_at_anchor_in_New_York_Harbor_on_2_June_1944_(NH_91565).jpg) USSNewell, June 1944 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | Byron Bruce Newell |
| Builder | Consolidated Steel Corporation,Orange, Texas |
| Laid down | 5 April 1943 |
| Launched | 29 June 1943 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Byron B. Newell, widow of namesake |
| Commissioned | 30 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 21 September 1968 |
| Reclassified | DER-322, 1 November 1956 |
| Stricken | 23 September 1968 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping 15 December 1971 |
 United States | |
| Name | USCGCNewell (WDE-422) |
| Commissioned | 20 July 1951 |
| Decommissioned | 1 June 1954 |
| Fate | Returned to USN, 1 June 1954 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Edsall-classdestroyer escort |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 306 feet (93.27 m) |
| Beam | 36.58 feet (11.15 m) |
| Draft | 10.42 full load feet (3.18 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h) |
| Range |
|
| Complement | 8 officers, 201 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSNewell (DE 322) was anEdsall-classdestroyer escort built for theU.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and provided destroyer escort protection againstsubmarine and air attack for Navy vessels andconvoys. Post war, she served in various capacities before being finally decommissioned.
Byron Bruce Newell was born on 29 November 1909 inCamp Hill,Alabama. He graduated from theUnited States Naval Academy on 5 June 1930. During the next decade he completed flight training and served on theUSS New Mexico,USS Saratoga,USS Decatur,USS Kanawha and at the Naval Observatory, Washington. D.C. In August 1939 he reported to cargo shipGold Star, home ported atGuam, before returning to Newport News for fitting out of the aircraft carrierUSS Hornet. Soon after theHornet commissioned 20 October 1941, theEmpire of Japanattacked Pearl Harbor plunging the United States into World War II. On the morning of 26 October, during theBattle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a delayed action bomb exploded on theHornets fantail killing him.
She was laid down 5 April 1943, by theConsolidated Steel Co.,Orange, Texas; launched 29 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Byron B. Newell, wife of Lt. Comdr. Newell; and commissioned 30 October 1943.[1]
The new destroyer escort got under way 17 November 1943, forshakedown out ofBermuda.Newell then sailed, viaCharleston, South Carolina., toNorfolk, Virginia, to train pre-commissioning crews for sister ships of her division. Two weeks, laterUSS Menges,USS Mosley,Newell,USS Pride,USS Falgout, andUSS Lowe had assembled and the first convoy voyage began. The division safely escorted a convoy toCasablanca and back.[1]
Her secondtransatlantic voyage tookNewell toBizerte. Two days pastGibraltar, during a twilight alert 20 April 1944, German planes hit the convoy with atorpedo attack. At 21:00, five planes were reported about six miles distant dead ahead. Four minutes later a terrific explosion occurred in the center of the convoy. At the same time three planes came in at about 40 feet above the water, cutting betweenNewell andUSS Lansdale (DD-426). All starboard 20 millimeter guns and the 40 millimeter gun opened fire. Three of the 20s and the 40s were hitting the after plane repeatedly and it swerved off to port and probably exploded, as two German aviators were picked up in this area.[1]
Gun number 3 observed planes coming in aft and opened up, immediately followed by the 40 millimeter gun. The planes were driven off toNewell's port.[1]
At 21:14, planes were sighted dead ahead. Guns 1 and 2 opened fire along with the forward 20 millimeter guns, blanketing the incoming planes which turned sharply northward. At 21:18 whileNewell was closing the convoy,Lansdale broke in two and sank.Newell andMenges picked up 119 survivors. The ships then searched the area for additional survivors for three hours.[1]
Many members ofNewell's crew went over the side to bring on board survivors too weak to swim to the ship.[1]
The ship with three other DE's then towed merchant ships toAlgiers, where the survivors were discharged. The escorts then caught up with the convoy, which had proceeded toBizerte.[1]Newell had no ship's Doctor and two of thePharmacist's Mates aboard were awarded theLegion of Merit for their courage and fortitude in treating the wounded that were recovered.[2]
After ten days in Bizerte, the convoy started the long trek home. On the second night underway,Menges was torpedoed while tracking down a target, and on the next nightFechtler received a torpedo hit amidships, sinking her.Menges was towed to port and received another stern. The ship then made two more round trips to Bizerte and two toOran.[1]
In February 1945, after the last of her six convoy trips,Newell reported toNorfolk, Virginia, for special duty in the Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet. She testedsonobuoys, determined the minimum speed possible for DEs while dropping various types ofdepth charges, and trained newly commissioned officers.[1]
