Allied Warships

USS Lea (DD 118)

Destroyer of the Wickes class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Wickes
Pennant	DD 118
Built by	William Cramp and Sons (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	18 Sep 1917
Launched	29 Apr 1918
Commissioned	2 Oct 1918
End service	20 Jul 1945
History	Decommissioned at San Diego, California on 1 May 1930 Recommissioned on 30 September 1939 Decommissioned at Philadelphia on 20 July 1945 Stricken 13 August 1945 Sold 30 November 1945 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Lea (DD 118)

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.

	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Franklin Wilbur Slaven, USN	30 Sep 1939	13 Jun 1940
2	Lt. Clarence Broussard, USN	13 Jun 1940	4 Apr 1942
3	Lt.Cdr. Paul Wentworth Card, USN	4 Apr 1942	21 Jul 1942
4	Lt.Cdr. John Franklin Walsh, USN	21 Jul 1942	24 Dec 1942
5	T/Cdr. Donald Irving Thomas, USN	24 Dec 1942	14 Feb 1944
6	Moore Peter Huffman, USNR	14 Feb 1944	19 Oct 1944
7	Lt. Donald Leonard John Dierks, USNR	19 Oct 1944	20 Jul 1945

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Notable events involving Lea include:

28 Apr 1942
USS Lea picks up 37 survivors from the Dutch merchant Arundo that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-136 about 15 nautical miles south of the Ambrose Lightship in position 40°10’N, 73°44’W.

3 Nov 1942
USS Lea picks up 8 survivors from the Canadian merchant Chr. J. Kampmann that was torpedoed and sunk northwest of Grenada in position 12°06'N, 62°42'W by German U-boat U-160.

11 May 1943
HMS Upstart (Lt. P.C. Chapman, DSC and Bar, RN) conducted A/S exercises in Lough Foyle with USS Greene (Lt.Cdr. J.S. Lewis, USN), HMS Chanticleer (Lt.Cdr. R.H. Bristowe, DSO, RN), USS Lea (Lt.Cdr. D.I. Thomas, USN) and USS Osmond Ingram (Lt.Cdr. N.J. Sampson, USN).

Upon completion of the exercises Upstart departed Lough Foyle for Holy Loch escorted by HMS Chanticleer. (1)

12 May 1943
HMS H 33 (Lt. J.A. Spender, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with USS Belknap and USS Badger, USS Lea, USS Osmond Ingram and USS Greene. (2)