Allied Warships

USS Belknap (AVD 8)

Destroyer of the Clemson class

NavyThe US Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassClemson 
PennantAVD 8 
ModSea plane tender 
Built byBethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down31 Jul 1918 
Launched14 Jan 1919 
Commissioned28 Apr 1919 
End service4 Aug 1945 
History

Reclassified as sea plane tender AVD-8 on 2 August 1940
Classified back to destroyer DD-251 on 1 December 1943
Reclassified as high speed transport APD-34 on 22 June 1944
Damaged beyond repair by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft in the Lingayen Gulf on 11 January 1945, 7 casualties among her crew
Decommissioned on 4 August 1945
Stricken on 13 August 1945
Sold to be broken up for scrap on 30 November 1945

 

Commands listed for USS Belknap (AVD 8)

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. Silas Bruce Moore, USN2 Aug 194014 Sep 1941 (1)
2Lt.Cdr. Sylvius Gazze, USN14 Sep 194121 Sep 1942 (1)
3T/Lt.Cdr. Doyle Murray Coffee, USN21 Sep 194216 Jun 1943
4John Edward Page, USNR16 Jun 19436 Aug 1943
5Benjamin Thomas Brooks, Jr., USNR6 Aug 1943Jul 1944
6Lt. Ralph Childs, Jr., USNRJul 19444 Aug 1945

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Notable events involving Belknap include:


12 Mar 1943
USS Belknap picks up 18 survivors from the American merchant Jonathan Sturges and three survivors from the Dutch merchant Madoera.

The Jonathan Sturges was torpedoed and sunk on 24 February 1943 by German U-boat U-707 in the North Atlantic in position 46°15'N, 38°11'W.

The Madoera was torpedoed and damaged on 24 February 1943 by German U-boat U-653 in the North Atlantic in position 46°02'N, 39°20'W. The Madoera managed to reach St. John's, Canada under her own power on 1 March 1943.

11 May 1943
HMS H 33 (Lt. J.A. Spender, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with HMS Lowestoft (A/Cdr.(Retd.) L.H. Phillips, RN), USS Belknap and USS Badger. (2)

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. http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/251.htm
  2. ADM 173/17782

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


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