Allied Warships

USS Kennison (DD 138)

Destroyer of the Wickes class

NavyThe US Navy
TypeDestroyer
ClassWickes 
PennantDD 138 
Built byMare Island Navy Yard (Vallejo, California, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down14 Feb 1918 
Launched8 Jun 1918 
Commissioned2 Apr 1919 
End service18 Nov 1945 
History

Decommissioned at San Diego, California on 22 June 1922
Recommissioned on 18 December 1939
Reclassified as target ship AG-83 on 1 October 1944
Decommissioned at Philadelphia on 18 November 1945
Stricken 5 December 1945
Sold 18 November 1946 and broken up for scrap.

 

Commands listed for USS Kennison (DD 138)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1Lt.Cdr. William Giers Michelet, USN18 Dec 193920 Mar 1941
2Lt. Bennett Smith Copping, USN20 Mar 194114 Feb 1942
3Lt.Cdr. Joseph Ronald Hamley, USN14 Feb 194226 Feb 1943
4James Buchanan Welier, USN26 Feb 194331 Aug 1943
5T/Lt.Cdr. Richard Edward Babb, USN31 Aug 194321 Sep 1944
6Lt. Richard Francis Young, USNR21 Sep 194418 Nov 1945

You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.

Notable events involving Kennison include:


4 Aug 1943
USS Skate (T/Cdr. E.B. McKinney, USN) conducted exercises off San Diego with USS Kennison (T/Cdr. J.B. Weiler, USN).

5 Dec 1943
USS Tang (T/Lt.Cdr. R.H. O'Kane, USN) departed the Mare Island Navy Yard for San Diego.

Most likely she is escorted but we have been unable to identify the vessel which escorted her.

At some point during the passage, most likely in the morning of the 6th, USS Kennison (T/Lt.Cdr. R.E. Babb, USN) joined to take over the escort duties.

USS Tang and USS Kennison arrived at San Diego later on the 6th.

7 Dec 1943
USS Tang (T/Lt.Cdr. R.H. O'Kane, USN) conducted exercises off San Diego with USS Kennison (T/Lt.Cdr. R.E. Babb, USN) and USS PC-783 (Lt. H.E Ellis, USNR).

9 Dec 1943
During 9/10 December 1943, USS Tang (T/Lt.Cdr. R.H. O'Kane, USN) conducted exercises off San Diego with USS Kennison (T/Lt.Cdr. R.E. Babb, USN) and USS PC-783 (Lt. H.E Ellis, USNR). These included night exercises.

11 Dec 1943
During 11/12 December 1943, USS Tang (T/Lt.Cdr. R.H. O'Kane, USN) conducted exercises off San Diego with USS Kennison (T/Lt.Cdr. R.E. Babb, USN) and USS PC-783 (Lt. H.E Ellis, USNR). These included night exercises.

19 Dec 1943
During 19/20 December 1943, USS Tang (T/Lt.Cdr. R.H. O'Kane, USN) conducted exercises off San Diego with USS PC-783 (Lt. H.E Ellis, USNR). These included night exercises.

On completion of the night exercises on the 20th, USS Kennison (T/Lt.Cdr. R.E. Babb, USN) joined and then USS Tang departed for San Francisco (Mare Island Navy Yard) escorted by USS Kennison.

22 Dec 1943
USS Tang (T/Lt.Cdr. R.H. O'Kane, USN) arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard from San Diego.

Earlier that day, her escort from San Diego, USS Kennison (T/Lt.Cdr. R.E. Babb, USN) had been relieved off the Farallon Islands by USS PC-620 (Lt. E.C. Reich, USNR).

Media links


Destroyers of World War Two

Whitley, M. J.


U.S. Destroyers

Friedman, Norman


United States Destroyer Operations In World War II.

Roscoe, Theodore


Return to the Allied Warships section



As an Amazon Associate uboat.net earns a commission from qualifying purchases.