USS Hambleton

History

United States
Name:	Hambleton
Namesake:	Samuel Hambleton
Builder:	Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.
Laid down:	16 December 1940
Launched:	26 September 1941
Commissioned:	22 December 1941
Identification:	DD-455
Reclassified:	DMS-20, 15 November 1944
Decommissioned:	15 January 1955
Struck:	1 June 1971
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 22 November 1972
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gleaves-class destroyer
Displacement:	2,200 tons
Length:	347 ft 11 in (106.05 m)
Beam:	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draft:	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion:	50,000 shp (37,000 kW); 2 propellers
Speed:	35 kn (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range:	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	272
Armament:	4 × 5 in (127 mm) dual purpose guns, 4 × Bofors 40 mm guns, 5 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Hambleton (DD-455/DMS-20) was a Gleaves-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Purser Samuel Hambleton (1777–1851).

Hambleton was laid down by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, New Jersey, on 16 December 1940 and launched on 26 September 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Nannie Hambleton Martin, great grandniece of Samuel Hambleton. The destroyer was commissioned on 22 December 1941, Commander Forrest Close in command.

Departing Norfolk on 31 January 1942, in company with Emmons, Hambleton began a shakedown, unique in wartime, that took her through the Panama Canal to Callao, Peru; Valparaiso, Chile; Guayaquil, Ecuador; Cartagena, Colombia; and Balboa, Panama Canal Zone She was diverted for antisubmarine search north of Cuba in early March, and on 15 March 1942 rescued six men on a life raft who had survived the torpedoing of Ceibra. After antisubmarine patrol along the East Coast and intensive training in Casco Bay, Maine, Hambleton sailed as escort to the cruiser Augusta and aircraft carrier Ranger on 14 April. Reaching Africa's Gold Coast on 10 May, Ranger launched her cargo of Curtiss P-40s for the North African fighting and headed back to the West Indies. In heavy rain and low visibility on 17 May, Hambleton collided with Ellyson and had to proceed to San Juan and then Charleston Navy Yard for repairs.

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