Allied Warships

USS Rathburne (DD 113)

Destroyer of the Wickes class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Wickes
Pennant	DD 113
Built by	William Cramp and Sons (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	12 Jul 1917
Launched	27 Dec 1917
Commissioned	24 Jun 1918
End service	2 Nov 1945
History	Decommissioned at San Diego 12 February 1923 Recommissioned 8 February 1930 Reclassified high speed transport APD-25 on 20 May 1944 Reclassified back to DD-113 on 20 July 1945 Decommissioned at Philadelphia 2 November 1945 Stricken 28 November 1945 Sold 21 November 1946 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Rathburne (DD 113)

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. Preston Virginius Mercer, USN	30 Jun 1939	7 Mar 1940
2	Lt. Carl Guilford Christie, USN	7 Mar 1940	7 Apr 1940
3	Lt.Cdr. Preston Virginius Mercer, USN	7 Apr 1940	10 Jun 1941
4	Lt.Cdr. Roger Brown Nickerson, USN	10 Jun 1941	25 Jun 1942
5	T/Lt.Cdr. Corben Clark Shute, USN	25 Jun 1942	17 Jul 1943
6	Frank Lewis Fullaway, USNR	17 Jul 1943	20 Jul 1944
7	Lt.Cdr. Richard Louis Welch, USNR	20 Jul 1944	24 Sep 1945
8	Lewis James Garfield, USNR	24 Sep 1945	2 Nov 1945

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Notable events involving Rathburne include:

As part of DesDiv 20, she was among the first Destroyers to be fitted with Echo-Ranging Sonar equipment. (1)

27 Nov 1918
Last convoy to New York completed. Remained in New York until January, 1919. (1)

25 Apr 1944
Arrived at Puget Sound Navy yard to undergo conversion to High Speed Transport (APD, Calhoun class) (1)

12 Aug 1944
As APD-25, the Rathburne left Hawaii sailing for the Solomons, UTD-10 aboard, with Commander Richard L. Welch in command. (1)

12 Sep 1944
With TG-32.5, the Rathburne arrived in the Palau area for the Peleliu, Angaur per-invasion. On Sept. 14, off Angaur island, de-barked UTD-10 to clear Red beach, and provided fire support. (1)

21 Sep 1944
Arrived off Ulithi, debarked UDT-10 to recon Falalop and Asor beaches (1)

19 Oct 1944
Off Leyte, debarked UDT-10 to recon. Red beach, northern assault area. Provided covering fire. Then on 20, October covered the main landings with fire support off Dulag beaches. (1)

6 Jan 1945
Entered Lingayen Gulf, Luzon screening Larger ships during shore bombardment. Jan. 7th, 1945, debarked UDT-10 to recon. Blue beach, provided covering fire. (1)

29 Jan 1945
Arrived near San Nareiso, Zambales, Philippines. Debarked UDT-10, no opposition. (1)

22 Mar 1945
Departed the Bonin-Volcano area (Iwo Jima) carrying POW's to Guam. (1)

18 Apr 1945
Escorted LST Group 91 to Okinawa, arriving at Kerama Retto on the 18th of April. (1)

27 Apr 1945
On patrol off Hagushi, Okinawa, was hit by a Kamikaze on the port bow just above thhe waterline. The planes engine and bomb traveled through the ship and exited the Starboard bow just below the waterline. Fire and flood control efforts saved the ship, which then made for Kerama Retto for temporary repairs. (1)

18 Jun 1945
USS Rathburne, APD-25 arrived in San Diego California for repairs and re-conversion back to a destroyer. (1)