USS Current

Figure 1:  USS Current (ARS-22) underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 2:  USS Current (ARS-22) underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Current (ARS-22) underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Current (ARS-22) underway, date and location unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS Current (ARS-22) during salvage operations of a Japanese World War II era midget submarine at Keehi Lagoon just outside Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 6 July 1960. This submarine has been designated by the Navy as "Midget D." It was launched from its mother submarine I-18 at 0215 on the morning of 7 December 1941.  Photograph courtesy of Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  Aft view of USS Current (ARS-22) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 28 March 1946. Current was being overhauled at Mare Island from 1 to 31 March 1946. Forward of her from left to right are: USS Lipan (ATF-85), USS Deliver (ARS-23), and USS Preserver (ARS-8). Mare Island Navy Yard photograph No. 1241-46. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:   Amidships view of USS Current (ARS-22) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 28 March 1946. The sterns of USS Deliver (ARS-23) and USS Preserver (ARS-8) are seen forward of Current. Mare Island Navy Yard photograph No. 1242-46. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  USS Current (ARS-22) and USS Abnaki (ATF-96) underway off the Hawaiian Islands, 22 November 1953. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



The 1,530-ton USS Current (ARS-22) was a Diver class rescue and salvage ship that was built by the Basalt Rock Company at Napa, California, and was commissioned on 14 June 1944. The ship was approximately 213 feet long and 39 feet wide, had a top speed of 15 knots, and had a crew of 120 officers and men. Current was armed with one 3-inch gun, two twin 40-mm guns, and four .50-caliber machine guns.

After being commissioned, Current left San Francisco, California, on 6 August 1944 and, after making a stop a Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, eventually made her way to Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, arriving there on 14 October 1944. Ulithi was an enormous American naval base which acted as a forward supply depot, repair facility, and staging area for the Navy’s western Pacific operations. Approximately 700 ships could fit in its gigantic lagoon, which served as an anchorage for every type of ship imaginable. Many severely damaged ships were also sent to Ulithi for temporary repairs before making the long journey back to the United States. Here Current set up shop and assisted a number of damaged warships that were returning from major battles throughout the area. Current performed some of her most important salvage work on USS Houston (CL-81) and USS Canberra (CA-70), keeping both ships afloat after they sustained severe damage from Japanese aircraft off the coast of Formosa (now Taiwan). The repairs on both ships lasted from 19 October to 14 December 1944. On 11 March 1945, Current also provided major assistance to the aircraft carrier USS Randolph (CV-15), which was hit by a Japanese suicide plane (or kamikaze) while at anchor at Ulithi. Attacks like the one on Randolph showed just how dangerous being anchored in a forward naval base could be.

Current eventually left Ulithi and, after making a brief stop at Leyte in the Philippines, steamed on to provide assistance to the warships involved with the amphibious invasion of Okinawa. Current arrived off Okinawa on 2 June 1945 and began salvage operations on many of the ships that were damaged by Japanese air attacks. Current remained at Okinawa even after the war ended and stayed there until 5 January 1946, when she was ordered to return to the United States. After stopping at Sasebo, Japan, for fuel and provisions, Current started her long journey back to the United States, arriving at San Francisco on 27 February.

From 15 April 1946 to 22 July 1947, Current was assigned to JTF-1 as part of Operation “Crossroads,” the atomic weapons tests in the Marshall Islands. The ship returned to San Diego, California, on 23 August 1947 and was decommissioned and placed in reserve on 9 February 1948. Current was re-commissioned on 10 October 1951 and on 7 December left Long Beach, California, and arrived at Pearl Harbor a week later. Current spent all of 1952 in the Far East, assisting a wide variety of vessels during the Korean War. On her way back to the United States after this deployment, Current carried out an extensive and successful salvage operation on the merchant ship SS Quartette off Midway Island from 23 December 1952 to 6 March 1953. Later that year, Current returned to Korea and in a daring operation refloated the stranded LST-578 at Cheju. She also completed a lengthy and difficult operation to salvage SS Cornhusker Mariner, which had gone aground off Pusan.

