U.S.S. RINGGOLD
U.S.S. SCHROEDER
U.S.S. STEVENSON
U.S.S. STOCKTON
LAUNCHING
NOVEMBER 11, 1942

U.S.S. Ringgold (DD-500)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career (US)

Namesake: Cadwalader Ringgold
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down: 25 June 1942
Launched: 11 November 1942
Commissioned: 30 December 1942
Decommissioned: 23 March 1946
Struck: 1 October 1974
Fate: Transferred to West Germany, 14 July 1959

Career (West Germany)

Name: Z-2 (D171)
Acquired: 14 July 1959
Fate: Transferred to Greece, 18 September 1981

Career (Greece)

Name: Kimon
Acquired: 18 September 1981
Struck: 1993
Fate: Scrapped in 1993

General characteristics

Class and type: Fletcher class destroyer
Displacement: 2,050 tons
Length: 376 ft. 6 in. (114.7 m)
Beam: 39 ft. 8 in. (12.1 m)
Draft: 17 ft. 9 in. (5.4 m)
Propulsion: 60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed: 35 knots (65 km/h)
Range: 6500 nmi. (12,000 km) at 15 kt
Complement: 336
Armament: 5 - 5 in. (127 mm)/38 guns, 10 - 40 mm AA guns, 7 - 20 mm AA guns, 10 - 21 in. torpedo tubes, 6 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks.

U.S.S. Ringgold (DD-500), a Fletcher class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Cadwalader Ringgold (1802 - 1867). The U.S.S. Ringgold was laid down 25 June 1942 by Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J.; launched 11 November 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Arunah Sheperdson Abell, grand niece of Rear Adm. Cadwallader Ringgold; and commissioned 30 December 1942, Commander Thomas F. Conley in command.

World War II
Shakedown, which took Ringgold from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and back, extended through 18 February 1943. Additional training maneuvers kept her operating in the vicinity of Trinidad until mid-July. Departing New York en route to the Pacific 21 July, she transited the Panama Canal on the 27th and reported to Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor, where she hoisted the pennant of Commander, Destroyer Division 50.

Gilbert Islands campaign, September - November 1943
After several weeks of training, Ringgold joined a fast carrier task force built around U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-10), U.S.S. Essex (CV-9), and U.S.S. Independence (CVL-22). The force worked over Marcus Island 1 September 1943 and then moved on to conduct a raid in the Gilberts. The carrier planes conducted seven strikes 18 - 19 September on Tarawa and Makin. A Japanese diarist recorded that Tarawa ''is a sea of flames''; nine parked planes and five vessels were destroyed. Most importantly, planes from U.S.S. Lexington (CV-16) returned with a set of low oblique photos of the lagoon side of Betio, and these proved to be most useful in planning the assault on Tarawa.

On 5–6 October, the largest fast carrier force organized to that time, comprising Essex, Yorktown, Lexington, Independence, U.S.S. Cowpens (CVL-25), and U.S.S. Belleau Wood (CVL-24), Rear Adm. Alfred E. Montgomery in command, struck at Wake Island. The target was also shelled by battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. The next target was Tarawa, taken by the Southern Attack Force commanded by Rear Adm. Harry W. Hill in U.S.S. Maryland (BB-46). His ships transported the tough 2d Marine Division, all of whose components had fought on Guadalcanal. Destroyers Ringgold and U.S.S. Dashiell (DD-659) were scheduled for an early entrance into the lagoon 20 November. Just before sundown on the 19th, Ringgold thrust ahead of the main body of the attack force to secure a radar fix on a turning point just north of Mavana. Charts of the area, however, were inaccurate. On several, Betio was oriented incorrectly. Fortunately, the submarine U.S.S. Nautilus (SS-168) had reconnoitered the area and had reported the error, and thus a new approach chart was improvised on board Maryland. Accurate radar fixes were thus possible.

