USS Conyngham (DD-58)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Conyngham.
Conyngham in pattern camouflage
Conyngham in pattern camouflage
History
United States
NameConyngham
NamesakeGustavus Conyngham
Ordered1913[3]
Builder
Yard number419[2]
Laid down27 July 1914[1]
Launched8 July 1915[1]
Sponsored byMiss A. C. Stevens[1]
Commissioned21 January 1916[1]
Decommissioned23 June 1922[1]
Stricken5 July 1934[1]
Identification
Fatetransferred to U.S. Coast Guard, 7 June 1924[1]
United States
NameConyngham
Acquired7 June 1924[4]
Commissioned8 March 1925, Cape May, New Jersey[4]
Decommissioned5 June 1933[4]
IdentificationHull symbol:CG-2
FateReturned to U.S. Navy, 30 June 1933,[4] Sold on 22 August 1934
General characteristics
Class and typeTucker-class destroyer
Displacement
Length315 ft 3 in (96.09 m)[1]
Beam30 ft 7 in (9.32 m)[3]
Draft
  • 9 ft 4+1⁄2 in (2.858 m) (mean)[6]
  • 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m) (max)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2 ×
    Curtis geared steam turbines
  • 2 ×
    screw propellers
Speed
  • 29.5 kn (33.9 mph; 54.6 km/h)[1]
  • 29.63 kn (34.10 mph; 54.87 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[6]
Complement5 officers 96 enlisted[5]
Armament

USS Conyngham (Destroyer No. 58/DD-58) was a Tucker-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named for Gustavus Conyngham.

Conyngham was

21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. Conyngham was powered by a pair of steam turbines
that propelled her at up to 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h).

After her January 1916

Queenstown, Ireland
, Conyngham made several rescues of passengers and crew from ships sunk by U-boats. Conyngham's commander was commended for actions related to what was thought at the time to be a "probable" kill of a German submarine.

Upon returning to the United States in December 1918, Conyngham underwent repairs at the

decommissioned in June 1922. In June 1924, Conyngham was transferred to the United States Coast Guard to help enforce Prohibition as a part of the "Rum Patrol". She operated under the name USCGC Conyngham (CG-2) until 1933, when she was returned to the Navy. Later that year, the ship was renamed DD-58 to free the name Conyngham for another destroyer
. She was sold for scrap in August 1934.

Design and construction

Conyngham was authorized in 1913 as the second ship of the

displacement of 1,090 long tons (1,110 t) and displaced 1,205 long tons (1,224 t) when fully loaded.[3]

Conyngham had two

propeller shafts for cruising purposes. The power plant could generate 18,000 shaft horsepower (13,000 kW) and move the ship at speeds up to 29.5 knots (54.6 km/h).[3]

Conyngham's main

armor-piercing projectiles at 2,900 feet per second (880 m/s). At an elevation of 20°, the guns had a range of 15,920 yards (14,560 m).[7]

Conyngham was also equipped with eight 21-inch (533 mm)

mines.[3]
From sources, it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for Conyngham or any of the other ships of the class.

Early career

USS Conyngham was

commissioned into the United States Navy on 21 January 1916. Following her commissioning, Conyngham joined in tactics and war maneuvers off the east coast in 1916 and in the beginning of 1917 sailed to the Caribbean for war games and fleet maneuvers. Returning to Norfolk, Virginia on 23 March, she joined 5th Naval District Patrol Force and with Wadsworth and Sampson patrolled the approaches to Chesapeake Bay.[1]

World War I

On 24 April 1917 Conyngham sailed from

Queenstown, Ireland, the first destroyers to join English forces for duty after the entry of the United States into World War I earlier that month. This force patrolled off the Irish coast and escorted convoys through the danger zone where German submarine operated.[1]

The destroyers also providing rescue services for stricken ships. When the British ship Karina was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine UC-75 on 17 August 1917,[8] Conyngham sped to her assistance and rescued 39 survivors.[1] A similar distress call from the British ship Hartland on 22 November—torpedoed by German submarine U-97[9]—resulted in the rescue of her 30-man crew by Conyngham.[1]

The British

British Admiralty awarded Conyngham a "probable" kill on the submarine. Unfortunately for Conyngham's record, though, U-62 had survived the encounter.[10]

Post-war

After the hostilities had ended on 11 November 1918 with Germany signing the

Armistice, Conyngham sailed from Queenstown on 14 December 1918 for Boston to have an overhaul. From February to April 1919, the destroyer participated in fleet exercises and division maneuvers in the Caribbean. Returning to Boston, she was placed in reduced commission until 1921.[1]

In June 1921, Conyngham accompanied a Cuban warship that was repatriating the remains of former

decommissioned there on 23 June 1922.[1]

United States Coast Guard career

On 17 January 1920,

Treasury Department eventually determined that the United States Coast Guard simply did not have the ships to constitute a successful patrol. To cope with the problem, President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 authorized the transfer from the Navy to the Coast Guard of twenty old destroyers that were in reserve and out of commission.[11] Conyngham was reactivated and transferred to the Treasury Department on 7 June 1924 for use by the Coast Guard. Designated CG-2, Conyngham was commissioned on 8 March 1925,[4] and joined the "Rum Patrol" to aid in the attempt to enforce prohibition laws.[1]

After the United States Congress proposed the Twenty-first Amendment to end prohibition in February 1933, plans were made for Conyngham to be returned to the Navy.[1] On 27 May 1933, Conyngham arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and was decommissioned nine days later, on 5 June.[4] Conyngham was transferred back to the Navy on 30 June. Later in 1933, the ship was renamed DD-58 in order to free the name Conyngham for a new destroyer of the same name.[2] DD-58 remained in noncommissioned status until struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 July 1934. She was sold for scrap on 22 August in accordance with the London Naval Treaty.[1]

Notes

  1. calibers
    , meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as it is in diameter, 200 inches (5.1 m) in this case. The Mark number is the version of the gun; in this case, the ninth U.S. Navy design of the 4-inch/50 gun.

References

  1. ^
    Naval History & Heritage Command. "Conyngham". DANFS
    . Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Conyngham (6105330)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gardiner, pp. 122–23.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Conyngham: CG-2" (PDF). Historian's Office, United States Coast Guard. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  5. ^ "Table 16 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 749. 1921.
  6. ^ a b "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.
  7. ^ a b c DiGiulian, Tony (15 August 2008). "United States of America: 4"/50 (10.2 cm) Marks 7, 8, 9 and 10". Naval Weapons of the World. Navweaps.com. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  8. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Karina". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
  9. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Hartland". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  10. ^ a b Gibson and Prendergast, p. 221.
  11. ^ Naval History & Heritage Command. "Tucker". DANFS. Retrieved 9 August 2015.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

Bibliography

External links


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