USS Wainwright (DD-419)
_underway_in_the_Atlantic_Ocean_on_5_May_1944.jpg)
Wainwright on 5 May 1944
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Builder: | Norfolk Naval Shipyard |
| Laid down: | 7 June 1938 |
| Launched: | 21 June 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 15 April 1940 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 August 1946 |
| Struck: | 13 July 1948 |
| Honors and awards: |
American Defense Service Medal ("Fleet" clasp, "A" device), European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (7 stars), Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal ("Japan" clasp) |
| Fate: | Sunk as target 5 July 1948 after exposure to Operation Crossroads atomic tests |
| 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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USS Wainwright (DD-419) was a World War II-era Sims-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy. The ship was named to honor Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, his son, Master Jonathan Wainwright, Jr., his cousin, Commander Richard Wainwright, and also Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright
Wainwright was laid down on 7 June 1938 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard; launched on 1 June 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Henry Meiggs; and commissioned on 15 April 1940, Lieutenant Commander Thomas L. Lewis in command.
Following shakedown, Wainwright began duty with the Atlantic Fleet in conjunction with the Neutrality Patrol which had been established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt soon after World War II broke out in Europe early in September 1939 to keep hostilities from spreading to the Western Hemisphere. Just before the opening of hostilities between Japan and the United States, Wainwright embarked upon a mission which indicated an acceleration in America's gradual drift into the Allied camp. She departed Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 10 November, as a unit of the screen for Convoy WS-12X, an all-American ship convoy transporting British and Commonwealth troops via the Cape of Good Hope to Basra in the Near East. The convoy steamed first to Trinidad in the British West Indies, in order that the "short-legged" destroyers might refuel there before beginning the long South Atlantic leg of the voyage to Cape Town. There, the convoy was to be turned over to the British Admiralty for orders and protection, and the destroyers were to turn around and head home.
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