During her next Far Eastern deployment in 1954 and 1955, Current was attached to the Taiwan Patrol, which included visits to Japanese ports. Current also participated in the “Passage to Freedom” evacuation of refugees from North Vietnam. Operation Passage to Freedom was the term used by the United States Navy to describe its transportation from 1954 to 1955 of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers, and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam. The French military transported an additional 500,000 people.

Current was then sent back to the United States for an overhaul and to be converted for operations in the Arctic. Current arrived at Seattle, Washington, on 25 June 1955. After her overhaul and conversion was completed, Current carried construction equipment and materials into poorly charted waters along the northern coast of Canada and Alaska from 15 July to 30 September. After that, she steamed to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Current eventually left Pearl Harbor and steamed to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands to inspect the work on mooring buoys from 16 January to 22 February 1956. She returned to Seattle on 29 June to join a convoy carrying supplies to stations of the Distant Early Warning Line from 15 July to 10 September.  The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska, in addition to the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It was set up to detect incoming Soviet bombers during the Cold War and provide early warning of a land-based invasion. After completing this mission, Current returned to Pearl Harbor.

In 1957, Current was sent to the western Pacific and participated in a mine-recovery training exercise around the Marianas Islands. She also surveyed and blasted a channel in Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and salvaged aircraft and ships off the coast of Japan. After returning to Pearl Harbor and working there for a few months, Current was sent back to the Far East to patrol with destroyers off Japan and to conduct operations with the Seventh Fleet in the Taiwan Straits from October 1957 to February 1958.

From July to December 1958, Current participated in diving training missions at Pusan, Korea, and salvaged several ships and aircraft in Japanese waters. In March and April 1959, Current carried passengers to Samoa where her divers worked on a sunken hulk. In November she went back to the Far East for duty until March 1960, when she returned to Pearl Harbor and remained based there for several years. Current went on to serve six tours of duty in Vietnam between 1965 and 1971, assisting countless numbers of ships.

Current was decommissioned for the last time on 28 April 1972 and was struck from the Naval Register of Ships on 1 June 1973. She was sold for scrapping on 27 June 1975. USS Current received two battle stars for her service in World War II, three battle stars for her service during the Korean War, and six campaign stars for her service during the Vietnam War. Few know of the existence of salvage ships, let alone the important jobs they do. That is, of course, unless you are on a ship in desperate need of assistance. Salvage ships also remove sunken or partially sunken ships from coastlines, harbors, and channels, preventing them from becoming hazards to navigation. No major fleet can operate efficiently without them.


USS Thresher (SSN-593)

