USS Nicholson (DD-442), a , was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Nicholson family, which was prominent in the early history of the Navy. The destroyer saw service during World War II in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific theaters. Following the war, the ship was placed in reserve and used as a training ship. In 1951, the destroyer was transferred to Italy and renamed Aviere. In service with the Marina Militare until 1975, Aviere was sunk as a target ship in 1975.
Construction and career
Nicholson was laid down on 1 November 1939 by Boston Naval Shipyard. The ship was launched on 31 May 1940; sponsored by Mrs. S. A. Bathriek, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Nicholson (1743–1811). The destroyer was commissioned on 3 June 1941.
After a shakedown cruise in the eastern Atlantic, Nicholson escorted convoys through the U-boat-infested North Atlantic first from Boston to Newfoundland and then to Scotland and England until fall 1942. In a brief training period off the Virginia coast, she prepared for the Casablanca invasion, but a turbine casualty prevented her participation in the initial landings. She arrived four days later, 12 November, to assist in the consolidation of the beachhead and to patrol. She took part in the Bizerte campaign and the initial assaults on Salerno, coming under heavy air attack from the Luftwaffe at both Bizerte and Salerno.
Convoys escorted
{|class="wikitable"
!Convoy
!Escort Group
!Dates
!Notes
|-
|HX 160
|
|17–25 Nov 1941
|from Newfoundland to Iceland prior to US declaration of war
|-
|ON 41
|
|4–10 Dec 1941
|from Iceland to Newfoundland; war declared during convoy
|-
|HX 173
|
|3–10 Feb 1942
|troopships from New York City to Firth of Clyde
|-
|AT 18
|
|6–17 Aug 1942