Unfortunately, Nautilus' excellent reconnaissance work was ill rewarded. At 22:00, as Ringgold and U.S.S. Santa Fe (CL-60) pushed ahead of the attack force, they picked up a radar contact. Word had been passed to watch for the submarine, but it was believed that she had moved westward that afternoon to rescue a downed flier, and that she would submerge once she encountered friendly forces. But Nautilus, being near a reef, did not submerge. Admiral Hill, anxious to avoid any encounters with possible Japanese patrols, gave the order to take the contact under fire. Ringgold's first salvo struck the base of the sub's conning tower. Although it ruptured her main induction valve, it did not explode. Nautilus submerged in ''dire circumstances'', but her damage control people worked both well and fast, so that she was able to make it to Abemama and complete her mission.

Shortly after 05:00 counter battery fire commenced, and at 06:22 came the scheduled naval bombardment, which resulted in a systematic going over for Betio. Minesweepers U.S.S. Pursuit (AM-108) and U.S.S. Requisite (AM-109), under cover of a smoke screen, swept a channel from the transport area into the lagoon during the bombardment, and they used their own guns to bark replies to Japanese shore batteries. Then, while Pursuit placed marked buoys, Requisite led both Ringgold and Dashiell into the lagoon. A gallant sight they were as, shells falling all around them, they sped into the lagoon. Ringgold took two hits, both duds, although one managed to knock out her port engine. Her Chief Engineer, Lt. Comdr. Wayne A. Parker, is said to have imitated the legendary Dutch boy by plugging a hole with his body while emergency repairs were made.

Larger craft could not yet venture into the lagoon, and so this bold quartet provided all the frontal fire that the beach defenses received, firing in so lusty a fashion that additional ammunition had to be lightered in to them before the day ended. Of the 5,000 men ashore by the end of the day, nearly 1,500 had been killed or wounded. What most helped these Marines throughout that gruesome day was the presence of destroyers Ringgold and Dashiell, relieved by U.S.S. Frazier (DD-607) and U.S.S. Anderson (DD-411). They provided close on call gunfire support, while carrier aircraft bombed and strafed Japanese positions almost continuously until sunset. But the ''air support provided at Tarawa was slight in strength and elementary in technique compared with what was done 18 months later at Okinawa.''

As the sun set, all combatants, except three destroyers, and transports withdrew to offshore areas for protection against air and submarine attack. The transports returned at 21:40. Ringgold anchored inside the lagoon, Anderson cruised the southern shore, and Frazier was off the butt end of the island to provide call fire through the night. The Americans might well have been swept into the sea that night, if the Japanese had been able to mount a vigorous counterattack. But Rear Adm. Keiji Shibazaki, the Atoll Commander, could not counterattack. Half of his 4,500 men were already dead, and his communications had been broken by naval gunfire. He lacked control over units outside his command post, and the only troops that could launch such an attack were on the so called ''musket barrel'', which was under continued bombardment from the destroyers. By 27 November 1943, both Tarawa and Abemama were secured.

1944
After completing repairs in December, Ringgold took part in the assault and capture of Kwajalein and of Eniwetok Atolls during January and February 1944, where she furnished close-in fire support for the landing forces. On 20 March she bombarded the shore installations at Kavieng, New Ireland, as a diversionary action for landings in the Northern Bismarck Archipelago. From 24 April until 1 May 1944, she took part in the assault and capture of Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea. In June Ringgold took part in the Marianas operations. During the invasion of Guam she served as Landing Craft Control Vessel and provided gunfire support. During the initial landing, she dispatched 23 waves of landing craft to the beach. Next came the invasion of Morotai Island, in the Northern Moluccas, where Ringgold again provided gunfire support. On 20 October 1944, American forces returned to the Philippines, and Ringgold again furnished fire support, this time for the landings on Panaon Island off southern Leyte. Two days later, she was ordered to Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, for overhaul.

