USS Stewart (DD-224) was a destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second ship named for Rear Admiral Charles Stewart. Scuttled in port at Surabaya, Java, she was later raised by the Japanese and commissioned as Patrol Boat No. 102. She came back under American control in 1945 after the occupation of Japan.

Design and construction

The Clemson-class was a modified version of the previous (itself a faster version of the ) with more fuel to increase effective range. Like the Wickes-class ships, the Clemsons had flush decks and four funnels and were ordered in very large numbers to meet the US Navy's need for ships to counter German U-boats as well as to operate with the fleet.

Stewart was long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draft of at full load. Displacement was normal and full load. Four White-Forster water-tube boilers supplied steam at and to two sets of Parsons geared steam turbines, which in turn drove two propeller shafts. The machinery was rated at , giving a design speed of . The ship had a designed endurance of at .

Main gun armament consisted of four /50 caliber guns, supplemented by a single 3 inch (76 mm) 23 caliber anti-aircraft gun, while torpedo armament consisted of twelve 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. The ship had a crew of 7 officers and 124 enlisted men.

Stewart was one of a batch of 25 Clemson-class destroyers ordered from William Cramp & Sons on 19 December 1917. The destroyer was laid down on 9 September 1919 at Cramp's Philadelphia shipyard and launched on 4 March 1920; sponsored by Mrs. Margaretta Stewart Stevens, granddaughter of Rear Admiral Stewart. Stewart underwent successful sea trials on 8 September 1920, making an average speed of during a four-hour full speed trial. Stewart was delivered to the US Navy on 15 September 1920, and commissioned the same day. On 10 September, Stewart was sailing with the gunboat and the minesweeper when they came under rifle and artillery fire. This time, Stewart returned fire with rifles, machine guns and one 4-inch shell, which stopped the fire from shore.

On 18 February 1927, Stewart and the destroyer left Manila to search for the Elkton, a US merchant ship that had gone missing after leaving Iloilo on 9 February bound for New York with a cargo of sugar and coconut oil. The search, which was joined by the destroyers and on 20 February, was abandoned on 24 February, with nothing being found. Stewart was at Shanghai on 24 March 1927 when National Revolutionary Army troops attacked foreigners in the Nanking incident. For the next few months, the destroyer remained on the Yangtze, being based at Wuhu, Nanking, Shanghai, and Chenglin. The overhaul continued into March, with Stewart demonstrating a speed of during post repair sea trials. On 14 July 1934, Stewart dragged her anchor while at Chefoo, colliding with the Chinese warship Chuyku, but only sustained minor damage.

After full-scale war between Japan and China broke out in 1937 Stewart continued to spend much of her time at Chinese ports and was stationed at Tsingtao and Shanghai from 15 August to 17 October 1937. hit her with 18 rockets and thousands of rounds of 50 calibre ammunition but she refused to go down despite the damage. She was finally sunk by USS PC-799 which finished her off with twelve 40-mm and 17 three-inch shells fired from a range of 300 yards.

Wreck found

In August 2024, the wreck, remarkably intact, was found by autonomous drones, resting 3,500 feet beneath the ocean surface off the coast of San Francisco. A statement read, "This level of preservation is exceptional for a vessel of its age and makes it potentially one of the best-preserved examples of a US Navy ‘fourstacker’ destroyer known to exist."

Awards

  • 106px China Service Medal
  • 106px American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp
  • Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two battle stars
  • 106px World War II Victory Medal
  • 106px Navy Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp
  • 106px Philippine Defense Medal

Notes

Citations

References

  • (JCAHR), National Archives of Japan
  • Reference code: C08030630400, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from September 21, 1943 to May 31, 1944, Patrol Boat No. 102 (1)"
  • Reference code: C08030630500, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from September 21, 1943 to May 31, 1944, Patrol Boat No. 102 (2)"
  • Reference code: C08030630600, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from September 21, 1943 to May 31, 1944, Patrol Boat No. 102 (3)"
  • Reference code: C08030630700, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from September 21, 1943 to May 31, 1944, Patrol Boat No. 102 (4)"
  • Reference code: C08030630800, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from September 21, 1943 to May 31, 1944, Patrol Boat No. 102 (5)"
  • Reference code: C08030630900, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from September 21, 1943 to May 31, 1944, Patrol Boat No. 102 (6)"
  • Reference code: C08030631200, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from June 1, 1944 to June 30, 1945, Patrol Boat No. 102 (1)"
  • Reference code: C08030631300, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from June 1, 1944 to June 30, 1945, Patrol Boat No. 102 (2)"
  • Reference code: C08030631400, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from June 1, 1944 to June 30, 1945, Patrol Boat No. 102 (3)"
  • Reference code: C08030631500, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from June 1, 1944 to June 30, 1945, Patrol Boat No. 102 (4)"
  • Reference code: C08030631600, "Detailed engagement report and wartime log book from June 1, 1944 to June 30, 1945, Patrol Boat No. 102 (5)"
  • Reference code: C08011350100, "Patrol Special Service Craft No.102 delivery list"
  • , History of Pacific War Vol.45 "Truth histories of the Imperial Japanese Naval Vessels", Gakken (Japan), May 2004,
  • Monthly Ships of the World, Special issue Vol.45, "Escort Vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy", , (Japan), February 1996
  • The Maru Special, Japanese Naval Vessels No.49 "Japanese Subchasers and Patrol boats", Ushio Shobō (Japan), March 1981, Book code 68343-51

<!-- Never "transferred" to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, much less Japan at all; the ship was captured which doesn't fit in with these types of categories --