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USS Trippe (DD-403)
Encyclopedia
The third USS Trippe (DD-403) was a in the United States Navy
. She was named for John Trippe
.
, launched on 14 May 1938; sponsored by Miss Betty S. Trippe and placed in commission on 1 November 1939, Lt. Comdr.
Robert L. Campbell in command.
Trippe spent the remainder of 1939 outfitting at Boston
. In January 1940, she visited Newport, Rhode Island
, to take on torpedoes and Yorktown, Virginia
, to load depth charge
s before heading for the Gulf of Mexico
. Following shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
, she returned to Boston on 20 March 1940. After completing her post-shakedown overhaul, Trippe departed Boston on 24 June ultimately to join the Caribbean portion of the Neutrality Patrol
. She voyaged via Hampton Roads
to San Juan, Puerto Rico
, where she arrived early in July only to return north at mid-month for a two-day visit to Washington, D.C.
. On 26 July, Trippe entered San Juan once more to begin Neutrality Patrol duty in earnest.
For eight months, the destroyer roamed the warm waters of the West Indies to prevent the European belligerents from waging war in the western hemisphere
. During that period, she escorted , with President Franklin Roosevelt embarked, upon a tour of bases in the Caribbean. She saw the President safely into Charleston, South Carolina
, on 14 December and then headed for Philadelphia and quick repairs. After a two day visit to Norfolk
at the end of the first week in January 1941, Trippe steamed south to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
, where she conducted neutrality patrols until spring.
war zone
. When Trippe emerged from her refit in May, she visited Norfolk and then trained out of Newport until early June. On 11 June, she joined the screen of for her first extended patrol in the North Atlantic. On 29 June, Texas and her escorts passed through the periscope
sights of a U-boat
. The puzzled German captain almost perpetrated an incident by attacking; but, unable to match Task Force 1's speed, he gave up the chase late that afternoon. Blissfully unaware of the danger, the battleship
steamed on with Trippe and her sister destroyers. The following day, they ended their patrol at Newport.
Trippe continued patrolling out of Newport, first with Texas and then with , through July and the first fortnight in August. On 15 August, the warship shifted her base to Boston and Provincetown. On 25 April, she cleared Boston to escort to NS Argentia
, Newfoundland
. After more than a month of training and antisubmarine operations off Newfoundland, Trippe departed Argentia on 11 October in company with , , , , and seven other destroyer
s. After anchoring briefly at Casco Bay, Maine and patrolling the area between that port and Boston the warships headed for a mid-ocean rendezvous to relieve the Royal Navy
escort of a westbound convoy. On her return voyage, Trippe parted company with the escort off Portland, Maine, and put into Casco Bay. On 9 November, she departed the Maine coast in the screen of , , and Quincy to meet another westbound convoy and escort it to the United States
.
until early December. She was returning north with the carrier on 7 December when the Japan
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
jolted the United States into World War II
. America's entry into the war, however, did not change Trippe's assignment. She continued to escort transatlantic convoys and to hunt U-boats. She stopped at Norfolk for a week and then headed for Newport on 10 December. Just before dawn on 16 December, an Army
bomber
approached her from the north and after making several passes dropped a stick of bombs and reported sinking a German destroyer in Block Island Sound
. Trippe emerged unscathed the bombs exploded some 200 yards off her bow and continued on to Newport where she arrived that same day.
Over the next 10 months, Trippe was all over the northwestern Atlantic. She escorted coastwise traffic between ports along the eastern seaboard. She relieved British warships in mid-ocean and escorted their convoys into American ports as well as screening eastbound convoys as far as mid-ocean where British warships took over. The destroyer patrolled off such diverse places as Argentia, Newfoundland and the North Carolina
capes. Her escort duties took her as far south as the Panama Canal
and the West Indies, as far north as Newfoundland, and on one occasion, as far east as Londonderry Port
in Northern Ireland
. Twice, Trippe searched for survivors of torpedoed merchantmen once off Hampton Roads early in February and again near Bermuda
in June. She also made two fruitless attacks on what she believed to be submerged U-boats. Now and then, she even found time to conduct drills and gunnery training.
