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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Welborn C. Wood |
| Namesake | Welborn C. Wood |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company |
| Laid down | 24 September 1918 |
| Launched | 6 March 1920 |
| Commissioned | 14 January 1921 |
| Decommissioned | 8 August 1922 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1930 |
| Fate | Transferred to the US Coast Guard |
 United States | |
| Name | USCGDWood |
| Commissioned | 15 April 1931 |
| Decommissioned | 21 May 1934 |
| United States | |
| Commissioned | 4 September 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 9 September 1940 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSChesterfield |
| Commissioned | 9 September 1940 |
| Decommissioned | 17 January 1945 |
| Identification | Pennant number: I28 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Clemson-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 1,215 tons |
| Length | 314 ft4+1⁄2 in (95.82 m) |
| Beam | 30 ft11+1⁄2 in (9.436 m) |
| Draft | 9 ft 4 in (2.84 m) |
| Propulsion | geared turbines |
| Speed | 35 kn (65 km/h) |
| Complement | 111 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSWelborn C. Wood (DD-195) was aClemson-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. She served with theUnited States Coast Guard asUSCGDWood. She was later transferred to theRoyal Navy asHMSChesterfield.
Welborn Cicero Wood was born on 15 January 1876 inGeorgia. He was appointed to theUnited States Naval Academy on 6 September 1895. He served as amidshipman on thebattleshipUSS Texas during theSpanish–American War, before graduating with the class of 1899. He later joinedUSS Oregon on theAsiatic Squadron to serve part of the two years required by law before commissioning.
Subsequently, he was given command of the gunboatUSS Urdaneta, then operating in thePhilippines during thePhilippine–American War. Naval Cadet Wood was killed in action on 17 September 1899, when his ship ran aground in theOrani River, nearManila, and was overwhelmed by insurgent troops who enfiladed the gunboat with a withering fire from the shoreline.
Welborn C. Wood waslaid down on 24 September 1918 atNewport News, Virginia, by theNewport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company; launched on 6 March 1920; sponsored by Miss Virginia Mary Tate; designated DD-195 during the assignment of alphanumeric hull number designations on 17 July 1920; andcommissioned at theNorfolk Navy Yard on 14 January 1921.
Welborn C. Wood operated off the eastern seaboard with theAtlantic Fleet, on a routine schedule of exercises and maneuvers until decommissioned at Philadelphia on 8 August 1922.
During the 1920sProhibition gave rise to smuggling of illicit liquor into the United States. In an attempt to deal with this problem, 25 older destroyers were transferred by the Navy to theTreasury Department for service with the Coast Guard to try to enforce a complete Prohibition. Some began to show signs of wear and tear after the often arduous pace of operations on theRum Patrol and required replacement. Accordingly, five of the newer "flush deck" destroyers were transferred to the Treasury Department in 1930 and 1931.
Welborn C. Wood was transferred to the Coast Guard on 1 October 1930 and was simultaneously struck from theNavy list. Reconditioned and commissioned, on 15 April 1931, atPhiladelphia, the destroyer was renumberedCG-19. She arrived at her permanent station,New London, Connecticut, a week later to operate on theRum Patrol. Shifting south toFlorida waters for target practice soon thereafter, she returned to New London upon the conclusion of her exercises and operated out of that port into the autumn of 1932.
After another period of routine patrols off the eastern seaboard, she operated with the Navy inCuban waters, offNueva Gerona, in September and October 1933, interrupting her scheduled target practices. Released from this duty on 6 November, she sailed north for New York that day, followed by a brief period in New London. The repeal of Prohibition in late 1933 obviated the need for the destroyer's law enforcement duty, andWelborn C. Wood was decommissioned once more at Philadelphia on 21 May 1934.
While the warship lay in reserve, she was reinstated on the Navy list with many of her sisters in Philadelphia's reserve basin as the world situation slowly worsened. On 1 September 1939, German forces invaded Poland, triggering treaty obligations for France and the UK and hence acasus belli for theSecond World War.
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt swiftly ordered aNeutrality Patrol to sea, ostensibly to safeguard American coastlines. The Atlantic Squadron found itself hard pressed to meet the initial demands of the patrol and required additional ships. Accordingly, 77 light minelayers and destroyers on both coasts (San Diego and Philadelphia) were recommissioned for duty on the Neutrality Patrol to augment the units already at sea.
On 4 September 1939,Welborn C. Wood was recommissioned at Philadelphia. She was fitted out for sea and soon sailed to join the Neutrality Patrol. The destroyer conducted these operations interspersed with accelerated training evolutions off the eastern seaboard and into theCaribbean and gulf regions.
British destroyer forces had suffered heavily since the outbreak of war and urgently needed reinforcement. Accordingly, British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill approached President Roosevelt and theDestroyers for Bases Agreement was established.
As of 2005, no other U.S. Navy ship has been named USSWelborn C. Wood.
Welborn C. Wood became one of the first of the 50 over-age destroyers to be transferred to the British government in return for 99-year leases on base sites in the Western Hemisphere as part of theDestroyers for Bases Agreement. She and the rest of her division, Destroyer Division 67, arrived atHalifax, Nova Scotia, on 6 September 1940. The outgoing US crew familiarised the incoming British crew over the few days prior to the turnover ceremony. On 9 September 1940Welborn C. Wood unfurled theUnion Flag; she was subsequently struck from the Navy list on 8 January 1941.
The destroyer was renamed HMSChesterfield (I28). During fitting out, she twice rammedHMS Churchill which was lying alongside, before she sailed for theBritish Isles. As part of the firstTown flotilla,Chesterfield sailed forBelfast, Northern Ireland, and arrived at her destination on 18 November. Shifting toPlymouth on 22 November, the destroyer underwent a refit atChatham before joining the 11th Escort Group,Western Approaches Command, based atGreenock.Chesterfield was modified for trade convoy escort service by removal of three of the original4-inch (102 mm)/50 caliber guns and three of the tripletorpedo tube mounts to reduce topside weight for additionaldepth charge stowage and installation ofHedgehog anti-submarine mortars.[1]
From 1941 to 1943,Chesterfield escorted convoys in the North Atlantic.Chesterfield was assigned to Escort Group B-7 of theMid-Ocean Escort Force during the winter of 1942–43.[2] Screening Convoy HX 222 with Escort Group C-1[3] on 17 January 1943, the destroyer attacked theU-boatU-268 with a depth charge barrage, only to suffer damage from her own charges. Limping to Plymouth for repairs soon thereafter, the ship remained there until November 1943.
Allocated to the 5th Western Approaches Command for duty as a target vessel for aircraft, she remained engaged in this significant, but unglamorous, duty through 1944. Subsequently placed in reserve atGrangemouth,Firth of Forth, on 17 January 1945Chesterfield was eventually broken up for scrap in 1948.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere. Royal Navy |
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