Gearing-class destroyer
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/USS_Warrington_%28DD-843%29_underway%2C_circa_in_the_1960s_%28NH_107115%29.jpg/300px-USS_Warrington_%28DD-843%29_underway%2C_circa_in_the_1960s_%28NH_107115%29.jpg) USS
Warrington
(DD-843)
|
History
|
United States
|
Name
| USS
Warrington
|
Namesake
| Lewis Warrington
, awarded
Congressional Gold Medal
|
Builder
| Bath Iron Works
,
Bath, Maine
|
Laid down
| 23 April 1945
|
Launched
| 27 September 1945
|
Sponsored by
| Mrs. Katherine Chubb Sheehan
|
Commissioned
| 20 December 1945
|
Decommissioned
| 30 September 1972
|
Stricken
| 1 October 1972
|
Homeport
| Newport, Rhode Island
|
Fate
| transferred to
Taiwan
, 24 April 1973, for spare parts
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Gearing
-class
destroyer
|
Displacement
| 3,460 tons
|
Length
| 390' 6" (119 m) (oa)
|
Beam
| 40' 10" (12.4 m)
|
Draft
| 14' 4" (4.4 m) (Max)
|
Propulsion
| 60,000 SHP (44.7 MW);
General Electric
Geared Turbines, 2 screws
|
Speed
| 36.8 knots (68.2 km/h)
|
Range
| 4,500 NM@ 20 Knots (8.300 km @ 37 km/h)
|
Complement
| 336 officers and enlisted
|
Armament
| |
USS
Warrington
(DD-843)
was a
Gearing
-class
destroyer
that served the
U.S. Navy
from the end of
World War II
to the
Vietnam War
, when she was damaged by two underwater explosions, causing her to be listed as "beyond repair" and excessed to the Navy of the
Republic of China
.
Built in Bath, Maine
[
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]
The third U.S. Navy ship to be so named,
Warrington
(DD-843) was laid down on 14 May 1945 at
Bath, Maine
, by the
Bath Iron Works
Corporation; launched on 27 September 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Katherine Chubb Sheehan; and commissioned at the
Boston Naval Shipyard
on 20 December 1945.
[1]
Naval service
[
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]
Post-World War II service
[
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]
Warrington
conducted
shakedown
training and winter exercises in the
West Indies
during February and early March and then returned to
Boston, Massachusetts
, for duty in
Destroyer Division
(DesDiv) 82,
Destroyer Squadron
(DesRon) 8.
[1]
During the next year, the destroyer cruised almost the length of the eastern seaboard plane-guarding for carriers such as
USS
Ranger
. Late in the spring of 1946, she joined
USS
Little Rock
in an extended cruise to
Europe
and visited ports in
England
,
Scotland
,
Sweden
,
Denmark
,
Belgium
,
Portugal
, and the
Netherlands
before entering the
Mediterranean
for her first tour of duty with the
U.S. 6th Fleet
. That assignment ended on 8 February 1947 when she passed through the
Strait of Gibraltar
on her way back home.
Warrington
arrived at
New York City
on 19 February and entered the naval shipyard there for voyage repairs.
[1]
At the conclusion of the yard work on 8 March, she steamed to her new home port,
Newport, Rhode Island
, and for two years cruised along the
U.S. East Coast
, serving primarily as gunnery training ship for the
Atlantic Destroyer Force
. In April 1949, the ship was reassigned to
DesDiv
222, which she served as
flagship
, and to
DesRon
22. Late that summer, she departed the
New England
coast for a two-month training voyage to the West Indies. After a brief stop at
Norfolk, Virginia
, at the conclusion of those maneuvers, Warrington headed north at the end of October for cold weather training near the
Arctic Circle
, returning to Newport on 20 November.
[1]
On 3 January 1950, the destroyer sailed from Newport in company with her squadron and
USS
Wright
for hunter/killer exercises along the U.S. East Coast and in the vicinity of
Bermuda
. The following month, she conducted antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises with
USS
Dogfish
out of
Newport News, Virginia
, before returning to that port for a brief yard availability.
[1]
The ship next returned north to Newport for a tour of duty with the Operational Development Force detachment during which her division tested ASW tactics in company with
USS
Saipan
along the coast of
Newfoundland
and in the waters around
Iceland
. That assignment lasted from 10 July to 8 August, at which time she returned to Newport to prepare for her second deployment to the Mediterranean. That tour of duty lasted only two months and one day. The destroyer returned to Newport on 10 November and resumed normal east coast operations.
[1]
Mediterranean cruise period
[
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]
In January 1951,
Warrington
changed from DesDiv 222 to DesDiv 142 for which she served as flagship. Over the next eight years, the destroyer settled into a fairly repetitive routine, alternating four deployments to the U.S. 6th Fleet with operations out of Newport. Her Mediterranean cruises came in the spring of 1952, the summers of 1954 and 1956, and in the spring of 1957.