Figure 1:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) bow-on view, taken at sea on 24 July 1961. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) starboard bow view, taken at sea on 24 July 1961. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) stern-on view, taken at sea on 24 July 1961. Note upper rudder in the foreground, with draft markings painted on its side and navigation light at its top. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) starboard broadside view, taken while the submarine was underway on 30 April 1961. Photographed by J.L. Snell. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) port broadside view, taken while the submarine was underway on 30 April 1961. Photographed by J.L. Snell. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS Thresher (SSN-593) port broadside view, taken while the submarine was underway with water surging over her bow, 30 April 1961. Photographed by J.L. Snell. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  Loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593), April 1963. Navy ships circle in the vicinity of the site of Thresher's sinking, 15 April 1963, five days after her loss. Ships are (left to right): USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618); USS Sunbird (ASR-15); USS Warrington (DD-843), group flagship; and USS Redfin (SS-272). Photographed by PHCS Parker. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  US Navy Bathyscaphe Trieste (1958-1963) under tow and en route to a deep-water dive in the Pacific, 15 September 1959. She is flying both the United States and Swiss flags. Trieste was used in the search for the wreck of Thresher. US NHHC Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:   U.S. Navy Bathyscaphe Trieste (1958-1963) is hoisted out of the water in a tropical port, circa 1958-1959, soon after her purchase by the Navy. Photograph was released by the US Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, California. Trieste was used in the search for the wreck of Thresher.  US NHHC Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10:  USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11) photographed on a winter day in the middle or later 1960s. Mizar was used in the search for the wreck of Thresher. US NHHC Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11:  USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11), which was used in the search for the wreck of Thresher. Here she is photographed circa 1970, by the US Naval Research Laboratory, for which the ship was operated by the Military Sealift Command. The original caption, received with this photograph under date of October 1970, states: "... The ship has been used to investigate the ocean depths and to locate lost ships and, most recently, to find the site of the scuttled Liberty Ship Le Baron Russell Briggs which sank during August 1970 in 16,000 feet of water about 230 miles off the coast of Florida with 418 concrete and steel coffins of nerve-gas rockets aboard." Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 12:  Loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593), April 1963. "Debris on the ocean floor 8,400 feet below the surface may be a clue to the final resting place of the nuclear submarine USS Thresher. Taken last week by an underwater camera system operated by the oceanographic research vessel Atlantis II, these photographs show scattered bits of unidentified debris. The round objects are sea urchins which may range in size from four to twelve inches in diameter. The Navy states that the photographs in themselves are not conclusive evidence of the location of the missing submarine which sank on April 10, 1963, 220 miles east of Cape Cod. Ships of the searching force are continuing a minute search of the area with underwater cameras, sonar and other detection devices." Quoted from the original caption released with this photograph on 22 May 1963. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 13:  Wreck of USS Thresher (SSN-593). "Starboard side of the USS Thresher sail with portions of the hull number '593' visible." Photographed from a deep-sea vehicle deployed from USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11). The original photograph bears the date October 1964. Quoted text is from the caption released with that print. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 14:  Wreck of USS Thresher (SSN-593). Overhead view of Thresher's upper rudder, photographed from a deep-sea vehicle deployed from USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11). The view shows draft markings on the rudder side and a navigation light at its top. The original photograph bears the date October 1964. Thresher was lost on 10 April 1963. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 15:  Wreck of USS Thresher (SSN-593). "Sonar Dome -- A section of a sonar dome from the bow of a Thresher class submarine photographed August 24 during the second series of dives by the bathyscaph Trieste. The bathyscaph has completed 10 dives some 220 miles east of Cape Cod where the nuclear-powered submarine Thresher sank April 10." The original view, from whose caption the quoted text is taken, was released on 5 September 1963. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 16:  Wreck of USS Thresher (SSN-593). "Sonar Dome -- An external portion of a sonar dome used exclusively in Thresher class submarines was photographed by the bathyscaph Trieste August 24 during the second series of dives in the area where the nuclear-powered submarine Thresher sank April 10." The original view, from whose caption the quoted text is taken, was released on 5 September 1963. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the NHHC. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 17:  Lieutenant John Wesley Harvey, USN. Portrait photograph taken 14 November 1955 by Farber. Lieutenant Commander Harvey took command of the nuclear-powered attack submarine Thresher (SSN-593) in January 1963,while she was in the shipyard for overhaul. He took his "boat" to sea for the first time for post-overhaul trials. On 10 April 1963, Lieutenant Commander John W. Harvey lost his life when Thresher accidently sank during diving tests. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 18:  Insignia: USS Thresher (SSN-593). Emblem adopted in 1960 and received in October of that year. It was accompanied with this description: "The fish depicted in the subject insignia is a THRESHER shark, which is characterized by a tail that is approximately one-half of its total length. The THRESHER shark reportedly attacks its prey by flailing the long tail. The horizontal lines signify the deep diving capability of THRESHER. The circles represent her sonar capability. The motto, 'Vis Tacita', describes the overall characteristics of the ship, 'Silent strength'." US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after a type of shark, the 3,700-ton USS Thresher (SSN-593) was a lead ship in a class of nuclear-powered attack submarines that was built by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Maine, and was commissioned on 3 August 1961. The ship was approximately 278 feet long and 31 feet wide, had a top speed of more than 20 knots, and had a crew of 112 officers and men. Thresher was armed with four torpedo tubes.

