Piedmont (AD 17) - Naval Cruise Book

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PIED QA - 75 A x 4 f ? 3 Doc PIEDMONT, so named after the Walt Disney dwarf character, retired from the United States Navy with over 38 years of experience. Above, PIEDMONT at anchor in Hong Kong 1196055 Right, PIED- MONT tends a patrol gunboat alongside Cyear unknownjg Left, PIEDMONT in the Pacific C1963Jg Far left, USS PIEDMONT docked at the famed Piedmont Pier in Yokosuka, Japan 119455.

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M' USS PIEDMO : 1944 PROLOGUE: Precommissioning During the 1930's, for those who could afford it, the only way to cross the world's oceans was by the great steamship liners. Majestic and proud, vessels bearing nationally-inspired names like ILE DE FRANCE, QUEEN MARY, and BREMEN carried their elite human cargoes with splendid grace from continent to continent. But times quickly changed with the turn of world political and economic events. Major conflicts were brewing in Europe and the Far East. The Great Depression continued to drain America of its prosperity. Combat readiness, a term that today has become a cliche, was on the minds of every world leader. Although the United States would not become involved in the global unrest for several years, by 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt was developing battle plans, military strategies and extensive programs to upgrade the country's naval fleet. New ships were to be built not ocean liners to carry glamorous travelers across the Atlantic on stupendous 10-day crossings . .. but warships to engage in battle on the high seas in remote areas of the world's oceans. A Ship to Support the Pursuit of Peace In May 1938, Congress authorized construction of a third DIXIE class destroyer tender . . . a ship ironically designed after the peaceful liners that made getting there half the fun. For future land battles to be fought in the distant western and southern Pacific, getting there ready to fight would be most vital to the ultimate outcome. This new ship - AD-17 - would be called PIEDMONT, following a naval custom of naming tenders after geographic areas of the United States. PIEDMONT was named after the rocky Piedmont Region which lies just east of the Appalachian Mountain Range and stretches from Alabama through Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. OPPOSITE TOP: Having just been commissioned, USS PIEDMONT is sleek and gray as he sails from Tampa to Norfolk on his Shakedown cruise. OPPOSITE BOTTOM: After receiving a camouflage paint job, PIEDMONT heads south toward the Panama Canal en route to the war in the Pacific. - 1982 The primary mission of the destroyer tenders during World War II was the same as it is today . . . to maintain fleet destroyers and other surface ships in a constant state of combat readiness, .no matter where these ships might be required to operate. A destroyer tender is, in efiect, a mobile repair andsupply depot. Manned by skilled craftsmen, their capabilities range from performing routine maintenance to completing repair work approach- ing that done by a naval shipyard. i In relating the history of the Navy during World War II, the most spectacular events remembered are 'the engagements of the combatant forces . . . surface, air, submarine and amphibious. The credit accpgrded the combatant forces was earned under fire and at great risk of life. . The Destroyer Tender: A Mobile Shipyard A less dangerous but no less vital contribution' was the work of the service force ships like USS PIEDMONT. The history of USS PIEDMONT describes no action against enemy ships, planes, or shore installations.HThere was none. There was, however, a tremendous effort expended by the officers and men of USS PIEDMONT' and other service force ships to keep the combatant ships at sea and fully capable of carrying out their combat mission. The fact that service squadrons of the Pacific Fleet played an indispensable role in the victory in the war against Japan is well known. These service squadrons . . . operating thousands of miles from estalished bases were something new in the history of naval warfare. Their vital contribution was recorded in the logs of ships like USS PIEDMONT. USS PIEDMON T: 'Non Bon um Sed Perfectum' USS PIEDMONT's keel was laid on 1 December 1941 six days before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States was already well-involved in World War II when PIEDMONT was launched from the Tampa Shipbuilding Facility in Tampa, Florida, on 7 December 1942 . . . a year to the day after the infamous attack. With a length of 530 feet, a beam of 73 feet and displacing 16,600 tons fully loaded, United States Ship PIEDMONT was commissioned into active service on 5 January 1944. 11