1945
Early in February 1945, Ringgold joined Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's famed Fast Carrier Task Force (then 5th Fleet's TF 58, later 3rd Fleet's TF 38) for the first carrier strikes against the Japanese mainland and Okinawa in support of the Iwo Jima operation. Under cover of a weather front, the force launched its air groups at dawn, 16 February, 120 miles (220 km) from target. Attacks against enemy air power were pressed into the heart of the Japanese homeland far into the next day. In the course of this 2 day attack, the Japanese lost 416 planes in the air, 354 more on the ground and one escort carrier. After repairs at Ulithi and Pearl Harbor, Ringgold rejoined TF 58 in support of the Okinawa operation, joining up 4 June 1945. Upon completion of this task, the force retired to San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines, arriving 13 June. On 1 July the ship again put to sea, this time with Admiral William Halsey's 3d Fleet Fast Carrier Task Force for strikes against the Japanese homeland. On the night of 15 - 16 July, with Destroyer Squadron 25 (DesRon 25) and Cruiser Division 17 (CruDiv 17), Ringgold participated in an antishipping sweep 6 miles (10 km) off the northern coast of Honsh, Japan. Again, on the night of 30 July, she participated in an antishipping sweep in Suruga Wan and bombarded the town of Shimizu, Honsh, Japan.

Rejoining TF 38 on 31 July, Ringgold continued coastal operations with that force until the cease fire. Ordered to escort U.S.S. Antietam (CV-36) to Apra Harbor, Guam, 22 August, she arrived there 4 days later and underwent repairs. Steaming to Okinawa 16 September, Ringgold took on 83 passengers for Pearl Harbor, and then proceeded to the east coast of the United States. Decommissioning 23 March 1946, she was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Charleston, South Carolina, where she remained into 1959. Designated for transfer to the Federal Republic of Germany under the military assistance program, she underwent modernization and outfitting at the Charleston Naval Shipyard.

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U.S.S. Schroeder (DD-501)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career (US)

Namesake: Seaton Schroeder
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down: 25 June 1942
Launched: 11 November 1942
Commissioned: 1 January 1943
Decommissioned: 29 April 1946
Struck: 1 October 1972
Fate: Sold for scrap, 1 January 1974

General characteristics

Class and type: Fletcher class destroyer
Displacement: 2,050 tons
Length: 376 ft. 6 in. (114.7 m)
Beam: 39 ft. 8 in. (12.1 m)
Draft: 17 ft. 9 in. (5.4 m)
Propulsion: 60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed: 35 knots (65 km/h)
Range: 6500 nmi. (12,000 km) at 15 kt
Complement: 336
Armament: 5 - 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns, 10 - 40 mm AA guns, 7 - 20 mm AA guns, 10 - 21 in. torpedo tubes, 6 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks.

U.S.S. Schroeder (DD-501), a Fletcher class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral Seaton Schroeder (1849 - 1922). U.S.S. Schroeder was laid down on 25 June 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Kearny, N.J.; launched on 11 November 1942, sponsored by Miss Grace Wainwright Schroeder, and commissioned on 1 January 1943, Commander J. T. Bowers in command.

1943
Schroeder provided escort for two separate aircraft carriers making shakedown cruises to the Caribbean and a convoy of merchant ships bound for Casablanca before steaming to the Pacific.

After an overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard, she steamed west and joined Destroyer Squadron 25 (DesRon 25) at Pearl Harbor on 28 July 1943. Schroeder assisted in screening the carrier task force which attacked Marcus Island on 1 September. While bombarding Wake Island early the next month, she was taken under fire for the first time but suffered no casualties. After the Wake Island bombardment, Schroeder sailed to the New Hebrides Islands for training with amphibious forces.

