USS Upshur (DD-144)
USS Upshur circa 1940-1941
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Upshur |
Namesake | John Henry Upshur |
Builder | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |
Yard number | 459 |
Laid down | 19 February 1918 |
Launched | 4 July 1918 |
Commissioned | 23 December 1918 |
Decommissioned | 15 May 1922 |
Identification | DD-144 |
Recommissioned | 2 June 1930 |
Decommissioned | 22 December 1936 |
Recommissioned | 4 October 1939 |
Decommissioned | 2 November 1945 |
Reclassified | AG-103, on 3 June 1945 |
Stricken | 11 November 1945 |
Fate | Sold on 26 September 1947; scrapped by April 1948 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Wickes-class destroyer |
Displacement | 1,247 tons |
Length | 314 ft 4+1⁄2 in (95.8 m) |
Beam | 30 ft 11+1⁄4 in (9.4 m) |
Draft | 9 ft 1⁄2 in (2.8 m) |
Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h) |
Complement | 113 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Upshur (DD–144) was a
Upshur was
Service history
1919–1922
Following
Assigned to the
At
The
Upshur remained on the Yangtze until 9 July, when she resumed routine operations—target practices and torpedo drills. For her tour on the river, the destroyer received commendation in the
Upshur conducted exercises in the Philippine Islands in the winter and in Chinese waters, off Yantai, in the summer, with more training and "showing the flag" cruises in between. During her tour in the Asiatic Fleet, Upshur was reclassified DD-144 on 17 July 1920. After completing her assignment in the Far East early in 1922, the destroyer arrived back on the west coast in the spring and was decommissioned at San Diego on 15 May 1922 and placed in reserve.
1923–1941
Recommissioned on 2 June 1930, Upshur operated with the
Soon after the outbreak of
Upshur's routine was broken briefly in December 1939. On 13 December, the North German
The rapid fall of France in early 1940 caused alarm in the western hemisphere that French possessions in the West Indies might fall into German hands. American planners drew up contingency plans to take these isles by force if necessary. In the event of such an invasion, Upshur and her sisters in Destroyer Squadron 30 were slated to screen the counter-battery and gunfire support group built around Texas, Vincennes, and Chester. The crisis abated by late 1940.
In between the routine neutrality patrol assignments and training, Upshur was called upon to perform a special escort mission. On 23 December 1940, the heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa departed
In March 1941, the Support Force was established for the United States Fleet, under the command of Rear Admiral Arthur L. Bristol. Based at Narragansett Bay, this group prepared for assignment to "distant seas" and was formed around Denebola, Albemarle, Belknap, and George E. Badger. Four patrol plane squadrons and three destroyer squadrons—the last including Upshur—rounded out the Support Force.
Over the ensuing months, Upshur operated alternately out of Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland; Newport, Rhode Island; Philadelphia; Narragansett Bay; Boston; and Reykjavík, Iceland, after its occupation by the United States that summer. On 11 September, the destroyer departed Argentia, bound for a rendezvous with an outward-bound convoy headed for the British Isles.
Five days later HX 150, a convoy of 50 merchantmen of British and
This mission proved to be only the beginning of American escort operations prior to the formal entry of the United States into World War II, as ships of the Support Force escorted 14 convoys between 16 September and 30 October. As the months wore on, clashes of American warships with German submarines grew in frequency and intensity. Kearny was damaged by a German torpedo on 17 October, and Salinas suffered a similar fate on the 30th. The next day, Reuben James was sunk by the German submarine U-552. Over the ensuing period from 1 November to 7 December 1941, Support Force destroyers conducted seven round-trip convoy missions in shepherding 14 convoys consisting of some 550 ships across the North Atlantic.
World War II
In the period following full-scale American entry into the war with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and until the middle of February 1942, Support Force destroyers escorted a dozen convoys in each direction across the Atlantic—750 ships—in comparative safety.
