laststandonzombieisland

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time
period and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday November 27th 2013 One of the Best Tin Cans

On June 4, 1942, the pivotal day of the Battle of Midway, a group of  new TBM Avenger torpedo bombers headed to the isolated atoll to improve the base’s security. These six planes from VT-8 included one 32-year old AM3 William Clare Lawe, who, along with
the crews of five other planes never reached Midway, jumped on the way by Japanese zeroes. Lawe received the posthumous
Distinguished Flying Cross and was set to have a new destroyer escort named after him. This ship, DE-313 was canceled before it could be commissioned so his name was given to another ship (DE-373) which was also canceled. Then it was finally bestowed to the new Gearing class destroyer DD-763, which you see above.

The Gearing class was the Cadillac of US Navy WWII-era destroyers. What was not to like? I mean they could steam at almost 37-knots, carried six rapid-fire 5-inch/38 caliber guns, 23 anti-aircraft guns, depth charges, and ten beautiful 21-inch torpedo tubes. Further, they had long legs, capable of steaming over 4500 miles between fill ups. The Navy asked for 156 of them and Congress paid for 99, of which the new USS William C Lawe was one.

She was laid down at Bethlehem Steel Co., San Francisco, California on 12 March 1944. When the war ended the next year, her completion was delayed and she did not get to see service until December 1946. This was baby may have been conceived during the Big One, but she didn’t get delivered until it was all over. Nevertheless, she had a very active life, and did a little bit of everything for nearly forty years.

The Lawe escorted President Harry S. Truman, joined a Deep Freeze task force to the polar regions, exercised often with NATO ships at sea, conducted midshipmen cruises, walked the picket line around Cuba during the Missile Crisis, and supported the invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965. She also stood by in the very tense waters off Israel during the 1967 Six Day War and helped recover NASA’s Gemini IX and X space capsules.

The picture above shows a U.S. Navy McDonnell F-4B Phantom II armed with an AIM-7 Sparrow missile from Fighter Squadron VF-33 “Tarsiers” on the catapult of the aircraft carrier USS America (CVA-66). VF-33 was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 6 aboard the America for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 10 January to 20 September 1967. In the background are the U.S. Navy Gearing-class destroyer USS William C. Lawe (DD-763), screening the carrier from the Soviet Kashin-class guided missile destroyer 381. This was during the tense standoff of the Arab-Israeli War.

By 1972 she was part of the gunline that floated just off the coast of North Vietnam, conducting hot and heavy naval gunfire support that included exchanging shots with NVA shore batteries and point-blank range. She received two battle stars for her Vietnam War service.

In 1978, as one of the smallest ships in the navy, she toured the Great Lakes, making stops in Ohio, Canada, and Michigan, in some places being the first US Navy warship to make port since WWII. US Navy recruiting posters of the time featured the ship and promised adventures.

The Lawe, along with her sister-ship USS Harold J. Ellison  DD-864 (which was also named after a naval aviator who died during the Battle of Midway) were the last WWII-era destroyers of the Gearing class in US Naval service. They both were decommissioned 1 October 1983, replaced by much larger Spruance-class destroyers. While many of the Gearings went on to serve in other navies, (both Mexico and Taiwan still have a few that are nominally operational), the 37-year old Lawe never again left the US.

She sat in mothballs with the James River reserve fleet for sixteen more years until she was sunk as a target at sea 14 July 1999. Two of her sisters,  USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850) in Fall River, MA; and USS Orleck (DD-886) in Lake Charles, LA are maintained as museum ships.

Specs
Displacement:     2,616 tons standard; 3,460 tons full load
Length:     390.5 ft (119.0 m)
Beam:     40.9 ft (12.5 m)
Draft:     14.3 ft (4.4 m)
Propulsion:     2 shaft; General Electric steam turbines; 4 boilers; 60,000 shp
Speed:     36.8 knots (68.2 km/h)
Range:     4,500 nmi at 20 knots
(8,300 km at 37 km/h)
Complement:     350 as designed
Armament:

   As built:
6 × 5 in /38 cal guns (127 mm) (3×2)
12 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns (2×4 & 2×2)
11 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannons
2 × depth charge racks
6 x K-gun depth charge throwers
10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

By 1950:
6 × 5 in/38 cal guns (127 mm) (in 3×2 Mk 38 DP mounts)
6 × 3 in/50 cal guns (76 mm) (2 x 2, 2 x 1)
2 x Hedgehog ASW weapons
1 × depth charge rack
6 x K-gun depth charge throwers

After FRAM
4 × 5 in/38 cal guns (127 mm) (in 2×2 Mk 38 DP mounts)
1 x ASROC 8-cell launcher
2 x triple Mark 32 torpedo tubes for Mark 44 torpedoes
1 x Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH), removed by 1970
Variable Depth Sonar (VDS)

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO)

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval lore http://www.warship.org/naval.htm

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval
vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of
which are unique in their sweep and subject.

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