Allied Warships

USS Nields (DD 616)

Destroyer of the Bristol class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Bristol
Pennant	DD 616
Built by	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.A.)
Ordered	16 Dec 1940
Laid down	15 Jun 1942
Launched	1 Oct 1942
Commissioned	15 Jan 1943
End service	26 Mar 1946
History	Decommissioned 26 March 1946. Stricken 15 September 1970. Sold 8 May 1972 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Nields (DD 616)

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	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Albert Rossville Heckey, USN	15 Jan 1943	7 Oct 1944
2	Charles Rutter Norris, Jr., USN	7 Oct 1944	25 Mar 1946

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Notable events involving Nields include:

21 May 1943
The Italian submarine Gorgo was most likely sunk off Oran by the US destroyer USS Nields.

USS Nields was on a anti-submarine patrol out off Oran when a British aircraft reported a submarine contact. At 1716hours Nields established a sound contact. At 1718hours she dropped a pattern of 9 depth charges. At 1723 the sound contact was regained and another 9 depth charges were dropped. At 1731 and 1741hours more depth charges were dropped. Within seconds of the last attack, oil patches were observed. This, most likely, meant the end of the Italian submarine Gorgo.

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.