History
United States
Name	USSLansdale (DD-426)
Namesake	LieutenantPhilip Lansdale
Builder	Boston Navy Yard
Laid down	19 December 1938
Launched	30 October 1939
Sponsored by	Mrs. Ethel S. Lansdale
Commissioned	17 September 1940
Honors & awards	4Battle Stars
Fate	Sunk by enemy action, 20 April 1944
General characteristics
Class & type	Benson-classdestroyer
Displacement	1,620 long tons (1,650 t)
Length	347 ft 11 in (106.05 m)
Beam	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draft	11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Speed	33 kn (38 mph; 61 km/h)
Complement	191
Armament	5 ×5 in (127 mm)/38 cal Mark 12dual purpose guns, 4 ×.50 in (13 mm)machine guns, 10 ×21 inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes, 1 ×depth charge thrower

The secondUSSLansdale (DD-426) was aBenson-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. She was named forPhilip Lansdale.

Lansdale was laid down on 19 December 1938 byBoston Navy Yard; launched on 30 October 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Ethel S. Lansdale, widow of the ship's namesake; and commissioned on 17 September 1940 atBoston, Massachusetts.

After shakedown in theCaribbean,Lansdale departed Boston on 18 January 1941 forNeutrality patrol duty in the Caribbean. She cruised offCuba, theVirgin Islands,Martinique, and theBritish West Indies before returning to Boston on 6 March. After escort training along the Atlantic coast, she screened transports fromCharleston, South Carolina, toNS Argentia,Newfoundland, in late June, then departed Argentia on 30 June on a neutrality-patrol run toIceland. During the remainder of the year, she made three escort runs between Newfoundland and Iceland.En route toHvalfjörður, Iceland, when the United States entered the war against theAxis, she steamed to Boston from 15 to 24 December.

Lansdale escorted seven troopships fromNew York City toKey West from 22 to 27 January 1942 before arrivingCasco Bay, Maine on 1 February to serve as plane guard for theaircraft carrierWasp. For the next six months,anti-submarine warfare patrols and escort run carried her from the eastern seaboard to Iceland, the Caribbean, thePanama Canal, and theGulf of Mexico. From 8 to 21 May, she patrolled the Atlantic betweenPuerto Rico andBermuda with thelight cruisersSavannah andJuneau, after which she resumed convoy screening out ofNorfolk, Virginia.

On 9 August,Lansdale joined a convoy out ofHalifax, Nova Scotia, bound forNorthern Ireland. ArrivingLisahally on the 18th, she returned as escort fromGreenock,Scotland, to New York from 27 August to 5 September. After escorting another convoy from New York via Halifax to Northern Ireland, she returned to New York from 10 to 21 October as screen for thebattleshipArkansas, then departed on 2 November withTask Force 38 (TF 38) to escortconvoy UGF 2 to north Africa. ArrivingSafi,French Morocco on 18 November, she patrolled approaches to Safi andCasablanca until 22 December, when she sailed for New York in a convoy of 41 transports and six escorts.

Reaching New York on 10 January 1943, she underwent overhaul until 30 January, when she departed with a convoy for Northern Ireland. She reachedDerry on 9 February, joined with units of the 42nd British Escort Group, and departed on 15 February to escort tankerconvoy UC 1 from theUnited Kingdom to the West Indies. As the convoy steamed south of theAzores on the 23rd, a Germanwolf pack of six to 10submarines made early morning and late night attacks that sank three tankers and damaged two others.Lansdale made several ASW counterattacks without known results, but two nights later she hit a submergingU-boat with 5 in (130 mm) gunfire. Although scattered night attacks continued until the 27th, prompt, aggressive counterattacks by American escorts prevented further losses by the Americans.

Lansdale arrivedPort-au-Spain,Trinidad on 6 March as escort for SSMaasyerk before proceeding on 8–9 March toCuraçao,Netherlands Antilles for more escort duty. From 20 March to 6 October, she made eight escort runs between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom, three convoy runs between Curaçao and New York, and periodic escort and patrol runs to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Continuing escort duty out of Norfolk, Virginia,Lansdale made a run to Casablanca and back from 3 November to 17 December before sailing again for north Africa on 13 January 1944. She reached Casablanca on 1 February and continued the next day viaOran andAlgiers toTunis where she arrived the 10th. After escorting the light cruiserBrooklyn to Algiers, she arrivedPozzuoli,Italy on 14 February for operations off theAnzio beachhead. Until returning to Oran from 22 to 26 March, she searched for German submarines and screened the light cruiserPhiladelphia during fire support and shore bombardment operations fromNaples to Anzio.

