USS Beatty (DD-640)

USS Beatty (DD-640) was a Gleaves class destroyer that took part in Operation Torch and the invasion of Sicily, before being sunk by a German torpedo on 6 November 1943.

USS Tillman (DD-641) and USS Beatty (DD-640) ready to launch

The Beatty was named after Frank Edmund Beatty, who served in the US Navy from 1875 until 1919, holding a mix of land and sea based commands, and serving as Commandant of the 5th Naval District and then the 6th Naval District during the US involvement in the First World War. He retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1919.

The original plan had been to name the Fletcher class destroyer DD-528 Beatty. However that ship was being built at San Francisco, and Rear Admiral Beatty’s daughter asked that the ship that was going to be named after her father should be built at Charleston, where he had served at the end of his career, and where he died in 1926. As a result the name Beatty was assigned to the Gleaves class destroyer DD-640, while DD-528 became USS Mullany.

The Beatty was laid down at the Charleston Navy Yard on 1 May 1941, launched on 20 December 1941 (alongside the Tillman (DD-641)) when she was sponsored by Rear Admiral Beatty’s daughter Mrs Charles H. Drayton, and commissioned on 7 May 1942.

The Beatty 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

On 8 August 1942, after her shakedown cruise the Beatty escorted the Norwegian tank Britainsea and the American SS Barstowe from Isle of Shoals (a group of islands on the Maine-New Hampshire border) to Portland, Maine. She then moved to Boston, where on 12 August she embarked Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet and transported him to Halifax, Nova Scotia, then to Argentia, Newfoundland, before he disembarked at Portland on 22 August. She then escorted Admiral Ingersoll, on the armed yacht Vixen (PG 53) to New London, Conn.

Until 25 August she took part in exercises with submarines, before moving to Charleston for repairs. She then departed for the Panama Canal Zone, reaching Cristobal on 10 September. From 11-15 August she escorted Convoy NC 5, made up of four army transports, to Trinidad.

On 16 September she carried out an anti-submarine sweep off Tobago with the Davis (DD-395) and Eberle (DD-430). The Eberle carried out an attack on a possible U-boat although without any results.

On 17 September the Beatty joined a convoy and escorted it to Georgetown, British Guiana, then returned to Trinidad. On 23 September she moved to San Juan, from where she escorted Convoy NC 5 to New Orleans. She departed for the East Coast on 6 October, reaching Charleston on 8 October.

The Beatty now joined the forces being gathered for Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. On 16 October she left Charleston to join Task Group 34.10 in the Hampton Roads. This force was allocated to attack on Safi in French Morocco.

The task group arrived off North Africa on 7 November. At midnight on 7-8 November the Beatty joined the anti-submarine screen for the transport ships, patrolling to the south of the fast transports Bernadou (DD-153) and Cole (DD-155). Early on 8 November she escorted the two fast transports towards the beach, before joining the fire support group. She received the order to open fire at 0430, and opened fire at 0431. She fired for 10 minutes before pausing to wait for instructions from the shore party. However she lost communication with the fire support party, so by 0520 had moved back to the transport area to join the anti-aircraft and anti-submarine forces, arriving before sunrise.

On 0640 she spotted enemy guns at Point de la Tour which were firing on the boat lands for ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ beaches. She opened fire and after 20 minutes had silenced the guns.

The Beatty spent the rest of Operation Torch in the screen, before departed for the US, arriving in late November. She then underwent voyage repairs and alterations in the New York Navy Yard.

For the next four months, Beatty covered convoys plying the Atlantic between New York and French Morocco.

1943

Once this work was complete she spent the next four months on convoy escort duties, making three round trips between New York and Morocco. The third of these ended on 28 April 1943 when she returned to New York.

On 13 May she departed for Hampton Roads, from where she escorted Admiral Ingersoll to New York. After more training in shore bombardment and anti-submarine warfare she departed from Hampton Roads on 8 June as part of the escort for fast convoy UGF 9. The convoy arrived at Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, on 25 June 1943.

The Beatty then joined the forces gathering for the invasion of Sicily. She departed for Sicily on 5 July, as part of the ‘Cent’ attack force heading to Gela. She arrived off the transport area on 9 July, and spent the night watching anti-aircraft fire (much of it sadly aimed at Allied airborne troops). She screened the south-eastern flank of the transport area until the transports had anchored in their planned positions, then joined the fire support group.

Early on 10 July the invasion began. At 0407 the Beatty’s force was asked to open fire. She fired until 0416, by which return fire had stopped. She then returned to the transport area to join the screen. She was allocated to support the 2nd Battalion of the 180th Regimental Combat Team but at 0830 their shore fire control party informed the Beatty that the landings had been successful. For the rest of the day she remained offshore, mainly as an observer as Axis aircraft attacked the troops. She did fire 26 rounds of 40mm and 60 of 20mm at a P 51 Mustang that had mistakenly been identified as a Focke Wulf Fw 190, but luckily without scoring any hits. At 1847 was hit by shell fragments from the AA guns from nearby LCTs, also firing on friendly aircraft by mistake.

