View source for USS Truxtun (DD-229)

{{Short description|Clemson-class destroyer}}
{{other ships|USS Truxtun}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Truxtun (DD-229).jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''Truxtun'' in the 1930s.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1942}}
|Ship name=''Truxtun''
|Ship namesake=[[Thomas Truxtun]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[William Cramp & Sons]], [[Philadelphia]]
|Ship yard number=495
|Ship laid down=11 November 1919
|Ship launched=28 September 1920<ref name=parkin >{{cite book
  | last = Parkin
  | first = Robert Sinclair
  | title = Blood on the Sea: American Destroyers Lost in World War II
  | year = 2001
  | pages = 7–15
  | publisher = Hachette Books
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fndLfQ2EVcgC
  | isbn = 978-0-306-81069-5
  }}{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=30 December 1920
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=25 March 1942
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Ran aground and sank, 18 February 1942
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class= {{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement=1,215 tons
|Ship length={{convert|314|ft|4+1/2|in|m|sigfig=4|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|30|ft|11+1/2|in|m|sigfig=4|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|9|ft|9+3/4|in|m|sigfig=4|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=* {{convert|26,500|shp|lk=on|abbr=on}}
* Geared turbines
* 2 screws
|Ship speed={{convert|35|kn|km/h|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=122 officers and enlisted
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=* 4 x [[4"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] guns
* 1 x [[3"/23 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] gun
* 12 x [[American 21 inch torpedo|21-inch (533 mm)]] torpedo tubes
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship aircraft facilities=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Truxtun'' (DD-229)''' was a {{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}} in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]]. She was the third ship named for [[Thomas Truxtun]].

==Construction and commissioning==
''Truxtun'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] on 3 December 1919 and [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 28 September 1920 from [[William Cramp & Sons]]. The ship was [[Ship sponsor|sponsored]] by Miss Isabelle Truxtun Brumby. The destroyer was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] at the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]] on 16 February 1921.

==Service history==
Upon commissioning, ''Truxtun'' completed shakedown and began duty along the east coast with the [[United States Atlantic Fleet|Atlantic Fleet]] as a unit of Division 39, [[DESRON|Destroyer Squadron]] 3. She operated with that unit along the Atlantic seaboard until the fall when she was reassigned to Division 43, Squadron 15. During the winter of 1921 and 1922, the destroyer joined the fleet in maneuvers and exercises near [[Guantánamo Bay, Cuba|Guantanamo Bay]], [[Cuba]].

===Asiatic Fleet===
In March 1922, Division 43 returned north to [[Newport, Rhode Island]], to prepare for service in the [[Asiatic Fleet]]. On 22 June 1922, ''Truxtun'' departed Newport and proceeded, via the [[Mediterranean]], the [[Suez Canal]], and the [[Indian Ocean]], to the [[Far East]] which she reached in mid-August. By early September, she and several sister destroyers of Division 43 joined the main elements of the [[United States Asiatic Fleet|Asiatic Fleet]] off [[Chefoo]] on the northern coast of [[China]]. Late in October, the fleet headed south to its winter base at [[Manila]] in the [[Philippines]], from whence it conducted exercises until the following spring.

''Truxtun'' served with the Asiatic Fleet for the next 10 years. During that decade, she alternated summer cruises in Chinese waters with winter maneuvers in the Philippines. This routine was punctuated by special unusual assignments. For instance, in June 1924, she and the other five destroyers of Division 43 helped to form a chain of picket ships across the [[Yellow Sea]] for the [[United States Army|Army]]'s global flight. More often, however, internecine warfare in China brought ''Truxtun'' to the coast of that troubled nation to protect American lives and property. She spent a total of eight out of the 13 months between September 1926 and October 1927 patrolling the [[Yangtze River]] while competing factions in China fought one another - and occasionally otherwise neutral third parties. The destroyer returned to the [[Yangtze River Patrol]] twice more - from 1 March to 14 April 1930 and from January through March 1932 - when internal political convulsions in China threatened foreign lives and property.

On 18 April 1932, ''Truxtun'' departed Manila and the Asiatic Fleet to join the destroyers attached to the [[Battle Fleet|Battle Force]]. After stops at [[Guam]], [[Midway Atoll|Midway]], and [[Hawaii]], she reached [[Mare Island Navy Yard]] on 13 May. For the next seven years, she patrolled the Pacific, as far north as [[Alaska]] and as far south as the [[Panama Canal]], participating in maneuvers with capital ships of the Battle Force. Only once, in 1934, did she leave the Pacific. On 9 April, she cleared [[San Diego]] and transited the Panama Canal. After calling at [[Port-au-Prince]], [[Haiti]], ''Truxtun'' steamed north to [[New York City]], arriving on 31 May. Following that visit, she patrolled the eastern seaboard. On 15 September, the destroyer stood out of [[Hampton Roads]], retransited the canal, and returned to San Diego on 9 November to resume operations with the Battle Force.

