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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Hobson (DMS-26)

Call sign:
Nan - Xray - Sugar - Yoke

ex-DD-464

Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

Laid down 14 November 1940 at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, SC

Launched 8 September 1941

Commissioned USS Hobson (DD-464), 22 January 1942

Reclassified and converted to Highspeed Minesweeper, DMS-26, 15 November 1944

Lost by collision with Wasp (CV 18), 26 April 1952

Struck from the Naval Register 14 May 1952.

Specifications:

Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,575 t.(fl)

Length 348' 3"

Beam 31' 4"

Draft 13' 9"

Speed 37.4 kts.

Complement 272

Armament: Three 5"/38 dual purpose mounts, two quad 40mm mounts and two 20mm mounts

Propulsion: Four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 50,000shp Charleston Navy Yard geared turbines, Falk double reduction gear, two shafts.

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
USS Hobson (DD 464)
	75k	1 September 1942 Hobson escorting the aircraft carrier Ranger (CV 4) in the Atlantic , still carried one 1.1" quadruple anti-aircraft gun mount atop the after superstructure and had only four single 20-mm anti-aircraft guns U.S. Navy photo from the June 2006 edition of U.S. Naval Institutes Naval History magazine	Joe Radigan
	75k	2 April 1943 Off Boston Navy Yard National Archives photo BS 42487 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
	75k	18 April 1944 Hobson carried a taller mainmast to support the aerial for the HF/DF (high frequency direction finder) system for detecting U-boat radio transmissions. The number of 20mm guns had been increased to seven, with one added before the pilothouse and two on the after corners of the bridge wings. Two twin 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and their associated Mk 51 directors had replaced the 1.1" guns. U.S. Navy photo from the June 2006 edition of U.S. Naval Institutes Naval History magazine
USS Hobson (DMS 26)
	144k	.	©John Robert Barrett
	137k	Original photo: 20 December 1944 Hobson departing Charleston, SC on post-conversion trials. She carried a cable reel, winch, and sweep gear davits on the fantail, flanked by the depth charge racks above the propeller guards. In addition to her mine countermeasures gear, the ship had also received new air-search radar and height-finding adjunct radar for her Mk 37 main battery fire-control system U.S. Navy photo from the June 2006 edition of U.S. Naval Institutes Naval History magazine Replacement photo: Wearing camouflage 32a/29D on 20 December 1944, in Charleston. The colors are ocean gray and haze gray, which are hard to discern National Archives photo BS 76155 from the Bureau of Ships Collection	Original photo: Joe Radigan Replacement photo: Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
	216k	Wearing camouflage 32a/29D on 20 December 1944, in Charleston. The colors are ocean gray and haze gray, which are hard to discern National Archives photo BS 76156 from the Bureau of Ships Collection	Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
	480k	c. 1948	Michael Mohl
	216k	Original photo: c. 1952 Associated Press Wire Photo Replacement photo: c. September 1948	Original photo: Joe Radigan Replacement photo: Ed Zajkowski
	75k	c. 1950 In her final configuration Hobson is seen with one quadruple 40-mm gun mount portside atop the after deckhouse and two 20-mm Mk 24 mounts between Mount 52 and the bridge superstructure. The gap in the main deck bulwark allowed the towed acoustic hammer array to be swung outboard by the boom, seen stowed at a 45° angle between the stacks U.S. Navy photo from the June 2006 edition of U.S. Naval Institutes Naval History magazine	Joe Radigan
	984k	Associated Press Newspaper Clipping	Ron Reeves
	491k
	1,218k
	915k
	317k	6 May 1952 Survivors of the Hobson being transported aboard a Navy launch. Left to right on stretchers are CSC Gene St. Martin and RMSN David D. Sanford Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum photo CVA 18 130X3-5-52	Darryl Baker
	283k	6 May 1952 Survivors of the Hobson being transported aboard a Navy launch Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum photo CVA 18 130X4-5-52	Darryl Baker

Commanding Officers
01	LCDR Robert Norton McFarlane, USN - USNA Class of 1925	22 January 1942 - 7 January 1943
02	CDR Kenneth Loveland, USN - USNA Class of 1933 Awarded the Silver Star (1944), the Legion of Merit with Combat V (1944) and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal (1944) - Retired as Rear Admiral	7 January 1943 - 9 November 1944
03	CDR Joseph Ignatius Manning, USN - USNA Class of 1933 Awarded the Navy Cross (1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral	9 November 1944 - 22 February 1946
04	CDR Harry Samuel Graves, USN	22 February 1946 - 1947
05	LCDR Wells Rood Bill, Jr., USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat V (1951)	1 October 1947
06	LCDR James Pagaud Coleman, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit (1943)	1947 - July 1948
07	CDR Philo Wood, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit (1944)	July 1948 - July 1950
08	LCDR Joseph Harry Floyd, USN	February 1951 - March 1952
09	LCDR William Joseph Tierney, USN	March 1952 - 26 April 1952

Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan

View the Hobson (DMS-26)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Hobson (DD-464)

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