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USS Smith (DD-378)

The USS Smith off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, painted in a "Dazzle" camouflage variant known as Measure 31, Design 23d, 12 June 1944.
USS Smith painted in a "Dazzle" camouflage variant known as Measure 31, Design 23d.
History
United States
Name: Smith
Namesake: Joseph B. Smith
Builder: Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Laid down: 27 October 1934
Launched: 20 February 1936
Commissioned: 19 September 1936
Decommissioned: 28 June 1946
Struck: 25 February 1947
Fate: Sold for scrapping, August 1947
General characteristics
Class and type: Mahan-class destroyer
Displacement: 1,500 tons
Length: 341 ft 4 in (104.04 m)
Beam: 35 ft (11 m)
Draft: 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)
Speed: 37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Complement: 8 officers and 150 enlisted crew
Armament:
  • As built:
  • 1 × Gun Director above bridge,
  • 5 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. DP (5x1),
  • 12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3x4),
  • 4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) AA machine guns (4x1),
  • 2 × depth charge stern racks,
  • c1944:
  • 1 × Mk 33 Gun Fire Control System,
  • 4 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. DP (4x1),
  • 12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3x4),
  • 2 × Mk 51 Gun Directors,
  • 4 × Bofors 40 mm AA (2x2),
  • 5 × Oerlikon 20 mm AA (5x1),
  • 2 × depth charge roll-off stern racks,
  • 4 × K-gun depth charge projectors

USS Smith (DD-378) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy before and during World War II. She was named for Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, USN. Smith was a senior officer aboard USS Congress and killed when CSS Virginia sunk her.

Smith's keel was laid down on 27 October 1934 at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, California, and launched on 20 February 1936. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Yancey S. Williams and commissioned on 19 September 1936, with Commander H. L. Grosskopf in command. When active, the destroyer patrolled the West Coast waters for the next five years.

At the outbreak of the war, Smith was in San Francisco, California, where she was attached to Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 5, performing escort duty between the west coast and Pearl Harbor until April 1942. On 7 April, Smith was assigned to Task Force (TF) 1, composed of Battleship Division 3, which held extensive training exercises along the West Coast until departing for Pearl Harbor on 1 June. Smith was then assigned to TF 17, commanded by Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, engaged in war patrols and training exercises for a month; then escorted a convoy back to San Francisco. After overhaul and subsequent sea trials in the area, she returned to Pearl Harbor in mid-August and began a period of training and upkeep. On 15 October, she was assigned to TF 16 composed of the aircraft carrier Enterprise and battleship South Dakota. TF 16 departed Pearl Harbor on war patrol, on 16 October, and was joined the following week by the cruisers Portland and San Juan with their destroyer screen.


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