USS Leary (DD-158)
![]() USS Leary wearing measure 22 camouflage
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History | |
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Name | Leary |
Namesake | Clarence F. Leary |
Builder | New York Shipbuilding, Camden, New Jersey |
Laid down | 6 March 1918 |
Launched | 18 December 1918 |
Commissioned | 5 December 1919 |
Decommissioned | 29 June 1922 |
Recommissioned | 1 May 1930 |
Fate | Sunk by U-275 in the North Atlantic, 24 December 1943 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Wickes-class destroyer |
Displacement | 1,090 long tons (1,107 t) |
Length | 314 ft (96 m) |
Beam | 30.5 ft (9.3 m) |
Draft | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph) |
Complement | 176 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Leary (DD-158) was a
Commissioned in 1919, she saw a number of fleet exercises and training cruises, as well as a period of decommissioning from 1922 to 1930. With the outbreak of World War II, she escorted a number of convoys to Iceland, the Caribbean, and west Africa to support the war effort, later being upgraded to serve as an anti-submarine warfare vessel. On 24 December 1943, while escorting Card through rough seas in the North Atlantic, she was torpedoed three times by the German submarine U-275 and sank with the loss of 98 men.
Design and construction
Leary was one of 111 Wickes-class destroyers built by the United States Navy between 1917 and 1919. She, along with nine of her sisters, were constructed at New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyards in Camden, New Jersey using specifications and detail designs drawn up by Bethlehem Steel.[1][2]
She had a
Specifics on Leary's performance are not known, but she was one of the group of Wickes-class destroyers known unofficially as the 'Liberty Type' to differentiate them from the destroyers constructed from detail designs drawn up by Bath Iron Works, which used Parsons or Westinghouse turbines. The 'Liberty' type destroyers deteriorated badly in service, and in 1929 all 60 of this group were retired by the Navy. Actual performance of these ships was far below intended specifications especially in fuel economy, with most only able to make 2,300 nautical miles (4,300 km; 2,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) instead of the design standard of 3,100 nautical miles (5,700 km; 3,600 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[1][4] The class also suffered problems with turning and weight.[5]
She was the first ship to be named for Clarence F. Leary. A subsequent USS Leary would be commissioned, this one a Gearing-class destroyer completed in 1945.[3]
Service history
Leary was laid down on 6 March 1918 and launched on 18 December 1918. She was sponsored by Mrs. Anne Leary, the mother of Clarence F. Leary. She was commissioned on 5 December 1919.[3]
She departed
Recommissioned on 1 May 1930 with a home port in
In September 1939, Leary and
With the entry of the United States into World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Leary undertook regular convoy escort duties.[9] After 26 February 1942, she spent a year escorting convoys from a mid-ocean meeting point to Icelandic ports. On 7 February 1943, she left for Boston and reassignment.[3] During this time, she was given a shipyard overhaul at Boston Navy Yard and converted into an anti-submarine warfare ship. On 1 March, she left Boston for Guantanamo Bay, and undertook anti-submarine exercises with R-5. She then resumed escort duty, and made several trips to Trinidad and several Caribbean ports.[3] Returning to New York on 25 June, she began escorting transatlantic convoys, and successfully escorted two of them through Aruba and to Algiers and Casablanca.[3] She later joined Task Group 21.41 under the command of Captain Arnold J. Isbell and escorting Card.[9]
On 24 December 1943, the task group was caught in a storm in the North Atlantic when at 01:58 in the morning, Leary made a ping on a U-boat off her starboard
Three or four minutes after the second torpedo hit, the executive officer, Lt. R. B. Watson, concluded a quick inspection of the ship, during which he found a thick, gooey substance covering the deck. He was astonished to see two seamen sitting on a torpedo tube, calmly eating Boston cream pie. The cook had just baked a batch, the explosion spattering most of it on the deck.[12]
Leary received one
Convoys escorted
Convoy | Escort Group | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
HX 152 | 30 Sep – 9 October 1941[13] | from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war | |
ON 26
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20–29 Oct 1941[14] | from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war | |
ON 28
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31 Oct – 3 November 1941[14] | from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war | |
HX 160 | 17–25 Nov 1941[13] | from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war; 1st US RADAR detection of submarine | |
ON 41
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4–10 Dec 1941[14] | from Iceland to Newfoundland: war declared during convoy | |
HX 167 | 29 December 1941 – 7 January 1942[13] | from Newfoundland to Iceland | |
ON 55
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15–18 Jan 1942[14] | from Iceland to Newfoundland | |
HX 175 | MOEF group A4
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15–23 Feb 1942[13] | from Newfoundland to Iceland |
SC 77 | 11–14 April 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 79 | 21 April 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 81 | 5 May 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 84 | 17 May 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
ON 102
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14–21 June 1942[14] | from Iceland to United States | |
SC 99 | 12 September 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 101 | 28–30 Sep 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
ON 140
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19–24 Oct 1942[14] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 105 | 25–26 Oct 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
Convoy SC 107 | 5–7 Nov 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 109 | 20–25 Nov 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 110 | 2 December 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
ON 152
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11–15 Dec 1942[14] | Iceland shuttle | |
SC 112 | 16–19 Dec 1942[15] | Iceland shuttle | |
ON 160
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14–21 Jan 1943[14] | Iceland shuttle | |
HX 223 | 22 January 1943[13] | Iceland shuttle |
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 124.
- ^ Friedman 2003, p. 40.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i DANFS 1969, p. 78.
- ^ Friedman 2003, p. 41.
- ^ Friedman 2003, p. 46.
- ^ a b Parkin 2001, p. 194.
- ^ Lubeski 2010, p. 93.
- ^ a b Lubeski 2010, p. 94.
- ^ a b c d Parkin 2001, p. 195.
- ^ "USS Leary, Destroyer No. 158". researcheratlarge.com. 1 March 2024. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020.
- ^ a b Parkin 2001, p. 196.
- ^ Morison, Samuel Eliot (1956). The Atlantic Battle Won. Little, Brown. p. 175.
- ^ a b c d e "HX convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "ON convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "SC convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
Sources
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Dictionary of American naval fighting ships / Vol.4, Historical sketches : letters L through M, OCLC 551573855, archived from the originalon 30 January 2006, retrieved 10 May 2013
- Friedman, Norman (2003), United States Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, ISBN 978-1-55750-442-5
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985), Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, Volume 2, ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8
- Lubeski, Ray (2010), Linebackers of the Sea, ISBN 978-1452004228
- Parkin, Robert Sinclair (2001), Blood On The Sea: American Destroyers Lost In World War II, ISBN 978-0306810695
External links
- navsource.org: USS Leary
- Booklet of General Plans circa 1941 at Researcher@Large