Allied Warships

USS Hambleton (DD 455)

Destroyer of the Bristol class

NavyThe US Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassBristol 
PennantDD 455 
Built byFederal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Kearny, New Jersey, U.S.A.) 
Ordered1 Jul 1940 
Laid down16 Oct 1940 
Launched26 Sep 1941 
Commissioned22 Dec 1941 
End service15 Jan 1955 
History

Converted to High Speed Minesweeper DMS-20 on 15 November 1944.
Decommissioned 15 January 1955.
Reclassified back to destroyer DD-455 on 16 January 1955.
Stricken 1 June 1971.
Sold 22 November 1972 and broken up for scrap.

 

Hit by U-boat
Damaged on 11 Nov 1942 by U-173 (Schweichel).

U-boat AttackSee our U-boat attack entry for the USS Hambleton

Commands listed for USS Hambleton (DD 455)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. Forrest Close, USN22 Nov 194129 Nov 1942
2T/Cdr. Henry Algernon Renken, USN29 Nov 194215 Sep 1944
3T/Cdr. George Albert O`Connell, Jr., USN15 Sep 194412 Oct 1945
4Lt.Cdr. William Stanton Hitchins, USNR12 Oct 194516 Mar 1946
5T/Lt.Cdr. Arthur Henry Berndtson, USN16 Mar 1946

You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.

Notable events involving Hambleton include:


12 Mar 1942
USS Hambleton picks up 27 survivors from the American merchant Olga that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-126 in the Old Bahama Channel in position 21°32'N, 76°24'W.

19 Mar 1942
USS Hambleton picks up 6 survivors from the Honduran merchant Ceiba that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-124 east east of Cape Hatteras in position 35°43'N, 73°49'W two days earlier.

17 Jul 1942
The battleship HMS Duke of York (Capt. C.H.J. Harcourt, CBE, RN, flying the flag of A/Admiral J. Tovey, KCB, KBE, DSO, RN, C-in-C Home Fleet) escorted by the destroyers USS Hambleton (T/.Cdr. F. Close, USN), USS Rodman (T/Cdr. W.G. Michelet, USN), USS Emmons (T/Cdr. T.C. Ragan, USN) and USS Macomb (T/Cdr. W.H. Duvall, USN) conducted exercises off Scapa Flow. Also out for exercises were the light cruisers light cruiser HMS Manchester (Capt. H. Drew, DSC, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral S.S. Bonham-Carter, CB, CVO, DSO, RN), HMS Aurora (Capt. W.G. Agnew, CB, RN) and HMS Jamaica (Capt. J.L. Storey, RN).

During the night of 17/18 July 1942, HMS Jamaica remained at sea for night encounter exercises with the destroyer HMS Petard (Lt.Cdr. M. Thornton, DSC, RN). (1)

22 Jul 1942
The battleship HMS Anson (Capt. H.R.G. Kinahan, CBE, RN, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir B. Fraser, CB, KBE, RN) and the light cruisers HMS Manchester (Capt. H. Drew, DSC, RN) and HMS Scylla (Capt. I.A.P. Macintyre, RN) conducted exercises off Scapa Flow. During the exercises HMS Anson was escorted by the destroyers USS Hambleton (T/.Cdr. F. Close, USN), USS Emmons (T/Cdr. T.C. Ragan, USN) and the escort destroyer HMS Lamerton (Lt.Cdr. C.R. Purse, DSC, RN). (2)

26 Jul 1942
Around 1730B/26, the battleship HMS Duke of York (Capt. C.H.J. Harcourt, CBE, RN) departed Scapa Flow for Hvalfjord, Iceland. She is escorted by the destroyers USS Hambleton (T/.Cdr. F. Close, USN), USS Rodman (T/Cdr. W.G. Michelet, USN), USS Emmons (T/Cdr. T.C. Ragan, USN) and USS Macomb (T/Cdr. W.H. Duvall, USN). The heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins (Capt. G.A. French, RN) was in company until 2135B/26 when she parted company to proceed to Greenock. (3)

28 Jul 1942
HMS London (Capt. R.M. Servaes, CBE, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral L.H.K. Hamilton, DSO and Bar, RN) and HMS Cumberland (Capt. A.H. Maxwell-Hyslop, AM, RN) departed Hvalfjord. At sea they made rendezvous with the battleship HMS Duke of York (R.Adm. C.H.J. Harcourt, CBE, RN) and the destroyers USS Hambleton (T/.Cdr. F. Close, USN), USS Rodman (T/Cdr. W.G. Michelet, USN), USS Emmons (T/Cdr. T.C. Ragan, USN) and USS Macomb (T/Cdr. W.H. Duvall, USN) which had come from Scapa Flow.

On completion of the exercises, in which HMS Duke of York portrayed the Tirpitz, all ships entered Hvalfjord. (4)

8 Aug 1942
HMS Duke of York (R.Adm. C.H.J. Harcourt, CBE, RN), HMS London (Capt. R.M. Servaes, CBE, RN, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral L.H.K. Hamilton, DSO and Bar, RN), HMS Cumberland (Capt. A.H. Maxwell-Hyslop, AM, RN) conducted exercises off Hvalfjord. HMS Duke of York was escorted by the destroyers USS Hambleton (T/.Cdr. F. Close, USN), USS Macomb (T/Cdr. W.H. Duvall, USN) and HMS Offa (Lt.Cdr. R.A. Ewing, RN). (4)

17 May 1944
German U-boat U-616 was sunk on 17 May 1944 in the Mediterranean Sea north-west of Ténès, Algeria, in position 36°46'N, 00°52'E, by depth charges from the US destroyers USS Nields, USS Gleaves, USS Ellyson, USS Macomb, USS Hambleton, USS Rodman, USS Emmons and USS Hilary P. Jones and by depth charges from a British Wellington aircraft (36 Sqn RAF/K) on 15 May.

16 Jun 1944
Around 0800B/16, the light cruisers HMS Bellona (Capt. C.F.W. Norris, RN), HMS Black Prince (Capt. D.M. Lees, DSO, RN) and the destroyers USS Hambleton (T/Cdr. H.A. Renken, USN) and USS Rodman (T/Cdr. J.F. Foley, USN) departed the Western assault area of the Normandy coast to proceed to Plymouth where they arrived around 1700B/16. (5)

Media links


Destroyers of World War Two

Whitley, M. J.


U.S. Destroyers

Friedman, Norman


United States Destroyer Operations In World War II.

Roscoe, Theodore

Sources

  1. ADM 53/115405 + ADM 53/115832 + ADM 53/117680
  2. ADM 53/115322 + ADM 53/116616
  3. ADM 53/115832 + ADM 199/427 + ADM 199/429
  4. ADM 53/115688 + ADM 53/115833 + ADM 53/116174 + ADM 199/644
  5. ADM 53/118975

ADM numbers indicate documents at the British National Archives at Kew, London.


Return to the Allied Warships section



As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.