NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Aaron Ward (DM 34)
ex-DD-773

Call sign:
Nan - Tare - Sugar - Mike

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Specifications: Displacement 2,380 t.(lt) - 3,370 t.(fl); Length 376' 6"; Beam 40' 10"; Draft 18' 10"; Speed 34kts; Complement 363; Armament three twin 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts, six twin 40mm gun mounts, eleven 20mm guns, two .50 cal. machine guns, two dct, four dcp; Propulsion four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two General Electric geared turbines, 60,000shp at 36.5kts, two shafts, Range 3,300 nm at 20kts.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description		Source
	83k	Rear Admiral Aaron Ward, USN. Portrait photograph, in Special Full Dress uniform, taken circa 1910-1913. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. Naval Historical Center photo NH 98489		Bill Gonyo
	100k	-		Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WW II
	88k	-		Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WW II
	173k	Photographed on 17 November 1944. The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 11a. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975 U.S. Navy photo NH 83213		Naval Historical Center
	131k	Kerama Retto, 4 May 1945 showing kamikaze damage. US Navy photo		USS LCS(L)3 1-130 Association
	174k	Damage amidships received during Kamikaze attacks off Okinawa on 3 May 1945. View looks down and aft from Aaron Ward's foremast, with her greatly distorted forward smokestack in the lower center. Photographed while the ship was in the Kerama Retto on 5 May 1945. A mine is visible at left,on the ship's starboard mine rails. U.S. Navy photo 80-G-330107		Naval Historical Center
	106k	In the Kerama Retto anchorage, 5 May 1945, showing damage received when she was hit by several Japanese suicide planes off Okinawa on 3 May. Note three-bladed aircraft propeller lodged in her superstructure, just forward of the after 5"/38 twin gun mount. Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN U.S. Navy photo NH 62571		Naval Historical Center
	88k	In the Kerama Retto anchorage, 5 May 1945, showing damage received when she was hit by several Kamikazes off Okinawa on 3 May. Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN U.S. Navy photo NH 2572		Naval Historical Center
	130k	9 September 1945		-

THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION to the

UNITED STATES SHIP AARON WARD

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

"For extraordinary heroism in action as a Picket Ship on Radar Picket Station during a coordinated attack by approximately twenty-five Japanese aircraft near Okinawa on May 3, 1945. Shooting down two Kamikazes which approached in determined suicide dives, the U.S.S. AARON WARD was struck by a bomb from a third suicide plane as she fought to destroy this attacker before it crashed into her superstructure and sprayed the entire area with flaming gasoline. Instantly flooded in her after engineroom and fireroom, she battled against flames and exploding ammunition on deck and, maneuvering in a tight circle because of damage to her steering gear, countered another coordinated suicide attack and destroyed three Kamikazes in rapid succession. Still smoking heavily and maneuvering radically, she lost all power when her forward fireroom flooded under a seventh suicide plane which dropped a bomb close aboard and dived in flames into the main deck. Unable to recover from this blow before an eighth bomber crashed into her superstructure bulkhead only a few seconds later, she attempted to shoot down a ninth Kamikaze diving toward her at high speed and, despite the destruction of nearly all her gun mounts aft when this plane struck her, took under fire the tenth bomb-laden plane, which penetrated the dense smoke to crash on board with a devastating explosion. With fires raging uncontrolled, ammunition exploding and all engine spaces except the forward engineroom flooded as she settled in the water and listed to port, she began a nightlong battle to remain afloat and, with the assistance of a towing vessel, finally reached port the following morning. By her superb fighting spirit and the courage and determination of her entire company, the AARON WARD upheld the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."