Kinkaid (DD 965) - Naval Cruise Book

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Ship ' s Characteristics Len h Beam Displacement Personnel Armament Speed 563 Feet 4 Inees 55 Feet 8200 Tons Officer.... 19 Enlisted..277 2 Five Inch 54 Caliber Light- weight Gun Mounts 1 ASROC Launcher 2 MK 32 Triple Barrel Torpedo Tubes 1 NATO Seasparrow Missile Launcher 8 HARPON Missile Cannisters 2 PHALANX Close-In- Weapons-Systems 4 Super RBOC Chaff Launchers 30 Plus Knots

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Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid Thomas Cassin Kinkaid was born in Hanover. New- Hampshire on April 3, 1888. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy graduating with the class of 1908. After graduation from the Naval Academy he served in the battleships NEBRASKA and MINNESOTA until September 1913, when he reported to the Postgraduate School, Annapolis, for instruction in Ordnance Engineer- ing. From 1916 to 1918 he served aboard the USS PEN- NSYLVANIA with service at the end of that tour with the British Admirality. He was gunnery officer aboard USS ARIZONA 1918- 1919 when she was an escort ship for President Woodrow Wilson, then enroute to the Peace Conference at Ver- sailles. Following a cruise to Asia Minor he was ordered to Washington, D.C. for duties with the Bureau of Ord- nance, Navy Department, where he remained until Julv 1922, From 1922-1930, Admiral Kinkaid served successively as Assistant Chief of Staff to the Commander. U.S. Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters, as Commanding Officer of USS ISHERWOOD: at the Navy Yard, Naval Gun Factory, Washington, D.C. and as Fleet Gunnery Officer and Aideon the Staff of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet. In 1930 he returned to Washington for duties in connec- tion with the Treaty for the Limitation of Armaments, and in 1931 reported to the Secretary of State.then in Geneva, where he served as Technical Advisor in connec- tion with .studies relating to the treaty. From 1933 to 1938, Admiral Kinkaid served as Execu- tive Officer of USS COLORADO, with the Navy Department as Officer-in-Charge of the Officer ' s Detail Section and as Commanding Officer of the USS INDIANAPOLIS. In November of 1938 he was designated Naval Attache and U.S. Naval Attache for Air at the American Embassy, Rome, with additional duty from March 1939 to March 1941 as Naval Attache to the Embassy in Bel- grade, Yugoslavia. He commanded Destroyer Squadron Eight from June 1941 until his promotion to Rear Admiral in November. This assignment was followed with command succes- sively of Cruiser Division Six, Pacific Fleet, and a Task Force which engaged in the Battle of the Solomon Islands and the Santa Cruz Islands. In the Battle of Guadalcanal, November 12-15, 1942, he commanded a Task Force built around the USS ENTERPRISE Air Support Group and Battleships, the first surface officer to command a Car- rier Task Force. In January of 1943 he assumed command of the North Pacific Fleet and was responsible for ending the Japanese occupation of the Aleutians. From November 1943 to 194. , then Vice Admiral Kinkaid served as Commander, Allied Naval P )rces, Southwest Pacific Area. In this capacity he supported General MacArthur ' s landings in this area and engineered thedefeatoftheJapane.se Fleet at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Promoted to full Admiral in April 1945 he continued to serve as Commander, Seventh Fleet until the war ' s end. After the war he returned to the United States and served a.s Commander, Sixteenth Fleet until his retirement in May 1950. Admiral Kinkaid is the holder of four Distinguished Service Medals and numerous Campaign and Service Medals. In addition, he is an Honorary Companion of the Order of the Bath, awarded by King (u ' orgo VI of Great Briain; Grand Officer. Order of the Orange Nassau with Swords, bestowed by (Jueen Wilhelmina of the Nether- lands and other decorations from Chile, Belguim and China.

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Battle Group Foxtrot