USS Greene (DD-266/ AVD-13/ APD-36)
USS Greene (DD-266/ AVD-13/ APD-36)
USS Greene (DD-266/ AVD-13/ APD-36)
USS Greene (DD-266/ AVD-13/ APD-36) was a Clemson class destroyer that began the
war as a seaplane tender, took part in several successful anti-submarine patrols in 1943
and then became a fast transport, taking part in Operation Dragoon and supporting the
invasion of Okinawa.
The Greene was named after Samual Dana Greene, the executive officer on USS
Monitor during the battle against the ironclad CSS Virginia in 1862. After her captain was
wounded in the fighting he took command of the Monitor. He remained with her until she
sank in a gale, surviving the loss of the ship.
Destroyer No.266 was originally going be called USS Anthony, after a sailor who was
present on the battleship USS Maine when she exploded in Havana Harbor in 1898. He
made his name by going into the ship to inform the captain of the explosion. She had
been allocated that name by the time she was laid down on 3 June 1918, but was
renamed the Greene on 1 August 1918, three months before she was launched. The
name Anthony was transferred to Destroyer No.172 on the same day (both ships were
being built by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp, so the reason for the change isn’t clear,
although DD-172 was launched on 10 August, so the change may have been made
because of some sort of timetable problem for the ship’s sponsors).
The Greene was launched on 2 November 1918 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp.,
Quincy, Mass. She was sponsored by Greene’s daughter, Mrs John Stevens Conover,
and commissioned on 9 May 1919.
USS Greene (APD-36) at Mers-el-Kebir, 1944 USS Greene (APD-36) at Mers-el-Kebir, 1944
Her first commission was fairly short. On 5 June 1919 she left Newport and crossed the
Atlantic, visiting Plymouth and Brest, before returning to New York on 27 July 1919. She
was then allocated to the Pacific Fleet, and departed for San Diego on 18 August. She
had a fairly slow voyage, and didn’t arrive unil 22 December 1919 (probably taking part
in exercises on the way). She was decommissioned into the Reserve Destroyer Force in
March 1920. She moved to Puget Sound in September 1921, but returned to San
Francisco on 2 December 1921 and was decommissioned on 17 June 1922.
The Greene was recommissioned on 28 June 1940 and towed to San Francisco, where
she was converted into a seaplane tender. On 6 April 1941 she was redesignated as
AVD-13 and on 27 April she departed for the Caribbean. For most of the rest of 1941
she carried out training exercises and generally supported seaplanes operating around
Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
One week after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Greene departed for Brazil. She was
based at Natal from then until the summer of 1942, acting as a seaplane tender. In
February 1942 she visited Rio de Janeiro for repairs then returned to Natal.
On 18 July 1942 she returned to Charleston. She escorted one convoy from Norfolk to
Bermuda, and then spent six months operating as a convoy escort in the South Atlantic,
including two further visits to Rio.
On 26 February 1943 the Greene returned to Norfolk, and then moved to Argentia to join
the hunter-killer anti-submarine group built around the escort carrier USS Bogue (TG
21.12). On 23 April the group escorted a convoy to Londonderry without incident. On the
return trip the Bogue’s aircraft attacked a concentration of submarines on 21-22 May,
sinking U-569. There were twenty-four survivors. The group carried out a second patrol
from 31 May-20 June 1941, once again achieving success, sinking U-317 on 5 June and
U-118 on 12 June. The group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for these
operations.
After the end of the second patrol the Greene was used to escort a fast troop convoy
from Norfolk to the United Kingdom. She then operated off Bermuda, before joining the
hunter-killer group built around USS Core (along with the Belknap and Goldsborough).
On 22 October the Core group sank U-378.
On 19 January 1944 the Greene returned to Charleston, where she was converted into
a high speed transport. On 1 February 1944 she was redesignated as APD-36. After a
period of training she departed for Oran, Algeria on 12 April 1944. She joined the fleet
that supported Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the South of France. On 14 August
she was used to land American and Canadian troops on the Levant and Port Cros Islands
between Toulon and Cannes. Their mission was to secure the islands and eliminate long
range naval guns that were believed to be on the islands, although most of them turned
out to be fakes. The main invasion followed on 15 August.
The fighting soon moved too far inland for the Navy to intervene, and the Greene was
used on escort duty in the Mediterranean until 6 December 1944, when she departed for
Norfolk.
On 29 January 1945 the Greene left Norfolk once again, this time heading west. She
passed through the Panama Canal, and reached Ulithi on 31 March 1945. She was used
as an escort ship, and in April escorted four aircraft carriers to Okinawa to take part in
the battle for that island. She then returned to Guam to collect another convoy heading
to Okinawa. Once this second convoy had arrived, the Greene joined the anti-submarine
picket line off Okinawa. Once that duty was over she was used on escort duties between
Okinawa, Saipan and the Philippines.
After the end of the war she was used to evacuate POWs from Nagasaki. On 24
September she moored off Okinawa, and she was still there with a typhoon hit on 9
October. She was driven onto the north-western coast of Kutaka island by the typhoon,
and was damaged beyond economical repair. Any useful materials were salvaged. She
was decommissioned on 23 November 1945 and struck off on 5 December 1945.
Greene received three battle stars, for her service with TG 21.12, Operation Dragoon
and Okinawa.
Anyone who served on her between 2 September and 23 November 1945 qualified for
the Navy Occupation Service Medal.
Fonte: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_USS_Greene_DD266_AVD13_APD36.html