In October 1942, Trippe cleared the Chesapeake Bay
area and steamed north to Newport where she arrived on the 7th. For the next two weeks, she operated with while the new battleship practiced shore bombardment for the upcoming invasion of
French North Africa. During the pre-dawn hours of 19 October, she was steaming for Casco Bay when struck Trippe on her starboard quarter, killing four Trippe crewmen and injuring three others. On 13 November, Trippe completed repairs at New York
and got underway for antisubmarine warfare training at New London, Connecticut
.
Following almost a month of training and escorting coastal convoys, Trippe departed New York in the screen of her first convoy bound for Casablanca
. She returned to New York on 7 February 1943 and conducted more training. In April, the destroyer made another round-trip voyage to Morocco
and escorted a coastal convoy to Norfolk before heading for the Mediterranean. On 10 May, the warship arrived at Oran
, Algeria
. She then screened convoys between that port and Bizerte
, conducted patrols, and practiced shore bombardment in preparation to support the Allied landings on Sicily
.
On 9 July, the destroyer left Oran in the screen of a Sicily-bound convoy and was still at sea when Allied troops clambered ashore the following day. She arrived off Gela
on the 14th, the day following the landings at that port, and patrolled that area until the 20th when she returned to Oran. However, the destroyer arrived back at Sicily the same day this time at Palermo
. Three days later, the Luftwaffe
attacked the anchorage. To elude radar
, the German medium bombers approached from the south, low over the Sicilian mountains, and circled the targets. As Trippe zigzagged to evade bombing and strafing planes, her 5-inch battery barked defiantly. When the raid was over, she claimed credit for one of the German eagles
Up north, while Lieutenant General
George S. Patton
's armored columns moved across the northern coast of Sicily and side-stepped heavy enemy formations with amphibious landings, the Navy supported his advance. Trippe left Palermo on 4 August in company with to support the advance with naval gunfire. On the 5th, she bombarded bridges at Terranova
. During the next two days, the destroyer joined before supporting the landings at Sant Agato di Militello. Trippe's guns paved the way for the troops landing at Brolo on the 11th, and, on the 16th, her main battery supported the amphibious end-run at Spadafora. The following day, Sicily was declared secured, and Trippe headed north with three PT boats to accept the surrender of the Aeolian Islands
of Lipari
and Stromboli
.
The Italian
mainland was the destroyer's next target. In the early hours of 20 August, Trippe and shelled a railroad bridge at Fiume Petrace, then turned south to Bizerte and escorted a convoy to Palermo. Trippe next returned to Bizerte and, on 31 August, proceeded to Oran.
British troops landed at Reggio, Italy, on 3 September to begin the long, bitter drive up the Italian peninsula. Two days later, Trippe put to sea to escort a convoy to the assault beaches at Salerno
, just south of Naples
. This attack, aimed at turning German defenses in the south of Italy, was launched on the morning of 9 September 1943. The troops ran into heavy enemy resistance. The Luftwaffe and heavy coastal batteries took a heavy toll of the landing force, but Trippe and other fire support ships brought their batteries to bear and helped the troops ashore consolidate their beachhead.
After several round-trip voyages between Salerno and Oran, she returned to the Bay of Naples on 10 October. Early on the morning of the 13th, while Trippe was escorting a convoy from Naples to Oran, the attacked the convoy and quickly sank . Trippe searched briefly for the attacker, but concentrated upon rescuing Bristol's survivors, so the U-boat escaped.
Trippe occupied the next month with convoy operations in the western Mediterranean and patrol work off Oran. On 18 November, she sailed from Gibraltar with and a screen of British and United States destroyers. Off Casablanca, they rendezvoused with battleship , which had just borne President Roosevelt on the first leg of his journey to the Allied conferences at Cairo
and Tehran. Trippe escorted Iowa through the Straits of Gibraltar to Oran then screened the battleship as she steamed westward again through the Straits into the Atlantic and proceeded to Casablanca to await President Roosevelt's return. After shepherding her charge to that port, Trippe turned back to Algiers and resumed her patrol operations.
