View source for USS Fitch

{{Short description|Gleaves-class destroyer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Fitch (DD-462) underway in 1942.jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Fitch'' underway in 1942
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1956}}
|Ship name=''Fitch''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Boston Navy Yard]]
|Ship laid down=6 January 1941
|Ship launched=14 June 1941
|Ship commissioned=3 February 1942
|Ship decommissioned=24 February 1956
|Ship struck=1 July 1971
|Ship identification=DD-462
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sunk as target off [[Florida]], 15 November 1973
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Gleaves|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=1,630 tons
|Ship length={{convert|348|ft|3|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|36|ft|1|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|11|ft|10|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=*{{convert|50000|shp|kW|abbr=on}}
*4 boilers
*2 propellers
|Ship speed={{convert|37.4|kn|km/h|0}}
|Ship range={{convert|6500|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|12|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=16 officers, 260 enlisted
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*5 × [[5-inch/38-caliber gun|{{convert|5|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}/38 cal]] [[dual-purpose gun]]s,
*6 × [[M2 Browning|{{convert|0.5|in|mm|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} machine gun]]s,
*6 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon]]s,
*10 × [[Mark 15 torpedo|{{convert|21|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] [[torpedo tube]]s,
*2 × [[depth charge]] tracks
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Fitch'' (DD-462/DMS-25)''', was a {{sclass|Gleaves|destroyer}} of the [[United States Navy]].

==Namesake==
LeRoy Fitch was born on 1 October 1835 in [[Logansport, Indiana]]. He was a member of the [[United States Naval Academy]] class of 1856, and served with distinction in the [[American Civil War]] and afterward. Commanding {{USS|Moose|1863|6}} in the [[Mississippi River Squadron|Mississippi Squadron]], in 1863 he pursued General [[John Hunt Morgan]], CSA, the [[Morgan's Raid|famed raider]], for {{convert|500|mi}} up the [[Ohio River]], frustrating Morgan's attempts to cross the river and retire to [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] territory. [[Commander (United States)|Commander]] Fitch died in [[Logansport, Indiana]] on 13 April 1875.

==Construction and commissioning==
''Fitch'' was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 14 June 1941 by [[Boston Navy Yard]]; sponsored by Mrs. H. W. Thomas, grandniece of [[Commander (United States)|Commander]] Fitch. The ship was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 3 February 1942. She was reclassified '''DMS-25''' on 15 November 1944, and again classified '''DD-462''' on 15 July 1955.

==Service history==
''Fitch''{{'}}s first mission, from 1 July to 5 August 1942, was to escort the [[aircraft carrier]] {{USS|Ranger|CV-4|2}} to a point off the [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], where the carrier flew off [[United States Army Air Forces]] planes for [[Accra]]. The destroyer returned to [[Naval Station Norfolk|Norfolk]] on 5 August for exercises in preparation for the [[Operation Torch|assault on North Africa]], for which she sailed from [[Bermuda]] 25 October. Screening ''Ranger'' and two [[escort carrier]]s, ''Fitch'' took part in the landings at [[Fedhala]], [[French Morocco]], on 8 November, and guarded the carriers as they flew Army planes off to the captured airfield at [[Port Lyautey]]. Returning to Norfolk 24 November, ''Fitch'' joined in exercises in [[Casco Bay|Casco]] and [[Chesapeake Bay]]s, and performed coastal escort duty, sailing as far south as the [[Panama Canal Zone]], through the remainder of 1942.

On 8 January 1943, ''Fitch'' cleared Norfolk with ''Ranger'' on the first of two voyages to launch aircraft to [[North Africa]]n bases. Operations with ''Ranger'' completed, ''Fitch'' served on patrol out of [[Naval Station Argentia|NS Argentia]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], from 6 April to 12 May, then sailed to [[Scapa Flow]], [[Orkney Islands]], Scotland, to join the [[British Home Fleet]] for patrol duty between that base and [[Iceland]]. She served on this duty through the summer, protecting northern [[convoy]]s, then returned to Norfolk on 9 August.

