_at_sea%2c_circa_in_the_1930s.jpg) USSHamilton | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Hamilton |
| Namesake | Lieutenant Archibald Hamilton |
| Builder | Mare Island Navy Yard |
| Laid down | 8 June 1918 |
| Launched | 15 January 1919 |
| Commissioned | 7 November 1919 |
| Decommissioned | 20 July 1922 |
| Identification | DD-141 |
| Recommissioned | 20 January 1930 |
| Decommissioned | 16 October 1945 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Stricken | 1 November 1945 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping 21 November 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Wickes-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,090 tons |
| Length | 314 ft 5 in (95.8 m) |
| Beam | 31 ft 9 in (9.7 m) |
| Draft | 8 ft 8 in (2.6 m) |
| Speed | 35knots (65 km/h) |
| Complement | 113 officers andenlisted |
| Armament |
|
The secondUSSHamilton (DD–141) was aWickes-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy followingWorld War I, later reclassifiedDMS-18 for service inWorld War II.
Archibald Hamilton was born c. 1790, the son ofSecretary of the NavyPaul Hamilton. He was appointedMidshipman on 18 May 1809 and assigned to work with a new kind of hollow shot needed byfrigateUSS President. He next sailed forEurope onUSS John Adams on 31 January 1811 carrying dispatches for American officers in theMediterranean. On his return to the United States, Hamilton was assigned toUSS United States on which he won commendation from his commanding officer, CaptainStephen Decatur, for gallantry in action during the capture of BritishfrigateHMS Macedonian on 25 October 1812. Decatur selected him to bear the captured British flags to Washington.
Appointed ActingLieutenant on 21 December 1812 and Lieutenant on 24 July 1813, Hamilton served throughout theWar of 1812, only to be killed shortly after theTreaty of Ghent had formally ended the war. Because of the slow communications of the day, word of peace had not reachedNew York by 15 January 1815 when the frigateUSS President, commanded by Captain Decatur and having Hamilton as one of her lieutenants, ran the blockade out of that port. The next day British men-of-warHMS Endymion,HMS Pomone andHMS Tenedos overtook and capturedPresident after a long and bloody running fight in which Hamilton was killed. He was the last U.S. Navy officer to die in the War of 1812.
Hamilton waslaunched on 15 January 1919 by theMare Island Naval Shipyard,sponsored by Miss Dolly Hamilton Hawkins, great-grand-niece of Archibald Hamilton. The ship wascommissioned on 7 November 1919.
Based atSan Diego,Hamilton participated in battle practice and maneuvers along theCalifornia coast with Destroyer Squadron 17. In mid-1920 she also took part intorpedo andsmoke screen operations inHawaii. Battle practice and other readiness operations ranging across the Pacific to Hawaii continued untilHamiltondecommissioned atSan Diego on 20 July 1922.
Hamilton recommissioned on 20 January 1930 and, aftershakedown, reached her new home port,Norfolk, on 26 November. She served with theScouting Force, operating along theEast Coast throughout 1931, and then returned to San Diego in January 1932. After a year ofplane guard duty andbattle exercises along the California coast,Hamilton again shifted to the East Coast, reaching Norfolk on 29 January 1933. Based atNewport, Rhode Island, she served with the Scouting Force in local operations and exercises.
In 1938 an activated-tank stabilization system designed byNicolas Minorsky was tested inHamilton but exhibited control stability problems. The outbreak ofWorld War II in Europe in late 1939 interrupted further development asHamilton was called to active duty.[1]Hamilton joined other members of her class on theGrand Banks Patrol, which sent American ships as far north asIceland andGreenland to protect their own and neutral shipping.Hamilton continued this duty until converted to a fastminesweeper in June 1941. Reclassified DMS-18 on 17 October 1941, she resumed patrol duty along the East Coast and into the North Atlantic.
When the United States wascatapulted into the war on 7 December 1941,Hamilton's pace accelerated greatly. Wartime duties now tookHamilton on coastalconvoys from New York through GermanU-boat-infested waters as far south as thePanama Canal Zone.
TheCaribbean Sea and the waters offCape Hatteras were particularly rich ground for U-boats, andHamilton more than once attacked U-boats sighted on the surface or detected by sound contacts. On 9 June 1942Hamilton rescued 39 survivors ofUSS Gannet, torpedoed just north ofBermuda.
The shifting tide of war drewHamilton from the coastal convoy route in the fall of 1942 as she became part of "Operation Torch," theAllied invasion ofNorth Africa.Hamilton sailed for North Africa on 24 October withRear AdmiralH. K. Hewitt's Task Force 34, a part of the Allied amphibious thrust. Two weeks later, she cruised off theMoroccan coast providingantisubmarine (ASW) protection and fire support for the first waves of invasionbarges as the Allies landed atCasablanca,Oran, andAlgiers on 8 November 1942.
Hamilton remained along the North African shore on minesweeping and escort duty out of Casablanca until December when she sailed for theBrooklyn Navy Yard, arriving 26 December. The following year sawHamilton engaged primarily in coastal convoy duty, guiding and protecting merchantmen as they threaded their perilous way through German submarine packs from Iceland to the Caribbean.
