Allied Warships

USS Upshur (DD 144)

Destroyer of the Wickes class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Wickes
Pennant	DD 144
Built by	William Cramp and Sons (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
Ordered
Laid down	19 Feb 1918
Launched	4 Jul 1918
Commissioned	23 Dec 1918
End service	11 Nov 1945
History	Decommissioned at San Diego, California on 15 May 1922 Recommissioned on 2 June 1930 Decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 22 December 1936 Recommissioned on 4 October 1939 Reclassified AG-103 30 June 1945 Decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia on 11 November 1945 Stricken 16 November 1945 Sold 26 September 1947 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Upshur (DD 144)

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. Ralph Ensign Wilson, USN	4 Oct 1939	15 Jun 1940
2	Lt. William Kilian Romoser, USN	15 Jun 1940	9 May 1942
3	T/Lt.Cdr. Lot Ensey, USN	9 May 1942	1 Nov 1942
4	T/Lt.Cdr. Ernest Bradford Ellsworth, Jr., USN	1 Nov 1942	12 Feb 1944 (1)
5	T/Lt. James Abner Boyd, USN	12 Feb 1944	3 Oct 1944
6	Gordon Gemmill, USNR	3 Oct 1944	11 Nov 1945

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Notable events involving Upshur include:

19 Mar 1942

Convoy AS 2.

This convoy departed Charleston, South Carolina, USA on 19 March 1942.

The convoy was made up of the following (troop) transports; Agwileon (American, 6678 GRT, built 1907), Brazil (American, 20614 GRT, built 1929) and Mormactide (American, 7773 GRT, built 1941).

They were escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Devonshire (Capt. R.D. Oliver, DSC, RN), escort carrier HMS Archer (Cdr. J.I. Robertson, RN) and the destroyers USS Upshur (Lt.Cdr. W.K. Romoser, USN), USS Du Pont (T/Lt.Cdr. F.M. Adamson, USN) and USS Cole (Lt.Cdr. W.L. Dyer, USN).

Around 0800Q/20, the destroyer USS Du Pont was detached to return to Charlestown.

Around 1200Q/22, HMS Devonshire was detached to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands where she arrived later the same day.

The convoy arrived at San Juan, Puerto Rico later the same day.

At 0900Q/23, the Agwileon departed San Juan for St. Thomas where she arrived later the same day to fuel. She was escorted by USS Cole.

Around 0630Q/24, the Brazil, Mormactide and HMS Archer departed San Juan. They were joined off the harbour entrance by USS Upshur who first had conducted an A/S sweep of the harbour prior to the departure of the convoy.

Around 1400Q/24, the Agwileon, HMS Devonshire and USS Cole joined the convoy coming from St. Thomas.

Around 0900P/25, the troopship Monterey (American, 148017 GRT, built 1932) and USS Du Pont joined the convoy. They had departed Charleston around 1900Q/21.

Around 0645P/26, USS Du Pont was detached from the convoy. She was to proceed to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Around 0400P/27, USS Upshur was detached from the convoy. She was to proceed to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Around 0600P/28, USS Cole was detached to proceed to Bermuda.

Around 1500N/1, the corvettes FFS Commandant Detroyat and HMS Hydrangea (A/Lt.Cdr. J.E. Woolfenden, RNR) joined.

Around 1400N/2, HMS Devonshire parted company with the convoy to proceed ahead of it to Freetown where she arrived around 0600Z/3.

The convoy arrived around 1430Z/3. (2)

3 Apr 1943
HMS H 50 (Lt. G.S.C Clarabut, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with HMS Hesperus (Cdr. D.G.F.W. MacIntyre, DSO and Bar, RN), USS Upshur and another vessel. (3)

4 Apr 1943
HMS H 34 (Lt. J.P. Angell, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with USS Upshur, HNoMS St. Albans (Lt.Cdr. S.V. Storheill, RNorN), HMS Lotus (Lt.Cdr. H.J. Hall, DSC, RD, RNR). (4)

8 Apr 1943
HMS H 50 (Lt. G.S.C Clarabut, RN) conducted A/S exercises off Lough Foyle with USS Madison, USS Lansdale, USS Charles F. Hughes, USS Babbitt and USS Upshur. (3)