Sailing on 2 September 1943 to escort a convoy to [[Derry]], [[Northern Ireland]], ''Fitch'' continued to [[Thurso]] Bay, where on 20 September she embarked [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[Frank Knox]] and [[Admiral]] [[Harold R. Stark]] for transportation to Scapa Flow. Operating out of Scapa Flow for the next two months, ''Fitch'' screened ''Ranger'' as her planes attacked German forces and installations near [[Bodø]], Norway, on 4 October, and patrolled off [[Spitzbergen]] as the men of the weather station there were relieved and resupplied.

''Fitch'' returned to Boston 3 December 1943 to resume coastal and [[Caribbean]] escort duty and to take part in [[Hunter-killer Group|hunter-killer]] operations in the western Atlantic until 25 April 1944, when she got underway from Norfolk for [[Belfast]], [[Northern Ireland]]. In the great buildup for the [[Normandy invasion]], ''Fitch'' escorted single ships and convoys between Belfast and [[Plymouth, England]], and took part in training exercises until 6 June, when
she sailed from Plymouth for the assault.

Arriving off [[Utah Beach]] early in the morning of the invasion, ''Fitch'' followed the [[minesweeper]]s through the newly swept channels to within 2,000 yards of the coast. Her mission was to draw out and silence German [[Artillery battery|batteries]] prior to the landings. In addition to her effective gunfire, ''Fitch'' rescued the survivors of {{USS|Corry|DD-463|2}}, keeping up her fire at the shore batteries as she did so. After two days screening the transport area, she returned to Plymouth for supplies, then continued to give fire support and to patrol off the beachheads until 19 June. Convoy escort duty around the British Isles was her assignment until 4 July, when she sailed from Belfast for [[Oran]], and exercises in the western Mediterranean.

''Fitch'' sortied from [[Taranto]], Italy, 11 August 1944 for the [[Operation Dragoon|invasion of Southern France]] on 15 August, during which she spotted the fire of {{USS|Texas|BB-35|2}} as well as firing in the prelanding bombardment. Until 25 October, she supported the buildup in southern [[France]] by escorting convoys moving between [[Naples]], [[Palermo]], Oran, [[Gibraltar]], and [[Marseilles]]. Between her return to Norfolk on 10 November and 3 January 1945, when she sailed for the Pacific, ''Fitch'' was converted to a high-speed [[minesweeper]] and was redesignated '''DMS-25'''.

[[File:USS Fitch (DMS-25) underway c1950s.jpg|thumb|''Fitch'' in the 1950s.]]

Arriving at [[Pearl Harbor]] on 10 February 1945, ''Fitch'' trained in minesweeping exercises there and at [[Ulithi]], where her propellers were badly damaged when she ran afoul of a [[coral]] pinnacle. Repairs were made at Pearl Harbor from 10 April to 6 August, when she sailed to join the [[United States Third Fleet|3rd Fleet]] off [[Japan]]. ''Fitch'' began sweeping the entrance to [[Tokyo Bay]] on 28 August, and was present for the surrender ceremonies on 2 September. She continued to sweep off Japan and in the [[East China Sea]] until returning to [[Naval Station San Diego|San Diego]] on 23 December.

On 9 January 1946, ''Fitch'' arrived at Norfolk, where she was immobilized for a month. She voyaged between Norfolk, Charleston, and New York transferring minesweeper crews for several months, and in November, from her home port at [[Naval Station Charleston|Charleston]], began regular operations training Mine Force officers, exercising in the Caribbean and along the east coast, and cruising to the Mediterranean in 1949, 1951, and 1953. During 1955, she conducted tests in the Caribbean for the Operational Development Force. ''Fitch'' was decommissioned at Charleston 24 February 1956 and placed in reserve. It was sunk of the east coast of Florida in 1973.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Destroyer Photo Index DD-462 / DMS-25 USS FITCH |url=https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/462.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415115547/http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/462.htm |archive-date=April 15, 2013 |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=www.navsource.org}}</ref>

==Awards==
''Fitch'' received five [[battle star]]s for her World War II service.

==External links==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/05idx.htm navsource.org: USS ''Fitch'']
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/ hazegray.org: USS ''Fitch'']
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/f/fitch.html}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Gleaves class destroyer}}
{{1973 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitch}}
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States|Fitch (DD-462)]]
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of the United States|Fitch (DD-462)]]
[[Category:Ships built in Boston]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Florida coast]]
[[Category:1941 ships]]
[[Category:Gleaves-class destroyers of the United States Navy|Fitch (DD-462)]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1973]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]