After being commissioned, Thresher conducted lengthy trials in the western Atlantic and Caribbean oceans in 1961 and 1962. She completed a thorough evaluation of her many new technological features and weapons. The ship seemed to operate normally and without any major complications. Once these tests were completed, Thresher returned to her builders for an overhaul.

After her overhaul was completed, Thresher sailed out to sea on 10 April 1963 for post-overhaul trials. She was accompanied by the submarine rescue ship USS Skylark (ASR-20) and moved to a location roughly 220 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Thresher then initiated deep-diving tests as part of her shakedown exercises. As the ship dove deep into the Atlantic, garbled communications were received by Skylark, indicating that there was trouble on board the submarine. Suddenly, the radio operators on board Skylark heard a noise “like air rushing into an air tank” and then silence. Those garbled transmissions were the last anyone ever heard from Thresher as well as the 112 officers, crewmen, and 17 civilian technicians that were on board the ship. Something had gone terribly wrong.

All efforts by Skylark to re-establish contact with Thresher failed. Five days after the loss of Thresher, a small search group was formed, which included USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618), USS Sunbird (ASR-15), USS Warrington (DD-843) (the group’s flagship), and USS Redfin (SS-272). But nothing was found. The US Navy then called in reinforcements to search for the lost submarine. The remarkable bathyscaphe Trieste was brought into action along with the oceanographic ship Mizar (T-AK-272). A bathyscaphe is a small, modified submarine used for deep-sea exploration. It usually has a spherical observation chamber designed to hold two people placed underneath the ship’s main buoyancy chamber. Trieste was designed to go deep into the ocean without being literally crushed by the water above it. In January 1960, Trieste dove a record 35,791 feet into the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, reaching the deepest part of any ocean on earth. Mizar was an oceanographic research ship with a deep-submergence support capability. Her specialty was locating and examining the wrecks of lost ships.

Soon after Trieste and Mizar went into action, what was left of Thresher was found. Thresher’s shattered remains were located on the sea floor roughly 8,400 feet below the surface. Numerous pictures were taken of the disaster site and many pieces of the actual submarine were recovered as well. Eventually, a Court of Inquiry was convened and after studying all of the photographs and retrieved physical evidence, it was determined that Thresher was probably lost due to a silver-brazed piping joint welding failure that flooded the engine room with water. Salt water spray on electrical components caused short circuits, reactor shutdown, and the loss of propulsion power. The main ballast tank blow system then malfunctioned, most probably owing to ice formation in the piping, and inadequate blow rate could not overcome the flooding in the engine room. The submarine broke up as she hit the ocean floor, leaving Thresher in six major sections, with the majority of the debris concentrated in a roughly 400 square yard area. The major sections are the “sail,” sonar dome, bow section, engineering spaces, operations spaces, and the tail section. Fortunately, there was no major radiation leakage from the nuclear reactors.

Over the next several years, a massive program was undertaken to correct design and construction problems on the Navy’s existing nuclear submarines, as well as those under construction and in planning. After making these critical changes to its nuclear submarine fleet, the US Navy suffered no further losses of the kind that so tragically ended the brief service career of USS Thresher. In 1968, the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was also lost at sea, but the actual cause of its loss was never clearly determined. To date, these are the only two American nuclear submarines lost at sea. 
     
Some interesting footnotes to this story are that the bathyscaphe Trieste was taken out of service soon after the mission to locate Thresher was completed. She is now on exhibit at the US Navy museum at the Washington Navy Yard at Washington, DC. The oceanographic research ship Mizar went on to locate several other important sunken ships, including the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion, the French submarine Eurydice, and the Soviet “Golf” class submarine K-129. Mizar also located an American thermonuclear bomb that was accidentally lost off the coast of Spain. Mizar was withdrawn from active service in the 1990s and reclassified as AK-272. Currently she is part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet in the James River, Virginia, and is listed for disposal.

