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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Emmons (DMS 22)
ex-DD-457



Call sign:
Nan - Uncle - Baker - Queen

Sunk 7 April 1945
Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 14 November 1940 by Bath Iron Works Corp, Bath, Maine
  • Launched 23 August 1941
  • Commissioned USS Emmons (DD-457), 5 December 1941
  • Reclassified and converted to a Highspeed Minesweeper, DMS-22, 15 November 1944
  • Struck by kamakazie aircraft off Okinawa 6 April 1945
  • Sunk by gunfire from USS Ellyson (DMS 19), 7 April 1945 to prevent her from falling into enemy hands
  • Struck from the Naval Register 28 April 1945.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t. (lt), 2,575 t. (fl)
  • Length 348' 3"
  • Beam 36' 1"
  • Draft 13' 9"
  • Speed 37.4 kts.
  • Complement 272
  • Armament: Three 5"/38 dual purpose mounts and two twin 40mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 50,000shp Westinghouse turbines, De Laval double reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Emmons 66k 1 November 1943
    Norfolk Navy Yard
    National Archives photo BS 55046    		 Joe Radigan
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Thomas Cameron Ragan, USN - USNA Class of 1924
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		5 December 1941 - 10 October 1942
    02CDR Harold Millar Heming, USN - USNA Class of 193010 October 1942 - 4 July 1943
    03LCDR Edward Baxter Billingsley, USN - USNA Class of 1932
    Awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre - Retired as Rear Admiral    		4 July 1943 - 30 November 1944
    04LCDR Eugene Noble Foss, II, USNR30 November 1944 - 6 April 1945
    05LT John J. Griffin, Jr., USNR - Gunnery Officer, assumed command after CO blinded and XO missing-in-action6 April 1945 - 7 April 1945 (Acting)
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and R. A. Moody
    View the Emmons (DMS-22)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Emmons (DD-457)
    Naval Minewarfare Association
    Association of Minemen
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Highspeed Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Joe Radigan
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