In early November, she joined the Gilbert Islands invasion force. On the morning of 20 November, Schroeder was in the bombardment group that shelled the eastern coast of Tarawa Atoll. She entered the lagoon early the next morning to provide fire support for the Marines landing on Tarawa. In addition to fire support, the DD also acted as a first aid ship for wounded Marines. Schroeder departed Tarawa on the 24th for Pearl Harbor for repairs, as she had damaged her screws on a coral reef in the lagoon.

1944

On 20 March, Schroeder and her division bombarded Japanese coast defenses at Kavieng, New Ireland, with nearly 900 rounds of ammunition; departing for Efate in the evening. Schroeder loaded ammunition at Espiritu Santo and on 1 April, escorted Pocomoke and S.S. Red Rover to Guadalcanal; joined a merchant convoy there, and escorted it to Milne Bay, New Guinea. Later in the month, she participated in the bombardment of enemy positions at Hollandia; and, then screened transports and LSTs at Humboldt Bay. She performed fighter director duties until the 30th when she departed with a convoy for Cape Sudest and, later, to Buna. Schroeder operated in the Purvis Bay-Guadalcanal area until she departed for Kwajalein, on 4 June, as a unit of Task Group 53.1 (TG 53.1). The TG was at Eniwetok on the 28th where Schroeder underwent a period of upkeep and logistics.

On 11 July the DD and her division departed for the Mariana Islands. From 16 to 20 July, the division bombarded the Tumon area of Guam. Schroeder then served on picket duty until 4 August when she escorted a convoy back to Eniwetok. After returning to Espiritu Santo for a period of upkeep and logistics, she sailed for Humboldt Bay on 22 August. Schroeder was assigned to TG 77.5 which sortied, on 13 September, for the invasion of Morotai, Netherlands East Indies. She screened LSTs in their approach to Pitoe Bay and then served on picket duty until departing for Humboldt Bay on the 21st. The destroyer sailed, on 13 October, with TF 78 for Panoan Island, P.I. She entered Leyte Gulf at midnight, 19 October, with a group of transports, and, the next morning, began performing ASW and fighter director duties. On the 25th, she withdrew from the area and sailed for San Francisco. She arrived there on 23 November and underwent a period of overhaul and availability.

1945
On 11 January 1945, Schroeder moved down the coast to San Diego. Departing there on the 20th, the veteran destroyer was back in Ulithi on 7 February where she joined TF 58, the Fast Carrier Task Force. The task force sortied on 10 February. On the 16th and 17th, the carriers launched attacks against airfields, aircraft factories, and shipping in the Tokyo area. The next day, the flattops launched strikes against the Volcano Islands in preparation for the forthcoming assault against that Japanese bastion. Schroeder returned to Ulithi in early March, but, by the 23d, was again operating off the Japanese home islands. Detached from the task group on the 31st, she and Murray proceeded to Ulithi. She sailed from there on 10 April as a unit of TG 50.8, which was proceeding to Okinawa to support the landings there. On the 16th, the DD, supporting the landing on Ie Shima, was at general quarters nine different times to repel enemy air attacks. Five days later, Schroeder with DesDiv 49, bombarded the western side of Minami Daito Shima. The bombardment caused many fires ashore but brought no return gunfire from the enemy positions. Schroeder returned to Ulithi, from 27 April to 9 May, for a period of upkeep, replenishment, and recreation. She rejoined the fast carriers three days later as they conducted bombing and photographic missions over Ky?sh?. Four days later, they supported the troops on southern Okinawa.

Task Force 58 entered San Pedro Bay, on 13 June for an upkeep period. It sortied on 1 July, and, on the 10 July, the carriers launched sustained strikes against Tokyo. On 17 July - 18 July, strikes were launched against targets in the Tokyo Yokohama area. On the 31st Schroeder shelled Shimizu, Honsh Island.

