USS Edwards (DD-619)

Figure 1:  Launching of USS Edwards (DD-619) at the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Kearny, New Jersey, on 19 July 1942. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.    

Figure 2:  USS Edwards (DD-619) underway in the Caribbean Sea during her shakedown period, circa November 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.   

Figure 3:  USS Edwards (DD-619) at the New York Navy Yard, November 1942. Courtesy Gerd Matthes. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Edwards (DD-619) at Port Newark, New Jersey, on 27 October 1942 or 27 October 1945, with a large crowd on board and nearby for Navy Day ceremonies. Photographed by the US Steel Corporation. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.   

Named after Lieutenant Commander Walter A. Edwards (1886-1928), who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism while commanding USS Bainbridge (DD-246), the 1,630-ton USS Edwards (DD-619) was a Gleaves class destroyer that was built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 18 September 1942. The ship was approximately 348 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 270 officers and men. Edwards was armed with four 5-inch guns, six 0.5-inch machine guns, ten 21-inch torpedoes, and depth charges.

Following her shakedown cruise in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean, Edwards was sent to the Pacific in November 1942. The ship was present during the late January 1943 air-sea Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval combat action of the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands. During this battle, the convoy Edwards was escorting was attacked by a swarm of Japanese torpedo bombers. Although most of the planes were driven off by the heavy and accurate anti-aircraft fire coming from the escorting warships, several of the Japanese aircraft managed to get through and hit the heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29) with two torpedoes. Edwards and four other destroyers were detached from the convoy to escort the damaged cruiser. The following day, as the group sailed for the American naval base at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, the Japanese air attacks continued. Although the escorting destroyers put up a tough defense, Chicago was hit by four torpedoes and sank. Edwards rescued 224 of the 1,049 survivors. One of the other escorting destroyers, USS La Vallette (DD-448), was also torpedoed. Edwards escorted the damaged La Valette safely to Espiritu Santo before rejoining her convoy.

In April 1943, Edwards was sent to the Aleutian Islands, where she participated in the campaigns to recapture Attu and Kiska. On 12 May, she joined other destroyers in sinking the Japanese submarine I-31 off the island of Attu. After the successful invasion of Kiska, Edwards was sent back to the much warmer climate of the central and western Pacific. In November 1943, Edwards escorted aircraft carriers during air strikes on the massive Japanese base at Rabaul, New Guinea. During one of these air strikes on 11 November, a large formation of Japanese planes attacked the task force Edwards was in. But Edwards and the other escorts drove off or shot down all of the planes before they could do any damage to the ships in the task force. Later that month, Edwards supported the American amphibious assault on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.

From March to August 1944, Edwards patrolled in the central Pacific, escorting aircraft carriers during raids on the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands, and New Guinea. In October 1944, Edwards steamed to Leyte to participate in the battle for the Philippines. Her subsequent activities included the invasion of Ormoc Bay, where on 7 December 1944 Edwards shot down several Japanese planes during a heavy air raid and then assisted ships that were damaged during the attack. A re-supply convoy to Ormoc Bay met a similar aerial assault, but Edwards assisted in driving off those planes and got the convoy through to its final destination. On 11 December, the destroyer took on board casualties from the destroyer USS Caldwell (DD-605), which was set on fire by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft. Edwards remained in the Philippines for several months, escorting supply convoys to Mindoro, Lingayen Gulf, Polloc Harbor, and Davao Gulf.

On 9 May 1945, Edwards arrived at Morotai, Netherlands East Indies, and participated in the invasion of Borneo. She returned to Subic Bay, the Philippines, on 12 July. The ship then escorted convoys to the Japanese islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After Japan surrendered in mid-August 1945, Edwards returned to the United States on 16 September. On 7 January 1946, Edwards arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, and on 11 April 1946 she was decommissioned and placed in reserve. Edwards spent the next 25 years in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The ship was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1971 and was sold for scrapping on 25 May 1973. USS Edwards received an impressive 14 battle stars for her service during World War II.  

