USS Gamble (DD–123/DM-15) was a in the United States Navy during World War I, later converted to a minelayer in World War II.

Namesakes

Peter Gamble was born on 5 November 1793 in Bordentown, New Jersey. He was appointed midshipman on 16 January 1809 and served on Thomas Macdonough's flagship in the Battle of Lake Champlain. He was killed in action while in the act of sighting his gun on 11 September 1814. Macdonough deplored Gamble's loss and commended his gallantry in action.

John M. Gamble was the brother of Peter Gamble and achieved the rank of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Marine Corps.

No other ships in the United States Navy have borne this name.

Construction and commissioning

Gamble was launched 11 May 1918 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, sponsored by Miss Evelyn H. Jackson, a relative of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. The ship was commissioned at Norfolk on 29 November 1918.

Service history

After shakedown training out of the Virginia Capes, Gamble sailed from New York City on 13 January 1919 to take part in maneuvers off Cuba; Key West, Florida; and the New England seaboard until June 1919. Following overhaul at Norfolk, she joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego 7 August 1919 and operated along the Pacific coast until placed in reserve status in the Mare Island Navy Yard 1 December 1919. In October 1920, she came out of reserve and assisted the flotilla in torpedo practice; maneuvered with the Battle Force; and cruised along the California coast as a training ship for reservists. She decommissioned at San Diego on 17 June 1922.

Gamble recommissioned on 24 May 1930; was reclassified (DM-15) on 13 June, and converted into a light minelayer at the Mare Island Navy Yard. Arriving at Pearl Harbor from the West Coast, she became flagship of Mine Squadron 2 in July 1930 and later served as flagship of Mine Division 1, Mine Squadron 1. She patrolled Hawaiian waters instructing naval reservists in mine warfare and acted as plane guard and radio tracker for seaplanes, each year participating in fleet readiness and fleet problems until she returned to San Diego where she decommissioned on 22 December 1937. Recommissioning on 25 September 1939 as Europe was plunged into World War II, she joined Mine Division 5 in patrol and schoolship duties out of San Francisco. In April 1941, she proceeded to Pearl Harbor for war readiness patrol in Hawaiian waters as a unit of Mine Division 2.

World War II

On 7 December 1941, Gamble had returned from offshore patrol, when her peaceful routine was broken by the first of the Japanese carrier-based planes which attacked American ships in the harbor. Gambles gunners joined the fire of other warships and saw one enemy plane fall into the water on her port beam. When the U.S. Navy submarine surfaced off Pearl Harbor later that day in attempt to enter the harbor and get medical attention for a severely injured crewman, Gamble mistook her for a Japanese submarine and opened gunfire on her as she surfaced, forcing her to submerge again immediately. By the time Thresher was able to reach Pearl Harbor on 8 December, her injured crewman had died.

Some hope remained for Gamble for a long time, but on 1 June 1945 she decommissioned, and, on 16 July, she was towed outside Apra Harbor, Guam and sunk.

Awards

Gamble received seven battle stars for service in World War II.

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Hinman, Charles R., and Douglas E. Campbell. The Submarine Has No Friends: Friendly Fire Incidents Involving U.S. Submarines During World War II. Syneca Research Group, Inc., 2019. .
  • Bogart, Mary H. Bogart and Frank L. Bogart, Til War Do Us Part. Southfarm Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0913337240
  • NavSource Photos