USS Picking
_underway_on_24_October_1951.jpg)
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Picking |
| Namesake | Sherwood Picking |
| Builder | Staten Island, N.Y. |
| Laid down | 24 November 1942 |
| Launched | 1 June 1943 |
| Commissioned | 21 September 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 20 December 1945 |
| Recommissioned | 26 January 1951 |
| Decommissioned | 6 September 1969 |
| Stricken | 1 March 1975 |
| Fate | Sunk as a target, 27 February 1997 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Fletcher-class destroyer |
| Displacement | 2,050 tons |
| Length | 376.4 ft (114.7 m) |
| Beam | 39.6 ft (12.1 m) |
| Draft | 13.8 ft (4.2 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 38 kn (70 km/h; 44 mph) |
| Range | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 329 |
| Armament |
|
USS Picking (DD-685), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Sherwood Picking (1890–1941), a submarine commander during World War I.
Namesake
Sherwood Picking was born on 21 February 1890 in
Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1911. During World War I, Lieutenant Commander Picking was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism as the commander of the submarine USS O-10.[1][2] During the inter-war period, he commanded the submarine base at Coco Solo, Canal Zone.[3] He was promoted to Captain on 1 July 1939. He died on 1 September 1941 in a plane crash[4]
in Scotland en route to temporary duty in London.
Construction and commissioning
Picking (DD–685) was
launched on 1 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Sherwood Picking; and commissioned
on 21 September 1943.
Service history
World War II
Following shakedown off
San Francisco, California for upkeep, and then to Hawaii, arriving Pearl Harbor on the 31st where she joined the 3rd Fleet. Escorting attack transports, she arrived at Manus Island
3 October.
_at_sea_c1943.jpg)
Assigned to the
bringing reinforcements.Following replenishment at Manus, Picking provided antiaircraft protection for the beachhead at
Mariveles on 15 February, and on Corregidor
16 February.
Following replenishment at Leyte, the destroyer arrived off
Saipan
.
Following her return to San Francisco at the end of the war, Picking decommissioned 20 December 1945, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego
.
1951 – 1969
_off_Oahu_c1963.jpg)
In response to the
77 and 95, conducting shore bombardment with 95 and saved one naval aviator. Upon completion of Korean duty, she departed Sasebo, Japan on 5 August, and proceeded via the Suez Canal to Boston
arriving 2 October.
Following stateside operations in 1954, she sailed 5 January 1955 for European and Mediterranean duty. Operating out of Derry, Northern Ireland, she studied British convoy escort techniques, and then served with the 6th Fleet, before returning to Newport 26 May.
Transferred to the
Pacific Fleet, she arrived at Long Beach, California, 15 April 1956. She departed 5 June for a tour of duty with the 7th Fleet, which included a Taiwan patrol, and returned to Long Beach 18 November. Departing Long Beach 13 August, she made another tour of the Far East, and returned 24 January 1958. On her next WestPac deployment, 8 October 1958 to 27 March 1959, she operated with an antisubmarine hunter-killer group led by the aircraft carrier Yorktown. During this tour, she carried emergency supplies to the fire-damaged Japanese town of Koniya. In the fall she participated in antisubmarine exercises with Canadian forces off the west coast. From January to June 1960, and from August 1961 to February 1962, she made two more WestPac deployments. During the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, she escorted the aircraft carrier Ranger
. East coast operations and training filled 1963.
Deployed to the 7th Fleet on 13 March 1964, she performed escort duty off
Dixie Station off Vietnam 11 September. During September and November, she bombarded enemy positions in South Vietnam
. She returned to Long Beach 16 December.
Following training and local operations in 1966, she departed for WestPac 27 December. She bombarded enemy military, naval, and logistical areas in North and South Vietnam, and destroyed several logistical craft in coastal waters off antisubmarine warfare and gunnery completed 1967. In February 1968 she departed for WestPac, and arrived at Yankee Station
25 April. Following gunfire support duty off South Vietnam and a return to Yankee Station, she arrived Long Beach 17 August.
Following duties with the Pacific Fleet in 1969, Picking decommissioned 6 September 1969 at Long Beach, Calif., and entered the
Navy list
1 March 1975, and sunk as a target 27 February 1997.
Honors and awards
Picking received five
battle stars for World War II
service. and one battle star for Korean service.
References
- ^ "The Navy Cross to Members of the US Navy: World War 1". www.homeofheroes.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
- ^ "Sherwood Picking". The Hall of Valor Project.
- ^ "Picking (DD-685)". Naval History and Heritage Command.
- ^ Clark, Alan (2016-08-03). "Consolidated Liberator Mk.I AM915..." Peak District Air Accident Research. Retrieved 2024-03-12.
- ^ DANFS. Picking.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
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