USS Zeilin (AP-9, APA-3)

Figure 1:   USS Zeilin (AP-9) at Todd Seattle Dry Docks, Seattle, Washington, 12 January 1942. This ship and USS Harris (AP-8) retained the split superstructure with which they were originally completed. The break between the bridge and funnel contained a small hatch served by two kingposts. This area was filled in with additional superstructure during civilian service in the 1920s or 1930s in the other units of this class acquired by the Navy. AP-8 and AP-9 also retained merchant-style boat davits for nearly the entire war. US National Archives, Photo No. 19-N-26584, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photograph now in the collections of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 2:  USS Zeilin (APA-3) at anchor after her initial conversion to an attack transport in November 1942. She is shown here without radar and with ocean liner-style davits. The big boat forward with the curved bow is a 45 ft. LCM(2); nested in it is an LCV. The boats in davits are ramp-less Higgins LCPLs. US Navy photograph from US Amphibious Ships and Craft, by Norman Freidman.  Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Zeilin (APA-3) at anchor after her initial conversion to an attack transport in November 1942. Photograph is from US Amphibious Ships and Craft, by Norman Freidman. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  Attu Invasion, May 1943. Soldiers pull an ammunition cart along the beach at Massacre Bay, Attu, Aleutian Islands, 12 May 1943. One of the LCVPs in the background is from USS Zeilin (APA-3). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:   Attu Invasion, May 1943. Soldiers unload landing craft on the beach at Massacre Bay, Attu, Aleutian Islands, on 13 May 1943. LCVPs in the foreground are from USS Zeilin (APA-3) and USS Heywood (APA-6). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  Kiska Operation, August 1943. Troops march up the beach at Adak, Aleutian Islands, during pre-invasion loading for the Kiska Operation, 13 August 1943. Photographed by Lt. Horace Bristol, USNR, of the Steichen photographic unit. LCM behind the soldiers is from USS Zeilin (APA-3). The battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is in the far right distance. Note the troops' packs and M1 rifles. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 7:  USS Zeilin (APA-3) underway as part of the Guam amphibious invasion force, July 1944. Photograph was taken from USS Ringgold (DD-500). Courtesy Dwight Spayth collection. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  USS Zeilin (APA-3) in San Francisco Bay, California, circa late 1945. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1973. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after US Marine Corps Brigadier General Jacob Zeilin (1806-1880), the 21,900-ton USS Zeilin was originally built as the passenger-cargo liner SS Silver State by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia, and was completed in 1921. She was re-named SS President Jackson on 23 June 1922 and traveled during the 1920’s and 1930’s from America’s west coast to the Far East. The ship was originally owned by the Pacific Steamship Line, then the Admiral Orient Line, and finally served with the Dollar Line. SS President Jackson was acquired by the US Navy in July 1940 and was commissioned as the troop transport USS Zeilin (AP-9) on 3 January 1942. The ship, though, was re-designated an amphibious attack transport (APA-3) on 26 November 1942. Zeilin was approximately 535 feet long and 72 feet wide, had a top speed of 18 knots, and had a crew of 724 officers and men. The ship was armed with four single 3-inch guns, one quad 40-mm gun mount, one twin 40-mm gun mount, and ten twin 20-mm gun mounts. A large transport, Zeilin could carry roughly 1,675 troops as well as 2,000 tons of cargo.

During World War II, Zeilin was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific theater of operations. During 1942, Zeilin made a round-trip voyage to the south Pacific and then participated in the assault on the Solomon Islands and the subsequent battle for Guadalcanal. While off the coast of Guadalcanal, Zeilin was attacked by Japanese aircraft on 9 November 1942. During the attack, five enemy dive bombers dropped several bombs on Zeilin. Three of the bombs made damaging near misses, one of which bounced off the starboard side of the ship but exploded in the water some 20 to 25 feet below the surface. As a result of these explosions, Zeilin began to take on a substantial amount of water and suffered cracked plates and a broken propeller shaft. Though damaged and listing, the ship remained on station and continued to offload supplies to the troops on shore until later that month. On 26 November, she carried wounded troops to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, and then sailed via Tutuila, Samoa, back to the United States. Zeilin arrived at San Pedro, California, on 22 December and was overhauled to repair the damage sustained off Guadalcanal.

After the repairs were completed, Zeilin participated in operations in Alaskan waters, including the landings at Attu, Aleutian Islands, in May 1943 and Kiska, Aleutian Islands, in August 1943. From late 1943 to mid-1944, Zeilin carried troops and supplies for the invasions of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, and Guam in the Mariana Islands. On 30 July 1944, Zeilin left the Mariana Islands and headed for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving there on 7 August. She continued on to San Francisco, California, and docked there on 18 August. The ship then underwent a major overhaul which lasted until the final week in October.

