USS Hambleton (DD-455/ DMS-20)

USS Hambleton (DD-455) was a Gleaves class destroyer that took part in Operation Torch, where she suffered damage that kept her out of action until 1944, then took part in the D-Day invasion and the invasion of the South of France. She was then converted into a high speed minesweeper and served at Okinawa.

The Hambleton was named after Samuel Hambleton, who served in the US Navy during the War of 1812, fighting at the battle of Lake Erie, and remained in the Navy until his death in 1851.

The Hambleton was laid down by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co at Kearny, New Jersey, on 16 December 1940. She was launched alongside the Rodman (DD-456) on 26 September 1941 when she was sponsored by Hambleton’s great grand-niece Mrs Nannie Hambleton Martin. She was commissioned on 22 December 1941.

The Hambleton 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 those ships all of the Bristol class ships joined the Livermore/ Gleaves class.

1942

The Hambleton and Emmons left Norfolk on 31 January 1942 on the only wartime destroyer shakedown cruise that moved from the Atlantic to the Pacific. After passing through the Panama Canal the two destroyers visited Callao (Peru), Valparaiso (Chile) and Guayaquil, (Ecuador), then after returning to the Caribbean visited Cartagena in Colombia.

USS Hambleton (DD-455) and USS Rodman (DD-456) being launched, 1941

On 15 March she joined a formation led by the Ranger (CV-4) with Augusta and Savannah (CL-42) at sea. On 16 March the Augusta was detached and with Hambleton and Emmons headed for New York. On 18 March the Hambleton was sent to investigate a flashing light that had been seen off her starboard side, and rescued six survivors of the SS Ceibra, which had been torpedoed and sunk.

On 22 April the Hambleton formed part of Task Force 36, when it departed for Trinidad. On 10 May the task force flagship Ranger launched sixty-eight USAAF P-40 fighters which flew on to Accra in the Gold Coast, from where they continued on across Africa to Egypt. During this voyage the Ellyson and Hambleton had a minor collision. The task force reached Trinidad on 21 May. On 22 May it departed for Newport. The Ellyson moved north to Argentia, where on 17-18 June the Ranger, Ellyson and Corry formed an anti-submarine screen.

From 1-11 July the Hambleton escorted a fast troop transport sailing from New York to Northern Ireland. After her arrival she joined the Joint British and American Naval Forces in Europe, taking on Royal Naval personnel to help with communications. She carried out anti-submarine patrols and served as a plane guard for HMS Duke of York.

The Hambleton returned to the US in August ready to take part in Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. She joined the invasion fleet on 28 October and was assigned to Admiral H.K. Hewitt’s Western Naval Task Force.

On the day of the landings, 8 November, the Hambleton escorted the carrier Sangamon as her aircraft attacked French airfields in French Morocco.

On the evening of 11 November 1942 the Hambleton was anchored off Cape Fedala when she was hit by a torpedo that had probably been aimed at the nearby transport Joseph Hewes (APA-22).

The torpedo hit on the port side close to the forward engine room. Two of her main machinery spaces were flooded to the waterline and a third to a depth of four feet. The two ends of the ship were only loosely connected and were seen to move relative to each other in a light sea. All propulsion was lost as was electrical power. She took on a 12 degree list to starboard. Twenty men were killed in the attack.

Luckily for the Hambleton she was surrounded by friendly ships and was close to port. Her damage control parties managed to shore up her weakened bulkheads. Extra pumps were provided by nearby ships, allowing the partly flooded forward engine room to be dried out.

The following morning she was towed to Casablanca for temporary repairs. These were quite dramatic, but couldn’t start until a 5,000 ton floating dry dock had been raised and repaired.

In December 1942 her Executive Officer Henry A Renken was promoted to her commanding officer, a post he held until September 1944. Renken remained in the Navy after the war, become an Admiral in the 1960s.

1943

The Hambleton was finally able to enter the floating drydock on 19 January 1943. In order to free the drydock as quickly as possible it was decided to simply cut out the damaged 38ft long centre section, make a new 12ft 3/4in fairing and use it to connect the two halves of the ship. The forward fire room and aft engine room were made operational and linked by temporary steam lines.

