USS Adder (SS-3) (later renamed A-2), a Plunger-class submarine, was one of the earliest submarines used by the United States Navy. She was laid down on 3 October 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard, launched on 22 July 1901, and commissioned on 12 January 1903 at the Holland yard at New Suffolk, Ensign Frank L. Pinney in command. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Adder_(SS-3)
After initial experimental duty at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Adder was towed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard by the tugPeoria, arriving there on 4 December 1903. In January 1904, the submarine torpedo boat was assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla. Placed out of commission on 26 July 1909, Adder was loaded onto the collierCaesar, and was transported to the Philippines, arriving on 1 October.[1]
A crewman guiding one of the submarine’s three torpedoes below deck through the torpedo loading hatch.
Recommissioned on 10 February 1910, she was assigned to duty with the 1st Submarine Division, Asiatic Torpedo Fleet. Over almost a decade, the submarine torpedo boat operated from Cavite and Olongapo, principally in training and experimental work. During this time, she was renamed on 17 November 1911, becoming simply A-2 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 3).[1]
During World War I, she carried out patrols off the entrance to Manila Bay, and around the island of Corregidor. Decommissioned on 12 December 1919, A-2 (assigned the alphanumeric hull number “SS-3” on 17 July 1920) was designated for use as a target on 24 September 1920.[1] Sunk as a target in mid-January 1922,[4] she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 January 1922.
Ship history Elrod was built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine, and was commissioned on 18 May 1985. The ship was originally home ported in Charleston, SC and shifted to Norfolk, VA in March 1995. Elrod has completed five deployments to the Persian Gulf, three to the Mediterranean Sea, and one to the Adriatic Sea, and has participated in numerous operations in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Caribbean Sea. Elrod’s third Persian Gulf deployment followed Operation Desert Storm and supported aggressive air and surface surveillance operations. Elrod conducted naval exercises with units of Gulf Cooperation Council nations to strengthen and further develop the bonds that were forged during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The ship participated in TEAMWORK ’92, NATO’s Arctic Ocean anti-submarine exercise, and Operation Sharp Guard, in support of multi-national enforcement of United Nations sanctions and embargoing war materials to the Balkans. Elrod demonstrated America’s commitment to her NATO allies by providing a presence among the Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean (SNFM) and Standing Naval Forces Atlantic (SNFL) during Operation Enduring Freedom. Recently, Elrod completed another NATO deployment in 2004 in support of Operation Active Endeavor, and helped protect the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in Operation Distinguished Games. Elrod crew members have served with pride and distinction as ambassadors of America and spokesmen for the US Navy, hosting official and unofficial visits for foreign military, business and civilian dignitaries throughout the world, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Spain, Bulgaria, Turkey, Israel, Greece, Italy, France, England, Scotland, and Croatia. Elrod has sailed the major oceans of the world, transited the Panama and Suez canals, crossed the equator and the Arctic Circle. In addition to a reputation for operational readiness and fighting skills, Elrod has earned a reputation for community support and participation in charitable projects. The ship has been recognized for the crew’s contributions by designation as a Presidential “Point of Light”.[clarification needed] Elrod has also earned numerous awards during her commissioned service, including the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, several Battle Efficiency Excellence Awards, Secretary of the Navy Energy Conservation Award, Armed Forces Recreation Society Award and various departmental and mission-specific awards for excellence. The current captain of the Elrod is Commander Jackie L. Killman.
Minneapolis was laid down 16 December 1891 by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia; launched 12 August 1893, sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Washburn, daughter of SenatorWilliam D. Washburn of Minnesota; and commissioned at Philadelphia, 13 December 1894, CaptainGeorge H. Wadleigh, in command.[4] The class was originally designed with three funnels; however, Columbia was built with four and Minneapolis with two. This may have been to make them resemble specific passenger liners.
A new report from the US Congressional Research Service has detailed the risk and reward opportunities associated with the Australian acquisition of Virginia Class submarines as part of AUKUS Pillar I.
There can be no doubt, Australia’s ambition and plans to field a fleet of nuclear-powered, conventionally-armed submarines through the trilateral AUKUS partnership is one of the most transformative developments in our national history.
Indeed, the AUKUS submarine program has often been described as not only the most “transformative industrial endeavour” in our history, but also in our nation’s strategic capability.
At the core of the first stages of Australia’s nuclear submarine fleet is the initial acquisition or rather transfer of up to five US Navy Virginia Class nuclear-powered submarines ahead of the fielding of locally-built SSN-AUKUS submarines, developed in conjunction with the United Kingdom and the United States.
This “optimal” pathway isn’t without its challenges though, with the very real industrial limitations of the United States submarine yards coming to the fore at a time when the qualitative and quantitative edge of the US Navy’s submarine fleet will become increasingly important in both the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific.
Equally challenging is the industrial capacity of both the United Kingdom and Australia, coupled with their mounting personnel and industrial challenges, that have resulted in increasing challenges to their respective navies.
Nevertheless, all three parties remain resolute in their continued ambition and commitment to the trilateral development of an Australian nuclear-powered submarine capability.
It goes without saying that the complexity of both the regulatory, legislative, and planning processes surrounding the AUKUS agreement are as immense, if not more so, than the technological challenges presented by the transfer of nuclear-powered submarine technology to Australia.
Congress recognised this, asking a particularly poignant question, stating, “How do the potential benefits, costs, and risks of the proposed Pillar I pathway compare to those of a potential alternative of a US-Australia division of labour on SSNs?”
While these questions have been raised both in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, the trilateral partnership has enjoyed some major milestones ahead of the delivery of the first of the three-to-five Virginia Class submarines, namely, the successful embedding of Australian personnel with the US and UK submarine fleets and the establishment of Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-W).
The CRS detailed these milestones, stating, “Beginning in 2023, Australian military and civilian personnel would embed with the US and UK navies, and in the US and UK submarine industrial bases, to accelerate the training of Australian personnel. The United States would increase SSN port visits to Australia beginning in 2023, with Australian sailors joining US crews for training and development; the UK would increase visits to Australia beginning in 2026.
“As early as 2027, the United States and UK would begin forward rotations of SSNs out of HMAS Stirling, an Australian naval base near Perth, in Western Australia, to accelerate the development of Australian naval personnel, workforce, infrastructure and regulatory system. Eventually, one UK SSN and up to four Virginia Class SSNs would be rotationally deployed out of HMAS Stirling under the arrangement, which would be called Submarine Rotational Force-West (SRF-W),” the CRS explained.
Each of these foundational pillars serve as the basis for developing Australia’s domestic nuclear workforce, both from an industry workforce and uniformed workforce perspective ahead of Australia accepting the first Virginia Class nuclear submarines at some point between 2027 and the early-to-mid-2030s.
This agreement isn’t without risks for the US Navy, particularly its own submarine force which is facing increasingly capable and numerous Russian and Chinese nuclear submarine fleets, respectively.
Highlighting this impact, the CRS report articulated, “Selling three to five Virginia Class boats to Australia would reduce the size of the US Navy’s SSN force from FY2032 (when the first boat would be sold) until (as estimated by CRS and CBO) sometime between 2040 and 2049.” In response, the CRS and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated that while a challenge to the US Navy’s submarine fleet, it isn’t an insurmountable one.
“The Navy states in its FY2024 30-year shipbuilding plan, ‘the Navy anticipates building additional Virginia Class SSNs in the 2030s as replacements for submarines sold to Australia.’ Strictly construed, building additional SSNs as replacements for three to five Virginia Class boats sold to Australia would involve building three to five SSNs that would be in addition to those that were already envisaged as being built under the Navy 30-year shipbuilding plan that preceded the announcement of the AUKUS agreement in September 2021.
The CRS report articulated, “The Navy 30-year shipbuilding plan with 30-year ship procurement profiles that preceded the announcement of the AUKUS agreement in September 2021 is the Navy FY2020 30-year (FY2020-FY2049) shipbuilding plan, which was submitted in March 2019. This 30-year plan includes the procurement of SSNs at a steady rate of two boats per year from FY2021 through FY2049.”
However, this isn’t the whole solution, which the CRS explained, “On this basis, it might be argued that building replacement SSNs for three to five Virginia Class boats sold to Australia would involve building SSNs at a rate of something more than two boats per year.
“At an October 25, 2023, hearing on the submarine industrial base and its ability to support the AUKUS framework before the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, the Navy testified that supporting both US Navy and AUKUS needs would require the increasing the Virginia Class construction rate from 2.0 boats per year to 2.33 boats per year. Compared to a previously planned procurement rate of 2.0 boats per year, a procurement rate of 2.33 boats per year would equate to one additional boat every three years.”
Meeting this planned rate of shipbuilding is still a long way off, particularly given the increasing supply chain constraints and the very real constraints on the existing two US submarine yards that will be further weighed down as production for the Columbia Class ballistic missile submarines continues to ramp-up.
So, solving these challenges requires some innovative thinking among the tripartite members, which spells exciting opportunities for Australia.
Alternatives to ‘divide labour’, maximise deterrence
In response, the CRS presented a number of alternatives to better leverage the respective strengths and maximise the impact of Australian nuclear submarines in this era of mounting geostrategic challenges.
The CRS stated, “the proposed forward rotations of US and UK SSNs to Australia would still be implemented; the size of the US SSN force would be expanded by at least three to five boats, and possibly eight boats, above previous plans so as to provide additional US SSNs for performing Australian SSN missions.”
Unpacking this further, the CRS added, “Australia, instead of using funds to purchase, operate, and maintain its own SSNs, would instead invest those funds in other military capabilities (such as, for example, producing long-range anti-ship missiles and/or purchasing of US-made B-21 long-range bombers), so as to create an Australian capacity for performing non-SSN military missions for both Australia and the United States.”
Alternative to these few options, the CRS presented two additional options, stating, “Under one variation of this potential alternative, the proposed sharing of US naval nuclear propulsion technology and US submarine technology, the proposed Australian investments in Australian and US submarine-construction capability, and the other proposed actions for supporting eventual Australian construction of AUKUS SSNs would continue, and Australia would eventually build its own AUKUS SSNs, reducing at that point the need for US SSNs to perform Australian SSN missions.
“Under another variation of this potential alternative, the performance of Australian SSN missions by US SSNs would continue indefinitely, and instead of implementing the technology sharing, making Australian investments in submarine-construction capability, and taking the other actions that would be needed to eventually build AUKUS SSNs, Australia would continue investing in other military capabilities for supporting a continuing US-Australia division of labour. Under this variation, the size of the US SSN force would eventually be expanded above previously planned levels by eight boats,” the CRS explained further.
Final thoughts
The rapidly deteriorating geopolitical and strategic environment that is transforming the global and regional security paradigm requires a realistic analysis, assessment, and acceptance by Australia’s policymakers.
Equally, both the Australian government and the Australian public have to accept and understand that we will need to dramatically increase spending in our national defence and do so over the long term, rather than short-term sugar hits or sleight of hand that push money out over the forward estimates and allow inflation to account for “increases” in spending, despite there being little-to-no new money in real terms.
Ultimately, this comes back to the government’s shift away from a “Balanced Force” towards a “Focused Force” as championed in the Defence Strategic Review and the foundational problem that is our lack of clearly defined role and objectives for our own defence capabilities.
This reality equally fails to account for the planned increase in ADF personnel by 2040 and places ultimate hope in a series of as yet to be developed autonomous systems, cyber or tactical weapons like HIMARs and others that are being shoehorned into fulfilling “strategic” roles to provide both “impactful projection” and deterrence against “any potential adversary”.
Importantly, no one has said that defending the nation in this era of renewed and increasingly capable great power competition will be cheap or easy and we have to accept that uncomfortable reality, because the alternative outcome is infinitely worse.
Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at [email protected] or at [email protected].
Richard L. Page was laid down on 4 January 1965 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. She was launched on 4 April 1966, sponsored by Miss Edmonia Lee Whittle and Mrs. Nannie Page Trinker, granddaughters of the ship’s namesake, Brigadier General Richard L. Page, and commissioned as a guided missile destroyer escort at Boston, Massachusetts on 5 August 1967 with the hull number DEG-5.
The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Vincennes (CA-44) passing through the Panama Canal on 6 January 1938, while en route to join the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Note the crewmen on her deck, watching the airplane from which the photograph was taken.
USS Bainbridge (DD-246) In New York Harbor, 19 August 1943, with the Manhattan skyline in the right distance. Note that the ship carries a Hedgehog launcher just aft of her forward 3/50 gun
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge (DD-246) underway, circa 1921.
The third USS Bainbridge (DD-246) was a united States Navy Clemson-class destroyer in commission from 1921 to 1930, from 1932 to 1937, and from 1939 to 1945. She served during World War II. She was named for Commodore William Bainbridge, who served in the War of 1812 and the First and Second Barbary Wars.
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Bainbridge (DD-246) refueling from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) in the Atlantic Ocean, in 1944.
Service history 1921–1930 Afer commissioning, Bainbridge reported to the United States Atlantic Fleet. She operated along the United States East Coast and in the Caribbean with the fleet, carrying out tactical exercises and maneuvers until October 1922. She departed for Constantinople to join the Naval Detachment in Turkish waters. On 16 December 1922 she rescued approximately 500 survivors of the burning French military transport Vinh-Long about 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi) off Constantinople. For extraordinary heroism during the rescue Lieutenant Commander Walter A. Edwards received the Medal of Honor.
In 1923, at Newport, Rhode Island, Bainbridge served temporarily as flagship of Commander, Scouting Fleet. She then joined Squadron 14, Scouting Fleet, in the Atlantic Fleet.
Between 1923 and 1928 Bainbridge participated in annual fleet concentrations, tactical and joint maneuvers, and fleet and destroyer competitions. In 1927 she was assigned temporary duty with the Special Service Squadron for patrol duty off Nicaragua during internal disturbances there. During several summers Bainbridge participated in the training program of the Scouting Fleet, making summer cruises with reservists. On 23 December 1930 she was placed out of commission in reserve at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1932–1937 On 9 March 1932 Bainbridge was placed in reduced commission and attached to Rotating Reserve Division 19, taking part in United States Naval Reserve training cruises. She was placed in full commission on 5 September 1933 and assigned to Destroyer Division 8, Scouting Force. For a short period she served with the Special Service Squadron in the Florida Keys and at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and later was assigned to the Pacific, arriving at San Diego, California, on 5 November 1934. While serving on the United States West Coast, Bainbridge made cruises to British Columbia in Canada, the Alaska, and Hawaii. She was placed out of commission in reserve at San Diego on 20 November 1937.
1939–1941 Recommissioned on 26 September 1939 Bainbridge was as signed to Division 62 and operated on the Neutrality Patrol in the Panama Canal Zone until the summer of 1940 when she reported to Key West, Florida, for patrol duty. During the early part of 1941 she cruised along the northeast coast and between May and November 1941 made three convoy escort voyages to Newfoundland and Iceland.
Bainbridge refueling from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) in 1944. World War II The United States entered World War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Between December 1941 and July 1945 Bainbridge operated as a convoy escort in the waters off the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts and in the Caribbean with the exception of five trans-Atlantic escort crossings to North Africa between February and December 1943.
Convoys escorted Convoy Escort Group Dates Notes HX 155 18–25 October 1941[1] 52 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war ON 31 4–15 November 1941[2] 37 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war HX 168 4–10 January 1942[1] 36 ships escorted without loss from Newfoundland to Iceland ON 57 24 January-7 February 1942[2] 15 ships escorted without loss from Iceland to Newfoundland AT 33 6 January 1943[3] escorted Empress of Scotland out of New York City with 4,191 troops bound for England UGS 5A 18–21 February 1943[4] 16 ships escorted without loss from Chesapeake Bay to Mediterranean Sea GUS 9 9–15 July 1943[5] 43 ships escorted without loss from Mediterranean Sea to Chesapeake Bay UGS 16 27 August-7 September 1943[4] 79 ships escorted without loss from Chesapeake Bay to Mediterranean Sea GUS 15 21–27 September 1943[5] 37 ships escorted without loss from Mediterranean Sea to Chesapeake Bay UGS 22 25–30 October 1943[4] 64 ships escorted without loss from Chesapeake Bay to Mediterranean Sea Decommissioning and disposal World War II ended in Europe on 8 May 1945. Commencing her inactivation on 1 July 1945, Bainbridge was decommissioned on 21 July 1945 at Philadelphia and sold on 30 November 1945.
Honors and awards Second Nicaraguan Campaign Medal American Defense Service Medal Bronze star European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one battle star World War II Victory Medal Bainbridge received one battle star for her service as a convoy escort between 13 June and August 1943. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bainbridge_(DD-246)
Namesake Elphege Alfred Mailliot Gendreau was born on 29 June 1888 in Canada. He was commissioned Assistant Surgeon, Medical Reserve Corps, with the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade) on 20 August 1915. He served on USS Glacier in Mexican waters during political unrest in that country and on USS Charleston during World War I.
After service in a number of assignments afloat and ashore, he was commissioned Captain on 20 September 1939. During the years 1940 and 1941, he served as Force Surgeon of Battle Force and subsequently on the staff of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. In the summer of 1943, he was on temporary duty in the South Pacific inspecting medical facilities to improve treatment and care of battle casualties. He voluntarily embarked in USS LST-343 to assist in the evacuation of the sick and wounded from Rendova. He was killed in a dive-bombing attack on the LST-343 on 21 July 1943. His dedicated service prompted Admiral Nimitz to recommend that a destroyer be named for him.
Construction and commissioning Gendreau was laid down on 1 August 1943 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., San Francisco; launched on 12 December 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Josephine Gendreau, widow of Captain E. A. M. Gendreau, with Mrs. Chester W. Nimitz, wife of the Commander in Chief of Pacific Fleet, as matron of honor. Gendreau was commissioned on 17 March 1944.
Service history Convoy escort After shakedown off the California coast, Gendreau departed San Francisco, California, on 23 May 1944 escorting a convoy to Pearl Harbor, arriving six days later. She trained in Hawaiian waters and got underway on 18 June 1944 on the first of two voyages, escorting convoys between Hawaii and the Marshalls. Convoy duty brought her to Eniwetok again and on 26 July 1944. Gendreau returned to Oahu from the second voyage in time to help welcome President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Hawaii. During an ensuing anti-submarine patrol out of Pearl Harbor, the destroyer escort rescued the pilot and crew of an aircraft which had ditched at sea on 31 July 1944; and nine days later in heavy seas saved a downed fighter pilot.
Gendreau departed Pearl Harbor on 8 September 1944, with a convoy for Emirau. On 13 September 1944, she collided with escort carrier Breton (CVE-23) while fueling from her in heavy seas; but efficient emergency repairs allowed Gendreau to proceed with the convoy to Emirau before steaming into Manus on 19 September 1944 for repairs. She sailed from the Admiralties on 1 October 1944 and arrived at Port Purvis on Florida Island, in the Solomons, on 4 October 1944. Following intensive training with PT boats at Tulagi, she sailed on 27 October 1944 for the Russell Islands and rendezvoused with a convoy of landing craft bound for New Georgia Island. Departing on 29 October 1944, the group proceeded to Cape Torokina, Bougainville, where the landing craft debarked troops. Gendreau escorted the landing craft back to the Russells on 1 November 1944, and returned to Port Purvis the next day.
From 17 February through 20 February 1945, Gendreau was in dry dock, being repaired by its seamen and members of the repair ship Tutuila (ARG-4). Lieutenant Martin Victor became captain of Gendreau at this time.[1]
In March 1945, following three months of escort and ASW duty shuttling between islands of the South Pacific, Gendreau rehearsed for the coming Okinawa invasion after which she escorted landing craft to the Russell Islands and Port Purvis, arriving at Port Purvis on 7 March 1945, and returning to the Russells four days later. Underway from the Russells on 12 March 1945, she called at Ulithi on 21 March 1945 for final staging and sortied four days later with a task force for the Ryukyus.
Invasion of Okinawa On L-Day, 1 April 1945, Gendreau was off the southeast coast of Okinawa protecting amphibious ships. Before dawn a Japanese plane attacked the DE but was shot down and crashed a few yards to starboard. A few hours later she closed the invasion beaches and delivered the landing craft to their assigned positions well in advance of the final bombardment and initial landings. The next day she was in the destroyer screen when another enemy plane attacked her at dawn, but with the aid of other ships she managed to shoot it down. On 3 April 1945, a plane strafed her and then, on its second pass, tried to crash her, but Gendreau’s gunfire blew it out of the air and the plane crashed 25 yards (23 m) away. On 5 April 1945 she joined a hunter-killer group.
On 6 April 1945, a torpedo bomber aimed a torpedo at the DE, but it exploded upon hitting the water. Gendreau shot down the bomber 500 yards (500 m) astern. The following day she destroyed another attacking plane. On 12 April 1945, without warning, a torpedo bomber roared in and released a torpedo which passed just under the bow and exploded some distance beyond. On 16 April 1945, two enemy planes homed in on her, but two American fighters swooped in from behind and shot down the attackers.
Gendreau departed Okinawa on 22 April 1945 with a convoy, touching at Saipan five days later and returning to Okinawa on 2 May 1945. She departed the next day for Ulithi, arriving there on 7 May 1945. Underway again on 23 May 1945 with a mixed convoy, she called at Okinawa on 29 May 1945 and escorted convoys in these waters. On 10 June 1945, while supporting the American troops who were wresting the island from Japan, Gendreau was hit by shellfire from a hidden 150 mm (5.9 in) gun. She lost power and began taking water, but outstanding damage control had her under control in 15 minutes and nearly restored her to normal within two hours. Two men were killed and two others wounded.
East China Sea After repairs at Kerama Retto and later at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, she joined Vice Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf’s Task Force on 13 July 1945, for training and minesweeping in the East China Sea. On 26 July 1945 she rescued a friendly fighter pilot who had ditched at sea, picking him up only 32 minutes after the crash. At the end of the month a bad typhoon caused her to roll nearly 60° and buckled steel plating. On 31 July 1945 she escorted damaged battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) to Guam and returned to Okinawa on 12 September 1945, where four days later, another typhoon parted her port anchor chain. She departed on 22 September 1945 to act as courier ship during the Allied occupation of the Japanese homeland.
Thus, after a short but distinguished war career, Gendreau stood out of Tokyo Bay on 4 November 1945 bound home via Pearl Harbor, arriving at Portland, Oregon on 22 November 1945. Around this time, the departing captain of Gendreau, Lieutenant Commander Martin Victor, gave the following farewell address to the crew:[2]
For the men of Gendreau, returning to peaceful ways of life, the past years will fade into memory, but this story will recall valued shipmates and a life strange and uncongenial to many of us, that of the seafaring man. In regarding it in future years, let us consider the cost of failure to live in peace with the world and, in that light, judge the politicians of the day. We may take pride that we were among those who, with our own hands, defended the country in battle, but let us not for that reason ask privileges as civilians. We shall remember the sometimes irksome but always vital role of military leadership, discipline and planning, all directed toward the objective of defeating the enemy. Now, as citizens, remember the obligation to question, consider and examine both ideas and men, realizing that the objective itself is not always clear. Beware of popular leaders of the moment, being careful not to follow blindly, but to think and act in the interest of the country. Your recent life in the Pacific with its boredom, dangers and absences from the United States will drive home what it means to be an American. Post-war activities In February 1946 she proceeded to San Diego for training exercises and then departed the following month on a Far Eastern cruise. Gendreau arrived at Shanghai, China, on 14 April 1946, and sailed to Huludao, Manchuria, and then to Qingdao and Qinghuangdao, China. Further patrols brought her to Okinawa and Shanghai again May to June, and on 1 July 1946 she headed for California, arriving at San Diego on 19 July 1946. After training and repairs, she cast off on her last Far Eastern cruise, calling at Pearl Harbor and Guam en route to Japan.
Gendreau arrived in Japan on 19 March 1947. In the spring and summer of 1947, Gendreau stood patrol duty off the Korean coast, calling at Yokosuka, Japan on 21 May 1947, and thence returning to station. On 1 September 1947, she sailed from Japan for Pearl Harbor and San Diego, putting in at the latter port 19 September 1947.
Decommissioning and sale Gendreau decommissioned on 13 March 1948 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego. Gendreau was stricken on 1 December 1972. Gendreau was sold on 11 September 1973 and broken up for scrap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Gendreau
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Wainwright (DD-419) underway off the U.S. East Coast on 5 May 1944, while assigned to escort and training duties. The ship is wearing Camouflage Measure 22. Note the two men on the starboard bridge wing and the man on the main deck below the after conn.
Wainwright was laid down on 7 June 1938 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard; launched on 1 June 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Henry Meiggs; and commissioned on 15 April 1940.
Following shakedown, Wainwright began duty with the Atlantic Fleet in conjunction with the Neutrality Patrol which had been established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt soon after World War II broke out in Europe early in September 1939 to keep hostilities from spreading to the Western Hemisphere. Just before the opening of hostilities between Japan and the United States, Wainwright embarked upon a mission which indicated an acceleration in America’s gradual drift into the Allied camp. She departed Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 10 November, as a unit of the screen for Convoy WS-12X, an all-American ship convoy transporting British and Commonwealth troops via the Cape of Good Hope to Basra in the Near East. The convoy steamed first to Trinidad in the British West Indies, in order that the “short-legged” destroyers might refuel there before beginning the long South Atlantic leg of the voyage to Cape Town. There, the convoy was to be turned over to the British Admiralty for orders and protection, and the destroyers were to turn around and head home.
The convoy reached Cape Town on 9 December 1941, two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and two days before Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. This change in the strategic picture caused changes in the destinations of the transports. Some went to Suez and thence to Australia while other carried reinforcements to the doomed “fortress” of Singapore. The escorting American destroyers headed back to the United States, but this time they put to sea as full-fledged belligerents.
Upon her return to the east coast, Wainwright resumed her patrols. Her assignment, however, took on a new complexion. No longer simply trying to prevent the spread of hostilities to the Western Hemisphere, she patrolled instead to protect America’s shorelines and seagoing traffic along her coast from Germany’s undersea fleet. That duty continued until mid-March 1942, when the warship received orders to join the British Home Fleet as part of an American force composed of Wasp, North Carolina, Washington, Tuscaloosa, Wichita, and seven other destroyers. On 25 March, she departed Casco Bay, Maine, in company with Wasp, Washington, Wichita, Tuscaloosa and the destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 8 (DesRon 8), with Commander DesRon 8 (ComDesRon 8) embarked. (This US Navy involvement allowed the Royal Navy to release ships for the invasion of Madagascar.)[1]: 167–168 The task unit reached Scapa Flow, in the Orkney Islands north of the British Isles, on 3 April.
Until the fall of 1942, Wainwright participated in convoy operations between Iceland, Orkney, and northern Russia. During this period, she had frequent brushes with Luftwaffe planes and Kriegsmarine submarines. Her most famous and most successful encounter with the enemy came three months after she arrived in European waters while the destroyer was protecting the North Russia convoys. She was then part of the covering force for the ill-fated Convoy PQ 17, making the run from Iceland to Archangel. The force, built around London, Tuscaloosa, Wichita, Norfolk, Wainwright, Rowan, and seven British destroyers, departed Seydisfjord, Iceland, on 1 July.
PQ 17 suffered Luftwaffe and submarine attacks on 2 and 3 July, but Wainwright did not get involved directly until 4 July. In mid-afternoon, the destroyer joined the convoy to refuel from Aldersdale. On her way to the rendezvous, the warship assisted the convoy in repulsing two torpedo-plane raids. During the first, her long-range fire kept the six enemy planes at a distance sufficient to make their torpedo drops wholly inaccurate. The second was a desultory, single-plane affair in which the warship easily drove off the lone torpedo bomber. During the ensuing dive-bombing attack, she evaded the enemy handily, the nearest bomb landing at least 150 yards (140 m) away.
After that attack, a two-hour lull in the action allowed Wainwright to resume her original mission, refueling, but the enemy returned at about 1820. At the sight of 25 Heinkel 111s milling about on the southern horizon, the warship turned to port to clear the convoy. At that juncture, the Heinkels divided themselves into two groups for the attack; one on her starboard quarter and the other on her starboard bow. Wainwright took the group off her quarter under fire at extreme range, about 10,000 yards (9.1 km) distant, and maintained her fire until it endangered the convoy. At that juncture, she shifted her attention to the more dangerous bow attack. Her fire on that group proved so effective that only one plane managed to penetrate her defenses to make his drop between Wainwright and the convoy. All the others prudently dropped their torpedoes about 1,000 yards (900 m) to 1,500 yards (1,400 m) from the destroyer. That resulted in a torpedo run to the convoy itself in excess of 4,000 yards (4,000 m). The ships in the convoy easily evaded the torpedoes approaching from the bow, but the torpedoes coming from the starboard quarter found their marks, William Hooper and Azerbaidjan. Wainwright, though, had put up a successful defense. Her antiaircraft gunners damaged three or four enemy planes and generally discouraged the raiders from pressing home their attack with the vigor necessary for greater success.
Not long after that attack, at about 1900, Wainwright parted company with convoy PQ 17 to rejoin her own task unit, then heading off to meet the supposed threat posed by the possible sortie of a German surface force built around Tirpitz, Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Hipper. Convoy PQ 17, naked to the enemy after the Support Force withdrew to meet a danger which never materialized, scattered. Each ship tried to make it to northern Russia as best she could. Luftwaffe planes and Kriegsmarine submarines saw that few succeeded. After more than three weeks of individual hide-and-seek games with the Germans, the last groups of PQ 17 ships straggled into Archangel on 25 July. Operation “Rosselsprung” as the Germans dubbed the action, had proved an overwhelming success. It cost the Allies over two-thirds of the ships in PQ 17. However, Wainwright‘s brief association with the convoy probably saved several others from being added to the casualty list.
Wainwright continued to escort Atlantic convoys through the summer and into the fall of 1942. However, no action like that she encountered on 4 July occurred. It was not until the first large-scale amphibious operation of the European-African-Middle Eastern theater came along in November that she again engaged the enemy in deadly earnest.
For the invasion of French Morocco, Wainwright was assigned to the four-destroyer screen of the Covering Group (Task Group 34.1) built around Massachusetts, Tuscaloosa, and Wichita. Assembled at Casco Bay, Maine, that group got underway on 24 October and, two days later, rendezvoused with the remainder of Task Force 34 (TF 34), which had sortied from Hampton Roads. The task force reached the Moroccan coast on the night of 7/8 November. The invasion was scheduled for the pre-dawn hours of the following morning. The Covering Force drew the two-fold mission of protecting the transports in the event of a sortie by French heavy surface units based at Dakar and of preventing a sortie by the French light forces based at Casablanca.
For Wainwright, the Naval Battle of Casablanca opened just before 0700 on 8 November when her antiaircraft gunners joined those of the other ships of the Covering Force in chasing away two Vichy French planes. Later that morning, Casablanca-based submarines, destroyers, and the cruiser Primauget sallied forth to oppose the landings, already in progress at Fedhala. Wainwright joined Massachusetts, Tuscaloosa, Wichita and the other three destroyers in stopping that attack. Their efforts cost the French heavily. Four Vichy destroyers and eight submarines were sunk while the light cruiser and two destroyer-leaders suffered crippling damage. In addition to her part in the engagement with the French warships, Wainwright also participated in the intermittent gun duels with batteries ashore.
For the next three days, Wainwright remained off the Moroccan coast supporting the invasion. The Army invested Casablanca by the night of 10 November, and the French capitulated late the following morning. On 12 November, the Covering Force, with Wainwright in the screen, sailed for home. The destroyer arrived in New York on 21 November and immediately began a two-week repair period.
Next, after a brief training period, the warship resumed duty with transatlantic convoys. For the next six months, she busied herself protecting merchant ships making the voyage to North African ports. During her stay in Casablanca after one such voyage, she played host to a group of Moroccan dignitaries including Sidi Mohammed, the Sultan of Morocco. During another convoy operation, she helped screen Convoy UGS-6 which lost five of its 45 ships to U-boat torpedoes. When not engaged in Atlantic convoy duty, she trained with other ships of the Atlantic Fleet and underwent brief repairs in various American ports.
In June 1943, Wainwright returned to North Africa for convoy duty between ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa which occupied her until the invasion of Sicily in July. For that operation, Wainwright was assigned to TG 80.2, the Escort Group. The force arrived off the Sicilian coast on the night of 9/10 July, and the assault troops went ashore the following morning. During the campaign, Wainwright protected the transports from enemy air and submarine activity. While she was patrolling off Palermo on 26 July, a formation of twin-engine Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers attacked her group. Two near misses flooded both main engine rooms in Mayrant, and Wainwright joined in escorting the stricken warship into port under tow. Later, she supported the “leap-frog” amphibious moves employed by Major GeneralGeorge S. Patton in his rampage across northern Sicily to the Strait of Messina. During her stay in Sicilian waters, the destroyer also supported mine-sweeping operations and conducted anti-shipping sweeps. In mid-August, she returned to North Africa at Mers-el-Kébir, Algeria, where she remained until early September. On 5 September, she resumed convoy duty, this time between North Africa and Sicily, frequently warding off Luftwaffe air raids. Italy proper had been invaded early in September, and late in October, the warship was called upon to bombard enemy installations around Naples in support of the 5th Army’s advance on that city.
She resumed convoy duty soon thereafter. Her next noteworthy contact with the enemy came on 13 December. While conducting an antisubmarine sweep 10 miles (16 km) north of Algiers in company with Niblack, Benson, and Calpe, she made contact with U-593. First Wainwright and then Calpe attacked with depth charges. Those attacks brought the submarine to the surface, and Wainwright‘s gun crews went to work on her. In less than two minutes, the German crew began to abandon their vessel. Wainwright responded with a boarding party. The American sailors rescued survivors but failed to save the U-boat. After returning to Algiers and delivering her prisoners to British authorities there, she resumed convoy and patrol duties in North African waters.
At the beginning of 1944, she provided support for the troops trying to break out of the beachheads at Anzio and Nettuno on the Italian mainland. Those duties occupied her until early February when she received orders to return to the United States. She steamed homeward in company with Ariel (AF-22) and Niblack via Ponta Delgada in the Azores, arrived at New York on 12 February, and entered the navy yard there for a three-week overhaul. When that chore was finished on 6 March, the destroyer began 13 months of escort and training duty along the eastern seaboard.
That routine ended on 27 April 1945 when she passed through the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean. After a stop at San Diego, California and exercises out of Pearl Harbor, the warship headed for the western Pacific. She reached Ulithi on 13 June and for the next two months sailed between various islands in the area. She visited Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Saipan, Guam, and Eniwetok. On 12 August, she departed the last-named atoll in company with TF 49 bound for the Aleutian Islands. While she was at sea, the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities. Four days later, the ship steamed into Adak, Alaska. She remained there until the last day of the month when she got underway with TF 92, bound for Honshū, Japan. Wainwright arrived in Ominato Ko on 12 September and began a six-week tour of duty in support of the occupation forces. That duty ended on 30 October, and the warship headed back toward the United States.
After stops at Midway Atoll and Pearl Harbor, Wainwright pulled into San Diego on 16 December.
The destroyer remained at San Diego in an inactive status until the spring of 1946. At that time, she was designated a target ship for the atomic tests to be conducted at Bikini Atoll that summer. She survived both blasts at Bikini in July. On 29 August 1946, she was decommissioned. Wainwright remained at Bikini almost two years under intermittent inspection by scientists evaluating the effects of the Operation Crossroads tests. Finally, she was towed out to sea in July 1948 and sunk as a target on 5 July. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 July 1948.
Jacqueline Kennedy christening Lafayette Lafayette’s keel was laid down on 17 January 1961 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched 8 May 1962, sponsored by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, and commissioned 23 April 1963 at Groton, Connecticut, with Commander P. J. Hannifin in command of the Blue Crew and Commander James T. Strong in command of the Gold Crew.
Operational history After a shakedown in the Caribbean Sea, Lafayette loaded Polaris ballistic missiles at Charleston, South Carolina, and during June 1963 sailed to Cape Canaveral, Florida, for ballistic missile maneuvers. She fired four missiles, two by each crew, after which she proceeded to Groton, arriving there on 2 August 1963. For the rest of the year her two crews alternately took her through a series of exercises before she took her place in the Navy’s expanding fleet ballistic missile submarine fleet.
Lafayette departed Charleston on 4 January 1964 for her first deterrent patrol in the Atlantic Ocean. During the next four years, Lafayette made 16 deterrent patrols out of Rota, Spain. Her 15th patrol, the 400th of the Polaris submarine fleet, won Lafayette special commendation from Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze. She returned to Charleston from her 16th patrol on 23 August 1967. A week later, she arrived at Newport News, Virginia, for a major overhaul by Newport News Shipbuilding to prepare for future service. On 28 December 1968, Lafayette’s overhaul officially ended and in January 1969, she once again took up her position with the fleet.
On 18 May 1969, Lafayette departed Charleston, South Carolina, for her 17th Polaris patrol, and before the year was out, logged two more such evolutions. During 1970, she conducted four more (Patrols 20-23 inclusive). Lafayette, her Gold Crew on board, departed on Patrol 24 in January 1971, returning in March to Rota whereupon the Blue Crew prepared for Patrol 25, departing in April and returning in June. Subsequently, the Gold Crew conducted Patrol 26 from July until September. On 1 September, Lafayette launched five Polaris A-2 missiles; the boat’s performance during the ensuing “operation of great importance to the United States Government [1–30 September 1971],” during which time she “maintained an impressively high state of readiness and demonstrated conclusively the effectiveness and dependability of the Fleet Ballistic Missile System…attested to the professional competence, technical skill and sustained team effort” of Lafayette’s Gold Crew, earning them a Meritorious Unit Commendation (awarded 11 May 1973). Soon thereafter, the Blue Crew carried out Patrol 27. Upon Lafayette’s return in October, the Gold Crew made ready for Patrol 28, departing in December.
During the first few months of 1972, Lafayette successfully completed and undertook three Polaris patrols, as well as transited from Rota to New London, Connecticut. Following her arrival at the latter port, she performed weekly operations in support of Commander Submarine Force, Atlantic’s, Second-Class Midshipmen Submarine Summer Indoctrination, continuing until September, during which time she provided underway training for over 1,000 midshipmen. Rear Admiral Paul J. Early, Commander Submarine Flotilla 2, later commended Lafayette for her “careful preparation and superb execution which characterized your participating in this vital program. Midshipmen reaction was consistently favorable. Such a response is clear evidence of a sustained, dedicated effort on the part of the Commanding Officer and Crew and reflects admirable standards of leadership and performance.”
Dr. Franklin B. Lincoln Jr., a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, toured Lafayette on 27 June and received a briefing “on the operations and conditions aboard [sic] a Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine.” On 23 August, the boat hosted a large group of students from the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., “for the purpose of [their] obtaining insight into the operational capabilities and limitations, manning and habitability of the modern FBM submarine.” Mr. Leif Leifland, Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary to the Royal Swedish Embassy embarked for a tour on 2 October; Rear Admiral Edwin E. McMorries (SC), Commanding Officer, Ships Parts Control Center, Mechanicsburg, Pa., visited the boat on 3 October; two days later, author Joseph M. Duckert visited Lafayette in the course of gathering information “for his latest book, Nuclear Ships of the World.”
Having completed sound trials, Lafayette conducted a weapons off-load to prepare for entrance into the Electric Boat yard for what was slated to be an 18-month overhaul and conversion to enable her to employ the new Poseidon missile. Following that, the Blue and Gold Crews combined into a single overhaul crew on 6 October 1972, Lafayette entering the shipyard on the 13th.
Lafayette lay in the yard for the remainder of 1972 and all of 1973, and ultimately emerged from her conversion work at Electric Boat (“schedule slippage [due to] work force dilution at these yards [Electric Boat and Newport News] which have high current and projected workload”) on 7 November 1974. She then embarked Vice Admiral Joe Williams, Jr., Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, who observed post-overhaul shakedown training (24–29 November). On 16 December, while operating out of Port Canaveral, Lafayette’s Blue Crew conducted the successful launch of a Poseidon C-3 missile as part of her post-availability shakedown, making Lafayette the first of her class to fire one of those weapons. Rear Admiral Levering Smith, Director, Strategic Systems Project Office, Rear Admiral Albert L. Kelln, Commander, Submarine Group 6, and Brig. Gen. J. H. Ahmann, Commander, Air Force Eastern Test Range, witnessed the test. The Blue Crew completed post-overhaul shakedown training on 21 January 1975 having visited Charleston, S.C., Port Canaveral, Fla., and Exuma Sound, Bahamas, during the course of those evolutions; relieved by the Gold Crew at Charleston, the latter conducted their post-overhaul shakedown training, conducting Weapons System Accuracy Trials (WSAT) at St. Croix, Virgin Islands, and Mk. 48 Torpedo Certification in Exuma Sound. Following another crew exchange at Charleston, the Blue Crew carried out Mk. 48 Torpedo Certification in Exuma Sound, and took Lafayette to Groton for an eight-month post-conversion availability. Returning to Charleston to exchange crews, Lafayette conducted two more patrols, 31 and 32, to round out the year.
During the first half of 1976, Lafayette carried out Patrols 33 (Gold) and 34 (Blue) from Holy Loch; her Gold Crew conducted Patrol 35, carrying out evolutions in the eastern Atlantic, after which time the boat fired a Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency in the Tongue of the Ocean, Bahamas. Following the Blue Crew’s conducting the next refit at Charleston, Lafayette conducted torpedo proficiency work in the Tongue of the Ocean, and local operations off the eastern seaboard, then Patrol 36. The Gold Crew relieved the Blue at Holy Loch in January 1977, and the two crews alternated conducting Poseidon deterrent patrols (37-40) from that site. In June of that year (1977), Lafayette, to demonstrate “the continuing effectiveness of the Fleet Ballistic Missile weapon system,” launched two Poseidon missiles in an operational test.
Lafayette completed Patrols 41 and 42 in the first half of 1978. Patrol 41 included operations in the Eastern Atlantic followed by an Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firing period at the AUTEC range near Bermuda. Subsequently, the Blue Crew conducted refit at Charleston, after which Lafayette performed Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firings at the AUTEC range and midshipman training out of New London and Charleston. Relieving the Blue Crew at Holy Loch, the Gold Crew conducted a refit there, thereafter carrying out Patrol 43. Following that, the Blue Crew relieved the Gold Crew in December. The New Year 1979 saw the crews completing Patrols 44 and 45. Thereafter, refit periods took place in Holy Loch. Patrols 46 and 47 took place in the second half of the year; 46 included operations in the Eastern Atlantic followed by an Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firing period at the AUTEC range near Bermuda, with the Gold Crew conducting a subsequent refit in King’s Bay, Georgia. Upon completion of the refit, the Gold Crew again conducted an Mk. 48 torpedo proficiency firing at the AUTEC range near Bermuda, after which they enjoyed a port call at Port Canaveral, Florida.
For the first eleven months of 1980, Lafayette conducted Patrols 48, 49 and 50, interspersed with refits at Holy Loch. In December, the combined crew refitted the boat at Groton. In the early January 1981, she hosted a dependents cruise from New London to Norfolk, Virginia. Subsequently, Lafayette got underway for Patrol 51. In February, she completed a missile offload in Charleston in preparation for arriving at the shipyard on 2 March, and on the 6th, entered the newly constructed dry dock at Newport News for an extended refuelling overhaul. She then spent the rest of 1982 in Newport News.
On 23 April 1983, Lafayette celebrated the 20th anniversary of her commissioning. Although the ship had already completed Alpha and Bravo sea trials while in the shipyard, a change of command ceremony held on 20 May officially welcomed her back into the operational fleet. Both crews subsequently completed a shakedown period consisting of an Operational Reactor Safeguards