USS Villalobos (PG-42)

Figure 1:  The above painting shows USS Villalobos (PG-42) in Chinese waters circa 1910. This painting is from Yangtze River Gunboats, 1900-1949, p. 13, and was published by Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2011. The illustrations in the book were done by Tony Bryan and the text was written by Angus Konstam. This book is highly recommended for anyone wanting to learn more about gunboats on the Yangtze River. Click on the photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  The gunboat Villalobos (PG-42) in Chinese waters, circa 1910. This appears to be the original photograph that was used as a model for the painting in Figure 1 by Tony Bryan. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph NH 48493. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Villalobos (PG-42) at anchor off Hankow, China. Date unknown. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  Hangchow, China. Some of the ships of the US Navy's Yangtze River Patrol at Hangchow during the 1920s, with several local junks and sampans also present. US Navy ships are (from left to right): USS Isabel (PY-10); USS Villalobos (PG-42); and USS Elcano (PG-38). Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the sixteenth century Spanish navigator and explorer Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, the steel-hulled, single-screw gunboat Villalobos was built for the Spanish Navy in 1896 by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company at the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong, China. After being completed, Villalobos was based at Cavite in the then Spanish colony of the Philippines. After the Philippines was taken by the United States during the Spanish-American War in 1898, Villalobos was captured by the United States Army. The ship was acquired by the US Navy on 21 February 1900 and, after being overhauled, was commissioned at Cavite on 5 March 1900 as USS Villalobos. The 270-ton gunboat was approximately 156 feet long and 23 feet wide, had a top speed of 11 knots, and had a crew of 57 officers and men. Villalobos was originally armed with four 3-pounder cannons and two 1-pounders, but this armament changed over the coming years. By 1905, the ship carried two 6-pounder rapid-fire cannons, two 3-pounders, two 1-pounders, and two .30-caliber Colt machine guns.

After being commissioned, Villalobos left Cavite on 13 March 1900 and began patrolling the waters around the many islands of the Philippines. At that time, Filipino insurgents were trying to overthrow the American occupation of the islands, so Villalobos’ primary function was to prevent the smuggling of arms and cargo shipments to the insurgents. During her first patrol near Buriad Island, Villalobos destroyed seven Filipino “bancas” (small native boats) and captured a brigantine, a schooner and another banca, all of which were being used for smuggling by the insurgents.

For roughly the next three years, Villalobos patrolled the coastlines of numerous islands in the Philippines and assisted the US Army and Marine Corps in blockading and intercepting contraband that was being shipped by sea to the Filipino insurgents. Villalobos transported supplies and dispatches to American military units on various islands and the gunboat also assisted the Army in numerous military operations that were mounted against the insurgents. On 20 November 1902, Villalobos was decommissioned at Cavite, but only two months later, on 21 January 1903, the ship was re-commissioned. Villalobos was overhauled and quickly prepared for duty on the Yangtze River in China. On 17 February 1903, Villalobos arrived at Hong Kong and remained there until 26 February.  A few days later, Villalobos arrived at Shanghai for the inauguration of the US Navy’s Yangtze River Patrol. After a brief stay in Shanghai, the gunboat steamed up the Yangtze on 27 March to Kiang-Yin to investigate conditions there and to check on the welfare of the American citizens living in the area. She remained on the Yangtze River for the next 25 years.

Villalobos was one of the many gunboats on the Yangtze because of the “Boxer Protocol” that followed the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The Boxer Protocol gave American warships the legal right to protect American lives and property in China. Villalobos made regular stops at such ports as Changsha, Siangtan, Chu-Chow, Yochow, Hankow, Shanghai, Nanking, and Nanchang, to name just a few. Most of the time, the gunboats represented the only law and order on the Yangtze because of the absence of a strong central government in China. So ships like Villalobos were a welcome sight to all foreign nationals (as well as to missionaries) who were constantly in danger of being attacked by Chinese warlords or bandits. On many occasions, Villalobos also escorted American barges and merchant ships to protect them from pirates that prowled the Yangtze for easy unarmed victims.