On the afternoon of 16 December, the destroyer put to sea in company with and to hunt for the survivors of a torpedoed merchantman. While searching for castaways, the three warships also sought the U boat itself. Early that evening, they made radar contact on steaming on the surface. Woolsey switched on her searchlights, and Trippe's fire control radar locked onto the target. The two destroyers immediately opened up with their main batteries and pumped salvo after salvo of 5-inch shells into the German submarine. Six minutes after visual contact, U-73 went down for the last time all the way to the bottom. While Woolsey picked up the German submariners, Trippe made sure that U-78 had no colleagues lurking in the area. The destroyers then returned to Oran.
At the beginning of 1944, the destroyer was at Palermo, Sicily. On 21 January, she got underway to support the Allied landings at Anzio, located farther up the Italian peninsula near Rome
. The next day, she took station with Brooklyn and Edison, and her guns supported the troops going ashore. Two days later, she fought off a Luftwaffe air attack. She returned to gunfire support on the 25th and bombarded enemy troops and vehicles. On 31 January, she pounded troop concentrations and vehicles and demolished an observation post. Trippe hit two German strong points on 5 February. She was relieved of duty on the gunline on 10 February and returned to Oran, rescuing two downed British flyers along the way.
On 23 February, Trippe steamed to Casablanca where she joined a hunter-killer group built around and got underway for the United States. During the voyage, the escort carrier and the five destroyers in her screen conducted air, sound, and radar searches for German submarines. Trippe parted company with the task unit on 4 March and, after a stop at Bermuda, put into New York for a month of upkeep. Following refresher training, she conducted hunterkiller operations out of Casco Bay. Late in May, she escorted on the first leg of the new carrier's shakedown cruise before joining for electronics countermeasure experiments in Chesapeake Bay. She put into Norfolk on 3 June, but departed the next day with for air operations off the Virginia capes. From 19 June until Independence Day
1944, Trippe conducted exercises in the Gulf of Paria
near Trinidad. On 9 July, she returned to Boston with Hancock and began a 19 day availability. Between 28 July and 23 October, the destroyer made two round-trip voyages between the United States and southern Italy escorting convoys to and from that bitterly contested campaign. For the remainder of the year, she conducted training near Casco Bay and screened during air operations near Trinidad. Late in February 1945, Trippe escorted another convoy to the Mediterranean, this time to Oran. She returned to New York during the first week in April and began a brief yard period.
Repairs complete, Trippe headed south with a convoy bound for the Canal Zone. She transited the canal, stopped at San Diego, and arrived in Pearl Harbor on 16 May. She spent several weeks in the Hawaiian Islands
conducting shore bombardment drills in preparation for duty with the 5th Fleet in the Central Pacific. However, the landings for which she prepared never came to fruition. Instead, the ship headed west in mid June and escorted convoys between various islands in the Central Pacific, including Iwo Jima
, Saipan
, Ulithi
, and Okinawa. The brevity of her stopovers protected her from the wrath of the kamikazes. She was en route to Okinawa with a convoy on 15 August, when she received word of the cessation of hostilities.
participating in the surrender negotiations with Japanese garrisons remaining in the Marianas and Bonin Islands. On 5 November, she returned to Saipan and began a month of patrols, training, and air-sea rescue operations north of that island. On 16 December, she cleared Guam
to return to the United States.
