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Allied Warships

USS Clemson (AVD 4)

Destroyer of the Clemson class

NavyThe US Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassClemson 
PennantAVD 4 
Built byNewport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. (Newport News, Virginia, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down11 May, 1918 
Launched5 Sep, 1918 
Commissioned29 Dec, 1919 
End service12 Oct, 1945 
Loss position
 
HistoryDecommissioned on 30 June 1922
Reclassified as sea plane tender AVP-17 on 15 November 1939
Recommissioned on 12 July 1940
Classification changed to AVD-4 on 24 August 1940
Converted back into a destroyer during March-May 1943.
Reclassified back to DD-186 on 1 December 1943
Converted to High Speed Transport and reclassified APD-31 on 1 May 1944
Reclassified back to Destroyer DD-186 on 16 July 1945
Decommissioned on 12 October 1945
Stricken on 24 October 1945
Sold to be broken up for scrap on 21 November 1946 

Noteable events involving Clemson include:

13 Dec, 1943
The German submarine U-172 was sunk on 13 December 1943 in the mid-Atlantic after a 27 hour fight west of the Canary Islands, in position 26º29'N, 29º58'W, by depth charges and Fido homing torpedoes from Avenger and Wildcat aircraft (VC-19) of the American escort carrier USS Bogue and by some 200 depth charges from the US destroyers USS George E. Badger, USS Clemson, USS Osmond Ingram and USS Du Pont. (see map)



Books dealing with this subject include:

World War II American Destroyer Seaplane Tenders, Clemson Hull Conversions AVD-1 through AVD-14, Borchers, Duane D., Sr.,


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