outerbridge, in front of the entrance to Pearl Harbor . During the night the minesweeper USS Condor reported the sighting of a periscope near the port entrance. The alarmed Ward could not find a submarine. At around 6:30 a.m., the supply ship USS Antares reported the sighting of a submarine and at around 6:45 a.m. the Ward found the submarine and sank it with gunfire and depth charges. It was one of five Japanese micro-submarines that were supposed to try to penetrate the port. The Ward radioed an encrypted message to the commander of the 14th Marine District to inform him that they were fighting a submarine in the port defense zone. The news reached them too late to have any influence on the course of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Support for amphibious warfare

In 1942 the Ward was converted into a destroyer express transporter (meaning a fast transport ship based on a destroyer) on the US west coast. According to her new classification as a destroyer transporter, she received the new ship identification APD-16 in February 1943 . The rest of the year she was used in the South Pacific in the Solomon Islands as a transport and escort ship. From mid-August 1943, the ship was involved in the landing of US troops on Vella Lavella . From December 1943, she took over the Operation Cartwheel on amphibious landings in part, including in the attacks on Cape Gloucester , Saidor , Nissan Iceland , Emirau , Aitape , Biak , Cape Sansapor and Morotai . On October 17, 1944, the Ward dropped troops on Dinagat Island during the opening phase of the Leyte invasion . In the following two months she escorted ships to and from Leyte .

The end of the ward

The burning ward after attack by a kamikaze flyer

On the morning of December 7, 1944, exactly three years after the Ward opened fire off Pearl Harbor, the destroyer was hit amidships by a Japanese kamikaze plane and badly damaged. Since it was not possible to bring the resulting fires under control, the ship was abandoned and - after the crew had been rescued - sunk by the destroyer USS O'Brien with gunfire. The commandant of the O'Brien was William W. Outerbridge, the former commandant of the Ward .

Honoring the crew of the ward

The Ward's No. 3 gun , which scored the first hit on the Japanese submarine on December 7, 1941, outlived the destroyer because it had been removed during renovation work in 1942. Since the crew of the Ward consisted mostly of members of the Minnesota Marine Reserve in 1941 , the gun was handed over to the state of Minnesota by the Navy in 1958 and has been in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul since then .

wreck

The wreck was discovered on December 3, 2017 by the research vessel Petrel in Ormoc Bay at a depth of 209 meters.

Web links

Commons : USS Ward (DD-139) - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ On the Naval Shipyard in California, the sister ships USS emerged Kilty (DD-137, APD-15), Kennison (DD-138, AG 83) and Claxton (DD 140) / from 11.40 HMS Salisbury and Hamilton (DD-141, DMS 18 , AG 111).
↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 3.- 12/07/1941 Central Pacific / Hawaii
↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 15.- 26.08.1943 South Pacific, landing at Vella Lavella
^ Rohwer: Sea War , December 24-27, 1943 Southwest Pacific, landing at Cape Gloucester
↑ Rohwer: naval warfare , 7.- 15.12.1944 Southwest Pacific, landing operations at Ormoc (Leyte)
↑ USS Ward (DD-139). RV Petrel, accessed October 29, 2019 .

[1] On the Naval Shipyard in California, the sister ships USS emerged Kilty (DD-137, APD-15), Kennison (DD-138, AG 83) and Claxton (DD 140) / from 11.40 HMS Salisbury and Hamilton (DD-141, DMS 18 , AG 111).

[2] Rohwer: naval warfare , 3.- 12/07/1941 Central Pacific / Hawaii

[3] Rohwer: naval warfare , 15.- 26.08.1943 South Pacific, landing at Vella Lavella

[4] Rohwer: Sea War , December 24-27, 1943 Southwest Pacific, landing at Cape Gloucester

[5] Rohwer: naval warfare , 7.- 15.12.1944 Southwest Pacific, landing operations at Ormoc (Leyte)

[6] USS Ward (DD-139). RV Petrel, accessed October 29, 2019 .