Her homecoming was brief, however, for on 16 January 1946, she steamed back to Pearl Harbor to prepare for Operation Crossroads
, the atomic bomb tests conducted at Bikini Atoll
. Four months later, the tests were ready to go forward. Trippe entered Bikini lagoon on 1 June. The destroyer missed the first explosion, an air-burst on 1 July; but the second test, an underwater detonation on the 26th, made her so radioactive that it was unsafe to approach her. Trippe's radioactive contamination forced the Navy to keep her at Bikini where she was subjected to an intensive study. Trippe was decommissioned there on 28 August 1946. Over the next 18 months, her hull deteriorated to the point of making it almost impossible to keep her afloat. On 3 February 1948, she was towed to deep water off Kwajalein
and sunk by gunfire. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 19 February 1948.
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...
. She was named for John Trippe
John Trippe
John Trippe was an officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France and the First Barbary War.-Biography:Born in Dorchester County, Maryland, Trippe was appointed a midshipman in the Navy on 5 April 1799...
.
Operational history
Trippe was laid down on 15 April 1937 by the Boston Navy YardBoston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...
, launched on 14 May 1938; sponsored by Miss Betty S. Trippe and placed in commission on 1 November 1939, Lt. Comdr.
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
Robert L. Campbell in command.
Trippe spent the remainder of 1939 outfitting at 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...
. In January 1940, she visited Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, to take on torpedoes and Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown, Virginia
Yorktown is a census-designated place in York County, Virginia, United States. The population was 220 in the 2000 census. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1634....
, to load depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
s before heading for the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. Following shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, she returned to Boston on 20 March 1940. After completing her post-shakedown overhaul, Trippe departed Boston on 24 June ultimately to join the Caribbean portion of the Neutrality Patrol
Neutrality Patrol
At the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 started the hostilities in Europe, President Franklin D...
. She voyaged via Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
to San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
, where she arrived early in July only to return north at mid-month for a two-day visit to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. On 26 July, Trippe entered San Juan once more to begin Neutrality Patrol duty in earnest.
For eight months, the destroyer roamed the warm waters of the West Indies to prevent the European belligerents from waging war in the western hemisphere
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere or western hemisphere is mainly used as a geographical term for the half of the Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian and east of the Antimeridian , the other half being called the Eastern Hemisphere.In this sense, the western hemisphere consists of the western portions...
. During that period, she escorted , with President Franklin Roosevelt embarked, upon a tour of bases in the Caribbean. She saw the President safely into Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, on 14 December and then headed for Philadelphia and quick repairs. After a two day visit to Norfolk
Norfolk Naval Shipyard
The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling, and repairing the Navy's ships. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy as well as the most...
at the end of the first week in January 1941, Trippe steamed south to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, where she conducted neutrality patrols until spring.
North Atlantic duty
On 21 March, the warship began a two-month overhaul at Boston. On 24 April, while Trippe continued repairs, President Roosevelt extended the Neutrality Patrol to the very edge of the GermanGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
war zone
War Zone
A war zone is a location of military conflict, but the term may also refer to:* War Zone , a 1998 documentary about street harassment* The War Zone, a 1999 film starring Ray Winstone...
. When Trippe emerged from her refit in May, she visited Norfolk and then trained out of Newport until early June. On 11 June, she joined the screen of for her first extended patrol in the North Atlantic. On 29 June, Texas and her escorts passed through the periscope
Periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation from a concealed position. In its simplest form it consists of a tube with mirrors at each end set parallel to each other at a 45-degree angle....
sights of a 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...
. The puzzled German captain almost perpetrated an incident by attacking; but, unable to match Task Force 1's speed, he gave up the chase late that afternoon. Blissfully unaware of the danger, the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
steamed on with Trippe and her sister destroyers. The following day, they ended their patrol at Newport.
Trippe continued patrolling out of Newport, first with Texas and then with , through July and the first fortnight in August. On 15 August, the warship shifted her base to Boston and Provincetown. On 25 April, she cleared Boston to escort to NS Argentia
Naval Station Argentia
Naval Station Argentia is a former base of the United States Navy that operated from 1941-1994. It was established in the community of Argentia in what was then the Dominion of Newfoundland, which later became the tenth Canadian province .-Construction:Established under the British-U.S...
, 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...