===World War II===

====Transfer to Atlantic Squadron====
[[File:DD-224toDD-229.jpg|thumb|upright|Left to right: [[Destroyer tender]] {{USS|Whitney|AD-4|2}} and [[destroyer]]s {{USS|Stewart|DD-224|2}}, {{USS|Pope|DD-225|2}}, {{USS|Pillsbury|DD-227|2}}, {{USS|John D. Ford|DD-228|2}}, ''Truxtun'', and {{USS|Peary|DD-226|2}}]]
On 27 April 1939, ''Truxtun'' steamed out of San Diego and headed for the canal once more. She reached [[Norfolk, Virginia]] on 15 May and joined Destroyer Division 27, [[Atlantic Squadron]]. The destroyer patrolled the east coast of the United States while war clouds gathered in [[Europe]]. Soon after the outbreak of war in September, ''Truxtun'' began enforcing the provisions of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s proclamation of American neutrality by conducting [[neutrality patrol]]s and escort duty off the Atlantic coast, in the [[Gulf of Mexico]], and in the Caribbean. In late May and early June 1940, the warship made a voyage to [[Casablanca]] in [[French North Africa]] and then resumed neutrality patrols off [[Florida]] and in the Caribbean.

Following repairs at Norfolk in December 1940 and January 1941, ''Truxtun'' cleared Hampton Roads on 6 February. The next day, she reached [[Newport, Rhode Island]], where she joined Destroyer Division 63, Squadron 31. Between late February and mid-March, she made two voyages to [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], returning to the United States at the [[Washington Navy Yard]] on both occasions. On 15 March, the destroyer returned to Newport and resumed patrols and exercises. For the remainder of her career, ''Truxtun'' patrolled the North Atlantic sea lanes and escorted convoys from [[New England]] and [[Canada|Canadian]] ports – via [[Naval Station Argentia|NS Argentia]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] – to [[Reykjavík]], [[Iceland]].

==Fate==
On Christmas Day 1941, ''Truxtun'' departed [[Boston, Massachusetts]] in the screen of Convoy HX-168. She arrived at Reykjavík on 13 January 1942 and, six days later, headed back to Argentia with Convoy ON-57. At 0410 on 18 February<ref name=parkin/> while acting as escort to {{USS|Pollux|AKS-2|6}} in [[Placentia Bay]], [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], ''Truxtun'' ran aground "in a howling gale"<ref>Crestview, Florida, "Edsel Creach Is Lost At Sea As Destroyer Goes Down", ''Okaloosa News-Journal'', Friday 27 February 1942, Volume 28, Number 6, page 1.</ref> between the [[Newfoundland outport|outport communities]] of [[Lawn, Newfoundland and Labrador|Lawn]] and [[St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and Labrador|St. Lawrence]], near Chambers Cove. Under extremely violent and freezing sea conditions she broke up almost immediately after grounding and, in spite of the heroic efforts of the local populace, lost 110 members of her crew to the elements. ''Pollux'' was also wrecked with 93 fatalities, and {{USS|Wilkes|DD-441|6}} also grounded, but made way with no fatalities.<ref>[https://www.mun.ca/mha/polluxtruxtun/index.php Dead Reckoning: The Pollux-Truxton Disaster]</ref>

[[Robert Chafe]]'s play, ''Oil and Water'', depicts the story of [[Lanier W. Phillips|Lanier Phillips]], the sole [[African American]] survivor of the sinking of ''Truxtun''.

''Truxtun''{{'}}s name was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy list]] on 25 March 1942.

Torpedoman's Mate First Class [[Henry Breault]], a [[Medal of Honor]] recipient, was assigned to ''Truxton'' from September 1939 to September 1940.

==Convoys escorted==
{|class="wikitable"
!Convoy
!Escort Group
!Dates
!Notes
|-
|[[HX convoys|HX 155]]
|
|18-25 Oct 1941<ref name="hxconvoy">{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/hx/index.html|title=HX convoys|publisher=Andrew Hague Convoy Database|access-date=2011-06-19}}</ref>
|from [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] to [[Iceland]] prior to US declaration of war
|-
|[[ON convoys|ON 31]]
|
|4-15 Nov 1941<ref name="onconvoy">{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/on/index.html|title=ON convoys|publisher=Andrew Hague Convoy Database|access-date=2011-06-19}}</ref>
|from Iceland to Newfoundland prior to US declaration of war
|-
|[[HX convoys|HX 168]]
|
|4-10 Jan 1942<ref name="hxconvoy"/>
|from Newfoundland to Iceland
|-
|[[ON convoys|ON 57]]
|
|24 Jan-7 Feb 1942<ref name="onconvoy"/>
|from Iceland to Newfoundland
|}

==Awards==
*[[Yangtze Service Medal]]
*[[American Campaign Medal]]
*[[European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal]]
*[[World War II Victory Medal]]

==References==
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/truxtun-iii.html}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/229.htm navsource.org]

{{Clemson class destroyer}}
{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|46|52|36.4|N|55|26|13.5|W|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Truxtun (Dd-229)}}
[[Category:Clemson-class destroyers]]
[[Category:World War II destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built by William Cramp & Sons]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Newfoundland and Labrador coast|Truxton]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean]]
[[Category:1920 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942]]
[[Category:Non-combat naval accidents of the United States]]