Great War Destroyers
The opening of hostilities in World War I found the Navy strengthened with a new type destroyer design, much improved over Bainbridge's. In the early months of the war, the United States was neutral, although American lives were being lost as a result of German submarine warfare against British merchantmen. The U.S. protested when the German submarines began sinking American shipping bound for England. The protests, the sinkings, and the loss of lives continued until April 6, 1917, when the United States declared war on Germany.
In April 1917, the whole of the plan of the Navy was to mobilize the fleet, to defend the Atlantic coast ports, and to provide for an offshore patrol by sending out available light forces of the Navy on arduous patrol duty along the Atlantic coast, 3,000 miles from the nearest submarines. The only parts of the Navy that were at that time in an efficient state as to material and personnel were the dreadnaught divisions and some twenty destroyers which were with these divisions. All the other vessels of the Navy were in varying states of material depreciation and were all short of crews. In spite of the fact that it should have been apparent for at least a year that when the Navy entered the war its chief effort must necessarily be directed against combating submarines, no plans had been prepared for this. The types of vessels that were needed were not ready. No effort had been made to provide additional vessels of this type or to provide the necessary crews. There had not even been any consideration of the possibility of sending naval craft overseas.
In his first message of April 14th, 1917, and in all his later messages, Admiral William S. Sims pointed out that the German submarines, through their sinkings of merchant tonnage, were rapidly cutting the Allied lines of communication on all fronts. If the tonnage losses continued, the length of the war was a matter of arithmetical calculation ; the Allies would have been forced to sue for peace because of the insufficiency of tonnage to import the necessary supplies for their armies and the food for their populations. All help from the United States which might later become available, would be vain unless the Navy, by throwing immediately the maximum number of anti-submarine craft into the war zone, could succeed, in co-operation with the Allies, in defeating the submarine campaign.
These recommendations apparently had but little effect upon the Navy Department. It was nearly a month after war began before the Navy Department even formulated a plan for sending abroad more than one division of destroyers. After Ambassador Page's message of April 27, 1917, the Department, in a cable to Admiral Sims of May 3rd, stated that ultimately thirty-six destroyers would be sent, but it was not stated when they would be sent nor whether any other antisubmarine craft would be available.
Within a month after the U.S. entered World War I, six destroyers rushed from Boston to Queenstown, Ireland, to help the British stop the German U-boats (submarines). They arrived on May 4, 1917, and immediately Vice Adm. Sir Lewis Bayly of the Royal Navy, thinking the Americans may need days or even weeks in which to train or perhaps put their ships through overhaul, asked the dreaded question, "How soon will you be ready to go out on patrol?" The commander of the U.S. destroyers, Cmdr. J.K. Taussig, gave the historic reply, "We are ready now, sir!"
The six destroyers immediately went on patrol, and before the war ended, the U.S. destroyer force in European waters expanded to 80 ships. They did an outstanding job, tangling with U-boats in 250 actions while only losing one destroyer, USS Jacob Jones (DD 61), and 64 members of the ship's crew. Destroyers also guarded the transatlantic crossings of two million men, without the loss of a single life or a single transport ship.
Admiral William S. Sims, USN, persuaded the British to try the convoy system of shipping goods again. The British had tried the system before but, because they seemed to have little defense against the U-boat, decided that it wasn't worth the price. Now, with British supplies running dangerously low and American destroyers helping to combat the submarine menace, the convoy system was reinstated. With American destroyers escorting convoys, the German's submarine toll was reduced: from 900,000 tons in April 1917 to one-third of that by November.
Although the Department had been, since April, 1917, fully informed of the fact that destroyers were the greatest enemy of the submarine and the most effective protection to shipping, it was not until six months later, in October, 1917, that the Department obtained from Congress the funds for additional destroyers. Yet war had been imminent for some months before April, 1917, and Congress and the country had displayed the greatest willingness to provide such funds as the emergency required. Six precious months had been lost, with the result that less than a dozen of the 250 new destroyers undertaken actually saw active service prior to the armistice.
The first German submarine sunk by the U.S. Navy in World War I was the U-58. It was the only U-boat kill of the war by American destroyers. On November 17, 1917, destroyers USS Fanning (DD 37) and USS Nicholson (DD 52) were escorting an Atlantic convoy near the Hebrides. Suddenly, Fanning's lookouts sighted a periscope moving through the sea. Fanning swung about, raced toward the sub at top speed, and began attacking with depth charges. The U-boat partially surfaced. Then, Nicholson joined the fray, making a depth-charge pass of her own.
The explosions jammed the sub's diving gear and the U-boat plunged towards the bottom. At about 300 feet. the sub blew ballast and shot toward the surface. Fanning and Nicholson were waiting when the U-boat broke the surface and the destroyers began shelling. This was enough for the Germans who quickly surrendered. But, the U-boat's skipper ordered the seacocks opened, and as the destroyers were picking the surrendering Germans off the sub, it eased below the surface never to come up again. Only forty survivors were taken prisoner.
American destroyers in World War I made some lasting contributions to U.S. seapower. In their 250 battles with German submarines, the ships laid the groundwork for modern antisubmarine warfare. They had guarded the trans-Atlantic crossing of two million men without the loss of a single life or transport ship. And, by mounting 3-inch anti-aircraft guns, they had foreseen the day when ships would do battle with enemies in the sky.
By the end of the "war to end all wars," the US had the largest destroyer fleet in the world. The older Torpedo Boat Destroyers, from DD-1 Bainbridge through DD-17 Smith classes were all were sold for scrap in January 1920. Not one new destroyer was launched between 1921 and 1934. What destroyers there were constituted the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. The Force was redesignated as Destroyer Squadron, Atlantic, on October 1, 1921; later to be redesignated again as Destroyer Squadron, Scouting Fleet, U.S. Fleet (December 8, 1922).
All units of the DD-22 Paulding through DD-63 Sampson classes were ordered scrapped from 1934 through 1937 under terms of Washington Naval Treaty. Of the DD-69 Caldwell class, DD-69 Caldwell and DD-71 Gwin were scrapped in 1936 and 1939, respectively. The rest were transferred to Britain in late 1940. Ten of the 110 DD-75 Wickes class destroyers were scrapped in the same period, with many of the rest being transferred to Britain in late 1940. Some fifty of the 156 DD-186 Clemson class [mainly DD-271 Morris through DD-335 Melvin] were sold for scrap between December 1930 and September 1936 [many in January 1931] in accordance with the 1930 London Naval Treaty.
On 02 September 1940 an agreement between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill led to the transfer of 50 World War I destroyers to be transferred to the Royal Navy. The destroyers were requested to help combat German U-boats. In return, the U.S. was given 99-year leases to British bases in Bermuda, Newfoundland, and the West Indies.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