When World War I started in 1914, the belligerent nations either withdrew their warships from Chinese waters or saw them interned. After British, French, and German gunboats were either interned or redeployed away from China, the only major power to maintain gunboats on the Yangtze was the United States. American gunboats, therefore, were given the task of “keeping the peace” along the river. But when America entered World War I in April 1917, all of the American gunboats in China were interned as well. Although USS Wilmington managed to escape to the Philippines to avoid internment, Villalobos, along with the American gunboats Palos, Monocacy, Samar, and Quiros all remained stuck at Shanghai. The crews of these gunboats occupied their time with the usual routine of maintenance work on board the ships, and this continued until China entered the war on the side of the Allied powers on 16 August 1917. After that, Villalobos and the other American gunboats resumed their duties patrolling the Yangtze and continued doing so until the end of the war in November 1918.

Villalobos also patrolled the Yangtze during the post-war years and in March 1921 the home port for the gunboats Villalobos, Quiros, and Elcano was officially changed from Manila in the Philippines to Shanghai. Villalobos, which was now designated PG-42, was sent to patrol the middle part of the Yangtze River. Because of their age, the first flag officer commanding the Yangtze Patrol, Rear Admiral W.H.G. Bullard, felt that Villalobos and her near-sister ships from the Spanish-American War were “hopeless cases” in terms of upkeep, firepower, and living conditions. But since the US Navy didn’t have any suitable river gunboats to replace them, they had to remain on duty. Added to these problems, frequent battles were now taking place between Chinese Nationalist troops, Communist troops, and soldiers under the command of various independent warlords that controlled large sections of territory along the Yangtze.

On 2 March 1927, Villalobos arrived at Hankow, joining the gunboat USS Isabel (PY-10) and the destroyers USS Truxtun (DD-229) and USS Pope (DD-225). Suddenly, Chinese Nationalist forces swarmed into Nanking on 24 March and began attacking British and American commercial interests in the city. Anticipating action, Villalobos’ skipper, Lieutenant Commander Earl A. MacIntyre, ordered his crew to place more steel boiler plates around vital control and gun positions on board the ship. Two weeks later, riots broke out in Hankow and looting commenced in the Japanese section of the city, prompting the Japanese to land troops to end the violence. American nationals had to be evacuated while Villalobos covered the evacuation with her guns pointing right at the city. Villalobos was then ordered downriver to guard the American-owned Socony-Vacuum Oil Company’s installation. She was assisted in this mission by the British gunboats HMS Teal and HMS Scarab. Fortunately, the ships did not encounter any more trouble from the Chinese Nationalist troops. Villalobos was relieved by USS Palos on 27 May 1927 and as she left the area and headed for Shanghai, Villalobos’ commanding officer was given this order: “If fired upon, and source can be located, return and silence fire with suitable battery.” Such were the tensions on the Yangtze River in 1927.

But Villalobos was coming to the end of her career as six new American gunboats were finally being built to replace the old ones from the Spanish-American War. The Secretary of the Navy’s report for 1927 stated that Villalobos was in bad condition regarding both hull and machinery and had little sale value. As a result, on 29 December 1927 President Calvin Coolidge authorized the destruction of Villalobos by gunfire. The gunboat was decommissioned on 29 May 1928 and was towed off the coast of China and sunk as a target for gunnery exercises on 9 October 1928. For almost 30 years, USS Villalobos served in both the Philippines and in China and gunboats like her played a critical role in protecting American lives and property in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Considering that the ship was never even built for the US Navy or for use as a river gunboat, Villalobos had a fine career.

USS Hobson (DD-464, DMS-26)

Figure 1:  USS Hobson (DD-464) off Charleston, South Carolina, 4 March 1942. She is painted in Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage. This photograph has been censored to remove radar antennas atop her foremast and Mark 37 gun director. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Hobson (DD-464) off Charleston, South Carolina, 4 March 1942. She is painted in Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage. This photograph has been censored to remove radar antennas atop her foremast and Mark 37 gun director. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.   