. After more than a month of training and antisubmarine operations off Newfoundland, Trippe departed Argentia on 11 October in company with , , , , and seven other destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s. After anchoring briefly at Casco Bay, Maine and patrolling the area between that port and Boston the warships headed for a mid-ocean rendezvous to relieve the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
escort of a westbound convoy. On her return voyage, Trippe parted company with the escort off Portland, Maine, and put into Casco Bay. On 9 November, she departed the Maine coast in the screen of , , and Quincy to meet another westbound convoy and escort it to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
World War II
In mid-November, Trippe escorted Ranger south to the West Indies and screened flight operations conducted from that carrier in the vicinity of TrinidadTrinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
until early December. She was returning north with the carrier on 7 December when the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
jolted the United States into 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...
. America's entry into the war, however, did not change Trippe's assignment. She continued to escort transatlantic convoys and to hunt U-boats. She stopped at Norfolk for a week and then headed for Newport on 10 December. Just before dawn on 16 December, an Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
approached her from the north and after making several passes dropped a stick of bombs and reported sinking a German destroyer in Block Island Sound
Block Island Sound
Block Island Sound is a strait in the open Atlantic Ocean, approximately wide, separating Block Island from the coast of Rhode Island in the United States...
. Trippe emerged unscathed the bombs exploded some 200 yards off her bow and continued on to Newport where she arrived that same day.
Over the next 10 months, Trippe was all over the northwestern Atlantic. She escorted coastwise traffic between ports along the eastern seaboard. She relieved British warships in mid-ocean and escorted their convoys into American ports as well as screening eastbound convoys as far as mid-ocean where British warships took over. The destroyer patrolled off such diverse places as Argentia, Newfoundland and the North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
capes. Her escort duties took her as far south as the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and the West Indies, as far north as Newfoundland, and on one occasion, as far east as Londonderry Port
Londonderry Port
Londonderry Port at Lisahally is a port near Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the United Kingdom’s most westerly port, has capacity for 30,000 ton vessels and accepts cruise ships. The current port is on the east bank of the River Foyle at the southern end of Lough Foyle, by the small village of...
in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Twice, Trippe searched for survivors of torpedoed merchantmen once off Hampton Roads early in February and again near Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
in June. She also made two fruitless attacks on what she believed to be submerged U-boats. Now and then, she even found time to conduct drills and gunnery training.
In October 1942, Trippe cleared the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
area and steamed north to Newport where she arrived on the 7th. For the next two weeks, she operated with while the new battleship practiced shore bombardment for the upcoming invasion of
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....
French North Africa. During the pre-dawn hours of 19 October, she was steaming for Casco Bay when struck Trippe on her starboard quarter, killing four Trippe crewmen and injuring three others. On 13 November, Trippe completed repairs at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and got underway for antisubmarine warfare training at New London, Connecticut
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
.
Following almost a month of training and escorting coastal convoys, Trippe departed New York in the screen of her first convoy bound for Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
. She returned to New York on 7 February 1943 and conducted more training. In April, the destroyer made another round-trip voyage to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
and escorted a coastal convoy to Norfolk before heading for the Mediterranean. On 10 May, the warship arrived at Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. She then screened convoys between that port and 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:...
, conducted patrols, and practiced shore bombardment in preparation to support the Allied landings on Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
.
On 9 July, the destroyer left Oran in the screen of a Sicily-bound convoy and was still at sea when Allied troops clambered ashore the following day. She arrived off Gela
Gela
Gela is a town and comune in the province of Caltanissetta in the south of Sicily, Italy. The city is at about 84 kilometers distance from the city of Caltanissetta, on the Mediterranean Sea. The city has a larger population than the provincial capital, and ranks second in land area.Gela is an...
on the 14th, the day following the landings at that port, and patrolled that area until the 20th when she returned to Oran. However, the destroyer arrived back at Sicily the same day this time at Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. Three days later, 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....
attacked the anchorage. To elude radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, the German medium bombers approached from the south, low over the Sicilian mountains, and circled the targets. As Trippe zigzagged to evade bombing and strafing planes, her 5-inch battery barked defiantly. When the raid was over, she claimed credit for one of the German eagles
Up north, while Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General (United States)
In the United States Army, the United States Air Force and the United States Marine Corps, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general...
