USS Drexler
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Namesake | Henry Clay Drexler |
Builder | Bath Iron Works |
Laid down | 24 April 1944 |
Launched | 3 September 1944 |
Commissioned | 14 November 1944 |
Honors and awards | One Battle star |
Fate | Sunk by kamikaze[1] 28 May 1945 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer |
Displacement | 2,200 tons |
Length | 376 ft 6 in (114.8 m) |
Beam | 40 ft (12.2 m) |
Draft | 15 ft 8 in (4.8 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 34 knots (63 km/h) |
Range | 6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt |
Complement | 357 |
Armament |
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USS Drexler (DD-741), an
recipient.The Drexler was launched on 3 September 1944 by Bath Iron Works Corp., in Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. L. A. Drexler, the mother of Ensign Drexler; and commissioned on 14 November 1944.
Service history
Sailing from Norfolk on 23 January 1945 to escort Bon Homme Richard to Trinidad, Drexler then sailed on to reach San Diego on 10 February. Three days later she got underway for Pearl Harbor for antiaircraft and shore bombardment exercises until the 23rd, when she sailed on escort duty to Guadalcanal and Ulithi, the staging area for the Okinawa invasion.
Drexler departed Ulithi 27 March 1945 bound for
Awards
Drexler received one
References
- Brown, David. Warship Losses of World War Two. Arms and Armour, London, Great Britain, 1990. ISBN 0-85368-802-8.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- navsource.org: USS Drexler
- hazegray.org: USS Drexler
- [1] Home Port of the U.S.S. Drexler Survivors' Reunion Association (Official website of the Organization)
- Oral history interview with William Burrows, a seaman on the Drexler, describing the sinking Archived 2012-12-12 at archive.today from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University