View source for USS Ward

{{Short description|Wickes-class destroyer}}
{{distinguish|USS Aaron Ward}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
 |image=USS Ward (DD-139).jpg
 |image_caption=''Ward'' in [[dazzle camouflage]] in 1918 (as DD-139) 
 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=
 |country=United States
 |flag={{USN flag|1944}}
 |name=''Ward''
 |namesake=[[James H. Ward]]
 |ordered=
 |builder=[[Mare Island Navy Yard]]
 |laid_down=15 May 1918
 |launched=1 June 1918
 |acquired=
 |commissioned=24 July 1918
 |decommissioned=21 July 1921
 }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=yes
 |recommissioned=15 January 1941
 |reclassified=[[High-speed transport]], APD-16, 6&nbsp;February&nbsp;1943
 |in_service=
 |out_of_service=
 |struck=
 |honors=
 |fate=Sunk by ''[[kamikaze]]''<ref>Brown, p. 133</ref> 7 December 1944
 |notes=
 }}

|section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics
 |hide_header=
 |header_caption=
 |class= {{sclass|Wickes|destroyer}}
 |displacement={{convert|1247|LT|t|lk=on|abbr=on}}
 |length={{convert|314|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
 |beam={{convert|30|ft|11|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
 |draft={{convert|9|ft|10|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
 |propulsion=*2 × geared [[steam turbine]]s
             *2 × shafts
 |speed={{convert|35|kn|lk=on|0}}
 |range=
 |complement=231 officers and enlisted
 |sensors=
 |armament=*4 × [[4"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]]/50 cal guns
           *2 × [[3"/23 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]]/23 cal [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft gun]]s
           *12 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|{{convert|21|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] [[torpedo tube]]s (4x3)
 |notes=
 }}
}}

'''USS ''Ward''''' was laid down as a {{convert|1247|LT|adj=mid|t|abbr=on}} {{sclass|Wickes|destroyer}} (designated '''DD-139''') in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War I]], later converted to a [[high speed transport]] (designated '''APD-16''') in [[World War II]]. She was responsible for the first American-caused casualties in the Pacific in World War II when she engaged and sank a [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Japanese]] [[midget submarine]] before Japanese aircraft arrived in the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], killing both crewmen on board.

==Design and construction==
''Ward'' was named in honor of [[Commander (United States)|Commander]] [[James Harmon Ward]], USN, (1806–1861), the first U.S. Navy officer to be killed in action during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Klobuchar |first=Richard P. |title=The USS Ward |year=2012 |publisher=McFarland |location=US |isbn=978-0-7864-6429-6 |pages=21 |url=http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6429-6 |access-date=5 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120509024109/http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6429-6 |archive-date=9 May 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref> ''Ward'' was built at the [[Mare Island Navy Yard]], California in a record of 17½ days.<ref>[http://www.visitvallejo.com/about-vallejo/mare-island-history.php ''Mare Island History''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080916193504/http://www.visitvallejo.com/about-vallejo/mare-island-history.php |date=16 September 2008}}. Vallejo Convention & Visitors Bureau website. Accessed 22 August 2007. DANFS states 15 days from keel laying to launch.</ref> Under the pressure of urgent World War I needs for destroyers, her construction was pushed rapidly from [[keel laying]] on 15 May 1918 to [[Ceremonial ship launching|launching]] on 1 June and [[Ship commissioning|commissioning]] on 24 July 1918.

==Service history==
''Ward'' transferred to the Atlantic late in the year and helped support the trans-Atlantic flight of the [[Curtiss NC]] flying boats in May 1919. She came back to the Pacific a few months later, and remained there until she was [[Ship commissioning#Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] in July 1921. She had received the hull number DD-139 in July 1920. The outbreak of World War II in Europe brought ''Ward'' back into active service. She was recommissioned in January 1941. Sent to [[Pearl Harbor]] shortly thereafter, the destroyer operated on local patrol duties in Hawaiian waters over the next year.{{fact|date=October 2024}}

