USS Fitch (DD-462) being launched, Boston, 14 June 1941 |
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USS Fitch (DD-462) was a Gleaves class destroyer that served in the Atlantic, with the British Home Fleet in 1943 and took part in the D-Day invasion and Operation Dragoon, before her war was ended by damage suffered during training exercises in the Pacific.
The Fitch was named after LeRoy Fitch, who served in the US Navy during the American Civil War.
The Fitch was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard, launched on 14 June 1941 when she was sponsored by Commander Fitch’s grand-niece Mrs H. W. Thomas and commissioned on 3 February 1942.
The Fitch was originally classified as a Bristol class ship, which were built with four 5in guns instead of the five installed on the Livermore/ Gleaves class. However after the fifth gun was removed from the those ships all of the Bristol class ships joined the Livermore/ Gleaves class.
1942
The Fitch’s first task was to escort the Ranger (CV-4) from 1 July to 5 August. During this period the Ranger moved to a point off the Gold Coast from where she launched USAAF aircraft heading to Accra.
On 5 August the Fitch returned to Norfolk to take part in exercises to prepare for Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa.
On 25 October she departed from Bermuda as part of the screen of the Ranger. On 8 November, the first day of the invasion, she supported the landings at Fedhala in French Morocco. She screened the carriers as they flew USAAF aircraft into the captured airfield at Port Lyautey. She returned to Norfolk on 24 November.
For the rest of 1942 she took part in coastal escort missions, sometimes reaching the Panama Canal Zone, as well as training in Casco and Chesapeake Bays.
1943
On 8 January 1943 the Fitch left Norfolk with the Ranger on the first of two more aircraft ferry missions to North Africa.
From 6 April-12 May she patrolled from Argentia in Newfoundland.
She then sailed to Scapa Flow to work with the British Home Fleet. During her time with the Home Fleet she sortied with forces providing distant cover for the Russia convoys. She returned to Norfolk on 9 August, but on 2 September she sailed as part of the escort of a convoy heading to Londonderry. She then moved on to Thurso Bay on the north coast of Scotland, where Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and Admiral Harold R. Stark came on board to be transported to Scapa Flow. The Fitch then spent the next two months operating from Scapa Flow.
On 8 September the Germans sent a powerful fleet, including the Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Lutzow to attack the Allied weather station on Spitsbergen. This was the only time the Tirpitz fired her main guns in anger, and her last mission. One week later the Tuscaloosa and Fitch landed Free Norwegian troops who re-occupied the island.
On 4 October the Fitch was part of the screen for USS Ranger as her aircraft attacked German ships and other targets near Bodo, Norway, as part of Operation Leader.
The Fitch returned to Boston on 3 December, and returned to her coastal and Caribbean escort duties. She also took part in hunter-killer operations in the western Atlantic.
1944
On 25 April 1944 she departed Norfolk to head for Belfast, to join the forces being gathered for the D-Day landings. Before the invasion itself she was used to escort single ships and convoys moved between Belfast and Plymouth, as well as taking part in training exercises.
The Fitch arrived off Utah Beach early on D-Day. Her first role was to lead the first wave of landing craft through a newly swept channel in the German minefields, following the minesweepers to within 2,000 yards of the shore. She was then to engage with any remaining German gun batteries. She also rescued some of the crew of USS Carry (DD-463), sunk early in the invasion.
The next two days were spent screening the transport area before she returned to Plymouth for supplies. The then returned to the beachhead to carry out a mix of fire support and patrol duties until 19 June.
From then until 4 July she was used on convoy escort duties around the British coast.
On 4 July she departed from Belfast heading to Oran to take part in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the South of France.
She sortied from Taranto on 11 August, to take part in D-Day for Dragoon of 15 August. She was used to spot for the guns of the battleship USS Texas (BB-35) as well as taking part in the pre-invasion bombardment herself. From then until 25 October she supported the fighting by escort convoys moving between Naples, Palermo, Oran, Gibraltar and Marseilles.
On 25 October she departed for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving on 10 November. She was then converted into a high speed minesweeper. On 15 November she was redesignated as DMS-25.
1945
On 3 January 1945 the Fitch departed for the Pacific, reaching Pearl Harbor on 10 February. After taking part in minesweeping exercises at Pearl Harbor she moved onto Ulithi for more training. However she then ran into a coral pinnacle, badly damaged her propellers. The repairs, at Pearl Harbor, lasted from 10 April-6 August, keeping her out of the last battles of the war.
On 6 August she departed from Pearl Harbor to join the Third Fleet off Japan. On 28 August she began minesweeping off the entrance to Tokyo Bay and she was present in the Bay for the surrender ceremonies of 2 September. She continued to carry out minesweeping operations in Japanese waters and the East China Sea until she returned to San Diego on 23 December.
Postwar
On 9 January 1946 the Fitch moved to Norfolk. She was used to move minesweeper crews between Norfolk, Charleston and New York. In November she moved to her home base at Charleston and was used to train Mine Force officers, as well as taking part in exercises in the Caribbean and along the East Coast.
In 1949, 1951 and 1953 she took part in cruises to the Mediterranean. She was reclassified as DD-462 on 15 July 1955. In 1955 she carried out tests for the Operational Development Force in the Caribbean.
She was decommissioned at Charleston on 24 February 1956. After nearly two decades in the reserves she was sunk as a target off Florida on 15 November 1973.
Fitch received five battle stars for World War II service, for North Africa, the Norway raid of October 1943, Normany, the South of France and Pacific Minesweeping. Anyone who served on her between 2 September and 6 December 1945 qualidied for the Navy Occupation Service Medal (Asia).
Displacement (standard) |
1,630t design |
Displacement (loaded) |
2,395t |
Top Speed |
35kts design |
Engine |
2-shaft Westinghouse turbines |
Range |
6500nm at 12kt design |
Length |
348ft 3in |
Width |
36ft 1in |
Armaments |
Five 5in/38 guns |
Crew complement |
208 |
Laid down |
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Launched |
14 June 1941 |
Commissioned |
3 February 1942 |
Decommissioned |
24 February 1956 |
Sunk as Target |
15 November 1973 |
U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, Norman Friedmann .
The standard history of the development of American destroyers, from the earliest torpedo boat destroyers to the post-war fleet, and covering the massive classes of destroyers built for both World Wars. Gives the reader a good understanding of the debates that surrounded each class of destroyer and led to their individual features.