[1]
12 January 1955,
Warrington
collided with
USS
Power
near Puerto Rico.
[2]
Her
U.S. 2d Fleet
duties consisted primarily of ASW training in company with U.S. Atlantic Fleet aircraft carriers and took her from the coast of New England south to the
Caribbean
and the
West Indies
.
[1]
Providing cadet training
[
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]
In May 1959,
Warrington
was reassigned to DesDiv 102. In June, she embarked
U.S. Naval Academy
midshipmen
at
Annapolis, Maryland
, for a unique training cruise. Instead of Europe or the West Indies, the area of activity for that voyage was the
Great Lakes
.
[1]
Warrington
passed through the newly constructed
St. Lawrence Seaway
and participated in the opening ceremonies for the waterway led by
Queen Elizabeth II
of
Great Britain
and President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
of the United States. At the conclusion of those ceremonies?held at
Montreal, Canada
, on 26 June --
Warrington
continued on her mission, visiting a series of American ports on the Great Lakes, including
Chicago, Illinois
,
Detroit, Michigan
, and
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
, among others before returning to Newport on 4 August.
[1]
During the next 22 months, she performed her normal duties out of Newport. Exercises along the east coast occupied her for the remainder of 1959 and the beginning of 1960. On 21 March, she began another cruise with the 6th Fleet which also included a six-week assignment with the Middle East Force between 16 June and 28 July. She concluded her Mediterranean deployment at
Rota, Spain
, on 7 October and reentered Newport on the 15th. East coast operations?broken only by a visit to
Washington, D.C.
, in January 1961 for the inauguration of President
John F. Kennedy
and duty as a recovery ship for a
Project Mercury
test in February?dominated her schedule until late in the spring of 1961.
[1]
1961 modernization
[
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]
On 12 May, the destroyer entered the
New York Naval Shipyard
for major alterations during her Mark I Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) overhaul. Those modifications reflected the enormous technological advances registered in
antisubmarine warfare
since the end of
World War II
and might be considered the beginning of the final phase in the shift of mission for destroyers from a surface-attack role to that of a submarine hunter.
[1]
Her superstructure silhouette changed markedly as she received a larger combat information center (CIC) and sonar control as well as an antisubmarine rocket (
ASROC
) launcher, a
torpedo
magazine, and a hangar and flight deck for the
Gyrodyne QH-50 DASH
, a drone antisubmarine helicopter. The new ASROC launcher was installed between the stacks in the space formerly held by her
21 inch (533 mm)
torpedo tubes
which, in turn, were replaced by two 12.75-inch triple torpedo tube mounts located on the 01 level forward of the bridge ? one to port and the other to starboard. These MK 32 mounts replaced the second 5-inch 38-caliber gun mount forward. The DASH flight deck and hangar, along with the ASROC/torpedo magazine was installed just aft of the after stack. Her surface battery was thus reduced to two twin 5-inch, 38-caliber in twin mounts.
[1]
East coast operations
[
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]
Warrington's
FRAM conversion took eight days short of a year. She emerged from the New York Naval Shipyard on 4 May 1962 and began various post-conversion qualifications and tests which culminated in refresher training in the
Guantanamo Bay
area during June and July. After two weeks at the Fleet Sonar School at
Key West, Florida
, she returned to Newport on 12 August to begin duty with the Atlantic Fleet's ASW forces.
[1]
Over the next 27 months,
Warrington's
east coast operations routine?annual "Springboard" operations in the
Caribbean
and ASW training evolutions out of Newport?was spiced up by a series of special assignments. On 19 September 1962, she got underway to serve as a unit of the recovery group for Lt. Comdr.
Walter Schirra
's "Sigma Seven" space flight which took place on 3 October. Later that month, when the
Cuban Missile Crisis
occurred, the destroyer joined a special ASW task group which, though it did not participate in the actual quarantine, performed a support role for the ships so engaged.
[1]
Searching for the
Thresher
[
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]
During early April 1963, the warship helped to conduct the unsuccessful
search-and-rescue
attempt prompted by the loss of the nuclear-powered submarine
USS
Thresher
during deep-submergence tests. After a summer of operations out of Newport,
Warrington
got underway for the
Indian Ocean
on 1 October.
[1]
Steaming via the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, she arrived in
Karachi
,
Pakistan
, at the end of the first week in November. For the next fortnight, the destroyer joined other United States and
CENTO
powers' ships in Operation "Midlink VI." She began the voyage home on 23 November and, after stops at several ports, returned to Newport on 23 December.
[1]
Collision with USS
Barry
[
edit
]
The first eight months of 1964 brought 2d Fleet operations, broken only by a repair period at Norfolk and another later one at Boston following her collision with
USS
Barry
on 25 July. Between 8 September and 18 December, the ship made another brief deployment to the Mediterranean, highlighted by Operation "Masterstroke" and
NATO
Exercise "Teamwork" during the outbound voyage. While conducting the latter operation,
Warrington
briefly ventured north of the Arctic Circle.
[1]
Warrington
returned to Newport on 18 December 1964 and began almost two years of operations along the east coast?primarily ASW training evolutions?as well as occasional cruises to the Caribbean area for "Springboard" operations, gunnery drills, and refresher training. That duty ended late on 4 October 1966 when the destroyer stood out of Newport to deploy to the
Far East
.
[1]
Reassigned to the Pacific Ocean
[
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]
She transited the
Panama Canal
on 9 October, stopped at
Pearl Harbor
on 24 October, and arrived at
Yokosuka
,
Japan
, on 10 November. That same day, she headed for the
Tonkin Gulf
in company with
USS
Manley
and
USS
Keppler
. On 21 November, she relieved
USS
Reeves
on "Traffic Cop" station off the coast of
North Vietnam
. Operation
Traffic Cop
, soon to be redesignated
Operation Sea Dragon
, was an ongoing patrol to interdict waterborne logistics to the insurgents in
South Vietnam
.
[1]
After 13 days of "Traffic Cop" duty,
Warrington
put into
Danang
on 3 December before sailing later that same day for
Kaohsiung
,
Taiwan
. There she spent another 13 days undergoing a tender availability alongside
USS
Isle Royale
before getting underway for
Hong Kong
on the 19th.
[1]
On 26 December 1966, she departed Hong Kong to return to the Gulf of Tonkin, this time for plane guard duty with the fast carriers on Yankee Station. She continued that assignment until 19 January 1967 when she steamed south to the II Corps area of South Vietnam to provide naval gunfire support for troops of the
1st Cavalry Division
conducting
Operation Thayer II
ashore. She completed that mission on 25 January and headed for Kaohsiung for another tender availability.
[1]
Following a visit to Hong Kong and another repair period?at
Subic Bay
in the Philippines?the destroyer resumed plane guard duty in the Gulf of Tonkin on 27 February. On 10 March, she parted company with the carrier
USS
Ticonderoga
to conduct a gunfire support mission in the
III Corps
zone near
Rung Sat
. She completed that task early on 24 March and set a course for
Subic Bay
. There, the warship rendezvoused with USS
Keppler
, USS
Manley
, and
USS
Newman K. Perry
for the voyage home.
[1]
The four destroyers began their journey home on 26 March, heading west across the Indian Ocean rather than east back across the Pacific Ocean. On their way, they stopped at
Singapore
and
Massawa
in
Ethiopia
, transited the
Suez Canal
, stopped at Palma Majorca, Spain, Naples, Italy and then steamed across the Mediterranean Sea, and visited
Ponta Delgada
in the
Azores
before arriving back in Newport on 8 May.
[1]
Return to East Coast operations
[
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]
The ensuing years brought a return to the familiar routine of east coast operations alternated with deployments to the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.
[1]
After eight months of training, readiness inspections, and the other normal evolutions of duty out of Newport, RI "Warrington" departed the United States in mid-February 1968, bound for a four-month tour of duty with the 6th Fleet.
[1]
During that deployment, she visited a number of Mediterranean and Northern European ports.
[1]
The Mediterranean ports included Naples Italy, Golfe-Juan France, Valletta Malta, Palma Majorca and Rota Spain (for two hours). The Northern European ports included, Rotterdam The Netherlands, Bremen Germany and Bergen Norway.
[
citation needed
]
Warrington returned to the United States on 14 June 1968 and operated out of Newport until October. On the 18th, she entered the
Boston Naval Shipyard
for a five-month overhaul.
[1]
She completed her post-overhaul sea trials between 27 March and 3 April 1969 and returned to Newport on 5 April. Between 10 April and 27 June, the warship voyaged to the West Indies to conduct gunnery drills at
Culebra Island
and refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She returned to Newport on 27 June and spent the major portion of the summer and the entire fall in an extended upkeep and in preparations for overseas movement.
[1]
On 2 November, the destroyer stood out of Newport and headed back to the Mediterranean. During that assignment, her primary mission was to observe units of the
Soviet Navy
operating in the eastern Mediterranean. However, she also made goodwill visits and liberty calls at ports all along the Mediterranean coastline. On 13 May 1970,
Warrington
completed her tour of duty with the 6th Fleet and began her journey home.
[1]
She reentered Newport on 22 May and began post-deployment leave and upkeep. Following a month of repairs at Boston late in July and early in August, the warship spent most of the remainder of the year in Newport, though she did get underway for two brief periods at sea?once in September for the
America's Cup
yachting race and again in October to escort
USS
Forrestal
during the carrier's post-repair acceptance trials.
[1]
On 14 January,
Warrington
embarked upon a two-month cruise to the Mediterranean to participate in 6th Fleet ASW exercises. She returned to Newport on 3 March and resumed her 2d Fleet routine. Her duties included two tours as
school ship
for the Destroyer School and the ever-present ASW training operations. Regular overhaul commenced on 15 September 1971 and ended on 16 January 1972.
[1]
Following overhaul and a brief visit to Newport,
Warrington
put to sea on 23 January for post-overhaul gunnery drills and refresher training in the Caribbean. She completed those evolutions on 21 March and headed back to Newport for a brief period of local operations before her second deployment to the Far East.
[1]
Return to Pacific Ocean operations
[
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]
Departing Newport on 5 June,
Warrington
headed, via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor, for the
Mariana Islands
. Arriving at
Guam
on 30 June, she departed
Apra Harbor
the following day, bound for Subic Bay. She left the Philippines in July and reached Vietnamese waters the same day. During her first period on the gunline, the destroyer conducted gunfire support missions along the coast of the
I Corps
zone of South Vietnam.
[1]
On 15 July, she put into port at
Danang
briefly and then headed for the coast of North Vietnam to participate in
Operation Linebacker
. On 16 July, she relieved
USS
Hamner
of
Linebacker
duty and began her primary blockade and interdiction mission?the destruction of
North Vietnamese
small craft and observation of communist Chinese merchant shipping. The following morning, while operating in company with
USS
Hull
and
USS
Robison
,
Warrington
came under the rapid and heavy fire of enemy shore batteries. She took prompt evasive action and avoided damage.
[1]
Struck by an underwater explosion
[
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]
That same afternoon, at 1316, two underwater explosions close aboard her port side rocked the destroyer.
[1]
She suffered severe damage in her after fireroom, after engine room, and in the main control room. Her crew enabled her to retire from the area at 10 knots.
[1]
USS
Hull
maneuvered alongside to transfer repair personnel, pumps, and shoring equipment to
Warrington
to address continuing flooding. Before returning to station,
Hull
also transferred feedwater to help maintain boiler operation, along with several movies for the slow trip.
[
citation needed
]
Later, the damage forced her to shut down her propulsion plant and ask
Robison
for a tow.
[1]
Through the night of 17 and 18 July, her crew struggled against flooding caused by ruptured fuel oil and fresh water tanks. The next morning USS
Robison
turned her over to
USS
Reclaimer
for the first leg of the trip to Subic Bay.
USS
Tawakoni
took over from USS
Reclaimer
on the 20th and towed
Warrington
safely into Subic Bay on the 24th. Throughout the six-day voyage,
Warrington's
ship's company worked to keep their ship afloat.
[1]
Around 1 December 1972, the Navy announced that
Warrington
had struck two American Mark 36 mines after finding fragments of a specific fuse on the ship. At the time, officials speculated that the mines had been jettisoned from an aircraft, but apparently the location had not recorded to warn ships of the location.
[3]
According to the account of a retired chief minemen, who worked at Naval Magazine Subic Bay converting Mk 82 bombs to Mk 36 mines during that time period, the ship disregarded warning messages and entered a known area where aircraft jettisoned bombs and mines.
[4]
Unfit for further Naval service
[
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]
For a month after her arrival, the ship repair facility at Subic Bay worked to improve her habitability and ensure watertight integrity. At the end of August, a
board of inspection and survey
found her to be unfit for further naval service. On 30 September 1972,
Warrington
was decommissioned at Subic Bay, and she was struck from the
Navy list
. On 24 April 1973, she was sold to the
Taiwan Navy
for cannibalization and scrapping.
[1]
Honors and awards
[
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]
Warrington
(DD-843) received two
battle stars
for service in the
Vietnam War
.
[1]
Warrington
and her crew received the following awards, chronologically:
References
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"USS Warrington (DD-843)"
.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
.
Navy Department
,
Naval History and Heritage Command
.
- ^
Arkin, William M.
; Handler, Joshua (1989).
Naval accidents, 1945-1988
(PDF)
. Washington, DC:
Greenpeace
/
Institute for Policy Studies
. p. 14.
LCCN
91182987
.
- ^
"US mine bags US Destroyer"
.
Lodi News-Sentinel
.
Lodi, California
. UPI. 1 December 1972.
- ^
Gonzales, Jr, Mineman Chief Petty Officer Michael.
The Warrington Incident
(Report). War Stories Collections, Dr. Ralph R. Chase West Texas Collection, Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas
. Retrieved
9 October
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Navy Unit Awards Query"
. US Navy. Archived from
the original
on 14 October 2004
. Retrieved
9 October
2016
.
External links
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]