View source for USS Litchfield

{{Short description|Clemson-class destroyer}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Litchfield (DD-336) underway before World War II.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Litchfield'' (DD-336) underway before World War II
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1944}}
|Ship name=''Litchfield''
|Ship namesake=John Litchfield
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]]
|Ship laid down=15 January 1919
|Ship launched=12 August 1919
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=12 May 1920
|Ship decommissioned=5 November 1945 
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=28 November 1945
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sold for scrap, 29 March 1946
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=1,215 tons
|Ship length={{convert|314|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|30|ft|11+1/2|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|9|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=* {{cvt|26,500|shp|lk=in}}
* [[Geared turbine]]s
*2 screws
|Ship speed={{convert|35|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range=* {{cvt|4,900|nmi|lk=in}} at {{convert|15|kn}}
|Ship complement=126 officers and enlisted
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=* 4 × [[4"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}/50]] guns
* 1 × [[3"/23 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}/25]] gun
* 12 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|{{convert|21|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] [[torpedo tube]]s
|Ship armour=
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'''USS ''Litchfield'' (DD-336/AG-95)''' was a {{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}} in the [[United States Navy]] following [[World War I]].

==Namesake==
John R. Litchfield was born on 7 March 1899 at [[Flanagan, Illinois]]. He was a Navy pharmacist's mate serving with the [[6th Marine Regiment]]. He was killed on 15 September 1918 near [[Thiaucourt]], [[France]], while attempting to remove a casualty from a frontline trench. He was posthumously awarded the [[Navy Cross (United States)|Navy Cross Cross]] as well as the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United States)|Distinguished Service Cross]].

==History==
''Litchfield'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] on 15 January 1919 by [[Mare Island Navy Yard]]. The vessel was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 12 August 1919, [[Ship sponsor|sponsored]] by Mrs. Martha D. Litchfield, the mother of Pharmacist's Mate Litchfield. The destroyer was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 12 May 1920. ''Litchfield'', a flush-decker, sailed to [[Bremerton, Washington]], on her shakedown cruise but her initial tour on the west coast was brief. Before the end of 1921 she had departed [[San Diego]], [[California]] and arrived in [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. Following the annual fleet maneuvers, ''Litchfield'' steamed to [[Newport, Rhode Island]], to join Division 39 for duty in the eastern [[Mediterranean Sea]], arriving at [[Constantinople]] on 28 June 1922.

The division served under the direct command of Rear Admiral [[Mark L. Bristol]], U.S. High Commissioner for [[Ottoman Empire|Turkey]]. The Allied Commissioners were attempting to end a war between this former ally of [[German Empire|Germany]] and [[Kingdom of Greece|Greece]]. ''Litchfield'' served in humanitarian causes and as an instrument of American foreign policy as Admiral Bristol's destroyers evacuated 262,000 Greek and [[Armenia]]n refugees from [[İzmir|Smyrna]], Turkey, 13 September. The destroyers also assisted civilian relief agencies attempting to feed and evacuate additional thousands suffering from famine and war.

[[File:USS Litchfield at Smyrna.jpg|thumb|left|''Litchfield'' at the [[Great Fire of Smyrna]].]]

Late in 1923, ''Litchfield'' returned to the United States, her cargo including the remains of [[World War I]] hero [[George Dilboy]] which were being returned to the US for reburial after his original grave was desecrated as part of the Greco-Turkish conflict. ''Litchfield'' entered the [[New York Navy Yard]] on 30 October 1923 for overhaul. ''Litchfield'' joined Destroyer Squadron 12 based at San Diego 24 May 1924. During maneuvers and tactical exercises with the battle fleet in October, she was awarded prize money for her competitive short-range firing.

Annual competition and monthly maneuvers were supplemented in 1925 by a training cruise to [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]]. On 4 June 1927 she participated in her first presidential review off [[Newport, Rhode Island]]. Returning to the Pacific, ''Litchfield'' spent most of July off the coast of politically disturbed [[Nicaragua]]. She survived both the cutback in naval tonnage agreed upon at the [[London Naval Treaty|1930 London Naval Conference]] and the economy measures of the early years of the great depression.

In April 1937, ''Litchfield'', as part of the [[Battle Fleet]], changed her permanent base from the west coast to [[Pearl Harbor]]. On 20 May she became [[flagship]] of Submarine Squadron 4, Submarine Force, Pearl Harbor, and continued to operate with [[submarine]]s as war approached and training drills intensified during 1941. In company with the submarine {{USS|Thresher|SS-200|2}}, she departed her base 6 December and returned on 9 December to the destruction wrought by the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]. With the outbreak of [[World War II|war]] in the Pacific, ''Litchfield''{{'}}s duties involved the escort of U.S. submarines both in and out of port and anti-submarine patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Several times she made [[depth charge]] runs but no kills were confirmed prior to her departure 6 November 1943 for overhaul at Bremerton, Washington.

===Fate===
Upon her return to Pearl Harbor on 14 January 1944, she escorted a series of convoys to [[Midway Atoll|Midway]] and [[Eniwetok]]. Twice near Midway, she rescued crews of downed patrol planes and she salvaged a [[Martin PBM Mariner]] on 8 August. ''Litchfield'' also conducted submarine training exercises in the vicinity of each of these two bases. On 17 March 1945 an escort mission brought her to [[Guam]], her furthest wartime penetration of the western Pacific. While performing escort and training duties with U.S. submarines at Guam on 31 March, she was redesignated '''AG-95''', a miscellaneous auxiliary. Ending these duties 21 July, she arrived in San Diego 9 August.

The next week the Board of Inspectors recommended ''Litchfield'' be scrapped. Arriving [[Philadelphia]] in October, she decommissioned 5 November 1945 and was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] 28 November. Scrapping was completed by the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]] 29 March 1946.

==References==
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/litchfield.html}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|USS Litchfield (DD-336)}}
*http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/336.htm

{{Clemson class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litchfield (DD-336)}}
[[Category:Clemson-class destroyers]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:World War II auxiliary ships of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Vallejo, California]]
[[Category:1919 ships]]
[[Category:Burning of Smyrna]]