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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Harding (DMS-28)
ex-DD-625



Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Zebra - Charlie
Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 22 July 1941 at Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, WA
  • Launched 28 June 1942
  • Commissioned USS Harding (DD-625), 25 May 1943
  • Reclassified and converted to Highspeed Minesweeper, DMS-28, 15 November 1944
  • Decommissioned 2 November 1945 at Norfolk, VA
  • Struck from the Navy Register 16 November 1945
  • Sold for scrap 16 April 1947 to Luria Brothers Co., Inc. of Philadelphia, PA.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,575 t.(fl)
  • Length 348' 3"
  • Beam 31' 4"
  • Draft 15' 8"
  • Speed 37.4 kts.
  • Complement 272
  • Armament: Three 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts and two quad 40mm mounts
  • Propulsion: Four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 50,000shp Westinghouse geared turbines, Westinghouse double reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Harding (DD 625)
    Harding 56k 5 October 1943
    Off the New York Navy Yard
    National Archives photo BS 53735    		 Joe Radigan
    USS Harding (DMS 28)
    Harding 120k 17 December 1944
    Off the East Coast wearing 32/3D reversed
    Photo by a blimp from ZP-11 Squadron
    National Archives photo 80-G-298940    		 Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Harding 212k Original photo: 17 December 1944
    Replacement photo: 17 December 1944
    At Boston, MA wearing 32/3D reversed
    National Archives photo 80-G-382796    		 Replacement photo: Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Harding 52k When an Aichi D3A Val bomber tore a gash in the side of the Harding on 16 April 1945, this partial cylinder head from the kamikaze's engine landed on the minesweeper's bridge.
    U.S. Navy photo by J. M. Caiella, Navy Museum Washington (DC) Navy Yard    		 Joe Radigan
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR George Goldston Palmer, USN - USNA Class of 1930
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1943) and two Silver Stars (1944) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		23 May 1943 - 6 September 1944
    02CDR Donald Brewster Ramage, USN - USNA Class of 1938
    Awarded the Silver Star (1945) - Retired as Captain    		6 September 1944 - 2 November 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    View the Harding (DMS-28)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    NavSource DD Pages, USS Harding (DD-625)
    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 was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl
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