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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Fitch (DD 462)
ex-DMS-25



DMS-25 call sign:
November - Uniform - Juliet - Bravo

ex-DD-462

Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 6 January 1941 at Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts
  • Launched 14 June 1941
  • Commissioned USS Fitch (DD-462), 3 February 1942
  • Reclassified and converted to a Highspeed Minesweeper, DMS-25, 15 November 1944
  • Reclassified back to a Destroyer, DD-462, 16 July 1955
  • Decommissioned 24 February 1956 at Charleston, SC and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 July 1971
  • Disposed of as a target 1 November 1973.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,575 t.(fl)
  • Length 348' 3"
  • Beam 36' 1"
  • Draft 15' 8"
  • Speed 37.4 kts.
  • Complement 272
  • Armament: Three 5"/38 dual purpose mounts and two quad 40mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 50,000shp Boston Navy Yard geared turbines, Farrel-Birmingham double reduction gears, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Fitch (DD 462)
    Fitch 74k Photo Courtesy Steve Lindsay, nephew of crewmember Charles Lindsay Destroyers Online
    Fitch 73k National Archives photo 19-N-30326 Joe Radigan
    USS Fitch (DMS 25)
    Fitch 146k . ©John Robert Barrett
    Fitch 29k . Tommy Trampp
    Macomb 355k Moored outboard of Macomb (DMS 23) Steve Drawdy
    Fitch 60k Probable date of this photo is after her reclassification on 15 Nov 1944 to sometime in 1948-49 James D. Bass Jr.
    Fitch 280k c. 1950s
    U.S. Navy photo DD 462-1 DMS-25 from the collection of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum    		 Darryl Baker
    Fitch 225k c. 1951
    Mediterranean    		 W. A. Wisnowski, SO1, '52-'56
    Fitch 32k c. 1952
    Photo courtesy of Harvey Gilston, Esq. from the 1954/1955 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships    		 Robert Hurst
    Fitch 182k Valletta, Malta
    Photo by A. & J. Pavia from the 1964/1965 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Henry Crommelin, USN - USNA Class of 1925
    Awarded the Silver Star (1943) and Bronze Star with Combat V - Retired as Vice Admiral
    USS Crommelin (FFG 37), twenty-eighth ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class of guided-missile frigates, is the first United States Navy ship of that named for three brothers: Vice Admiral Henry Crommelin (1904-1971), Commander Charles Crommelin (died 1945), and Lieutenant Commander Richard Crommelin (1917-1945).     		3 February 1942 - 28 November 1942
    02CDR Kinloch Chafee Walpole, USN - USNA Class of 193128 November 1942 - 10 November 1944
    03LCDR Ennis Walter Taylor, USN - USNA Class of 193210 November 1944 - 23 June 1945
    04LCDR Robert Hampson Thomas, USN - Awarded the Navy Commendation Medal
    Retired as Captain    		23 June 1945 - 1 July 1947
    05CDR Richard Edward Johnson, USN - USNA Class of 19381 July 1947 - 1 July 1948
    06CDR Thomas Albert Gregg, USNR1 July 1948 - July 1949
    07CDR Russel Henry Buckley, USNJuly 1949 - 15 July 1950
    08CDR Gustave Albert Wolf, USN15 July 1950 - 18 August 1951
    09CDR Burdick Heinkel Brittin, USN18 August 1951 - 24 November 1952
    10LCDR William Edward Underwood, USN24 November 1952
    11LCDR Melvin James Carpenter, USN1955 - 24 February 1956
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Fitch (DMS-25)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Fitch (DD-462)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the High Speed Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index
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