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USS Nicholson (DD-442)
Encyclopedia
USS Nicholson (DD-442), a , was the third ship of the United States Navy
to be named for the Nicholson family, which was prominent in the early history of the Navy.
Nicholson was laid down 1 November 1939 by Boston Naval Shipyard; launched
31 May 1940; sponsored by Mrs. S. A. Bathriek, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Nicholson
(1743–1811); and commissioned
3 June 1941, Commander J. S. Keating in command.
s through the U-boat
-infested, storm-tossed North Atlantic first from Boston to Newfoundland
and then to Scotland
and England
until fall 1942. In a brief training period off the Virginia
coast, she prepared for the Casablanca invasion
, but a turbine casualty prevented her participation in the initial landings. She arrived four days later, 12 November, to assist in the consolidation of the beachhead and to patrol. She took part in the Bizerte campaign
and the initial assaults on Salerno, coming under heavy air attack from the Luftwaffe
at both Bizerte
and Salerno
.
for overhaul in preparation for Pacific
deployment, for which she sailed from Boston
early in January 1944. When she reached New Guinea
in February, she was assigned to escort LST
s in the Cape Gloucester
campaign, already under way.
Throughout the long New Guinea campaign
, a matter of successive assaults on coastal points and nearby islands, Nicholson gave gunfire support to troops ashore. She had similar duty in the Admiralties; when, during the conquest of Seeadler Harbor
, she was assigned to draw fire from an enemy battery on Hanwei
. Here she was hit by a 4" shell which struck in No. 2 ammunition handling room, killing three and wounding four. She wiped out the enemy position.
In August 1944 Nicholson joined the 3rd Fleet in the Marshalls
. She screened fast carriers
in raids on the Bonins, Formosa
, and the Philippines
, supporting the invasion of the Palaus
and the neutralization of Yap
. Returning to the Philippines, her group assisted the 7th Fleet during the invasion of Leyte
and the decisive Battle for Leyte Gulf, from which Nicholson sailed for a Seattle
overhaul.
Returning to the western Pacific in February 1945, Nicholson escorted ships passing between Guam
and Ulithi
, and arrived off Okinawa for its invasion late in March. Serving in the exposed radar picket
line, Nicholson came through untouched by kamikaze
s, but rescued survivors from stricken destroyers Little
(DD-803) and Morrison
(DD-560).
Rejoining the 3d Fleet for the final air operations against the Japanese home islands, Nicholson was off Honshū
at the war's end. She entered Sagami Wan 29 August and Tokyo Bay
15 September. Returning to San Diego 6 November, she sailed for Panama
and Charleston, S.C., arriving 23 November to join the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She decommissioned 26 February 1946, was assigned as a Naval Reserve Training ship in the 3d Naval District 30 November 1948.
Nicholson received 10 battle stars for World War II
service.
starring Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Vera Ellen, Ann Miller and Betty Garret. The ship was shown in the beginning of the movie and also in the last scene.
Nicholson was recommissioned 17 July 1950, then decommissioned once more and transferred to the Italian Navy
15 January 1951.
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
to be named for the Nicholson family, which was prominent in the early history of the Navy.
Nicholson was laid down 1 November 1939 by Boston Naval Shipyard; launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
31 May 1940; sponsored by Mrs. S. A. Bathriek, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Nicholson
Samuel Nicholson
Samuel Nicholson was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy. -Early life:...
(1743–1811); and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
3 June 1941, Commander J. S. Keating in command.
Atlantic service
After a shakedown cruise in the eastern Atlantic, Nicholson escorted convoyConvoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
s through the U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
-infested, storm-tossed North Atlantic first from Boston to Newfoundland
Dominion of Newfoundland
The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...
and then to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
until fall 1942. In a brief training period off the Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
coast, she prepared for the Casablanca invasion
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, but a turbine casualty prevented her participation in the initial landings. She arrived four days later, 12 November, to assist in the consolidation of the beachhead and to patrol. She took part in the Bizerte campaign
Tunisia Campaign
The Tunisia Campaign was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African Campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces. The Allies consisted of British Imperial Forces, including Polish and Greek contingents, with American and French corps...
and the initial assaults on Salerno, coming under heavy air attack from the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
at both Bizerte
Bizerte
Bizerte or Benzert , is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. It has a population of 230,879 .-History:...
and Salerno
Salerno
Salerno is a city and comune in Campania and is the capital of the province of the same name. It is located on the Gulf of Salerno on the Tyrrhenian Sea....
.