===Pearl Harbor===
On the morning of 7 December 1941, under the command of [[Lieutenant Commander (United States)|LCDR]] [[William W. Outerbridge]], ''Ward'' was conducting a precautionary patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor when she was informed at 03:57 by visual signals from the [[coastal minesweeper]] {{USS|Condor|AMc-14|2}} of a periscope sighting, whereupon ''Ward'' began searching for the contact.<ref name=CINCPAC479>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/pearl/CinCPac.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010621224303/http://www.history.navy.mil/docs/wwii/pearl/CinCPac.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 June 2001 |title=Pearl Harbor Attack: 7 December 1941, Online Action Reports: Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Serial 0479 of 15 February 1942 |author=Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet |date=15 February 1942 |publisher=Naval History And Heritage Command |access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USCG/VI-Pacific/USCG-VI-B.html |title=Appendix B: Coast Guard Manned Ships Entitled to Operation and Engagement Stars—Asiatic and Pacific Area |author=Historical Section—Public Information Division—U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters |date=March 15, 1946 |work=The Coast Guard at War |publisher=U.S. Coast Guard (digital transcription hosted by HyperWar) |access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref><ref group=note>Naval records of the time refer to ''Condor'' as "the U.S.C.G. Condor" instead of USS ''Condor''. USCG ships come under Navy during wartime and thus may not have been officially transferred on 7 December.</ref> None of this is relevant to ''Ward''.--> At about 06:37, she sighted a [[periscope]] apparently tailing the cargo ship {{USS|Antares|AG-10|2}} whereupon she attacked the target.<ref name=CINCPAC479/> Though unconfirmed at the time, her guns holed a Japanese [[Ko-hyoteki class submarine|''Ko-hyoteki''-class]], two-man [[midget submarine]].  The death of its two-man crew was the first American-caused casualties in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, occurring a few hours before Japanese [[Aircraft carrier|carrier]] aircraft [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]]. The submarine was attempting to enter the harbor by following ''Antares'' through the [[Anti-submarine warfare|antisubmarine]] nets at the harbor entrance. By entering territorial waters of a [[neutral country]] without signalling any intent to stop, the submarine was not entitled to "innocent passage" protections and the neutral party had a right to use whatever means to protect its territory.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}} ''Ward'' fired several rounds from its main guns, hitting the [[conning tower]] of the submarine, and also dropped several [[depth charge]]s during the attack.{{fact|date=October 2024}}

[[File:Japanese Two-Man Submarine - War in the Pacific National Historical Park (T. Stell Newman Visitor Center) - DSC00864.JPG|thumb|A [[Ko-hyoteki class submarine|''Ko-hyoteki''-class]] two-man submarine]]

Skepticism whether ''Ward'' had really sunk a Japanese mini-sub rather than some sort of [[false alarm]] incident persisted from the event for decades, until [[University of Hawaiʻi]] scientists found the sunken remains of the Japanese vessel on 28 August 2002. The wreck was found in American waters {{convert|1200|ft|m|abbr=on|0}} beneath the sea about {{convert|3|-|4|mi|nmi km|lk=on|abbr=on|0}} outside Pearl Harbor.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Aug/29/ln/ln03a.html |title=1941 Japanese mini sub found off Pearl Harbor |newspaper=[[Honolulu Advertiser]] |date=29 August 2002 |first=Curtis |last=Lum}}</ref> The starboard side of the Japanese submarine's conning tower has one shell hole, evidence of damage from ''Ward''{{'}}s number-three gun. ''Ward''{{'}}s depth charges did no apparent structural damage to the {{convert|46|LT|adj=mid|t|abbr=on}}, {{convert|78|ft|adj=mid|m|abbr=on}} craft, which sank due to water flooding in from the shell hole.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/gallery/archaeology/midget.html |publisher=[[Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory]] |title=Japanese midget submarine: sunk Dec 7, 1941 – found, Aug 2002: Analysis of Hole in Conning Tower of Midget Sub |date=20 December 2003 |first=John C. |last=Wiltshire |access-date=26 February 2014 |archive-date=12 December 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212152317/http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/HURL/gallery/archaeology/midget.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===After Pearl Harbor===
In 1942, ''Ward'' was sent to the West Coast of the United States for conversion to a [[high-speed transport]]. Redesignated '''APD-16''' in February 1943, she steamed to the South Pacific to operate in the [[Solomon Islands]] area. She helped fight off a heavy Japanese air attack off [[Tulagi]] on 7 April 1943, and spent most of the rest of that year on escort and transport service. In December, she participated in the [[Cape Gloucester (Papua New Guinea)|Cape Gloucester]] invasion. During the first nine months of 1944, ''Ward'' continued her escort and patrol work and also took part in several Southwest Pacific amphibious landings, among them the assaults on Saidor, [[Nissan Island]], [[Landing on Emirau|Emirau]], [[Aitape]], [[Biak]], Cape Sansapor, and [[Morotai]].

==Fate==
[[File:USS Ward (DD-139) afire.jpg|thumb|225px|upright|''Ward'', after being hit by a ''[[kamikaze]]'' on 7 December 1944.  She was sunk by U.S. Navy fire later the same day]]

As the Pacific War moved closer to Japan, ''Ward'' was assigned to assist with operations to recover the [[Philippine Islands]]. On 17 October 1944, she put troops ashore on [[Dinagat Island]] during the opening phase of the [[Battle of Leyte|Leyte invasion]]. After spending the rest of October and November escorting ships to and from [[Leyte]], in early December, ''Ward'' transported Army personnel during the landings at [[Ormoc Bay]], Leyte. On the morning of 7 December, three years to the day after she fired the opening shot of the Pearl Harbor attack, she came under attack by several Japanese ''[[kamikaze]]s'' while patrolling off the invasion area. One bomber hit her hull amidships, bringing her to a dead stop. When the resulting fires could not be controlled, ''Ward''{{'}}s crew was ordered to abandon ship, and she was sunk by gunfire from {{USS|O'Brien|DD-725|2}}, whose commanding officer, [[William W. Outerbridge]], had been in command of ''Ward'' during her action in Hawaii three years before.

