USS Dyson (DD-572)

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USS Dyson off Mare Island on September 30, 1944
USS Dyson off Mare Island on September 30, 1944
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas

Keel laying June 25, 1941
Launch April 15, 1942
1. Period of service flag
period of service

December 30, 1942 -
March 31, 1947

Whereabouts 1960 loaned to the Federal Republic of Germany
1982 to Greece
Technical specifications
displacement

2,050  ts

length

114.7 meters

width

12.2 meters

Draft

5.4 meters

crew

329

drive
speed

35 knots

Range

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

Armament

The USS Dyson (DD-572) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the US Navy . It was mainly used in the Pacific during the Second World War . In 1960 the USS Dyson was loaned to the Federal Republic of Germany as armaments aid and was transferred to Destroyer 5 (D 179) with the German Navy . In 1982 the ship went to the Greek Navy as a spare parts carrier .

Namesake

Rear Adm. Charles Wilson Dyson (December 2, 1861 - October 25, 1930) was an officer and engineer in the U.S. Navy .

technology

Hull and drive

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

The USS Dyson 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

USS Dyson (DD-572) ran at Consolidates Steel Corp. on April 15, 1942. Launched in Orange, Texas. The destroyer was christened by the widow of the namesake and put into service on December 30, 1942 under the command of Commander RA Gano.

1943

After serving in the escort service along the east coast and to the Caribbean, the USS Dyson moved from New York to the Pacific on May 14, 1943. She was assigned to Task Force (TF) 36 on Noumea and operated from this base and Espiritu Santu in patrol and escort service. In August it was used in the Solomon Islands. On the night of September 3rd to 4th, she sank two Japanese barges together with the USS Pringle (DD-477) between Choiseul and Kolombangara and damaged a third. Later that month, the USS Dyson shelled an unidentified ship, which caught fire and went out of sight.

In October 1943, the Dyson set sail from Espiritu Santo to support the landing at Cape Torokina on Bougainville together with other ships of the Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 23 Little Beavers . On November 1, they attacked airfields on Buka , Mono, and the Shortland Islands to stop Japanese air strikes during the Allied landing. During the naval battle at Kaiserin Augusta Bay on the night of November 1 to November 2, Task Force 39 intercepted and repulsed a Japanese unit that was supposed to attack the transport ships. The Japanese light cruiser Sendai and the destroyer Hatsukaze were sunk in the course of the battle.

On November 17, 1943, there was another attack on the airfield on Buka. On the night of November 24th to 25th, the Dyson took part in the Battle of Cape St. George with the destroyers Charles Ausburne , Claxton , Converse and Spence . The destroyers under the command of Commodore AA Burke sank the three Japanese destroyers Onami , Makinami and Yuguri and damaged Amagiri and Uzuki .

1944

Markings on the fire control system of the Dyson 1944
(2 freighters and 3 warships sunk, 8 missions against land targets, 7 aircraft shot down)

USS Dyson remained in the Solomon Islands until March 1944. In addition to operations along the coast of Bougainville, it operated on the Japanese supply routes to Rabaul to prevent Japanese reinforcements for Bougainville. In February she was one of the support forces for the landing on Green Island. This was followed by two missions in New Ireland . Here Kavieng was shot at, and on February 22nd, she sank two merchant ships, a destroyer-minelayer, a patrol vehicle and two barges. The next day she fired at land targets on Duke of York Island and was then a member of Task Force 31 , which covered the landing on Emirau .

From March 25, 1944, she was part of Task Force 58 and shielded the aircraft carriers during the attacks on Palau , Yap , Ulithi and Woleai between March 30 and April 1, and the capture of Hollandias between April 21 and 23 and the attacks on Truk , Satawan and Ponape between April 29 and May 1, 1944. In June, she was involved in preparatory landing attacks on Saipan and Pagan and diversionary attacks on the Bonin Islands . The USS Dyson again shielded the aircraft carriers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea . Then she took part in the conquest of the Mariana Islands , fought the Japanese shipping traffic coming from Guam and Rota and used her artillery against land targets. After its overhaul on the American east coast, the USS Dyson belonged again to TF 38 from November .

1945

The destroyer took part in attacks on Luzon , Formosa , the Chinese coast and Nansei Shoto . In February, USS Dyson was assigned to Task Force 78 . They escorted convoys from San Pedro Bay to Subic Bay and shelled Japanese troop concentrations during the reconquest of Corregidor . When the USS Saunter (AM-295) ran into a mine, the USS Dyson took over the wounded and provided assistance with the salvage work. The destroyer stayed in the Philippines and participated in the landings on Panay , Los Negros and Mindanao . On May 16, 1945, the ship reached Okinawa and was used for patrols, as a radar post, escort service and for sea rescue until the end of the war.

post war period

She headed for the United States on September 10 and reached Washington DC on October 17. Two days later, the DesRon 23 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal for excellence during operations in the Solomon Islands from 1943 to 1944. The USS Dyson received eleven battle stars in addition to this award. After moving to the naval base in Charleston, South Carolina, the USS Dyson was used to power a group of decommissioned destroyers until it was decommissioned on March 31, 1947 and assigned to the reserve fleet.

Destroyer 5 (D 179)

Z 5 starts to supply the sea (1974)
Z 5 in the North Sea (1981)

In 1959 the destroyer was completely overhauled and modernized in the Charleston Navy Yard. The cannon 53 was removed, as well as all 20 mm anti-aircraft guns and the forward torpedo tube group. Six 3 "anti-aircraft guns were installed in double mounts as well as German navigation devices and the pole mast was replaced by a three-legged mast. The conversion costs amounted to about five million US dollars. On February 17, 1960, the USS Dyson was loaned to the Federal Republic of Germany February 1960 as a destroyer 5 introduced into service. after tests and exercises left destroyer 5 Charleston on 9 June 1960 and went to Flensburg . destroyer 5 belonged to the third Zerstörergeschwader .

The ship was rebuilt several times during the shipyard layover. So the bridge was enlarged, eliminating the open bridge and two U-defense torpedo tubes were set up on the upper deck at the level of the torpedo tube group. In 1973 the remaining torpedo tube group was expanded. The slewing ring remained on board and the resulting gap was bridged by a walkway. Destroyer 5 was removed from the list of warships of the US Navy on October 1, 1974, and was bought by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1976 for approx. 375,000 DM . On July 1, 1981, the destroyer was assigned to the 1st destroyer squadron and went out of service on December 31, 1981. The ship left Kiel on February 8, 1982 Kiel and ran via Brest , Lisbon and Augusta to Crete . Destroyer 5 reached Souda Bay on February 23 and was decommissioned on February 26, 1982. At the same time, it was taken over by the Greek Navy as a material replacement part carrier. In June 1992 the destroyer in Eleusis was canceled.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Koop / Breyer The ships, vehicles and aircraft of the German Navy from 1956 to the present day , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Bonn, 1996; ISBN 3-7637-5950-6

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