USS William D. Porter (DD-579)

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USS William D. Porter in June 1944
USS William D. Porter in June 1944
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Consolidated Steel Corporation , Orange, Texas

Keel laying May 7, 1942
Launch September 27, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

July 6, 1943-10. June 1945

Whereabouts Sunk by kamikaze
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:

Nickname

Willy Dee

The USS William D. Porter (DD-579) was a destroyer in the US Navy and belonged to the Fletcher class . She took part in World War II and was sunk on June 10, 1945 by a kamikaze attack off Okinawa . In 1943, she accidentally shot a torpedo on the USS Iowa , on which Franklin D. Roosevelt was. She was the first ship in the US Navy whose entire crew was placed under arrest.

Namesake

William David Porter (1808-1864) was an officer in the US Navy and took on the side of the Union in the American Civil War in part. William Porter was the son of Commodore David Porter (1780–1843) and brother of Admiral David Dixon Porter (1813–1891), according to which ships of the US Navy, including a destroyer of the Fletcher class ( USS Porter (DD-800 ) ) were named. His father adopted David Glasgow Farragut (1801-1870), the namesake of five units in the US Navy.

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the William D. Porter 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 William D. Porter when commissioned was its five 5-inch / 127-mm-Mark-30 single turrets. There were also various anti-aircraft guns . As the main armament against capital ships, the ship carried 10 torpedo tubes in two five-way mounts.

The USS William D. Porter 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 William D. Porter was laid down on May 7, 1942 at Consolidated Steel Corporation in Orange , Texas . It was launched on September 27, 1942. The destroyer's godmother was Mary Elizabeth Reeder. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A. Walter, the ship was put into service on July 6, 1943.

1943

Shortly after commissioning, the USS William D. Porter left Orange and set course for Guantanamo Bay , Cuba. After completion of the test drives, the destroyer ran into Charleston , South Carolina on September 7th . After repairs were completed, she moved to Norfolk , Virginia and conducted combat exercises with the USS Intrepid and other ships in the Atlantic Fleet.

Crossing to North Africa

On November 12, the ship left Norfolk to meet the next day with the battleship USS Iowa , which was en route to the Cairo and Tehran conferences in North Africa with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board .

When casting off in Norfolk there was an accident when the USS William D. Porter and her anchor damaged the railing, a lifeboat and the commander's pinasse of a sister ship. The next incident happened a day later. Due to the danger posed by German submarines, the association consisting of four ships drove in strict radio silence when an unsecured depth charge fell into the water from the deck of the USS William D. Porter and exploded. Assuming a submarine attack, the other ships of the association carried out evasive maneuvers until the destroyer broke the radio silence and reported the cause of the explosion. Shortly after this incident, the ship encountered a cavalryman who caused the failure of a boiler and washed all objects that were not lashed as well as a crew member off board. The search for the man was unsuccessful.

On the morning of November 14, an anti-aircraft drill was conducted aboard the USS Iowa at Roosevelt's request . The destroyers then carried out a simulated torpedo attack on the battleship. Due to a failure of torpedoman Dawson aboard the USS William D. Porter , a live torpedo exited tube # 3 and ran towards the USS Iowa . In order not to break the radio silence, the signal headlights were used to transmit the warning, which resulted in errors in the transmission of the message. Only when the radio silence was broken could the USS Iowa be informed of the danger and carry out an evasive maneuver. President Roosevelt asked his Secret Service Personal Security to move the wheelchair to the side of the battleship so he could watch the torpedo. Assuming it was an assassination attempt on the president, the USS Iowa turned its guns on the destroyer. The torpedo exploded about 3000 yards (2700 meters) away in the wake of the USS Iowa .

For the first time in the history of the US Navy, the entire crew of a ship was arrested with the USS William D. Porter . The destroyer was released to Bermuda . When the destroyer entered Bermuda, the ship was surrounded by US Marines . At the court martial , Torpedoman Dawson was sentenced to fourteen years of hard labor. The commandant and some officers were transferred to land departments. President Roosevelt, who considered the incident to be an accident, intervened and asked for the sentence to be suspended.

