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USS WARRINGTON (DD-383)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign - NIRG

CLASS - SOMERS As Built.
Displacement 2767 Tons (Full), Dimensions, 381' (oa) x 36' 11" x 12' 5" (Max)
Armament 8 x 5"/38AA (4x2), 8 x 1.1" AA, 2 x 0.5" MG 12 x 21" tt.(4x3).
Machinery, 52,000 SHP; General Electric Geared Turbines, 2 screws
Speed, 37 Knots, Range 7500 NM@ 15 Knots, Crew 294.
Operational and Building Data
Laid down by Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny NJ. October 10 1935.
Launched May 15 1937 and commissioned February 9 1938.
Fate Foundered during Hurricane off the Bahamas September 13 1944.
248 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on duty.

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Warrington 33kLewis Warrington was born on 3 November 1782 at Williamsburg, Va. and attended the College of William and Mary briefly before accepting an appointment as a midshipman in the Navy on 6 January 1800. His first duty, in the frigate Chesapeake, took him to the West Indies where his ship cruised with a squadron during the last year of the Quasi-War with France. His ship appears to have engaged in one action near the end of the cruise. On New Year's Day 1801, she took the French privateer La Jeune Creol . Following the cessation of hostilities with France, Midshipman Warrington remained in the Navy. His ship spent most of 1801 in ordinary at Norfolk. The following year, Warrington was transferred to the frigate President for service in the Mediterranean against the Barbary pirates. Over the next five years, he remained with the Mediterranean Squadron, serving successively in President, Vixen, and Enterprise. Promoted to lieutenant in 1805, he returned home in 1807 to assume command of a gunboat at Norfolk, Va. In 1809, Lt. Warrington voyaged to Europe in Siren as a dispatch courier. He next served a tour of duty in Essex. When the war with England began in June of 1812, Warrington was in Congress serving as the frigate's first lieutenant while she patrolled the North Atlantic. During his tour of duty in that warship, she made two successful war cruises, capturing nine prizes off the east coast of the United States during the first and four off the Atlantic seaboard of South America during the second. Promoted to master commandant in July 1813, he took command of the sloop-of-war Peacock later in the year. On 12 March 1814, he put to sea with his new command bound for the naval station at St. Mary's, Ga. After delivering supplies to that installation, he encountered the British brig Epervier off Cape Canaveral, Fla. Peacock emerged victorious from a brisk 45-minute exchange with that opponent, inflicting 10 times her own losses on the enemy. For his role in the victory, Warrington received the thanks of Congress in the form of a gold medal, and of the state of Virginia in the form of a gold-hilted sword. Warrington took his prize into Savannah, Ga., and then embarked upon his second cruise on 4 June. On that voyage—which took him to the Grand Banks, the Irish coast, the Shetland Islands, and the Faroe Islands —he took 14 prizes. After returning via the West Indies to New York, Warrington took Peacock on her third and final war cruise. His sloop-of-war stood out of New York with Hornet and Tom Bowline on 23 January 1815, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, and entered the Indian Ocean. Unaware that peace had been concluded in December 1814 at Ghent, Belgium, Warrington led his little force on another successful foray against British commerce. After taking three prizes in the Indian Ocean, he entered the East Indies in search of more game. On 30 June, he encountered the East India Company cruiser Nautilus in the Sunda Strait and attacked her. After a sharp action which cost the British ship 15 men including her first lieutenant, she surrendered to Warrington and his force. At this point, Warrington learned of the peace, and he therefore released the prize and started for home. Peacock arrived back in New York on 30 October 1815. In 1816, he commanded Macedonian briefly for a voyage to Cartagena, Spain, to convey there Christopher Hughes, the representative of the United States at negotiations over the release of some Americans imprisoned by Spanish authorities. In 1819 and 1820, Capt. Warrington commanded Java, followed by Guer-riere in 1820 and 1821. Each ship was assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron during his tenure as her commanding officer. Capt. Warrington returned home and received orders to duty at the Norfolk Navy Yard. In February 1825, he relieved Porter as commander of the West Indian Squadron during the latter stages of the piracy suppression campaign and thereafter bore the title, commodore. In 1826, Warrington returned home and served ashore for the remainder of his career. After four years in Washington—1826 to 1830—as one of three commissioners on