Lansdale departed Oran on 10 April and joinedconvoy UGS 37, composed of 60 merchant ships and sixLSTs, bound from Norfolk toBizerte. At 23:30 on 11 April, some 16 to 25 GermanDornier andJunkers bombers attacked the convoy offCape Bengut, Algeria. During the next hour, the planes lit the night with flares and struck at the tightly formed convoy with torpedoes and radio-controlled bombs. Although thedestroyer escortHolder took a torpedo hitamidships, warning of an impending attack, an effective smokescreen, and massive, accurateanti-aircraft fire repulsed the enemy planes. While losing four planes, the Germans failed to sink a single ship.

Leaving UGS 37 on 12 April,Lansdale escorted three merchant ships from Oran to westboundconvoy GUS 36. Then she sailed from Oran 18 April to joinUGS 38 the next day. Stationed off the port bow of the Bizerte-bound convoy, she served as a "jam ship" against radio-controlled bombs, in addition to screening against U-boats. As the ships hugged the Algerian coast during first watch on 20 April, they approached approximately the same position off Cape Bengut where theLuftwaffe had attacked UGS 37 on 11–12 April. Though warned of possible attack during the afternoon and evening, the ships had little chance to avoid the strike unleashed by the Germans shortly after 21:00.

Attacking as twilight faded on 20 April, the German planes, flying close to shore and low over the water, evaded radar detection until they were almost upon the convoy. Some 18 to 24 Junkers andHeinkel bombers struck in three waves, minutes after the destroyer escortJoseph E. Campbell of the outer screen reported, "They are all around me...they are enemy, they are enemy."

The first wave of about nineJunkers Ju 88s attacked from dead ahead. Their torpedoes damaged SSSamite and detonated high explosives aboardSS Paul Hamilton, blowing her out of the water and killing all 580 men on board. The second wave of about seven Junkers hit thestarboard flank of the convoy and damaged two more merchant ships, one fatally. And the third, consisting of about fiveHeinkel He 111s, bore down on the convoy'sportbow,Lansdale's station.

Silhouetted by the explosion ofPaul Hamilton at 21:04,Lansdale was attacked from both port and starboard by planes from two and possibly three waves. As Heinkels approached on the port bow and launched two torpedoes that missed,Lansdale turned to starboard to repel five Ju 88s which had veered seaward from the convoy. Her guns hit one as it passed down the starboard side; but, as it crashed wellastern, another launched a torpedo 500 yd (460 m) on the starboardbeam before passing over theforecastle under heavy fire and going down on the port quarter.

The torpedo struck the starboard side forward about 21:06, wrecking the forward fireroom and opening both sides to the sea. Almost split in two,Lansdale immediately took a 12°list to port. Herrudder jammed 22° to starboard, and she steamed at 13 kn (15 mph; 24 km/h) in a clockwise circle.

At 21:12, she again came under attack. Two bombers launched torpedoes on the beam and broad on the bow to port but both missed the still-turning ship. Despite the increasing list, her guns downed one of the planes as it turned away from the ship.

At 21:20, the course of the ship straightened out, but the list increased steadily. Within two minutes, it reached 45° despite the efforts of her crew to control the battle damage. Her skipper, Lt. Cdr. D. M. Swift, ordered her abandoned when he feared the stricken ship might roll "completely over." By 21:30, the list had increased to 80° and the destroyer began to break up. Five minutes later she broke in half, and the stern section quickly sank. The forward section sank 20 minutes later as destroyer escortsMenges andNewell began rescue operations.

The two destroyer escorts swept the water from 21:55 to 03:30 the next morning searching for survivors.Menges picked up 115 men, including two German fliers who were shot down either byLansdale orNewell.Newell rescued 119 survivors, including Lt. Cdr. Swift. Another survivor wasRobert M. Morgenthau, later district attorney of New York County (Manhattan). Forty-seven officers and men were carried down withLansdale.

Lt. William B. Neal Jr. was cited for distinguished heroism following the attack, receiving theNavy and Marine Corps Medal, Although injured, he continued to provide first aid after the order to abandon ship was given. He continued for over thirty-six hours, saving several lives.^[1]

Lansdale received fourbattle stars for World War II service.

 This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.

• Photo gallery of USSLansdale (DD-426) at NavSource Naval History

• Benson-class destroyers
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