In April,Newell steamed toFlorida, where she acted as escort and plane guard for a carrier training pilots. During this period, the ship recovered six downed pilots from the water. This assignment lasted until she sailed for New York on 3 June.[1]
Newell sailed toPanama on 18 June, where she helped train submarines and remained on this duty through the summer and theJapanese surrender. On 20 October orders arrived sending the destroyer escort toCharleston, South Carolina., where she decommissioned 20 November 1945 and entered theAtlantic Reserve Fleet.[1]
_at_the_Long_Beach_Naval_Shipyard_on_20_August_1956_(NH_91592).jpg)
Newell recommissioned in theU.S. Coast Guard 20 July 1951, steamed toChesapeake Bay for shakedown, then transited thePanama Canal and proceeded toMare Island Naval Shipyard for post activation overhaul and conversion to a WDE-type ship for ocean station search and rescue duty. Yard work completed, she steamed toHawaii for operational training. She arrived on her first ocean station 27 April and for the next year and a half operated out ofPearl Harbor in the northwestern Pacific, ranging north to theAleutians and west to Japan. Following first phase inactivation at Pearl Harbor the DE arrivedLong Beach, California, 21 February 1954, decommissioned 31 March, and entered thePacific Reserve Fleet.[1]
Fitted out with the latest electronic equipment, manned for the first time by a Navy crew and reclassified DER–322,Newell recommissioned at Long Beach 20 August 1957, and steamed to her new home port, Pearl Harbor. She soon took up station on the Pacific Barrier, the westward extension of theDEW Line. For over seven years she alternated duty at Pearl Harbor with patrols on the Pacific Barrier. During this period she also served inOperation Cosmos, the escort line forPresident Eisenhower's flight to the Far East in the spring of 1960; and provided weather surveillance forJohnston Island/Christmas Islandnuclear tests. On 15 April 1965,Newell departed Pearl Harbor for her 28th Pacific Barrier patrol, the last picket ship to steam for the Pacific Barrier whichNewell helped to formally terminate in a ceremony atMidway Island 1 May. Theradar picket escort vessel then returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for a WestPac deployment.[1]
_underway_c1959.jpg)
Newell got underway 17 May forVietnam viaGuam,Subic Bay andHong Kong. On her firstOperation Market Time patrol, just north of theMekong Delta, she searched many junks and several steel-hulled vessels to help stop infiltration of arms, ammunition, and supplies intoSouth Vietnam to supportViet Cong forces. After upkeep atSubic Bay, her second patrol took her betweenDa Nang andNha Trang. She worked closely with Vietnamese junk forces,Vietnamese Navy Sea Forces,U. S. Coast Guard cutters and other American Navy sea and air forces. On her third patrol, she operated betweenVũng Tàu andAn Thoi; and her guns destroyed a Viet Cong shelter on the Island ofPhu Quoc. Her fourth and fifth patrols took her to the coast between Nha Trang and Da Nang. While on patrol off Viet Nam, she spent 155 days on station, detected 6,905 wooden hulls, inspected 2,472, and boarded 631. She detected 384 steel-hulled ships, inspected 67, and boarded 6.[1]
OnNew Year's Day, 1966Newell departed the "Market Time" area and sailed via Subic Bay and Japan, for home, arriving Pearl Harbor 3 February. After operations in Hawaiian waters, she headed back to the western Pacific 6 June. In addition to "Market Time" duty she supported smaller Coast Guard and Navy ships. On her third patrol she guarded the 17th parallel to stop infiltration from the North. She departed Vũng Tàu on the last day of 1966 and sailed via Japan for Hawaii, arriving Pearl Harbor 19 January 1967.[1]
Underway 6 July for her third WestPac deployment.Newell spent much of July and August onTaiwan patrol before turning toward Vietnam on the 27th. She arrived "Market Time" Area 11 on 30 August, and departed on 19 September forKaohsiung, to resume Taiwan patrol. She headed back toward the Vietnamese coast on the last day of October and relievedUSS Lowe on Market Time Area II, 2 November.Newell departed Vietnam for the last time on the 28th, and steamed for Hawaii via Hong Kong; Subic Bay;Sydney, Australia; andSuva,Fiji Islands arriving Pearl Harbor 29 February 1968.[1]
Newell was awarded theArmed Forces Expeditionary Medal for Vietnam service in June / July 1965.Newell also was awarded theVietnam Service Medal for a number time periods of varying lengths, July to December 1965, June to December 1966 and December 1967 to January 1968.[3]
After operations in Hawaiian waters,Newell departed Pearl Harbor 6 August for WestPac, but three days later received orders to return for inactivation. She decommissioned at Pearl Harbor 21 September 1968, and was struck from theNaval Vessel Register 23 September 1968.[1]
Subsequently, the ship's engines were removed and her hull was used byTwentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 22 January to 15 April 1969 during the filming of motion pictureTora! Tora! Tora!.[1]
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