Once that overhaul was completed, Zeilin returned to the Pacific war zone and arrived at New Guinea on 6 November 1944, where ships were gathering for the invasion of the Philippines. On 2 January 1945, Zeilin and the other ships in the invasion force headed for Luzon in the Philippines. Zeilin arrived off the coast of Luzon on 11 January, two days after the initial landings. Zeilin completed the disembarking of troops and the unloading of their supplies and equipment by the evening of 12 January. That night, Zeilin rendezvoused with a fast transport convoy that was headed for Leyte in the Philippines. The next morning, a single Japanese plane attacked the convoy. Dropping down suddenly from the clouds, a kamikaze aircraft suddenly spotted Zeilin and headed for her. Although Zeilin was firing every gun it had at the attacking plane, the kamikaze plummeted from the sky and smashed into the ship, causing a large explosion that started numerous fires. Damage topside was extensive at the point of impact. The superstructure deck was blown away, deck framing was bent and buckled, and several staterooms were completely destroyed. The plane’s engine pierced the superstructure deck and the outboard bulkhead and ended up in one of the landing boats. Worst of all, the attack cost the ship seven men killed, three missing (and presumed dead), and 30 injured. The damage, though extensive, was not fatal, and Zeilin continued on her way with the convoy.  

After making temporary repairs at Leyte, Zeilin got underway for the US Navy base at Ulithi in the Caroline Islands on 16 February 1945 and arrived there two days later. The ship participated briefly in the Iwo Jima campaign, making a voyage to that island from 9 to 16 March. Zeilin brought in reinforcements to Iwo Jima and, later that month, left the western Pacific to return to the United States for more permanent repairs. After spending five days in Hawaii (from 12 to 17 April), Zeilin continued on to San Francisco, where she arrived on 23 April.  

The Pacific war ended in August 1945, just as Zeilin completed her repairs and was returning to the combat zone. The ship spent the next few months on occupation duties in Japan and transported troops back to the United States, arriving in San Francisco on 14 November. The ship made numerous “shuttle” voyages along the west coast between the California ports of San Diego, San Francisco, and San Pedro, and then sailed to Bremerton and Seattle, Washington. This occupied Zeilin for the remainder of 1945 and January 1946. On 4 February, Zeilin left San Pedro and set her course for the east coast. After transiting the Panama Canal on 14 February, she continued her voyage and arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 21 February.

On 19 April 1946, Zeilin was decommissioned at Portsmouth, Virginia. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 5 June. The ship was transferred to the Maritime Commission on 3 July 1946 and was sold for scrapping on 4 May 1948. USS Zeilin received eight battle stars for her service in World War II.

USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24)

Figure 1:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) fitting out at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1906. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) and USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23) fitting out at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa late 1907 or early 1908. Mississippi, commissioned in February 1908, is presumably the more complete ship, in the center of the photograph. Courtesy of Ted Stone, 1977. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) photographed on 14 September 1908, refitted with a "cage" mainmast but still wearing "white and buff" paint. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) in the Hudson River off Fort Lee, New Jersey, 1909. Photographed by William H. Rau. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) photographed in 1909. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) photographed on 25 July 1909. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) dressed with flags during the Naval Review off New York City, October 1912. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) underway in 1912. Photographed by O.W. Waterman, Hampton, Virginia. US Naval Historical Center Photograph.  Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:  Greek Battleship Lemnos dressed with flags at Smyrna, Turkey, in 1919, possibly on 15 September. She is flying the Greek flag at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. Photographed by Wayne. Lemnos was the former USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10:  Greek Battleship Lemnos firing a salute to US Navy Admiral Mark L. Bristol, at Smyrna, Turkey, 15 September 1919. Lemnos is flying the US and Greek flags at the foremast peak and the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. A British D-class light cruiser is in the right distance, also with the Italian flag at the mainmast peak. Lemnos was the former USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24). US Naval Historical Center Photograph.  Click on photograph for larger image.   

Figure 11: Greek battleship Lemnos at Constantinople, Turkey, probably in 1919. The Greek torpedo boat Dafni (completed 1913) is alongside. Lemnos was the former USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12:  Greek battleship Kilkis or Lemnos photographed in a US port. Kilkis was the former USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23). Lemnos was originally USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24). Courtesy of the US Naval Institute. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 13:  Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos sunk in the basin of the Greek naval base at Salamis after they were hit by German air attacks on 23 April 1941. Seen from the harbor pier following the arrival of the German army. Kilkis, the former USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23), is in the foreground. Lemnos, ex-USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24), is in the distance, with her guns removed. Photograph and some caption information were provided by Franz Selinger, via the US Naval Institute. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Named after the state of Idaho, the 14,465-ton USS Idaho (Battleship No. 24) was a Mississippi class battleship that was built by William Cramp and Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 1 April 1908. The ship was approximately 382 feet long and 77 feet wide, had a top speed of 17 knots, and had a crew of 836 officers and men. Idaho was armed with four 12-inch guns, eight 8-inch guns, eight 7-inch guns, 12 3-inch guns, two 1-pounders, and two 21-inch torpedo tubes.

