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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Hovey (DMS 11)



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Peter - Baker

ex-DD-208
ex-Destroyer No. 208

Sunk 7 January 1945

Clemson Class Destroyer/Chandler Class High Speed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 7 September 1918 by William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, PA
  • Launched 26 April 1919
  • Commissioned USS Hovey, Destroyer No. 208, 2 October 1919
  • Designated DD-208, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 1 February 1923 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Recommissioned 20 February 1930
  • Reclassified and converted to a High Speed Minesweeper, DMS-11, 19 November 1940
  • Lost to enemy action 7 January 1945 at Lingayen Gulf, Philippines
  • Struck from the Naval Register 8 February 1945.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,190 t. (lt), 1,308 t. (fl)
  • Length 314' 4"
  • Beam 30' 10"
  • Draft 9' 10"
  • Speed 35.8 kts.
  • Complement 122
  • Armament: Two twin 4"/50 mounts, one 3"/23 gun mount, and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four White-Forster boilers, two 27,000shp geared turbines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    Hovey
    11091100
    NR MIDSHIPMAN CHARLES E HOVEY
    President Naval Academy Christian Association
    Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
    Text by The Washington Times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 02 June 1907, Image 9, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
    Hovey
    11091119
    269k CHARLES EMERSON HOVEY
    Portsmouth, New Hampshire
    "Em"
    A man who believes that an emulsion can be formed by mixing the world, the flesh and the devil, and from the compound naught but good be drawn. Started life "even as you and I" but finally succeeded as President of the Y. M. C. A. Often, to give his brain a little exercise after sporting among such wild flowers as Exterior Ballistics, Calculus or Prof. Johnson's mechanics, dips into the phenomena of Psychic Research and electrifies many and varied audiences with the wit and wisdom of his "three minute talks." Has a most abnormal thirst for general information, and is at home with any sort of listener or speaker.
    President Y. M. C. A.; Santee (3); Buzzard (2); One Stripe (1).
    Image and text provided by usnamemorialhall.org
    Hovey
    11091117
    NR KILLED ON DUTY.
    Ensign C. E. Hovey Meets Death in Philippines. Clash with Hostile Natives, Several Sailors Wounded. Hovey an Only Son of Widowed Mother at Portsmouth, N. H.
    Image and text provided by Maine State Library.
    Text by Daily Kennebec Journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 26 September 1911, Image 12, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
    Hovey
    11091116
    NR TO DEDICATE TABLET
    That To Memory of Late Ensign Hovey To be Unveiled at Academy Tomorrow. With a program of appropriate exercises, a bronze tablet erected to the memcry of the late Engsign Charles Emerson Hovey, U. S. N., who was killed in an engagement with natives in the Philippines, will be unveiled at the Naval Academy tomorrow morning.
    Image and text provided by University of Maryland, College Park, MD.
    Text by Evening Capital and Maryland Gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 06 December 1913, Image 1, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
    Hovey
    11091118
    1.79k The Hovey (DD-208) was sponsored by Mrs. Louise F. Kautz, one of two sisters of Ensign Hovey & wife of Captain Austin Kautz.
    His other sister, Sarah (Sallie) Whittier Hovey is pictured here. (Yes, she looked like him).
    Photo courtesy of findagrave.com & cowhampshireblog.com
    Hovey 35k U.S. Navy photo Adam Paradise
    Hovey 70k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 June 1942. Note that she retained four smokestacks at this time
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99560
    Naval Historical Center
    Hovey 67k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 June 1942. The ship retains her original four tall smokestacks, pre-war type pilothouse and tall foremast. She appears to carry twin 4"/50 gun mounts fore and aft and eight .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns
    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives
    U.S. Navy photo 19-N-30499
    Hovey 63k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 June 1942. The ship appears to have twin 4"/50 gun mount forward, with a hinged sponson by it to allow a greater working circle for the gun crew
    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives
    U.S. Navy photo 19-N-30500
    Hovey 71k Plan view, forward, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 May 1943. USS LST-485 is in the left background. White outlines mark recent alterations
    to Hovey
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99565
    Hovey 143k Plan view, amidships, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 May 1943. Tracks on deck are for shifting weights during an inclining experiment to determine the ship's stability. USS LST-485 is in the background. White outlines mark recent alterations to Hovey
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99566
    Hovey 138k Plan view, amidships looking aft, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 May 1943. USS LST-485 (left) and USS LST-481 are in the background. White outlines mark recent alterations to Hovey, among them, 20mm guns and minesweeping gear
    U.S. Navy photo NH 995670
    Hovey 110k Plan view, aft, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 May 1943. The bow of USS LST-485 is visible in the right background. White outlines mark recent alterations to Hovey
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99568
    Hovey 62k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 26 May 1943
    U.S. Navy photos NH 99561 and NH 99562
    Hovey 68k
    Hovey 72k Seen from astern, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 26 May 1943.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99560
    Hovey 69k Seen from ahead, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 26 May 1943
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99560
    Hovey 121k At San Francisco on 22 September 1944, in camouflage 32/7D. The colors are dull black, ocean gray and light gray
    National Archives photo BS 80454 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Ships of the U.S. Navy in WWII “Dazzle” Camouflage
    Hovey 79k At Hunters Point, San Francisco on 29 September 1944, in camouflage 32/7D
    National Archives photo BS 80453 from the Bureau of Ships Collection
    Hovey
    11091115
    NR TEN DESTROYERS NAMED FOR NOTED AMERICANS Naval Heroes of the Past and Secretaries of Navy Former Are Honored.
    Names have been selected for ten additional torpedo boat destroyers now under construction. The Hovey (DD-208) is named for Ensign Charles Emerson Hovey killed in the Philippines...

    In Memorium:

    In the Second Book of Shmuel (Samuel), 22nd chapter, 5th through the 20th verses, translated from the original in Hebrew and published by the Koren Publishers of Jerusalem, Israel, 1982, can perhaps aptly describe the fate of the crew and all other U.S. sailors who died defending their county:

    "When the waves of death compassed me / the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; / the bonds of She'ol encircled me; / the snares of death took me by surprise; / in my distress I called upon the Lord, / and cried to my G-D: / and he heard my voice out of his temple, / and my cry entered into his ears. / Then the earth shook and trembled; /the foundations of heaven moved / and shook because of his anger /...the heavy mass of waters, and thick clouds of the skies /... And the channels of the sea appeared, / the foundations of the world were laid bare, / at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast at the breath of his nostrils. / He sent from above, he took me; / he drew me out of many waters; / he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. / They surprised me in the day of my calamity: / but the Lord was my stay..."
    Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
    Text by Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 12 May 1919, Image 16, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.

    View the Hovey (DMS-11)
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