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Livermore Class Destroyer USS Maddox (DD-622) (view source)
Revision as of 23:23, December 22, 2016
, 23:23, December 22, 2016no edit summary
The [[Livermore Class Destroyer USS Maddox (DD-622)]] was laid down 7 May 1942 by the Federal Ship Building and Dry Dock Company, Reamy, New Jersey, and launched 15 September 1942. The destroyer was sponsored by Mrs. Ellen-Venita Browning Wilhoit, great-grand daughter of Captain William A. T. Maddox. The ship was commissioned 31 October 1942. The Ship's captain was Lieutenant Commander [[Eugene S. Sarsfield]].
==Operational service==
The Maddox departed New York 2 January 1943 for Norfolk, Virginia, where she commenced escort duties. following her first two-convoy missions, safeguarding fleet oilers plying between Norfolk and the petroleum centers of Galveston, Texas, and Aruba, Maddox began a series of trans-atlantic voyages escorting convoys from New York and Norfolk to North Africa.
==War service==
On 8 June 1943, Maddox departed Norfolk for Oran, Algeria, where she became a unit of Task Force 81 TF81, the assault force for [[Operation Husky]] the Sicilian invasion. As the amphibious assault troops opened the Battle of Gela on 10 July, USS Maddox was on antisubmarine patrol about 16 miles offshore. Steaming alone, the destroyer was attacked by a Stuka dive bomber. The plane dropped four 250 pound bombs, the first landed in the water, the second two hit the fantail and detonated the powder ammunition magazine and the last bomb hit in the water by the side of the ship. The Maddox sank in 90 seconds, 70 men survived, but 212 men went down with the ship including the captain. The USS Maddox, DD-622, has the unfortunate distinction of having been the fastest sinking US warship to be lost in World War II. The ship's captain is memorialized at the Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy.
On 8 June 1943, Maddox departed Norfolk for Oran, Algeria, where she became a unit of Task Force 81 TF81, the assault force for [[Operation Husky]] the Sicilian invasion. As the amphibious assault troops opened the Battle of Gela on 10 July, USS Maddox was on antisubmarine patrol about 16 miles offshore. Steaming alone, the destroyer was attacked by a Stuka dive bomber. The plane dropped four 250 pound bombs, the first landed in the water, the second two hit the fantail and detonated the powder ammunition magazine and the last bomb hit in the water by the side of the ship. The Maddox sank in 90 seconds, 70 men survived, but 212 men went down with the ship including the captain. The USS Maddox, DD-622, has the unfortunate distinction of having been the fastest sinking US warship to be lost in World War II. The ship's captain is memorialized at the Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy.