Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
United States Navy — Destroyer DD-540

USS Twining

Fletcher-class destroyer

USS Twining
USN — Official U.S. Navy photo NH 73459 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — DD-540 The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Twining (DD-540) during the middle or later 1950s.

Service

  1. United States Navy as Twining1 December 1943 — 1 July 1971641 days of the war
  2. as Kwei Yang16 August 1971 — 16 July 1999
Full service history About 3,227 words
Fletcher-class destroyer Particulars
Name
USS Twining
Pennant / hull number
DD-540
Namesake
Nathan C. Twining
Builder
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down
20 November 1942
Launched
11 July 1943
Commissioned
1 December 1943
Decommissioned
14 June 1946
Recommissioned
21 November 1950
Struck
1 July 1971
Fate
Sunk as target
Status
Wreck

Specifications

Displacement, standard
2,050 long tons (2,083 t)
Length
114.6 m (376 ft)
Beam
11.89 m (39 ft)
Draught
5.18 m (17 ft)
Speed
35 knots (64.8 km/h, 40.3 mph)
Range
6,500 nmi (12,038 km)
Complement
329
Main gun
127 mm (5 in)

Nathan Crook Twining was born on 17 January 1869 at Boscobel, Wis. He was appointed a naval cadet in 1885 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy on 7 June 1889. During the Spanish-American War, he served in Iowa (Battleship No. 4) in Cuban waters and later was executive officer of Kearsarge (Battleship No. 6) when that ship circumnavigated the globe with the "Great White Fleet." He commanded Tacoma (Cruiser No. 18) during the bombardment of Vera Cruz in 1914. During World War I, he served as Chief of Staff for Admiral Sims, Commander of Naval Forces in European waters, and was also a member of the Allied War Council. Rear Admiral Twining retired early in 1923 and died on 4 July 1924 at Nantucket, Mass.

Twining (DD-540) was laid down on 20 November 1942 at San Francisco, Calif., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 11 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. S. B. C. Wood; and commissioned on 1 December 1943, Comdr. Ellis Kerr Wakefield in command.

Twining departed San Francisco on 21 December for shakedown training and completed the cruise at San Diego on Christmas Day. Following exercises out of that port, she returned to San Francisco; loaded passengers and cargo; and got underway on 11 February 1944.

Continue to the full service history About 3,227 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Twining (DD-540)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • 60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Armament
  • 5 × single Mk 12 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns
  • 5 × twin 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors AA guns
  • 7 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns
  • 2 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
  • 6 × single depth charge throwers
  • 2 × depth charge racks

Sister ships

148 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS Twining on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Service history reproduced verbatim from Twining (DD-540) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
  • Photograph: USN — Official U.S. Navy photo NH 73459 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons