John Currin

She was designed as an amphibious force flagship, a floating command post with advanced communications equipment and extensive combat information spaces to be used by the amphibious forces commander and landing force commander during large-scale operations.

Construction and career[edit]

Estes was launched on 1 November 1943 at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina, as Morning Star. The ship was acquired by the Navy on 22 February 1944 and commissioned on 9 October 1944.

On 20 November 1944, Estes arrived at Pearl Harbor from Naval Station Norfolk, and after training, broke the flag of Rear Admiral William H. P. Blandy, Commander, Amphibious Group One. She sailed from Pearl Harbor on 10 January 1945 for rehearsal landings in the Marianas, and on 16 February arrived off Iwo Jima. As flagship for TF 52, Estes served as control center for the pre-invasion bombardment and the work of underwater demolition teams preparing the beaches for the assault. It remained off the island through the landings of 19 February, receiving wounded and supplying and repairing small craft. It arrived at Ulithi on 11 March to make final preparations for the Okinawa assault.

1945[edit]

Again flagship for TF 52, the amphibious support force, Estes was off Okinawa on 24 March 1945. It landed an underwater demolition group, then sailed with the bombardment group, directing the pre-invasion pounding of the beaches and Japanese strong points. Using information gained from its contacts with the radar picket destroyers, its controlled aircraft carrier planes protecting the vast concentration of shipping assembled for the assault on 1 April. After almost a month off the bitterly contested island, it sailed on 20 April to replenish at Saipan and carry Admiral Blandy to Pearl Harbor, where he and his staff disembarked on 19 May.

Estes continued to San Francisco for overhaul, and equipment installation designed to make the ship even more effective. On 20 July, it embarked Rear Admiral R. O. Davis, Commander, Amphibious Group 13, and on 8 August sailed for the Philippines. It arrived at Leyte on 28 August for occupation duty, coordinating the lifting of troops from the Philippines to Japan. After cruising widely in the Philippines on this duty, Estes sailed for Shanghai, and upon its arrival on 7 November, broke the flag of Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, Commander, 7th Fleet. Before its had completed its tour of occupation duty along the Chinese coast, for part of which it was homeported at Tsingtao, the ship served as flagship for three succeeding commanders of the 7th Fleet, Vice Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, Admiral Charles M. Cooke, and Admiral Oscar C. Badger.

1946[edit]

In June 1946, Estes became flagship for Naval Forces, Western Pacific, and continued to cruise between Tsingtao and Hong Kong, aside from a 1947 overhaul at Bremerton, until 29 January 1949, when it departed Tsingtao for San Francisco. Arriving on 16 February, it lay at San Francisco and San Diego until its decommissioning at Hunter’s Point, San Francisco and being placed in reserve on 30 June 1949.

1950s[edit]

Estes was recommissioned on 31 January 1951, and after training off San Diego, sailed on 20 June for Yokosuka and Inchon, where from 25 July to 6 August, it served as flagship for Vice Admiral I. N. Kiland, Commander, Amphibious Force, Pacific. The ship carried successive Commanders, Amphibious Group One, through the remainder of this tour of duty in the Far East, during which it operated off Korea and in exercises off Japan.

Returning to San Diego on 19 April 1952, Estes carried high-ranking observers to the Marshall Islands for nuclear weapons tests in the fall of 1952.

With Rear Admiral F.S. Withington, USN, Commander Amphibious Group 3 and Commander Task Force 9, embarked, Estes left San Diego on 6 July 1953, setting course for Kodiak, Alaska. This time, the purpose of “Operation Blue Nose,” as it was called, was to resupply government installations—the “DEW Line“—in the far north. Estes arrived at Kodiak one week out of San Diego. Proceeding north, the personnel of TF 9 were officially inducted into the “Honorary Order of the Arctic” as “Blue Noses” when the force crossed the Arctic Circle on 19 July. While at anchor at Icy Cape, Estes received news that a truce had been signed in Korea. Continuing north to Wainwright on 31 July, Estes pressed on to Point Barrow the following day. At anchor off Point Barrow, Estes fell temporary victim to a shift in the wind which allowed pack ice to move inshore, immobilizing the ship for the better part of a week. The icebreaker USCGC Northwind freed Estes, and the transports Electra and Skagit, from the icy confines of the anchorage. The resupply mission complete, Estes set course for its home port of San Diego on 9 August.

Between January and May 1954, it again sailed for atomic weapons tests at Eniwetok, and on 6 July cleared for the Far East. As control ship for “Operation Passage to Freedom“, the evacuation of refugees from Communist North Vietnam, Estes operated from Haiphong from 18 August to 29 October. Between 6 and 11 February 1955 it aided the evacuation of the Tachen Islands resulting from the Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Estes returned to San Diego on 22 May 1955, operating out of there for the next year. Between March and July 1956, it was again in the Marshalls for weapons tests, and on 31 January 1957 sailed for Yokosuka, where it provided quarters and communications facilities until April, sailing then to visit Hong Kong. It returned to stateside duty on 15 May, voyaging to Pearl Harbor in July and August.

The next year found Estes sailing north in July to ports in British Columbia, and again in August to call at Seattle. During its 1959 tour of duty in the Far East it directed important amphibious operations off Japan, Okinawa, and Korea, and exercises off Borneo with ships of the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy.

1960s[edit]

It returned to San Diego in August, and through 1962 operated along the west coast, twice visiting the Pacific Northwest.

Estes was deployed to South Vietnam between June and October 1965, August 1966 to January 1967, February to July 1968 and, finally, from August to September 1969. It received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for operations in Vietnam in January 1967. The USS Estes Commanding Officer was Captain Edward Rogers. The XO was CDR Gus Cheatham, and Navigator LCDR Edward McCarthy.

On 31 October 1969, Estes was decommissioned for the final time.

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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) refueling from the aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) in the Atlantic Ocean, in 1944.

Construction and commissioning

Bainbridge was launched on 12 June 1920 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey, sponsored by Miss Juliet Edith Greene, great-great-granddaughter of Commodore Bainbridge. Bainbridge was commissioned on 9 February 1921 with Lieutenant Commander Leo H. Thebaud in command.

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.

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The Oklahoma, commissioned in 1916, served in World War I as a member of BatDiv 6,[4] protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic. After the war, she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet. Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929. In 1936, she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War. On returning to the West coast in August of the same year, Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific.

On 7 December 1941, Oklahoma was sunk by several bombs and torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A total of 429 crew died when she capsized in Battleship Row. In 1943 Oklahoma was righted and salvaged. However, unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor, the Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty. She was eventually stripped of her remaining armaments and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. She sank in a storm while being towed from Oahu in Hawaii to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay in 1947.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oklahoma_(BB-37)

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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.

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The ship also pioneered the use of an intermediate battery. She was designed for coastal defense[6] and as a result, her decks were not safe from high waves on the open ocean.

Indiana served in the Spanish–American War (1898) as part of the North Atlantic Squadron. She took part in both the blockade of Santiago de Cuba and the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, which occurred when the Spanish fleet attempted to break through the blockade. Although unable to join the chase of the escaping Spanish cruisers, she was partly responsible for the destruction of the Spanish destroyers Plutón and Furor. After the war, she quickly became obsolete—despite several modernizations—and spent most of her time in commission as a training ship or in the reserve fleet, with her last commission during World War I as a training ship for gun crews. She was decommissioned for the third and final time in January 1919 and was shortly after reclassified Coast Battleship Number 1 so that the name Indiana could be reused. She was sunk in shallow water as a target in aerial bombing tests in 1920, and her hull was sold for scrap in 1924.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indiana_(BB-1)

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The world?s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford steams alongside USNS Laramie (T-AO-203) during a fueling-at-sea in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as a scheduled deployment in the U.S Naval Forces Europe area of operations, deployed by U.S. Sixth Fleet to defend U.S, allied, and partners interests, in this photo taken on October, 11, 2023 and released by U.S. Navy on October 14, 2023. U.S Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 6th Fleet / Handout via REUTERS

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group will leave the eastern Mediterranean Sea more than two months after being sent to the region following Hamas’ attack on Israel in October, ABC News reported. 

The carrier and other surface ships that form the strike group will head back to their home port of Norfolk, Virginia, in the “coming days” as originally scheduled, a senior US official and a US official told the outlet. The carrier group is returning to the US to prepare for future deployments. 

The US will still have military capability in the region and flexibility to deploy additional cruisers and destroyers in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, the senior US official told ABC. 

A Defense Department spokesman told ABC that they had nothing to announce today. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed the naval group to the region the day after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The carrier was sent to the region to bolster regional deterrence, Austin said at the time, in an effort to prevent the conflict from widening into a wider regional one. 

By Max Zimmerman © 2023 Bloomberg L.P.

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USS Lafayette (SSBN-616), the lead ship of her class of ballistic missile submarine, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named to honor Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, a French military hero who fought alongside and significantly aided the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

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