Figure 3:  USS Hobson (DD-464) underway in the Atlantic, circa late 1942. She is painted in camouflage Measure 15. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Hobson (DD-464) off Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, on 2 April 1943.  National Archives photo BS 42487. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  Expended cartridge cases and powder tanks from USS Hobson's 5-inch guns litter the deck after firing in support of the Normandy invasion off Utah Beach, 6 June 1944. View was taken on the ship's afterdeck, with mount 54 at right. Courtesy of Rear Admiral Kenneth Loveland, USN. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS Hobson (DMS-26) after being converted into a minesweeper. Date and place unknown.  Courtesy of Joe Radigan and Ed Zajkowski. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  USS Wasp (CV-18) at sea in the Far East, 5 January 1955. Wasp rammed into USS Hobson on the evening of 26 April 1952. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  Damage to USS Wasp’s (CV-18) bow from her 26 April 1952 collision with USS Hobson (DMS-26). The carrier was photographed in dry dock at Bayonne, New Jersey. Photograph released 19 May 1952. Official US Navy Photograph from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.  



Named after Rear Admiral Richmond P. Hobson (1870-1937), a naval hero from the Spanish-American War,  the 1,630-ton USS Hobson (DD-464) was a Gleaves class destroyer that was built at the Charleston Navy Yard at Charleston, South Carolina, and was commissioned on 22 January 1942. The ship was approximately 348 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 38 knots, and had a crew of 208 officers and men. Hobson was armed with four 5-inch guns, six 0.5-inch machine guns, 10 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

After completing her shakedown training in Casco Bay, Maine, Hobson was assigned to escort the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) and both ships participated in “Operation Torch,” which was the invasion of North Africa on 8 November 1942. Hobson continued escorting Ranger for most of 1943 and both ships took part in a dramatic and successful American carrier strike against German shipping at Bodo, Norway, from 2 to 4 October. Following this attack, Hobson was attached to the British Home Fleet and escorted the British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable during flight operations in November. After that, Hobson escorted two convoys from Great Britain to Iceland and then returned to the United States, arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, on 3 December 1943.

During the first few months of 1944, Hobson served with an anti-submarine hunter/killer group centered on the escort carrier USS Bogue (CVE-9). On the afternoon of 13 March 1944, the destroyers in the group spotted an oil slick and made sonar contact. Hobson and the other destroyers in the group began a systematic depth charge attack against the sonar contact and the German submarine U-575 was forced to the surface. Hobson immediately opened fire on the U-boat and soon the severely damaged submarine slipped beneath the waves for the last time and sank. The hunter/killer group continued searching the area for contacts for a few more weeks before returning to Boston on 2 April.

On 21 April 1944, Hobson sailed to England to join the vast armada that was going to attack Normandy, France. Hobson spent one month patrolling off the coast of Northern Ireland and then arrived at Plymouth, England, on 21 May to make final preparations for the invasion. Hobson was attached to the Utah Beach Assault Group and the destroyer arrived off the coast of Normandy on the morning of 6 June 1944, D-Day. Hobson spent most of the day bombarding German artillery positions along the coastline and she also assisted in the rescue of crewmen from USS Carry after it struck a mine and sank. Hobson continued firing at the enemy shore batteries until ordered to return to Plymouth later that afternoon.

But Hobson soon returned to battle. The destroyer went back to Normandy on 8 June 1944 to patrol the assault area and to escort convoys across the English Channel. Hobson steamed to Cherbourg, France, on 25 June to assist in the shore bombardment of that vital port. As Hobson fired at the large German batteries on shore, she also escorted the battleships USS Texas and USS Arkansas. When the battleships were almost hit by the German guns, Hobson and another destroyer generated a smoke screen that allowed all of the ships to withdraw. A few days later, Allied troops took Cherbourg and its crucial port.

As the naval part of the Normandy invasion began to simmer down, Hobson was dispatched to the Mediterranean, arriving at Mers el Kebir, Algeria, on 11 July 1944. During the next month, Hobson escorted convoys to and from Algeria and Taranto, Italy. On 11 August, Hobson joined the massive Allied task force that left Taranto for the invasion of southern France. Early on 15 August, Hobson assisted in spotting targets for the battleship USS Nevada after the ships arrived off the French coast. Both Nevada and Hobson provided direct fire support for the amphibious troops that were wading ashore. Hobson remained in the area until the next evening and then steamed to Palermo, Sicily, for convoy escort duty. Hobson escorted merchant ships between Algeria, Italy, and France until ordered to return to the United States on 25 October. Hobson arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, on 10 November.