Torpedo damage to USS Hambleton (DD-455), November 1942

The Hambleton left Casablanca on 9 June 1943 operating on her port propeller only, and escorted by an ocean tug. She was stil able to reach up to 18 knots, and arrived at Boston on 26 June. Full repairs were now carried out. This involved separating the two halves of the ship, building a new central section and new forward engine rooms and aft fire rooms. At the same time any authorised changes were made. The repairs were completed by 15 November 1943, just over a year after she was damaged. These extensive repairs were followed by a second shakedown cruise and a period of training along the US East Coast.

1944

In April 1944 the Hambleton escorted a convoy to Oran. She remained in the Western Mediterranean after this, and on 17 May helped sink U-616 after a four day hunt that had involved eight destroyers and British aircraft.

The Hambleton left the Mediterranean to sail to Plymouth, where she joined the forces gathering to support Operation Overlord.

The Hambleton entered the battle on 7 June, D+1, when she escorted a convoy of LSTs to the landing areas. She then remained off Omaha Beach where she carried out a mix of shore bombardment and screening duties.

Early on 9 June the Hambleton’s radar detected part of a formation of ten E-boats that had left Cherbourg to attack a convoy and lay mines. This triggered a four hour running battle between the E-boats and the Hambleton, Baldwin and Frankford (DD-497). The Hambleton claimed to have sunk one E-boat and damaged another, but the E-boats sank LST-314 and LST-376.

On 20 June the Hambleton was forced to return to Portland to take shelter from the Great Storm that did so much damage to Allied shipping off the Normandy beaches.

On 25 June she took part in the bombardment of Cherbourg. She left Portland just after 0500 with TG 125.1, built around the Nevada and several cruisers. She supported the heavier ships during the bombardment, and was back at Portland safely that evening.

On 4 July Hambleton left Belfast heading for the Mediterranean, to take part in Operation Dragoon. She reached Oran on 10 July, Palermo on Sicily on 14 July and Naples on 15 July, arriving with the Augusta and Macomb.

On 11 August she took part in the pre-invasion bombardment of German shore positions. She supported the invasion, and remained in the Mediterranean on patrol duties until 25 October, when she departed for the United States.

She reached Boston on 8 November, where she was converted into a high speed mine sweeper. On 15 November she was redesignated as DMS-20. The work was completed on 19 December and she departed for the Pacific on 30 December.

1945

The Hambleton reached Ulithi on 9 March 1945, where she joined the forces preparing for the invasion of Okinawa. She arrived off Okinawa on 23 March and was used to sweep the channels and anchorages required for the massive invasion fleet. After the invasion on 1 April she was used on minesweeping operations, as well as to screen shipping, patrol and provide fire support. Like most ships off Okinawa she came under frequent air attack, and on 3 April suffered damage from a near miss by a kamikaze aircraft.

In mid-July the Hambleton and some of her fellow mine sweepers left Okinawa to begin mine sweeping in the East China Sea, to the south-west of Japan, to clear the way for US naval operations against the Home Islands and Taiwan. In one month the minesweepers removed 600 mines from 7,200 square miles of ocean. The Hambleton was back in the East China Sea for a second time when the Japanese surrendered on 15 August.

After the surrender the Hambleton was used to sweep Tokyo Bay, entered on 28 August. She was present when the Japanese surrender was signed. Over the next few months she cleared 184 mines from Japanese minefields, before departed for the US on 20 November. She visited Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor and San Diego before reaching Norfolk in late December.

Post-war Service

The Hambleton remained in active service for a decade after the end of the Second World War. She took part in fleet and tactical exercises in the Caribbean and alogn the US East Coast.

In 1949, 1952 and 1954 she served with the US 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She returned to Charleston after her third and final Meditarranean cruise on 6 July 1954.

On 15 January 1955 she was decommissioned and entered the Atlantic Reserve. She was also reclassified back to DD-455. She was struck off on 1 June 1971 and sold for scrap on 22 November 1972.

Hambleton received seven battle stars for World War II service, for North Africa, sinking U-616, Normandy, the South of France, Okinawa, Third Fleet operations against Japan and Pacific Minesweeping

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.

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