Departing Norfolk on 3 December 1943,Hamilton transited thePanama Canal five days later and reached San Diego on 16 December. From San Diego she steamed toPearl Harbor and, after a brief training period, sailed forKwajalein Atoll, a key target in theMarshalls. As theMarines stormed ashore there on 31 January 1944,Hamilton steamed in the area to screen transports and provide the fire support that made it possible to land and stay.
After the successful conclusion of that invasion,Hamilton retired toNouméa,New Caledonia, to prepare for the invasion of theAdmiralty Islands. At Nouméa,Hamilton joined forces with three other destroyers converted to fast minesweepers-Hovey,Long, andPalmer—to form a preliminary sweep unit. It was the mission of these ships to enter enemy harbors three to five days before landings to clear outmines and provide safe anchorage for the invasion force. The toll of these operations, conducted before enemyshore batteries had been taken out, was high. Of her original unit onlyHamilton survived the war.
Under enemy fire,Hamilton and her group enteredSeeadler Harbor, Admiralty Islands on 2 March 1944 to begin sweeping operations. After the invasion was launched, she remained in the area screening transports and patrolling on ASW duty until early April when she returned to Nouméa to prepare for the invasion ofAitape. After sweeping operations there before the 22 April invasion,Hamilton served on general sweeping duty in theSolomons and then readied for theMariana campaign.
EnteringSaipan Harbor on 13 June,Hamilton helped clear the way for the invasion. The conquest of Saipan was followed by the assault onGuam. The day organized enemy resistance on Saipan ended,Hamilton sailed fromEniwetok on 9 July to take part in the preliminary bombardment and sweeping activities at Guam. This time a long period on the firing line precededHamilton's entrance into the harbor. Then three days before the invasion on 21 July, she started to sweep the harbor. After screening transports in the retirement area,Hamilton sailed to Pearl Harbor for repairs.
Hamilton's next tour of minesweeping duty fell atPeleliu Island. Arriving off thePalaus on 12 September 1944,Hamilton joined her unit and proceeded through several heavily mined channels. InKossol Passage, the converted destroyers exploded 116 mines. For destroying three extensive minefields, which the Japanese had hoped would ward off or severely damage the invasion force,Hamilton and the other minesweepers received theNavy Unit Commendation. Then, after duty in the transport screen, she escorted convoys from the staging areas to the Palaus to prepare for the assault on thePhilippine Islands.
She departedManus on 10 October and enteredLeyte Gulf on 17 September. Three days beforeArmy divisions came ashore,Hamilton swept the channels aroundDiriagat Island andLooc Bay to clear the way to the invasion beaches. To add to the usual turmoil of the invasion, the fleet as a whole was under almost constant air attack. In theBattle of Leyte Gulf, theImperial Japanese Navy was virtually annihilated; the Japanese lost three battleships, four carriers, six heavy and four light cruisers, and nine destroyers. American losses were two escort carriers, a light carrier, and three destroyers. This battle marked the end of Japanese sea power as an important threat. The fleet had cleared the way for the final assaults leading into Japan.
Arriving at Manus, Admiralty Islands on 31 October,Hamilton underwent availability and repairs and, once more ready for battle, sailed on 23 December to prepare the way for the invasion ofLingayen Gulf. As the minesweepers steamed through the channel on 6 January 1945, wave after wave ofkamikazes attacked.Hamilton emerged from thekamikaze attacks unscathed. After the invasion forces landed at Lingayen Gulf on 9 January,Hamilton remained as a transport screen and escort until 1 February when she sailed for Saipan.
From Saipan, the veteran ship again steamed into battle, this time appearing offIwo Jima.Hamilton recorded no casualties during sweeping operations which began on 16 February, but she had to aidGamble, left powerless by a direct bomb hit on 18 February. In addition to helping the wounded ship fight myriad fires,Hamilton took on board and care for the more seriously injured sailors. After marines stormed ashore on Iwo Jima on 19 February,Hamilton patrolled off the island until on 27 February. The four-stacker then returned to Iwo Jima as a convoy escort 7 March. Three days laterHamilton sailed from the battle and from the Pacific War. Steaming for Eniwetok, she changed course to rescue 11 men from a downedBoeing B-29 Superfortress aircraft on 11 March.
Hamilton reached Pearl Harbor via Eniwetok on 25 March 1945 and, after a brief period of training, headed back to the continental United States. As she sailed under theGolden Gate Bridge on 8 April, the destroyer ended over 100,000 miles of steaming in the Pacific. Scheduled foroverhaul and modernization, she went intodrydock atRichmond, California; but she was subsequently reclassified AG-111 (miscellaneous auxiliary) on 6 May 1945 and taken out of dry dock. The ship spent the few remaining months of the war participating in experimental minesweeping work along the California coast out ofSanta Barbara. Two weeks before theJapanese surrender,Hamilton sailed to the destroyer base at San Diego, where she wasdecommissioned on 16 October 1945. Her hulk was sold to Hugo Neu of New York City forscrapping on 21 November 1946.
Hamilton earned ninebattle stars for World War II service.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
