Allied Warships

USS Lea (DD 118)

Destroyer of the Wickes class

NavyThe US Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassWickes 
PennantDD 118 
Built byWilliam Cramp and Sons (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down18 Sep 1917 
Launched29 Apr 1918 
Commissioned2 Oct 1918 
End service20 Jul 1945 
History

Decommissioned at San Diego, California on 1 May 1930
Recommissioned on 30 September 1939
Decommissioned at Philadelphia on 20 July 1945
Stricken 13 August 1945
Sold 30 November 1945 and broken up for scrap.

 

Commands listed for USS Lea (DD 118)

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. Franklin Wilbur Slaven, USN30 Sep 193913 Jun 1940
2Lt. Clarence Broussard, USN13 Jun 19404 Apr 1942
3Lt.Cdr. Paul Wentworth Card, USN4 Apr 194221 Jul 1942
4Lt.Cdr. John Franklin Walsh, USN21 Jul 194224 Dec 1942
5T/Cdr. Donald Irving Thomas, USN24 Dec 194214 Feb 1944
6Moore Peter Huffman, USNR14 Feb 194419 Oct 1944
7Lt. Donald Leonard John Dierks, USNR19 Oct 194420 Jul 1945

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Notable events involving Lea include:


28 Apr 1942
USS Lea picks up 37 survivors from the Dutch merchant Arundo that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-136 about 15 nautical miles south of the Ambrose Lightship in position 40°10’N, 73°44’W.

3 Nov 1942
USS Lea picks up 8 survivors from the Canadian merchant Chr. J. Kampmann that was torpedoed and sunk northwest of Grenada in position 12°06'N, 62°42'W by German U-boat U-160.

11 May 1943
HMS Upstart (Lt. P.C. Chapman, DSC and Bar, RN) conducted A/S exercises in Lough Foyle with USS Greene (Lt.Cdr. J.S. Lewis, USN), HMS Chanticleer (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bristowe, DSO, RN), USS Lea (Lt.Cdr. D.I. Thomas, USN) and USS Osmond Ingram (Lt.Cdr. N.J. Sampson, USN).

Upon completion of the exercises Upstart departed Lough Foyle for Holy Loch escorted by HMS Chanticleer. (1)

12 May 1943
HMS H 33 (Lt. J.A. Spender, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with USS Belknap and USS Badger, USS Lea, USS Osmond Ingram and USS Greene. (2)

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 173/18373
  2. ADM 173/17782

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


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