.jpg) USS Rhind in January, 1945 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | Alexander Colden Rhind |
| Builder | Philadelphia Naval Shipyard |
| Laid down | 22 September 1937 |
| Launched | 28 July 1938 |
| Commissioned | 10 November 1939 |
| Decommissioned | 26 August 1946 |
| Stricken | 5 April 1948 |
| Fate | Sunk, 22 March 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Benham-classdestroyer |
| Displacement | 2,350 tons (full) |
| Length | 341 ft 3 in |
| Beam | 35 ft 5 in |
| Draft | 14 ft 4 in |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 34knots |
| Complement | 184 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USSRhind (DD-404) was aBenham-classdestroyer in theUnited States Navy. She was named forAlexander Colden Rhind.
Rhind (DD-404) was laid down 22 September 1937 at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard; launched 28 July 1938; sponsored by Mrs. Frederick S. Camp; and commissioned 10 November 1939.
Following an extended -shakedown cruise toBrazil and postshakedown availability,Rhind steamed south again and from 5 July to 19 December 1940 conducted exercises in theCaribbean and patrolled offMartinique. Employed as carrier escort and engaged in fleet exercises during the first half of 1941, she joined TF 1 in June and through the northern summer steamed in the NorthAtlantic shipping lanes onNeutrality Patrol. In August she escortedAugusta (CA-31), withPresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt embarked, toNewfoundland for theAtlantic Charter conferences. Then, at their conclusion, she escortedHMSPrince of Wales, carryingPrime MinisterWinston Churchill, toIceland. On 17 August she returned to patrol duty off the Newfoundland coast.
Detached in October,Rhind escortedYorktown (CV-5) from midocean toHalifax, Nova Scotia in early November, then joined a Halifax-Cape Town convoy as escort. Off SouthwestAfrica 27 November, she was detailed to escortRanger (CV-4) toTrinidad. They arrived 3 December. Four days later the United States enteredWorld War II.
Rhind then steamed north to patrol the waters offBermuda. In February 1942, she shifted further north and through March escorted Icelandic convoys. In April she shepherded a convoy to thePanama Canal Zone and on the 23rd, while en route back to New York, conducted her firstdepth charge attack on a Germansubmarine. TheU-boat had shelled aNorwegian merchantman offNew Jersey. Arriving at New York the same day, she departed again on the 30th to escort convoy AT-15 to Iceland. There, on 15 May, she joined TF 99 and for the next 3 months operated with that force and theBritish Home Fleet in hunting German units operating out of Norway to intercept convoys toMurmansk andArchangel.
Rhind returned to the United States in July. In August she escorted coastal convoys betweenBoston andNS Argentia, then turned south to conduct ASW operations off the southeastern coast and in the Caribbean. Exercises in theCasco Bay area followed in early October and on the 24th she got underway forNorth Africa. ScreeningMassachusetts (BB-59) en route she arrived off theMoroccan coast on the night of 7 November. During theNaval Battle of Casablanca on the 8th she shelledVichy vessels attempting to repel theAllied invasion of North Africa and blasted shore batteries. Through the 12th, she supported the troops ashore and screened larger ships in theFedhala-Casablanca area. Back atHampton Roads 20 November, the destroyer resumed escort duty and into the new year, 1943, guarded convoys to North Africa. On 28 April she returned to New York with convoy GUS-6, which had departed, as UGS-6, 4 March and had lost five merchantmen to a wolfpack between the 13th and 17th. On 10 May,Rhind departed New York again for North Africa, escorting a troopship convoy, and arrived atAlgiers 2 June. For the next month she conductedASW patrols and escorted ships along the North African coast.
On 10 July the invasion ofSicily began. On the 14thRhind arrived off the coast, in the screen of a reinforcement convoy and joined the antiaircraft defense and fire-support group. Through the 20th she patrolled offGela, then shifted toPalermo. After screening the mine and patrol craft which cleared the harbor, she remained on antiaircraft station. On the 26th, as she stood by the heavily damagedMayrant (DD-402) taking off wounded and assisting in salvage work, she sustained several casualties and some damage to her hull from a near miss delivered by a Junkers Ju 88. Through 2 August she continued to patrol off Palermo, then on the 3rd, commenced offensive sweeps nearMessina, sinking an 'E-boat' on the first day, and supported "leap frog" landings along the coast.
Caught in another air raid on the 22nd,Rhind gained a brief respite atOran, but suffered further near misses while escorting a convoy to Bizerte through September. AtBizerte on the 6th, she fought off another raid, an attempt to disrupt the forces staging for the invasion atSalerno. On the 9th, the destroyer arrived in theGulf of Salerno and continued her war with theLuftwaffe. On the 11th she got underway for Oran, whence, for the next month and a half,Rhind escorted reinforcements to Italy. In November she sailed for New York and, after guarding two New York toUnited Kingdom convoys, shifted to coastwise and Caribbean escort duty interspersed with offensive ASW activities. On 26 July 1944 she resumed transatlantic convoy duty with a run to the United Kingdom. A convoy toNaples followed in late September and, in November and December, she screened carrierShangri-La (CV-38) on her shakedown cruise.
Between January and March 1945Rhind continued coastal and Caribbean escort duty. Then after another run to Britain, 23 March to 18 April, she prepared for transfer to the Pacific Theater. Sailing 5 May, she arrived atPearl Harbor on the 30th; and, after exercises there, steamed westward in the screen of carriersLexington (CV-16),Hancock (CV-19), andCowpens (CVL-25). On 20 June, the carriers launched strikes againstWake Island. Then, minusCowpens and an escort, the force continued on toLeyte, arriving 26 June. From Leyte,Rhind steamed to Ulithi, whence she escorted cargo and troop ships toOkinawa and conducted ASW patrols in theCarolines. Shifted toSaipan in August, she escorted another convoy to Okinawa after the cessation of hostilities, then on 2 September steamed toPagan Island whereCommodoreVernon F. Grant accepted the surrender of theJapanese garrisoned there.
Returning to Saipan the same day,Rhind accompanied landing craft toMarcus Island. Then, on the 16th, headed north forIwo Jima, whence she patrolled on air/sea rescue station until 2 November. She returned to Saipan on the 4th and operated in theMarianas Islands until mid-December when she got underway for the United States. Arriving atSan Diego, California 30 December, she was stripped and returned to Pearl Harbor and prepared for experimental testing. On 15 May she joined Joint Task Force 1 forOperation Crossroads, theatomic test series scheduled to be detonated atBikini Atoll in July.
Surviving the tests on 1 and 25 July, buthighly contaminated,Rhind was decommissioned 26 August 1946 and moved toKwajalein where, after radiological clearance had been given and further examinations had been made, she was sunk, 22 March 1948. Her name was struck from theNavy list 5 April 1948.
As of 2006, no other ship in the United States Navy has been namedRhind.
Rhind earned fourbattle stars during World War II.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