Idaho and her sister ship USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23) represented the US Navy’s final design of what would soon be called “pre-dreadnaughts,” battleships with a main battery of two or more different-sized guns. Congressional action limited their displacements, a response to the rising size and cost of battleships. The two ships, therefore, were smaller, slower, and shorter-ranged than their contemporaries, though their armament was similar in power. Operationally, the Navy viewed them as inadequate because of their small size, short range, and slow speed, which made them prime candidates for early disposal.

Following operations in the Caribbean area and a period of shipyard work, Idaho participated in the February 1909 naval review at Hampton Roads, Virginia, celebrating the return of the “Great White Fleet” from its around-the-world cruise. Over the next five years, Idaho served with the Atlantic Fleet along America’s east coast and in the Caribbean. She also took part in naval reviews that at that time were frequent events at New York City. Idaho then visited France and England in late 1910 and cruised on the Mississippi River in 1911.

In 1913, there was massive political unrest in Mexico due to a coup d'etat carried out by General Victoriano Huerta in February and the subsequent controversial death of deposed President Francisco I. Madero (shot and killed while "attempting to escape").  Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels observed that it had "been considered advisable by the administration [of President Woodrow Wilson] to maintain three or four battleships of the Atlantic Fleet in Mexican waters because of the very disturbed conditions in most of that Republic." Those "disturbed conditions" still existed in the spring of 1913 and Idaho was one of the “three or four battleships of the Atlantic Fleet” to be deployed to Mexico, first to Tampico from 23 April to 22 May, and then to Vera Cruz from 23 May to 22 June. Idaho rejoined the Atlantic Fleet at Newport, Rhode Island, on 30 June. After completing some training exercises off the coast of New England, Idaho steamed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet on 27 October 1913.

Re-commissioned at Philadelphia on 16 March 1914. Idaho left Philadelphia on 9 May and went to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, where midshipmen boarded the battleship for a training cruise to the Mediterranean. Idaho left Annapolis on 7 June, bound for the Mediterranean in company with USS Missouri (Battleship No.11), flagship of the Naval Academy Practice Squadron, and USS Illinois (Battleship No.7).

Meanwhile, events were occurring elsewhere that soon determined Idaho's ultimate fate. Diplomatic tensions between Greece and the Ottoman Empire following the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars resulted in each seeking to buy powerful warships abroad that would enable them to control the Aegean Sea. Determined to be unsatisfactory for continued US service, Idaho, and her sister ship Mississippi, were sold to Fred J. Gauntlett, an intermediary, on 8 July 1914, who then transferred them to the Greek government. "Those battleships," wrote then-US Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau, "immediately took their places as the most powerful vessels of the Greek Navy, and the enthusiasm of the Greeks in obtaining them was unbounded."   

After visiting Tangier, Morocco, from 20 to 21 June 1914, and Gibraltar from 21 to 23 June, Idaho and her consorts visited Naples, Italy, from 27 June to 3 July. Missouri and Illinois then went on to England, while Idaho sailed to Villefranche, France, arriving there on 17 July. Idaho’s entire crew was then transferred to USS Maine (Battleship No. 10), which was also docked at the same port. On 30 July 1914, USS Idaho was decommissioned from the US Navy and, on the same day, was formally transferred to the Royal Hellenic Navy of Greece. The ship was renamed Lemnos, in honor of a victorious naval battle over the Turkish Navy during the First Balkan War which took place in January 1913. USS Mississippi, which was also sold to Greece at the same time, was re-named Kilkis. These were the only US Navy battleships ever to be transferred to a foreign power.

Lemnos and Kilkis were vital elements of the Greek Navy during World War I and Lemnos was active in Turkish waters during the chaotic period following the end of the war. Lemnos was taken out of active service during the 1930s, but was retained as a hulk. On 23 April 1941, as the Germans invaded Greece during World War II, Lemnos and Kilkis were sunk at the Salamis Naval Base by German dive bombers. They ended up being the first American-built battleships in history to be lost in a hostile air attack.  More would soon follow in a place called Pearl Harbor.