Convoys escorted
| Convoy | Escort Group | Dates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| HX 160 HX convoys The HX convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. They were east-bound convoys and originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia from where they sailed to ports in the United Kingdom... |
17-25 Nov 1941 | from Newfoundland Dominion of Newfoundland The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland... to Iceland Iceland Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population... prior to US declaration of war |
|
| ON 41 ON convoys The ON convoys were a series of North Atlantic trade convoys running Outbound from the British Isles to North America during the Battle of the Atlantic .-History:... |
4-10 Dec 1941 | from Iceland to Newfoundland; war declared during convoy | |
| HX 173 HX convoys The HX convoys were a series of North Atlantic convoys which ran during the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. They were east-bound convoys and originated in Halifax, Nova Scotia from where they sailed to ports in the United Kingdom... |
3-10 Feb 1942 | from Newfoundland to Iceland | |
| ON 67 Convoy ON 67 Convoy ON-67 was a trade convoy of merchant ships during the second World War. It was the 67th of the numbered series of ON convoys Outbound from the British Isles to North America... |
19-28 Feb 1942 | from Iceland to Newfoundland | |
| AT 17 | 1-12 July 1942 | troopships from New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and... to Firth of Clyde Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At... |
|
| AT 18 | 6-17 Aug 1942 | troopships from New York City to Firth of Clyde |
Pacific service
After five months in the Mediterranean, Nicholson returned to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for overhaul in preparation for Pacific
Pacific Theater of Operations
The Pacific Theater of Operations was the World War II area of military activity in the Pacific Ocean and the countries bordering it, a geographic scope that reflected the operational and administrative command structures of the American forces during that period...
deployment, for which she sailed from Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
early in January 1944. When she reached New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
in February, she was assigned to escort LST
Tank landing ship
Landing Ship, Tank was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support amphibious operations by carrying significant quantities of vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto an unimproved shore....
s in the Cape Gloucester
Cape Gloucester
Cape Gloucester is a headland, in the northwest of the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at . During World War II, the Japanese captured New Britain, and had driven most of Cape Gloucester's native population out to construct two airfields...
campaign, already under way.
Throughout the long New Guinea campaign
New Guinea campaign
The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II.Before the war, the island of New Guinea was split between:...
, a matter of successive assaults on coastal points and nearby islands, Nicholson gave gunfire support to troops ashore. She had similar duty in the Admiralties; when, during the conquest of Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II...
, she was assigned to draw fire from an enemy battery on Hanwei
Hanwei
Hanwei is a company manufacturing swords, operated by Chen Chao-Po, better known by his pseudonym Paul Chen.Chen is a Taiwanese sword collector who in ca. 1997 opened a factory in Dalian manufacturing inexpensive replicas of Edo period Japanese swords. The manufacturing process imitates methods of...
. Here she was hit by a 4" shell which struck in No. 2 ammunition handling room, killing three and wounding four. She wiped out the enemy position.
In August 1944 Nicholson joined the 3rd Fleet in the Marshalls
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. She screened fast carriers
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
in raids on the Bonins, Formosa
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, supporting the invasion of the Palaus
Battle of Peleliu
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, was fought between the United States and the Empire of Japan in the Pacific Theater of World War II, from September–November 1944 on the island of Peleliu, present-day Palau. U.S...
and the neutralization of Yap
Yap
Yap, also known as Wa'ab by locals, is an island in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean. It is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. Yap's indigenous cultures and traditions are still strong compared to other neighboring islands. The island of Yap actually consists of four...
. Returning to the Philippines, her group assisted the 7th Fleet during the invasion of Leyte
Battle of Leyte
The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by...
and the decisive Battle for Leyte Gulf, from which Nicholson sailed for a Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
overhaul.
Returning to the western Pacific in February 1945, Nicholson escorted ships passing between Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
and Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, and arrived off Okinawa for its invasion late in March. Serving in the exposed radar picket
Radar picket
A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...
line, Nicholson came through untouched by kamikaze
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
s, but rescued survivors from stricken destroyers Little
USS Little (DD-803)
USS Little , a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain George Little ....
(DD-803) and Morrison
USS Morrison (DD-560)
USS Morrison , a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy, named for Coxswain John G. Morrison , who received the Medal of Honor for exceptional bravery during the Civil War....
(DD-560).
Rejoining the 3d Fleet for the final air operations against the Japanese home islands, Nicholson was off Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
at the war's end. She entered Sagami Wan 29 August and Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
15 September. Returning to San Diego 6 November, she sailed for Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
and Charleston, S.C., arriving 23 November to join the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She decommissioned 26 February 1946, was assigned as a Naval Reserve Training ship in the 3d Naval District 30 November 1948.
Nicholson received 10 battle stars for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service.
Post-war service
While serving as reserve training ship at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Nicholson served as the backdrop for the big-screen musical On the TownOn the Town (film)
On the Town is a 1949 musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944, although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage...
starring Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Vera Ellen, Ann Miller and Betty Garret. The ship was shown in the beginning of the movie and also in the last scene.
Nicholson was recommissioned 17 July 1950, then decommissioned once more and transferred to the Italian Navy
Italian Navy
Italian Navy may refer to:* Pre-unitarian navies of the Italian states* Regia Marina, the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Italy * Italian Navy , the navy of the Italian Republic...
15 January 1951.