On 6 September, with hostilities ended, the task force entered Tokyo Bay and dissolved its units. Schroeder was ordered to join TF 11 at Okinawa and proceed to Pearl Harbor. She departed Pearl Harbor on 1 October, with orders assigning her to the east coast. On 2 November 1945, the destroyer entered the Charleston Navy Yard, S.C., and prepared for deactivation. Schroeder was decommissioned on 29 April 1946 and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She remained in reserve until 1 October 1972 when she was struck from the Navy List. Schroeder was sold to Southern Materials Co., Ltd., New Orleans, Louisiana, on 1 January 1974.

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U.S.S. Stevenson (DD-645)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career

Laid down: 23 July 1942
Launched: 11 November 1942
Commissioned: 15 December 1942
Decommissioned: 27 April 1946
Struck: 1 June 1968
Fate: Sold 2 June 1970 and broken up for scrap

General characteristics

Displacement: 1,630 tons
Length: 348 ft. 3 in. (106.1 m)
Beam: 36 ft. 1 in. (11.0 m)
Draft: 11 ft. 10 in. (3.6 m)
Propulsion: 50,000 shp (37 MW); 4 boilers; 2 propellers
Speed: 37.4 knots (69 km/h)
Range: 6,500 nautical miles at 12 kt (12,000 km at 22 km/h)
Complement: 16 officers, 260 enlisted
Armament: 4 - 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber DP guns, 4 - 40 mm, 4 - 20 mm AA guns, 5 -21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes (1x5; 5 Mark 15 torpedos), 6 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks.

U.S.S. Stevenson (DD-645), a Gleaves class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be assigned that name. The first vessel, Stevenson (DD-503), was cancelled during construction and never completed. Both ships are named for John H. Stevenson. Stevenson was laid down on 23 July 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, New Jersey, launched on 11 November 1942, sponsored by Miss Mary Stevenson, daughter of Pay Inspector Stevenson, and commissioned on 15 December 1942, Lieutenant Commander Thomas C. Greene in command.

Stevenson commenced shakedown in late December immediately after commissioning, but, on 4 February 1943, she collided with S.S. Berwind Vale off Newport, Rhode Island, losing part of her bow. After repairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, she escorted five merchant convoys between the U.S. east coast and North African ports. During that period, March through December 1943, she made several attacks on suspected submarine contacts, but none resulted in a confirmed kill.

On 23 January 1944, Stevenson left Norfolk to join the U.S. 7th Fleet in the Southwest Pacific. Shortly after arriving, she saw her first action, providing gunfire support for the landings on Los Negros Island in the Admiralties on 29 February 1944. For the next five months she took part in the leap frogging assaults along the New Guinea coast, participating in the landings in Humboldt Bay in April, at Wakde in May, and at Sansapor and Noemfoor in July. On 20 August, Stevenson departed New Guinea to join the Palau Islands invasion force. She was employed during the landings as a unit of the transport screen, both en route and at the objective. Upon completion of the Palau operations, she sailed on 14 October for Seattle, Washington, for overhaul.

Refresher training lasted until 27 January 1945, when she left Pearl Harbor for Ulithi. From February to August 1945, Stevenson escorted the replenishment units of the Logistics Support Group, which supported the fast carrier forces during the Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations and the air strikes on the Japanese homeland. On 5 June, she weathered a typhoon; by the end of the war, she was operating within 200 miles (370 km) of the Japanese coast to support Admiral William F. Halsey's carriers. After brief occupation duty, during which she rode out Typhoon Louise in Japan between 9 - 11 October, the destroyer sailed for home via Singapore and Cape Town. She arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, on 20 January 1946, where she was decommissioned on 27 April 1946 and placed in reserve. She was struck from the Navy list on 1 June 1968. Stevenson earned seven battle stars for her World War II service.