George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...
's armored columns moved across the northern coast of Sicily and side-stepped heavy enemy formations with amphibious landings, the Navy supported his advance. Trippe left Palermo on 4 August in company with to support the advance with naval gunfire. On the 5th, she bombarded bridges at Terranova
Terranova
Terranova is a German band based between Berlin and Paris made up of current members Fetisch,&me.Terranova are signed to Kompakt records.Terranova was formed in 1996 by Fetisch, Marco Meister and Kaos. They previously went under the moniker Turntable Terranova on the Compost label and sometimes...
. During the next two days, the destroyer joined before supporting the landings at Sant Agato di Militello. Trippe's guns paved the way for the troops landing at Brolo on the 11th, and, on the 16th, her main battery supported the amphibious end-run at Spadafora. The following day, Sicily was declared secured, and Trippe headed north with three PT boats to accept the surrender of the Aeolian Islands
Aeolian Islands
The Aeolian Islands or Lipari Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, named after the demigod of the winds Aeolus. The locals residing on the islands are known as Eolians . The Aeolian Islands are a popular tourist destination in the summer, and attract up to...
of Lipari
Lipari
Lipari is the largest of the Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the north coast of Sicily, and the name of the island's main town. It has a permanent population of 11,231; during the May–September tourist season, its population may reach up to 20,000....
and Stromboli
Stromboli
Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it...
.
The Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
mainland was the destroyer's next target. In the early hours of 20 August, Trippe and shelled a railroad bridge at Fiume Petrace, then turned south to Bizerte and escorted a convoy to Palermo. Trippe next returned to Bizerte and, on 31 August, proceeded to Oran.
British troops landed at Reggio, Italy, on 3 September to begin the long, bitter drive up the Italian peninsula. Two days later, Trippe put to sea to escort a convoy to the assault beaches at 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....
, just south of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. This attack, aimed at turning German defenses in the south of Italy, was launched on the morning of 9 September 1943. The troops ran into heavy enemy resistance. The Luftwaffe and heavy coastal batteries took a heavy toll of the landing force, but Trippe and other fire support ships brought their batteries to bear and helped the troops ashore consolidate their beachhead.
After several round-trip voyages between Salerno and Oran, she returned to the Bay of Naples on 10 October. Early on the morning of the 13th, while Trippe was escorting a convoy from Naples to Oran, the attacked the convoy and quickly sank . Trippe searched briefly for the attacker, but concentrated upon rescuing Bristol's survivors, so the U-boat escaped.
Trippe occupied the next month with convoy operations in the western Mediterranean and patrol work off Oran. On 18 November, she sailed from Gibraltar with and a screen of British and United States destroyers. Off Casablanca, they rendezvoused with battleship , which had just borne President Roosevelt on the first leg of his journey to the Allied conferences at Cairo
Cairo Conference
The Cairo Conference of November 22–26, 1943, held in Cairo, Egypt, addressed the Allied position against Japan during World War II and made decisions about postwar Asia...
and Tehran. Trippe escorted Iowa through the Straits of Gibraltar to Oran then screened the battleship as she steamed westward again through the Straits into the Atlantic and proceeded to Casablanca to await President Roosevelt's return. After shepherding her charge to that port, Trippe turned back to Algiers and resumed her patrol operations.
On the afternoon of 16 December, the destroyer put to sea in company with and to hunt for the survivors of a torpedoed merchantman. While searching for castaways, the three warships also sought the U boat itself. Early that evening, they made radar contact on steaming on the surface. Woolsey switched on her searchlights, and Trippe's fire control radar locked onto the target. The two destroyers immediately opened up with their main batteries and pumped salvo after salvo of 5-inch shells into the German submarine. Six minutes after visual contact, U-73 went down for the last time all the way to the bottom. While Woolsey picked up the German submariners, Trippe made sure that U-78 had no colleagues lurking in the area. The destroyers then returned to Oran.