Because of this incident, the ship was jokingly welcomed by other US Navy units with the radio message “ Don't shoot, we're republicans ” (German: “ Don't shoot, we're republicans ”).

USS William D. Porter was relocated to the Pacific and reached San Diego on December 19 , where the ship was equipped for use in the Aleutian Islands . On December 29, the destroyer reached Dutch Harbor on Unalaska and was placed under Task Force (TF) 94 .

1944

On January 2, 1944, the USS William D. Porter left Dutch Harbor and entered Adak on January 4 . On January 7th, she set course for Pearl Harbor , where she entered on January 22nd. She left Hawaii on January 7th and escorted the USS Black Hawk to Adak. Until June 10, 1944, the destroyer was mainly used for submarine hunting in the Aleutian Islands. USS William D. Porter and the other ships of the TF 94 set course for the Kuril Islands on June 10th . In the early morning of June 13th they reached Matsuwa Island , which was shelled. At around 05:30, the destroyer's radar located a contact that was approaching port at a speed of 55 knots . The units of TF 94 opened fire on the suspected torpedo boat, which was apparently sunk as the contact disappeared from the radar screen.

On September 5, the USS William D. Porter ran to San Francisco for an overhaul, which was completed on September 27. The destroyer reached Seeadlerhafen on Manus on October 30, 1944 . At the beginning of November she escorted the USS Alshain to Leyte via Hollandia . The rest of the year the destroyer was used for escort services between Leyte, Hollandia, Mauns and Bougainville . On December 26, 1944, the ship returned to San Pedro Bay to prepare for landing on Luzon . USS William D. Porter was part of the Lingayen Fire Support Group of Task Group (TG) 77.2

1945

The Louisville is hit by a kamikaze plane

The destroyer left San Pedro Bay on January 2, 1945 and met the other units of TG 77.2 in the Gulf of Leyte the next day . On the morning of January 5th, the formation was subjected to heavy air strikes, most of which were intercepted by the CAP . At around 5:00 p.m., Japanese planes broke through the screen and launched attacks on American ships. The USS Louisville and USS Manila Bay were damaged in these attacks .

The next morning the destroyer drove into the Gulf of Lingayen and began firing at targets in preparation for the invasion. In the evening, USS William D. Porter shot down two Japanese planes. After the landing of American troops on January 9, the task of the destroyers changed and they used their artillery as needed to support the land units. From January 11th to 18th, TG 77.2 protected the gulf accesses from the intrusion of enemy ships. Then the USS William D. Porter was used for air and anti-submarine defense in front of the landing section. On February 15, she left the Gulf of Lingayen and escorted USS Lindenwald and USS Epping Forrest to Guam. After a short return to the Gulf of Lingayen, the destroyer moved to Leyte to make preparations for the landing on Okinawa .

On April 1, 1945 the ship belonged again to TF 54 . Her tasks during the landing included fire support for the landing troops, protection of minesweepers, and air and submarine defense for the warships of the TF 54 . Between April 1 and May 5, the USS William D. Porter fired more than 8,500 5 "grenades on land targets and attacking aircraft, during which time it shot down five enemy aircraft.

The constant Japanese air strikes led to the use of destroyers as radar outposts in order to warn the association in good time of attacks. Between May 5 and June 9, the USS William D. Porter was used as a radar outpost. During the mission, she shot down a Japanese plane and fighter planes she was piloting shot down seven more.

The sinking USS William D. Porter

On June 10, the USS William D. Porter was attacked by a kamikaze . At 08:15, a single pushed Aichi D3A Val - dive bomber from the clouds down on them. The USS William D. Porter was able to avoid the plane, which fell into the sea right next to her and exploded below her. The explosion lifted the destroyer out of the water. Several steam pipes broke and the ship lost its drive. In addition, fires broke out. After three hours, the crew had to give up attempts to save the ship. Twelve minutes after the order was given to abandon ship, heeled the USS William D. Porter to starboard and sank over the stern. When the ship went down, no crew member lost his life.

On July 11, 1945, the USS William D. Porter was removed from the fleet list.

Awards

USS William D. Porter was awarded four Battle Stars .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Don't Shoot, We're Republicans !!

Web links

Commons : USS William D. Porter  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files