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U.S.S. Stockton (DD-646)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career

Laid down: 24 July 1942
Launched: 11 November 1942
Commissioned: 11 January 1943
Decommissioned: 16 May 1946
Struck: 1 July 1971
Fate: Sold 25 May 1973 and broken up for scrap

General characteristics

Displacement: 1,630 tons (standard)
Length: 348 ft. 3 in. (106.1 m)
Beam: 36 ft. 1 in. (11.0 m)
Draft: 11 ft. 10 in. (3.6 m)
Propulsion: 50,000 shp (37 MW); 4 boilers; 2 propellers
Speed: 37.4 knots (69 km/h)
Range: 6,500 nautical miles at 12 kt (12,000 km at 22 km/h)
Complement: 16 officers, 260 enlisted
Armament: 4 - 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber DP guns, 4 - 40 mm, 4 - 20 mm AA guns, 5 - 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes (1x5; 5 Mark 15 torpedos), 6 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks.

U.S.S. Stockton (DD-646), a Gleaves class destroyer, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Commodore Robert F. Stockton. Stockton was laid down on 24 July 1942 at Kearny, New Jersey, by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched on 11 November 1942 sponsored by Mrs. Horace K. Corbin; and commissioned 11 January 1943, Lieutenant Commander R. E. Braddy in command.

After shakedown, Stockton joined the Atlantic Fleet on 15 March 1943 and began escorting convoys between New York and North African ports. Between 28 May 1943 and 3 January 1944, she escorted four convoys. On her last convoy run, she escorted two oilers to Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, in company with Thorn (DD-647), the first ships to enter the port under the terms of the new agreement between the Allies and the government of Portugal. On 24 January 1944, Stockton got underway for the South Pacific.

On arrival, Stockton joined the Seventh Fleet forces assembled for the invasion of Los Negros Island in the Admiralties. She participated in the initial bombardment that cleared the way for the landings on 29 February and remained in the area for three days, patrolling and giving fire support to the forces ashore. From 9 to 13 March, she supported similar but smaller landings in Seeadler Harbor. As American forces leapfrogged along the northern coast of New Guinea, Stockton acted as an antiaircraft and antisubmarine screening vessel during the landings in Humboldt Bay on 22 April and at Wakde on 17 May; and she provided gunfire support for the Biak landings on 27 May. While off Biak, she received minor damage when hit by a shell from a shore battery on 28 May, and on 12 June, she towed U.S.S. Kalk (DD-611) into Humboldt Bay, after that destroyer had been immobilized by a bomb hit amidships.

On 2 July, she was with the invasion forces off Noemfoor and acted both as screening and fire support ship during the landings. After a month of escort and training duty along the northern coast of New Guinea, she sailed from New Guinea on 22 August to join units of the 3d Fleet for the invasion of the Palau Islands. The destroyer escorted the transports as they approached Peleliu on 15 September and protected them after the landings until she headed home on 14 October.

After overhaul at Seattle, Washington, Stockton completed refresher training at Pearl Harbor on 24 January 1945. Between 10 February and 9 March, she screened escort carriers as they provided air cover for the landings on Iwo Jima. On 21 February, two days after the landings, Stockton's group was attacked by four suicide planes, which sank the escort carrier U.S.S. Bismarck Sea (CVE-95), and damaged U.S.S. Lunga Point (CVE-94). From 18 March to the end of the war, the destroyer escorted replenishment units of the Logistics Support Group as they provided fuel and supplies to the Fleet during the Okinawa campaign and the concurrent air strikes on the Ryukyus and the Japanese home islands. On 31 March, the day before the Okinawa landings, Stockton and U.S.S. Morrison (DD-560) sank the Japanese submarine I-8, after a 3 hour action. In early April, Stockton directed the salvage of U.S.S. Thornton (AVD-11), which had collided with two tankers of Stockton's group. Stockton continued her support duties during the first months of the occupation of Japan. She sailed on 15 October from Japan and proceeded, via Singapore and Cape Town, to New York. The destroyer was decommissioned on 16 May 1946 and placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina. She was struck from the Navy list on 1 July 1971. Stockton received 8 battle stars for her World War II service.