USS Rodman

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USS Rodman (DD-456)
History
United States
NameUSS Rodman
NamesakeHugh Rodman
BuilderFederal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Laid down16 December 1940
Launched26 September 1941
Commissioned29 April 1942
IdentificationDD-456
ReclassifiedDMS-21, 16 December 1944
Decommissioned28 July 1955
FateTransferred to
Taiwan
, 28 July 1955
Stricken1 November 1972
Taiwan
NameROCS Hsien Yang
Acquired28 July 1955
IdentificationDD-16
Fateran aground, c. 1969; name and pennant number reassigned to former USS Macomb (DD-458);[1] expended for film purposes in 1976
General characteristics
Class and typeGleaves-class destroyer
Displacement1,630 tons
Length348 ft 4 in (106.17 m)
Beam  36 ft (11 m)
Draft  17 ft 5 in (5.31 m)
Propulsion
  • 50,000 shp (37,000 kW);
  • Westinghouse geared turbines
  • 4 boilers;
  • 2 propellers
Speed37 knots (69 km/h)
Range
  • 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
  •   (12,000 km at 22 km/h)
Complement16 officers, 260 enlisted
Armament

USS Rodman (DD-456/DMS-21), a Gleaves-class destroyer, is the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral Hugh Rodman.

Rodman was

launched on 26 September 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Albert K. Stebbins, Jr., grandniece of Admiral Rodman. The destroyer was commissioned
on 27 January 1942.

World War II

1942

Following

British Home Fleet. Based at Scapa Flow into August, she alternated patrols from Scotland and Iceland to protect the southern legs of the PQ/QP convoy lanes between those two countries and the north Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel. With the long summer days, however, the U-boats and Norwegian based Luftwaffe units continued to exact a heavy toll. In early July, they destroyed Convoy PQ 17
. Further convoys were postponed until the relative cover of the Arctic winter darkness could be regained.

Operation "Easy Unit" then came into being. Toward the end of July, Rodman was designated to assist in filling the increasing immediate logistics demands of the Russians, and of British and American personnel in northern Russia, and to prepare for bases, men, and equipment to provide air cover for the convoys when they resumed. On 17 August Rodman, with the

Vaenga Bay
on 24 August.

En route back to Scotland, the American ships were joined by

Bear Island (Norway)
.

Rodman arrived back in the Firth of Clyde on 30 August and on 1 September got underway for New York. An abbreviated overhaul at

40 mm and 20 mm
guns.

1943

In December she steamed to the Panama Canal whence she escorted a convoy back to the U.S. east coast, arriving at Norfolk on 7 January 1943. The next day she sailed again joining Ranger for two more ferry runs to Africa, this time to Morocco. During March and April, she remained in the western Atlantic, again ranging as far north as Argentia on patrol and escort duty. In May, she returned to the United Kingdom.

Arriving at Scapa Flow on 18 January, Rodman rejoined the Home Fleet. Into the summer she and her sister ships patrolled out of Scotland and Iceland and screened the larger ships of the combined force, including the battleships HMS Duke of York, USS South Dakota, and USS Alabama, as they attempted to draw the German fleet — particularly the battleship Tirpitz — out of the protected fjords.

With August, Rodman returned to the United States and by 1 September had resumed patrols at Argentia. Detached in October, she departed Norfolk 3 November for

Teheran Conference
.

1944

Returning in mid-December, the destroyer guarded carriers on training exercises out of Newport and

Straits of Gibraltar and Oran
. The Anglo-American air-sea effort, devised to keep U-boats submerged to the point of exhaustion and then overwhelm them as they surfaced, required time and patience, as well as coordination. It was instrumental in slicing the number of operational U-boats in the Mediterranean by over one-third between March and June.

On 14 May Rodman, with others of her squadron, departed Mers-el-Kebir to track a submarine which had sunk four merchantmen in less than two days. A 72-hour air-surface hunt ensued, but on the morning of 17 May, the damaged U-616 surfaced, was abandoned, and sank. The force picked up survivors and retired to Mers-el-Kebir only to sail for England the following day.

Invasion of France, Omaha Beach

On 22 May Rodman arrived at

U.S. IX Army Air Force in supporting the U.S. VII Corps (the 9th, 79th, and 4th Divisions) closing on Cherbourg
.

Southern France

Rodman returned to England the same day, proceeded to sea again on 30 June; and, after a 3-day stop at

Mediterranean to participate in Operation Dragoon ("Anvil"), the invasion of southern France. Arriving at Mers-el-Kebir on 11 July, she was en route to Sicily on 16 July, and into August operated between that island, the coast of Italy, and Malta
.

On 11 August, assigned to TU 85.12.4, Rodman sailed from Taranto. Two days later French warships joined the formation; and on 15 August, the force arrived off the Delta assault area in the Baie de Bougnon. From 04:30 to 06:41, Rodman covered the minesweeping craft clearing the channels to the beaches. Two hours of shore bombardment followed. She then shifted to call fire support duties, which, with antiaircraft screening duties, she continued until retiring to Palermo on 17 August. Back off southern France on 22 August, she fired on shore batteries at Toulon on 23 August, covered minesweepers in the Golfe de Fos on 25 August, and in the Baie de Marseilles on 26 August. Engaged in screening and patrol duties through the end of the month, she sailed for Oran on 2 September and for the next month and a half escorted men and supplies into the assault area.

Minesweeper conversion

In late October, Destroyer Squadron 10 escorted a convoy back to the United States. From New York Rodman continued on to Boston for conversion to a destroyer minesweeper. Emerging from the yard as DMS-21 on 16 December, she sailed for Norfolk the following week.

1945

Pacific theatre

On 1 January 1945, Rodman got underway for the Pacific. During the remainder of that month and into February, she conducted minesweeping and gunnery exercises off

Kerama Retto, then prepared for the assault on Okinawa
.

Okinawa

After 1 April landings on the

F4U Corsairs
arrived, joined in, and scored on 20, but not before others got through. Rodman was hit twice more during the 3½-hour battle. Emmons splashed six more, but was hit by five and damaged by four near misses. Her hulk was sunk the next day.

USS Rodman underway, in 1954.

From 7 April to 5 May Rodman underwent temporary repairs at Kerama Retto, then started her journey back to the United States. Arriving at

Charleston Navy Yard on 19 June, her repairs were completed in mid-October, and on the 22nd she sailed for Casco Bay
for refresher training.

Post war

For the next three years, she operated along the U.S. east coast, ranging from

Mediterranean
.

Hsien Yang underway, date unknown

There for only two weeks, she resumed her western Atlantic operations and during the next six years sailed twice more to the Mediterranean, both times for 5-month tours with the

6th Fleet, 2 June to 1 October 1952 and 19 January to 17 May 1954 with a short diversion to Charleston, South Carolina to serve in the role as the fictitious USS Caine in the film The Caine Mutiny
.

Reclassified DD-456 on 15 January 1955, she decommissioned 28 July 1955 and was transferred the same day to the

Republic of China
to serve as ROCS Hsien Yang (DD-16).

In ROCN service she became infamous for being involved in collisions twice in 1956 and was subsequently nicknamed "Gōng Yáng" ("ram"). After she ran aground c. 1969, her ROCN name and ROCN pennant number were reassigned to the former USS Macomb, which was acquired in 1970.[1]

Rodman earned five

battle stars
during World War II.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Blackman, Raymond V. B., ed. Jane's Fighting Ships 1972–1973. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973. p. 310.

References

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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