On the night of 10-11 July a large bomb landed 500 yards behind her, shaking the ship.

On 11 July the air raids continued. At 0651 the Beatty fired on a Messerschmitt Bf 110 as it retreated after a bombing attack on Dime beach. At 0735 she received instructions from her shore fire control party, and from 0738-0811 fired on enemy tanks at a railway and road junction. Over three hours she fired 799 rounds at shore targets, and when she retired only had 192 shells left. At 1100 she was relieved by USS Laub (DD-613) and moved to the anti-submarine screen. During the afternoon there were several air attacks on this area. At 1900 she was ordered to move to an area where a convoy was due to form. She then took up anti-aircraft and anti-submarine screening duties south of Scoglitti. Just after 2246 a US Army C-47A troop transport crash landed in the see only fifty feet away. Six flares then appeared directly overhead, so the Beatty withdrew to avoid any incoming enemy bombers. Once the flares had burnt out she returned to the scene and rescued the four man crew of the C-47, who by then had reached their rubber dinghy.

The Beatty remained on anti-submarine patrol until 2100 on 12 July. She then left Scoglitti to escort a convoy back to Algeria, arriving at Oran on 15 July.

On 21 July she departed for the United States, escorting a convoy to New York, arriving on 3 August. After repairs the Beatty departed for the Mediterranean on 21 August.

On 2 September she was part of the escort of Convoy UFG 10 heading for Bizerte when it was attacked by enemy aircraft. One of them torpedoed the Kendrick (DD-612) at 2117. The Beatty closed in on the damaged destroyer and guarded her until replaced by the Davison later on the same night.

On 6 September German Junkers Ju 88s attacked the Beatty’s anchorage off Bizerte.

From 7-21 September she escorted convoy GUF 10 from Bizerte to New York.

From 7-17 October she escorted a convoy to Bangor, Northern Ireland.

She then joined the screen of Convoy KMF 25A, heading to the Mediterranean. She was with that convoy as it entered the Mediterranean.

6 November 1943

On the evening of 6 November the Beatty was at the rear of Convoy KMG 25A. At 1803 her crew observed machine gun fire along the port side of the convoy, coming from the direction of USS Tillman (DD-641). One minute later a glider bomb exploded close to the Tillman. The Beatty’s radar then picked up five incoming aircraft.

At 1805 her radar picked up another two aircraft, this time emitting American IFF signals. However this was clearly seen as suspicious, as Lt Commander Outerson ordered his guns to open fire if these aircraft came within range. One was then identified as a Junkers Ju 88, confirming the suspicions.

Unfortunately the incoming aircraft were then hidden by the convoy’s smoke screen, and radar kept losing them. At 1813 one of the attackers got to within 500 yards of the Beatty and dropped a torpedo that hit near frame 124.

The explosion broke the Beatty’s back at frame 124, flooded the aft engine room, which knocked the port shaft out of service. Three of her machinery spaces quickly flooded. The starboard shaft was bent and jammed. The broken shafts also ruptured bulkheads. One magazine was flooded, gun mounts 51 and 54 were jammed in place, and a K gun and a depth charge rack were knocked overboard. All electrical power was lost, the ship took on a list to port and the port side of the main deck was awash with water from the break of the forecastle back to mount 54. The ship settled so that there was only 30in of freeboard on the starboard side. An initial crew muster found 11 men missing, seven injured and a crewman from the battle searchlight platform fatally burned by steam.

The Beatty’s crew spent the next four hours trying to save the ship. Her pumps were designed for water and proved less effective when dealing with a mix of thicker fuel oil and water. Bucket chains were used to try and control the flooding, while everything moveable was thrown overboard, including the smoke generator, searchlight and unfortunately the towing cable. More and more of the crew joined the salvage efforts until only a bridge party and two 20mm gun crews remained at their stations.

At about 1900 the list began to increase, and by 1930 it had reached 12 degrees to port, sometimes going to 19 degrees before recovering slowly. At this point the wounded were transferred to USS Parker (DD-604). However she then stabilized again, until at around 2100 the list began to increase again, reaching 15 degrees by 2150. The key moment came at around 2200 when the forward section began to list further than the aft, suggesting that the ship was starting to break in two. At 2230 the last seventy men abandoned ship and were taken on by the rescue vessel Laub. At 2305 the Beatty broke in two and sank.

Beatty (DD-640) received three battle stars for her World War II service, Operation Torch, the invasion of Sicily and Convoy KMF-25A

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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