the Navy Board, a body charged with the administration of naval materiel, Warrington returned to Norfolk for a decade as commandant of the navy yard. In 1840, he was reassigned to Washington for another two years as commissioner on the Navy Board. After the 1842 reorganization of the Navy Department, Warrington became Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. On 28 February 1844, he took over temporarily the duties of the Secretary of the Navy after Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer died as a result of wounds received when the large cannon "Peacemaker" exploded during a firing demonstration on board Princeton at Washington. Near the end of March, Warrington relinquished those duties to the new secretary, John W. Mason, and resumed his former assignment. In 1846, he became Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, which office he held until his death on 12 October 1851. Painting by Rembrandt Peale, 1801-1802, from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.Bill Gonyo
Warrington 98kUndated, location unknown.-
Warrington 22kUndated, New York harbor.-
Warrington 95kUndated, location unknown.Robert M. Cieri
Warrington 129kUndated, location unknown.Ed Zajkowski
Warrington 166kUndated (possibly 1942), location unknown.Richard Leonhardt
Warrington 76kUndated, location unknown.Richard Miller BMCS USNR RET.
Warrington 153kUndated, port broadside view of USS Warrington (DD-383) underway. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 63123.Mike Green
Warrington 22kThe launching, May 15 1937.Ken Purdy
Warrington 129kThe USS Warrington, resting on the south side of Pier 19 North Wharves, in May 1938.Dave Boone
Warrington 138kUSS Warrington (DD-383) in 1939, at a Naval review, at New York, New York. Courtesy of Lt. Gustave J. Freret, USN (Ret.), 1972. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 81257.Mike Green
Warrington 104kUSS Warrington (DD-383) in 1939, at a Naval review, at New York, New York. Note that ship is under tow. Courtesy of Lt. Gustave J. Freret, USN (Ret.), 1972. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 81258.Mike Green
Warrington 136kStarboard quarter view of USS Warrington (DD-383) underway, during the late 1930s. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 101666.Mike Green
Warrington 171kFebruary 22 1939, escorting the President on board USS Houston from 18 Feb to 3 March 1939.Ed Zajkowski
Warrington 18k1942, location unknown. Note she is still has original armament and no radar.Robert Hurst
Warrington 123kUSS Warrington (DD-383) in Perles Bay, Canal Zone, 23 April 1943. Bow on view. Source: United States National Archives, Photo No. 19-N-43695.Mike Green
Warrington 129kUSS Warrington (DD-383) in Perles Bay, Canal Zone, 23 April 1943. Port bow view. Seen here is her Measure 16 camouflage scheme. The special effect of this scheme is it's changeable appearance, depending on the amount of light at varying degrees of illumination. Source: United States National Archives, Photo No. 19-N-43692.Mike Green
Warrington 169kUSS Warrington (DD-383) in Perles Bay, Canal Zone, 23 April 1943. Source: United States National Archives, Photo No. 19-N-43686.Mike Green
Warrington 185kStarboard aerial view of USS Warrington (DD-383) underway in Perles Bay, Canal Zone, 23 April 1943. Source: United States National Archives, Photo No. 19-N-43690.Mike Green
Warrington 68kWARRINGTON coming alongside HARRISON during Kavieng Raid, March 15-20, 1944. Photo by T McCann, DD573.John Chiquoine
Warrington 118kUSS Warrington (DD-383) photographed by a blimp ZP-12, 9 August 1944. Source: United States National Archives, Photo No. 80-G-282673.Mike Green

USS WARRINGTON DD-383 History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The hazegray Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)

Commanding Officers
Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves

CDR Leighton Wood    Feb 9 1938 - Feb 2 1940
CDR Frank George Fahrion    Feb 2 1940 - Apr 22 1941 (Later ADM)
CDR Harold Raymond Fitz    Apr 22 1942 - Aug 30 1943
CDR Robert Alden Dawes Jr.    Aug 30 1943 - Aug 15 1944
CDR Samuel Frank Quarles    Aug 15 1944 - Sep 13 1944

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Contact Name: CDR Robert A. Dawes, Jr.
Address: Box 602, Kilmarnock, VA 22482
Phone: (804) 435-3257
E-mail: Richard J. Reynolds at rjreynol@usgs.gov


Note About Contacts.

The contact listed, Was the contact at the time for this ship when located. If another person now is the contact, E-mail me and I will update this entry. These contacts are compiled from various sources over a long period of time and may or may not be correct. Every effort has been made to list the newest contact if more than one contact was found.


Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Tin Can Sailors Website
Destroyer History Foundation
Destroyers Online Website
Official U.S.Navy Destroyer Website

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