At the beginning of 1944, the destroyer was at Palermo, Sicily. On 21 January, she got underway to support the Allied landings at Anzio, located farther up the Italian peninsula near Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. The next day, she took station with Brooklyn and Edison, and her guns supported the troops going ashore. Two days later, she fought off a Luftwaffe air attack. She returned to gunfire support on the 25th and bombarded enemy troops and vehicles. On 31 January, she pounded troop concentrations and vehicles and demolished an observation post. Trippe hit two German strong points on 5 February. She was relieved of duty on the gunline on 10 February and returned to Oran, rescuing two downed British flyers along the way.
On 23 February, Trippe steamed to Casablanca where she joined a hunter-killer group built around and got underway for the United States. During the voyage, the escort carrier and the five destroyers in her screen conducted air, sound, and radar searches for German submarines. Trippe parted company with the task unit on 4 March and, after a stop at Bermuda, put into New York for a month of upkeep. Following refresher training, she conducted hunterkiller operations out of Casco Bay. Late in May, she escorted on the first leg of the new carrier's shakedown cruise before joining for electronics countermeasure experiments in Chesapeake Bay. She put into Norfolk on 3 June, but departed the next day with for air operations off the Virginia capes. From 19 June until Independence Day
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
1944, Trippe conducted exercises in the Gulf of Paria
Gulf of Paria
The Gulf of Paria is a shallow inland sea between the island of Trinidad and the east coast of Venezuela. This sheltered body of water is considered to be one of the best natural harbours on the Atlantic coast of the Americas...
near Trinidad. On 9 July, she returned to Boston with Hancock and began a 19 day availability. Between 28 July and 23 October, the destroyer made two round-trip voyages between the United States and southern Italy escorting convoys to and from that bitterly contested campaign. For the remainder of the year, she conducted training near Casco Bay and screened during air operations near Trinidad. Late in February 1945, Trippe escorted another convoy to the Mediterranean, this time to Oran. She returned to New York during the first week in April and began a brief yard period.
Repairs complete, Trippe headed south with a convoy bound for the Canal Zone. She transited the canal, stopped at San Diego, and arrived in Pearl Harbor on 16 May. She spent several weeks in the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
conducting shore bombardment drills in preparation for duty with the 5th Fleet in the Central Pacific. However, the landings for which she prepared never came to fruition. Instead, the ship headed west in mid June and escorted convoys between various islands in the Central Pacific, including Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...
, Saipan
Saipan
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...
, 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 Okinawa. The brevity of her stopovers protected her from the wrath of the kamikazes. She was en route to Okinawa with a convoy on 15 August, when she received word of the cessation of hostilities.
Post war
Trippe remained in the Far EastFar East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
participating in the surrender negotiations with Japanese garrisons remaining in the Marianas and Bonin Islands. On 5 November, she returned to Saipan and began a month of patrols, training, and air-sea rescue operations north of that island. On 16 December, she cleared 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...
to return to the United States.
Her homecoming was brief, however, for on 16 January 1946, she steamed back to Pearl Harbor to prepare for Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. It was the first test of a nuclear weapon after the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945...
, the atomic bomb tests conducted at Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll is an atoll, listed as a World Heritage Site, in the Micronesian Islands of the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Islands....
. Four months later, the tests were ready to go forward. Trippe entered Bikini lagoon on 1 June. The destroyer missed the first explosion, an air-burst on 1 July; but the second test, an underwater detonation on the 26th, made her so radioactive that it was unsafe to approach her. Trippe's radioactive contamination forced the Navy to keep her at Bikini where she was subjected to an intensive study. Trippe was decommissioned there on 28 August 1946. Over the next 18 months, her hull deteriorated to the point of making it almost impossible to keep her afloat. On 3 February 1948, she was towed to deep water off Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
and sunk by gunfire. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 19 February 1948.