USS Bradford

	Broadside view of USS Bradford (DD-545) off Mare Island on 19 October 1944.
History
United States
Name	USS Bradford (DD-545)
Namesake	Gamaliel Bradford
Builder	Bethlehem Shipbuilding, San Pedro, California
Laid down	28 April 1942
Launched	12 December 1942
Sponsored by	Mrs. Sarah Bradford Rose
Commissioned	12 June 1943
Decommissioned	28 September 1961
Stricken	1 September 1975
Fate	Transferred to Hellenic Navy, 27 September 1962
History
Greece
Name	Thyella (D28)
Acquired	27 September 1962
Stricken	1981
Fate	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement	2,050 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt
Complement	329
Armament	5 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns; 5 × twin AA guns; 7 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns; 2 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 × single depth charge throwers; 2 × depth charge racks;

USS Bradford (DD-545) was a

Gamaliel Bradford (1768–1824), a privateer during the Quasi-War with France

.

Bradford was

Terminal Island, Calif., sponsored by Mrs. Sarah Bradford Rose, great-great-granddaughter of Captain Bradford, and commissioned

12 June 1943.

Service history

World War II

Bradford sailed for

Tarawa raid (18 September) and the Wake Island

raid (5–6 October).

She operated as a screening unit in Task Group 52.3 (TG 52.3), covering the occupation of the Gilbert Islands (13 November – 8 December). Following this operation she went to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, and was assigned to TG 37.2. With this group Bradford participated in three strikes (25 December 1943, 1 and 4 January 1944) against the shipping and harbor installations at Kavieng, New Ireland, during the Bismarck Archipelago operations. Between 29 January and 8 February she took part in the occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, during the Marshall Islands campaign.

In the ensuing months Bradford participated in the

Marianas

raids (21–22 February). She then supported

the occupation of New Guinea as part of the Fast Carrier Task Force (then TF 58) (21 April – 1 June);
the invasion of Saipan (11–24 June);
1st
Bonins
raid (15–16 June),
Battle of the Philippine Sea (19–20 June),
2nd Bonins raid (24 June);
3rd Bonins raid (3–4 July);
assault on Guam (12 July – 15 August);
Palau-Yap-Ulithi raid (25–27 July);
and 4th Bonins raid (4–5 August).

In September she returned to the United States for a complete overhaul.

Bradford steamed to Pearl Harbor in December 1944 and, after undergoing training as a fire support ship, took part in the

San Diego

31 October 1945 where she was placed out of commission in reserve 11 July 1946.

1950–1961

Bradford was recommissioned 27 October 1950 and reported to the

Pacific fleet

.

Between 29 January 1951 and 2 November 1953 she completed three Far Eastern tours (29 January–August 1951, 22 March–November 1952, and May–November 1953) during which she acted as a unit of TF 77 and TF 95 on duty off Korea. While on this duty she engaged in shore bombardment and patrolling in support of the United Nations ground forces.

She made three additional cruises to the Far East. Between these cruises she operated out of San Diego conducting extensive individual and type training exercises.

Bradford was decommissioned 28 September 1961.

Greek service

The ship was transferred to

Greek Navy

as Thyella (D28) ("Storm"). She was stricken in 1981 and scrapped.

Awards

Bradford received the

battle stars for her World War II service and six battle stars for her participation in the Korean War

.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.
navsource.org: USS Bradford