USS Gregory (DD-82)

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USS Gregory (DD-82) at anchor in an unknown port c1919
USS Gregory (DD-82), circa in 1919
History
United States
NameUSS Gregory
BuilderFore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down25 August 1917
Launched27 January 1918
Commissioned1 June 1918
Decommissioned7 July 1922
ReclassifiedHigh-speed transport, APD-3, 2 August 1940
Recommissioned4 November 1940
Stricken2 October 1942
FateSunk 5 September 1942
General characteristics
Class and typeWickes-class destroyer
Displacement1,191 tons
Length314 ft 4 in (95.81 m)
Beam30 ft 11 in (9.42 m)
Draft9 ft 2 in (2.79 m)
Speed35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement141 officers and enlisted
Armament4 ×
21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

USS Gregory (DD-82/APD-3) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and, as APD-3 World War II. She was named for Admiral Francis Gregory USN (1780–1866). She was converted into a high-speed transport during World War II and was sunk by Japanese warships.

Construction and commissioning

Gregory was laid down by the

launched on 27 January 1918 by Mrs. George S. Trevor, great-granddaughter of Admiral Gregory, and commissioned on 1 June 1918, Commander Arthur P. Fairfield
in command.

Service history

World War I

Joining a

Tiflis, Russia and some British army officers. She offloaded her passengers on the rocky fortress; Gregory sailed for New York reaching the United States
13 June 1919.

Inter-War period

Gregory after conversion to a high-speed transport.

After brief tours in reserve at

Philadelphia Navy Yard; Gregory sailed to Charleston, South Carolina
, 4 January 1921. A year of local training operations out of the southern port ended 12 April 1922, when Gregory entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She decommissioned 7 July 1922 and went into reserve.

As war broke again over Europe, threatening to involve the United States, Gregory and three other four-stackers were taken out of mothballs for conversion to high-speed transports. The destroyers were stripped of virtually all their armament to make room for boats, while other important modifications were made for troops and cargo (such as removing two forward boiler rooms and their stacks). Gregory recommissioned 4 November 1940 as APD-3 and joined Little, Colhoun, and McKean to form Transport Division 12 (TransDiv 12). Gregory and her sister APDs trained along the East Coast for the following year perfecting landing techniques with various Marine divisions. None of these ships survived through the Pacific war, as all but McKean were lost during the Solomon Islands campaign.

World War II

On 27 January 1942 she departed Charleston for

invasion of Guadalcanal, America's first offensive effort in the Pacific campaign
.

Departing

Iron Bottom Sound", and brought up ammunition & supplies from Espiritu Santo
.

On 4 September, Gregory and Little were returning to their anchorage at

Marine Raider Battalion to Savo Island. The night was inky-black with a low haze obscuring all landmarks, and the captains decided to remain on patrol rather than risk threading their way through the dangerous channel. As they steamed between Guadalcanal and Savo Island at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), Yūdachi, Hatsuyuki and Murakumo entered the Slot undetected to deliver a "Tokyo Express" package of troops and supplies to Guadalcanal. After completing the delivery, the crews prepared to bombard Henderson Field at Lunga Point. At 00:56 on 5 September, Gregory and Little saw flashes of gunfire which they assumed came from a Japanese submarine until radar
showed four targets; apparently a cruiser had joined the three destroyers. While the two outgunned ships were debating whether to close for action or depart quietly and undetected, the decision was taken out of their hands.

USS Little
on 30 July 1942.

A Navy pilot had also seen the gunfire and, assuming it came from a Japanese submarine, dropped a string of five flares almost on top of the two APDs. Gregory and Little, silhouetted against the blackness, were spotted immediately by the Japanese destroyers, which opened fire at 01:00. Gregory brought all her guns to bear but was overmatched and less than 3 minutes after the flares had been dropped was dead in the water and beginning to sink. Two boilers had burst and her decks were a mass of flames. Her skipper,

Harry F. Bauer
, in recognition of his gallant action.

At 01:23, with all of Gregory's and most of Little's crew in the water, the Japanese ships began shelling again—aiming not at the crippled ships but at their helpless crews in the water. Gregory sank stern first some 40 minutes after the firing had begun, and was followed two hours later by Little.

Chester Nimitz, in praising the courageous crews after their loss, wrote that "both of these small vessels fought as well as possible against the overwhelming odds ... With little means, they performed duties vital to the success of the campaign." 24 officers and men, including the commanding officer, from Gregory were killed.[1]

Petty Officer First Class Charles French swam 6–8 hours in shark-infested waters near Guadalcanal while towing a life raft with 15 of the Gregory's survivors to avoid capture and possible execution by Japanese forces on land.[2]

Gregory's name was struck from the Navy List 2 October 1942.

Awards

Gregory received two

battle stars
for her World War II service.

References

  1. ^ "Roll of Honour". maritimequest.com. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  2. ^ Wigo, Bruce. "The story of Charles Jackson French" (PDF). ISHOF.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2020.

External links