USS Hughes (DD-410)
Hughes off Mare Island Navy Yard, California on 1 August 1942
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Bath Iron Works |
| Laid down: | 15 September 1937 |
| Launched: | 17 June 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 21 September 1939 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 August 1946 |
| Struck: | 26 November 1948 |
| Honors and awards: |
American Defense Service Medal ("Fleet" clasp, "A" device), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (14 stars), World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal ("Japan" clasp) |
| Fate: | Sunk as target on 16 October 1948 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sims-class destroyer |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 348 ft, 3¼ in, (106.15 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft, 1 in (11 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft, 4.5 in (4.07 m) |
| Propulsion: | High-pressure super-heated boilers, geared turbines with twin screws, 50,000 horsepower |
| Speed: | 35 knots |
| Range: | 3,660 nautical miles at 20 kt (6,780 km at 37 km/h) |
| Complement: | 192 (10 officers/182 enlisted) |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: | None |
USS Hughes (DD-410) was a World War II-era Sims-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy, named after Commander Edward Merritt Hughes.
Hughes was laid down on 15 September 1937 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; launched on 17 June 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Edward M. Hughes, widow of Commander Hughes; and commissioned at Boston Navy Yard, on 21 September 1939, Lieutenant Commander Donald J. Ramsey in command.
Following shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico, Hughes joined the Atlantic Fleet. From July 1940 to December 1941, Hughes served in the Atlantic, first on patrol off Martinique to watch Vichy French Forces there and then on Neutrality patrol off Iceland. During this time, she became the first American destroyer to escort a British convoy all the way to England.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, warships were urgently needed in the Pacific and Hughes sailed from Norfolk, Virginia on 18 December 1941, arriving San Diego, California in company with Yorktown, on 30 December. She departed San Diego on 12 January 1942 as an escort for ships bringing reinforcements to Samoa. Hughes then sailed from Samoa as part of a carrier striking force built around carrier Yorktown. She screened the carrier in strikes on Jaluit, Makin, Mili, and Canton Islands, then supported the combined Lexington–Yorktown Task Force 17 (TF17), as it attacked Japanese bases at Lae and Salamaua on 10 March 1942. Missing the Battle of the Coral Sea while escorting a tanker carrying fuel to Nouméa, Hughes reached Pearl Harbor in time to participate in the Battle of Midway.
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