USS Claxton (DD-571)

USS Claxton in a Dazzle camouflage paint scheme
History
United States
Name	USS Claxton
Namesake	Thomas Claxton
Builder	Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
Laid down	25 June 1941
Launched	1 April 1942
Commissioned	8 December 1942
Decommissioned	18 April 1946
Stricken	1 October 1974
Identification	DD-571
Fate	Transferred to West German Navy , 16 December 1959
West Germany
Name	Zerstörer 4
Acquired	16 December 1959
Stricken	1981
Identification	D178
Fate	Transferred to Greece as spares donor ship
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer Zerstörer 1-class destroyer
Displacement	2,050 long tons (2,080 t)
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.09 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.41 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45 MW) ; 2 propellers
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
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 Claxton (DD-571), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Thomas Claxton, born in Baltimore, Maryland.

Claxton was

in command.

History

In March 1943 Claxton patrolled briefly in

Pacific Fleet

.

After training at

surface and air forces.

In the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay on the night of 1/2 November 1943, Claxton, with four cruisers and seven other destroyers, fired her torpedoes in an attack which turned back a Japanese force of four cruisers and six destroyers sailing to attack transports off Bougainville, sinking two and damaging four of the enemy ships. Claxton towed Foote, one of five American ships damaged that night, into Purvis Bay, arriving 4 November.

On 25 November 1943, in the battle of Cape St. George, New Ireland, Claxton and four other destroyers intercepted a force of five Japanese destroyers, as the enemy ships sailed to evacuate aviation troops to Rabaul. Once more fighting in darkness, Claxton and the others achieved complete surprise in their torpedo attack, and followed with a running gun battle. In this classic destroyer action, three Japanese ships were sunk and a fourth damaged, with no injury to the American ships.

On 4 February 1944, while bombarding

on 24 and 25 October, Claxton screened the battle line in the surface action which virtually destroyed the Japanese southern force.

Continuing her patrol in Leyte Gulf to support the forces ashore, on 1 November 1944, Claxton suffered 5 dead, 23 wounded, and serious damage when a Japanese suicide plane crashed and exploded in the water alongside to starboard.^[1] The men used their mattresses to fill the 9-by-5-foot (2.7 by 1.5 m) hole.^[1] With all her after living spaces flooded, Claxton fought her own damage as she rescued 187 survivors of Abner Read, also a kamikaze's victim.^[1]

Repairs at

for duty as radar picket and fighter-director until the close of the war. On 6 June her guns drove off a flight of 12 kamikazes.

Fate

Sailing from Okinawa 10 September 1945, Claxton reached

where she was ultimately dismantled for spare parts.

Honors

In addition to her squadron's Presidential Unit Citation, Claxton received eight

service.

References

•  This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• USS Claxton (DD571) home page Archived 5 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• USS Claxton website at Destroyer History Foundation
• Destroyer Photo Index, USS Claxton