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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive
Lost to enemy action, 7 December 1944

USS Ward (APD-16)
ex
 USS Ward (DD-139) (1920 - 1943)
 USS Ward (Destroyer #139) (1918 - 1920)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Hotel - Oscar - Yankee
 NHOY
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
Second Row - Navy Unit Commendation - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (9) - World War II Victory Medal - Philippine Liberation Medal
Wickes Class Destroyer:
  • Laid Down, 15 May 1918, at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.
  • Launched, 1 June 1918
  • Commissioned USS Ward (Destroyer#139), 24 July 1918, CDR. Milton S. Davis in command
  • Designated (DD-139) 1 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 21 July 1926, at San Diego
  • Laid up in the Reserve Fleet at San Diego
  • Recommissioned, 15 January 1941, at Navy Destroyer Base, San Diego, CA., LCDR. Hunter Wood, Jr., USN in command
  • Converted to a High-speed Transport at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, WA.
  • Designated (APD-16), 6 February 1943
  • Final Disposition, lost to enemy action, 7 December 1944, at Ormoc Bay Philippines
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 20 January 1945
  • Ward received nine battles star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,060 t.
    Length 314' 5"
    Beam 31' 8"
    Draft 8' 6"
    Speed 36 kts.
    Complement 100
    Boats 4 LCP(L) landing craft
    Armament
    three single 4"/50 gun mounts
    two single 40mm AA gun mounts
    five single 20mm AA gun mounts
    one depth charge track
    four depth charge projectors
    Propulsion geared turbines, two propellers, 24,200shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Ward 34k USS Ward (APD-16) underway, circa 1943, location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
    Ward 31k USS Ward (APD-16) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 CWO3 Curt Clark, USN Ret.
    Secretary/Treasurer American APD Corporation
    Ward 127k USS Ward (APD-16) boarding Army troops at Maffin Bay, New Guinea, en route to the Cape Sansapor landings, 30 July 1944. Boat is one of Ward's LCP(R)s.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-255436, a US Navy photo, now in the collections of the US National Archives.         		US Naval Historical Center
    Ward 100k USS Ward (APD-16) crewmen pose with their ship's battle & scoreboard soon after the Biak Invasion, circa June 1944. Nearly all of these men had served in Ward since the beginning of the war, and were present when she sank a Japanese midget submarine just outside Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941.
    The original caption, released by Commander Seventh Fleet on 4 August 1944, reads: "Sansapor, Dutch New Guinea, falls to the Allied Forces, July 30, 1944. One might almost say - Sansapor falls to the boys from St. Paul, Minn. - as all but two of these men come from that city and the entire group has shipped together since Pearl Harbor, with the actions and results shown on their banner. As a matter of fact, they are believed to have fired the first offensive shot of the war in the Pacific, while on patrol against Japanese subs. They are L/R: (bottom row) J.L. Spratt, MM2/c; A.J. Fink, CM2/c; O.S. Ethier, MM1/c; C.W. Fenton, BM1/c; D.R. Pepin, SM1/c; J.G. LeClair; SOM2/c; F.V. Huges, SOM2/c. (Top Row) R.B. Nolde, SF1c; W.G. Grip, BM2c; H.F. Germarin, S1c; H.J. Harris, MM1c; H.K. Paynter, CMoMM; J.K. Lovsted, CMMM; W.H. Duval, CCS, (of San Diego); I.E. Holley, CSK (of Los Angeles); W.S. Lehner, SC1c; F.J. Bukrey, CM1c; and F.L. Fratta, MM1c."
    US Navy photo NH 95582, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Ward 111k Army troops eating on deck aboard USS Ward (APD-16) while en route to the Cape Sansapor landings, 30 July 1944. Note compartmented metal meal trays, and rivets in deck plates.
    US National Archives photo 80-G-255440, a US Navy photo, now in the collections of the US National Archives.         		US Naval Historical Center
    Ward 77k USS Ward (APD-16) on fire after she was hit by a "Kamikaze" in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, 7 December 1944. She sank later in the day. Exactly three years earlier, on the morning of 7 December 1941, while on patrol off Pearl Harbor, Ward fired the first shot of the Pacific War.
    US National Archives photo 80-G-270773, a US Navy photo, now in the collections of the US National Archives.         		US Naval Historical Center
    Ward 67k USS Ward (APD-16) on fire after she was hit by a "Kamikaze" in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, 7 December 1944. She sank later in the day. In the background is USS O'Brien (DD-725). Photo from author's collection "Warship Boneyards," by Kit and Caolyn Bonner US Naval Historical Center
    View the USS Ward (APD-16)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    American APD Corporation
    Four Stack APD Veterans

    Contact: CWO3 Curt Clark Secretary/Treasurer
    Address: 3384 Grim Ave., San Diego, CA 92104
    Phone: 619-282-0971
    E-mail: apdsec@cox.net
    Reunion Schedule
    2008 Reno, Nevada. Site and date to be determined
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    "The Green Dragons" Four-stack APD destroyer-transports in World War Two
    Back to the Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Amphibious Ship Type Index Back To The USS Ward (DD-139) Page Back To The High-speed Transport (APD) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 16 May 2008