_at_anchor%2c_circa_in_1920.jpg) USSStringham at anchor | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Stringham |
| Namesake | Silas Horton Stringham |
| Builder | Fore River Shipyard,Quincy,Massachusetts |
| Laid down | 19 September 1917 |
| Launched | 30 March 1918 |
| Commissioned | 2 July 1918 |
| Decommissioned | 2 June 1922 |
| Identification | DD-83 |
| Recommissioned | 11 December 1940 |
| Decommissioned | 9 November 1945 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Stricken | 5 December 1945 |
| Fate | Scrapped, March 1946 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Wickes-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,284 long tons (1,305 t) |
| Length | 314 ft4+1⁄2 in (95.8 m) |
| Beam | 30 ft11+1⁄4 in (9.4 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 2 in (2.8 m) |
| Speed | 35knots (65 km/h) |
| Complement | 103 officers and enlisted |
| Armament | |
USSStringham (DD–83) was aWickes-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War I.[1] Later she served inWorld War II asAPD-6. She was the second ship named forSilas Horton Stringham.
Stringham waslaid down on 19 September 1917 atQuincy,Massachusetts, by theFore River Shipbuilding Company. The ship waslaunched on 30 March 1918,sponsored by Mrs. Edward B. Hill. The destroyer wascommissioned on 2 July 1918, Cmdr. Neil E. Nichols in command.
Following commissioning,Stringham was assigned toconvoy escort andantisubmarine duty through the end of World War I. Upon her return to theUnited States in 1919, she was assigned to Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 6 of theAtlantic Fleet Destroyer Force. Except for a six-month period from December 1919 to June 1920 when she was in reduced commission,Stringham remained fully active with the Atlantic Fleet until the middle of 1922. During that time, alpha-numeric hull numbers were adopted by the Navy; andStringham was redesignated DD-83 effective 17 July 1920. On 2 June 1922, she wasdecommissioned at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard.
She remained inactive until 1940, when she was apparently moved to theNorfolk Navy Yard for conversion to ahigh-speed transport (APD). On 2 August 1940,Stringham was redesignated APD-6.
On 11 December 1940, she was recommissioned atNorfolk, whence she operated until mid-1942. Her duties consisted primarily of escorting coastal convoys from point to point along the eastern seaboard and to various bases in theCaribbean Sea. On 18 April 1942,Stringham attacked an enemysubmarine, but could not confirm a kill, even though heavy black oil surfaced soon after her attack. On the following day, she put into Norfolk and participated inamphibious exercises in theChesapeake Bay through the first week in July.
On 6 July, she got underway from Norfolk in company with a convoy bound for thePanama Canal. She transited the canal on 13 July, reported to the Commander, Southeastern Pacific, and continued west. After stops in theSociety andFiji Islands, she reachedEspiritu Santo, in theNew Hebrides, on 14 August. Two days later, she put to sea on the first of many resupply voyages to help bolster themarines defending the beachhead onGuadalcanal.
TheGuadalcanal campaign was unique among the amphibious operations conducted in thePacific during World War II. Neither the United States norJapan enjoyed the overwhelming naval superiority which in almost every other case ensured victory for the greater force. Relative equality made the naval forces of each side a constant threat to the supply lines of the other. Consequently, both sides relied upon the high-speed transport, converted destroyers likeStringham, which were well armed for transports and fast enough to evade more powerfully armed warships. While the contribution of the larger elements of the American fleet cannot be overlooked, the struggle for Guadalcanal was to a great extent the battle of the high-speed transport.Stringham and similar high speed transports succeeded where their Japanese counterparts failed. They kept the marines supplied.
On 23 August, duringStringham's second run to Guadalcanal, atorpedo passed her close astern; and she immediately charged to the attack. She dropped 11depth charges; forced the submarine to broach; and then lost contact. Although her crew thought at the time they had sunk the submarine, subsequent checking failed to verify their victory. Not long after her scrape with the submarine,Stringham was ordered out to join the group of ships attempting to tow the destroyerBlue, torpedoed the previous evening, intoTulagi. The imminence of theBattle of the Eastern Solomons, however, forced that weak formation to abandonBlue and seek shelter. Accordingly,Blue sank at 2223 on 23 August.Stringham resumed her supply runs in the Solomons until 5 October, when she got underway fromNew Caledonia to return to the California coast.
After six weeks in theMare Island Navy Yard, she got underway for theSouth Pacific. Her return to action, however, was short-lived for—while operating inPepasala Bay in theRussell Islands on 26 February 1943—a heavy squall forced heraground on a reef. In maneuvering clear of the reef, she was forced to back down to avoid a collision with the destroyerHumphreys and damaged herstarboard propeller. After emergency repairs atTulagi, she was routed back to Mare Island, where she arrived on 16 April.
Over the next six months,Stringham advanced up the Solomons staircase with the American forces. In mid-August, she participated in the landings atVella Lavella in the central Solomons. That operation cut the Japanese supply lines toKolombangara and delivered vital air bases to the Americans. On 27 October, she and six other APDs, along with various smaller ships, put a force ofNew Zealanders ashore atMono andStirling islands in theTreasury Islands sub-group. November found her supporting the assault onBougainville atEmpress Augusta Bay.
On the day after Christmas,Stringham joined the American forces which outflanked theBismarck Barrier atCape Gloucester, near the western terminus ofNew Britain. From that position, they could move in two directions—west to pounce upon the back of theNew Guinea hen or north to theAdmiralties to isolateKavieng andRabaul.Stringham participated in one operation in each direction.
On 2 January 1944, she supported the forces which landed atSaidor, New Guinea; and, in March, she assisted in theinvasion of Emirau. Between these two operations,Stringham helped land troops in theGreen Islands, the northernmost subgroup of the Solomons, located betweenBuka andNew Ireland.
During the spring of 1944, American military thinking focused increasingly upon the Central Pacific invasion route to Japan. Accordingly,Stringham returned toHawaii withmarines embarked; and both she and her passengers commenced preparations for the invasion of theMarianas. The initial waves of assault troops stormed the beaches atSaipan on 15 June.Stringham discharged her marines the following day and patrolled off Saipan throughout theBattle of the Philippine Sea on 19 and 20 June. On 22 June, Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) 7 shifted to her fromBrooks for theTinian phase of the Marianas operation. Until the landings, the high-speed transport conducted sporadic bombardment and harassment fire on Tinian. On 10 July, she sent her UDT men ashore to reconnoiter the two potential landing sites; and, just before the actual assault began on 24 July, her frogmen participated in a daylight feint atTinian Town to divert Japanese attention from the actual landing sites. On 28 July, she completed her work with UDT 7 in the Marianas and headed forEspiritu Santo, viaEniwetok Atoll.
Stringham, was atPurvis Bay,Florida Island, in the midst of exercises preparatory to the invasion of thePalaus when UDT 7 rejoined her on 5 September. By 12 September, she and her frogmen were off the coast ofAngaur with Task Group 32.5. At 1035, she disembarked the UDT men atPeleliu to clear a path through heavy minefields. That afternoon, she towedAfoa toKossol Passage, and then returned to work with the UDT teams until 27 September, when she headed forManus. There she was moored alongsideClemson. On the night of 3 October, a fire broke out onClemson and swept acrossStringham amidships and aft, igniting the UDT teams' rubber boats and bags of explosives.Stringham drifted from her moorings after the lines were cut, and her crew finally got the fire under control.
Stringham returned to the United States foroverhaul, repairs, and alterations. She did not return to the western Pacific until 17 March 1945. She joined the southern defense group at Saipan and sortied with it forOkinawa on 26 March. The high-speed transport arrived off Okinawa on 2 April, the day following the initial assault, and screened the transport area until 7 April, when she headed forGuam. During that time,Stringham took twokamikazes under fire, one on 3 April and one on 6 April. The former succeeded in crashingLST-599 while the latter gave up his plunge in the face ofStringham's heavy antiaircraft fire, dove on a destroyer, but missed both American ships.
Stringham screened another convoy from Guam to theRyukyus, reaching Okinawa on 22 April. She remained in the vicinity for five relatively uneventful days; then headed back to Guam. On this voyage, she rendered assistance to thehospital ship,Comfort, which had been crashed by a Japanesekamikaze.Comfort was able to resume course without assistance, butStringham shepherded her until relieved byWickes.
While at Guam,Stringham was rammed byLa Vallette, a battle casualty. The APD's starboard side was damaged, as was herbridge, her forward crew's compartment, and much of her electrical equipment. Because of this,Stringham was ordered back to San Diego for extensive repairs. On 19 June, she entered San Diego and began conversion back to a destroyer; and, on 25 June, she resumed her former designation, DD-83. In August, the end of the war brought a halt toStringham's conversion. Later that month, it was determined that she would be decommissioned atPhiladelphia. In September, she sailed from San Diego, transited thePanama Canal, and proceeded to Philadelphia, where she reported for duty to the Commandant, 4th Naval District, on 26 September. She was decommissioned on 9 November 1945, and her name was struck from theNavy list on 5 December 1945.Stringham wasscrapped at Philadelphia in March 1946.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