In early December 2017, ''Ward''{{'}}s wreckage was located by {{RV|Petrel}} in 686&nbsp;ft (209 m) of water.<ref name=NYTimes2017-12-08/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.marinelink.com/news/philippines-wreckage431871 | title=Wreckage of USS Ward Found in the Philippines | publisher=Marine Link | date=7 December 2017 | access-date=8 December 2017}}</ref>

In the movie ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]'', ''Ward'' was portrayed by {{USS|Finch|DE-328|6}},<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ussfinch.com/pdf/History%20USS%20Finch%20DER328.pdf |title=USS FINCH (DER 328) Website |access-date=2015-12-21 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063200/http://ussfinch.com/pdf/History%20USS%20Finch%20DER328.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> an [[Edsall class destroyer escort|''Edsall''-class]] [[destroyer escort]].

==Awards==
*[[World War I Victory Medal (United States)|World War I Victory Medal]]
*[[American Defense Service Medal]] with "FLEET" clasp
*[[Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal]] with nine [[battle star]]s
*[[World War II Victory Medal]]
*[[Philippine Liberation Medal]] with two stars

==Memorial==
[[File:USS Ward 4 inch gun Minnesota Capitol.jpg|thumb|150px|left|''Ward''{{'}}s 4-inch gun at the Minnesota State Capitol]]

''Ward''{{'}}s number-three  [[4"/50 caliber gun]] was removed when she was converted to a high speed transport. In 1958, the year of the Minnesota Centennial, it was installed as a memorial at the [[Minnesota State Capitol]] in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], when the men who fired it on 7 December 1941 were members of the Minnesota Naval Reserve. A plaque containing a listing of the naval reservists from Saint Paul who served aboard ''Ward'' is now displayed in the St. Paul City Hall on the third floor between the council and mayoral offices, in an area also containing the ship's bell from the cruiser {{USS|Saint Paul|CA-73|2}}. The last surviving member of the gun crew from the morning of 7 December, Alan Sanford, died in January 2015.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/gunner-whose-crew-fired-first-wwii-shot-for-u-s-is-buried-1432158790 |title=First to Fire: U.S. Gunner at Pearl Harbor Is Laid to Rest |first=Michael M. |last=Phillips |date=21 May 2015 |newspaper=[[Wall Street Journal]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

As of 2012, no other ship in the United States Navy has borne this name, although sometimes confusion occurs with the three destroyers named {{USS|Aaron Ward||2}}.

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=NYTimes2017-12-08>
{{cite news 
| url          = https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/world/asia/uss-ward-pearl-harbor.html?_r=0
| title        = The First Photos of a Pearl Harbor Warship's Watery Grave
| work         = [[The New York Times]]
| author       = Christine Hauser
| date         = 2017-12-08
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20171208231739/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/world/asia/uss-ward-pearl-harbor.html
| archive-date = 2017-12-08
| access-date  = 2017-12-13
| url-status   = live 
| quote        = It was midmorning on Dec. 1. The team, which included pilots, researchers, historians and officials from the Philippines, watched as images were beamed back to the vessel from a remotely operated submersible vehicle circling a shipwreck at the bottom of Ormoc Bay, about 650 feet below the surface.
}}
</ref>
}}
*Brown, David. ''Warship Losses of World War Two.'' Arms and Armour, London, Great Britain, 1990. {{ISBN|0-85368-802-8}}.

===Further reading===
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/w/ward.html}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|USS Ward (DD-139)}}
*[http://www.navsource.net/archives/05/139.htm NavSource: USS ''Ward'']
*[http://starbulletin.com/2002/08/29/news/story1.html UH finds sub that led Pearl Harbor attack] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517021340/http://starbulletin.com/2002/08/29/news/story1.html |date=17 May 2008 }}

{{Wickes-class destroyer}}
{{Flush-decker high speed transport}}
{{December 1944 shipwrecks}}

{{coord|10|51|N|124|33|E|source:kolossus-jawiki|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward}}
[[Category:1918 ships]]
[[Category:2017 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Ships built in Vallejo, California]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea]]
[[Category:Wickes-class destroyers|Ward (DD-139)]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States|Ward (DD-139)]]
[[Category:World War II amphibious warfare vessels of the United States|Ward (DD-139)]]
[[Category:Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor]]
[[Category:Attack on Pearl Harbor|Ward (DD-139)]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by kamikaze attack]]
[[Category:Destroyers sunk by aircraft]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in December 1944]]
[[Category:Scuttled vessels]]
[[Category:Shipwreck discoveries by Paul Allen]]
[[Category:Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum]]