On the night of 4 February 1942, Upshur departed Londonderry Port, Northern Ireland, in company with Gleaves, Dallas, Roper, and the United States Coast Guard Treasury-class cutter USCGC Ingham. Throughout the day on 5 February, the ships hunted a U-boat whose intentions seemed to be to follow the Americans to their outbound convoy assignment. Seven times the destroyers and the Coast Guard cutter attacked the submarine, dropping 30 depth charges, but could not "kill" the elusive submersible.
After rendezvousing with Convoy ON 63 on the morning of 7 February, the escorts shaped a course southwest with the 30 merchant vessels, shepherding them along in the wintry seas. Upshur's lookouts spotted a U-boat running on the surface two miles (3 km) away and gave chase, but the German lookouts were alert, and the submarine submerged before Upshur could attack.
For two hours, Upshur and Ingham scoured the area, dropping 15 depth charges before they returned to their stations. Upshur had no sooner returned to station when she again spotted the U-boat 8,000 yards (7,300 m) away. Accelerating to flank speed, the flush-decker headed towards the enemy, only to have the U-boat submerge out of sight once more. Upshur fired two rounds from her forward 3-inch (76 mm) gun—both shells splashing around the enemy's disappearing conning tower. Gleaves soon arrived on the scene and assisted Upshur in searching for the U-boat. Neither ship was able to make contact with the enemy that day nor the next, but they succeeded in preventing the German submersible from making contact with the convoy and managed to bring all of their charges safely into port.
Over the ensuing two years, Upshur operated on convoy escort missions with the Atlantic Fleet. Her duties took her from the eastern seaboard of the United States to the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, from the inhospitable climes of the North Atlantic to the tropical Caribbean.
Convoys escorted
Convoy | Escort Group | Dates | Notes |
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task force 19 | 1–7 July 1941[1] | occupation of Iceland prior to US declaration of war | |
HX 150 | 17-25 Sept 1941[2] | from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war | |
ON 22
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7-15 Oct 1941[3] | from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war | |
HX 157 | 30 Oct-8 Nov 1941[2] | from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war | |
ON 35
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15-27 Nov 1941[3] | from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war | |
HX 164 | 10-19 Dec 1941[2] | from Newfoundland to Iceland | |
ON 49
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27 Dec 1941-5 Jan 1942[3] | from Iceland to Newfoundland | |
HX 171 | 22-30 Jan 1942[2] | from Newfoundland to Iceland | |
ON 63
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7-13 Feb 1942[3] | from Iceland to Newfoundland | |
July-Oct 1942 | Trinidad-Guantanamo-Key West convoys | ||
SC 122
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12–16 March 1943 | battle reinforcement from Iceland | |
UC 2 | 9–23 April 1943[4] | from Curacao
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Auxiliary service
As the Allies slowly gained the upper hand in the Battle of the Atlantic, newer and more modern destroyers replaced the aging flush-deckers as front line convoy escorts. Throughout 1944, Upshur operated between Norfolk, Virginia, and Quonset Point, Rhode Island, serving as plane guard and target vessel during qualification trials for aircraft carriers. During this period, she worked successively with Kasaan Bay, Ranger, Mission Bay, Tulagi, Tripoli, Wake Island, Prince William, and Solomons. Reclassified as a miscellaneous auxiliary, AG-103 on 3 June 1945, Upshur was plane-guarding for Lake Champlain when Japan capitulated on 15 August, ending the war in the Pacific. Decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on 2 November 1945, Upshur was struck from the Navy list on 11 November; was sold to the Northern Metals Company of Philadelphia on 26 September 1947; and was scrapped by April 1948.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- ^ Morison, Samuel Eliot (1975). The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 74–79.
- ^ a b c d "HX convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
- ^ a b c d "ON convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 2011-06-19.
- ^ "UC convoys". Andrew Hague Convoy Database. Retrieved 2011-06-20.