While at the naval shipyard at Charleston, Hobson was converted into a destroyer-minesweeper and re-designated DMS-26. Work on the ship was completed by the end of November 1944 and in December Hobson underwent trials and shakedown training off Charleston and Norfolk, Virginia.  On 4 January 1945, Hobson was sent via the Panama Canal to join the US Pacific Fleet. She arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 11 February, where her crew underwent further mine warfare training.  On 24 February, the ship steamed to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands to join the last and the greatest amphibious operation of the Pacific war, the invasion of Okinawa.

Hobson arrived at Okinawa on 19 March 1945, well in advance of the assault troops, to sweep the offshore areas for mines.  While searching for mines, Hobson was often attacked by Japanese aircraft, especially the dreaded kamikazes. As the actual assault on the island began in April, the ship took up patrol duties and provided night illumination during the first critical days of the campaign. Although Japanese aircraft were sustaining heavy losses in their attacks on the American warships, a good number of them still got through the anti-aircraft fire and hit their targets. On 13 April, Hobson was placed on the radar picket line away from the island to warn the rest of the fleet of incoming Japanese aerial attacks. Needless to say, this also exposed the ship to a number of attacks since it was isolated from the rest of the fleet. On 16 April, a kamikaze aircraft was shot down by Hobson’s gunners and the plane crashed beside the ship’s starboard side. But the bomb the plane was carrying managed to land right on Hobson’s main deck and blew up, igniting a large fire. The tough destroyer kept on shooting at more incoming Japanese aircraft while simultaneously fighting the fire on board the ship. Throughout all of this, Hobson also managed to rescue 100 men from another American destroyer that was sunk by a kamikaze. But Hobson was badly damaged and had to withdraw from the radar picket line. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 16 May and then went, via the Panama Canal, to Norfolk for repairs, arriving there on 16 June 1945.

The war in the Pacific ended while Hobson was still being repaired and overhauled at Norfolk. The ship remained on active duty with the Atlantic Fleet during the post-war years. When the Korean War started in June 1950, Hobson’s schedule became more vigorous and included participation in numerous amphibious exercises. The ship also escorted aircraft carriers.

On the night of 26 April 1952, while escorting the aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-18) approximately 700 miles west of the Azores, disaster struck. As the ships turned into the wind so that Wasp could recover some aircraft, Hobson turned the wrong way and crossed directly in front of the carrier’s bow from starboard to port. As the giant carrier came closer and closer to the destroyer, panic seemed to grip the men on Hobson’s bridge. The new commanding officer of the ship, Lieutenant Commander James Tierney, just stared at the enormous bow of the carrier that was bearing down on them. When Wasp was approximately 200 feet from the ship, Tierney jumped off the bridge and into the water, directly into the path of the carrier. Wasp then smashed into Hobson directly amidships. The force of the collision rolled Hobson over on its side and sliced her in two. The two pieces of Hobson only remained afloat for a few minutes before sinking, taking 176 men with her. Miraculously, 61 men were thrown into the water and managed to survive. It was one of the great tragedies of the Cold War and it suddenly ended the brilliant career of a fine warship. What made matters worse was that Hobson survived several major battles during World War II only to be sunk in a senseless peacetime accident.  

A court of inquiry was convened in Bayonne, New Jersey, in May 1952 and it determined that Tierney, the new and inexperienced captain of Hobson, was to blame. Testimony revealed that Tierney, possibly confused because the ships were operating at night without lights, had turned left into the path of the Wasp, not right as he should have. Tierney had been in command of Hobson for only five weeks and had been at sea with his ship a total of seven days. Some crew members believe his dive into the sea was a suicide in the split-second he realized what he had done.

USS Hobson received six battle stars for her service in World War II and shared in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the ships in the USS Bogue antisubmarine task group in the Atlantic.