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105k | Albert Weston Grant was born on 14 April 1856 at East Benton, Maine and grew up at Stevens Point, Wis., with his pioneer family and won a competitive appointment to the Naval Academy from which he graduated on 20 June 1877. Following service in Pensacola, Lackawanna, Alliance, Passaic, and Iroquois, he served ashore at the Norfolk Navy Yard, received torpedo training, and served briefly at the Naval War College. Duty in Trenton, Richmond, Saratoga, and Yorktown pre-ceded his return to Norfolk to supervise major repairs to Pensacola which entailed pioneer work in applying electricity to warships and then reported to Concord. On 9 May 1893, his commission as a lieutenant reached him while he was serving in that gunboat. A tour in cruiser San Francisco ended in the summer of 1894 when Grant was ordered back to the Naval Academy for duty as an instructor. Detached some three years later, he returned to sea in Helena and served off the coast of Cuba in Massachusetts during the Spanish American War. Transferred to Machias on 8 September 1898, Grant was serving in her when promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 July 1900, a month before orders sent him back to the Academy for two more years as an instructor. Three years of service in the Far East followed as executive officer of Oregon and then as commanding officer of that battleship before he returned to Annapolis where he was promoted to commander and placed in charge of the Seamanship Department. During this assignment, he prepared a study of naval tactics, The School of the Ship, which became a standard textbook. On 22 July 1907, Grant reported to the Naval War College for instruction and, upon completing the course in the autumn, assumed command of Arethusa and took that fuel ship around Cape Horn to the Pacific. Detached on the last day of March 1908, he embarked in Connecticut as chief of staff to the Commander of the Atlantic Fleet. During that tour of duty, he was promoted to captain on 1 July 1909. He relinquished his post as chief of staff on 26 October 1909, but remained in Connecticut as her commanding officer. Grant became commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 21 March 1910 and simultaneously took command of the 4th Naval District. Two years later, he became head of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Command of the new battleship Texas came in 1913 and command of Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, followed two years later. In the summer of 1917, some three months after the United States entered World War I, Grant took over Battleship Force 1, Atlantic Fleet, with additional duty in command of Squadron 2 and Division 4. This position gave him the rank of vice admiral. December 1918 brought him command of the Atlantic Fleet. The following spring, he became commandant of the Washington Navy Yard and superintendent of the Naval Gun Factory. Retired on 6 April 1920, Vice Admiral Grant died in Philadelphia on 30 September 1930. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress | Bill Gonyo |
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON
The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in commending the
THE UNITED STATES SHIP ALBERT W. GRANT
for service as follows:
"For outstanding heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces during the Battle for Leyte Gulf, October 24 to 27, 1944. Conducting a determined torpedo attack against a Japanese task force in Surigao Strait on the night of October 24, the U.S.S. ALBERT W. GRANT closed range to fire her first half salvo of torpedoes and succeeded in scoring hits on a Japanese battleship. Although severely damaged when heavy enemy guns opened fire as she turned to retire, she remained in the battle area and successfully launched her five remaining torpedoes, scoring hits on other enemy units. With all power gone, fires raging, compartments rapidly flooding and over one hundred casualties to care for, she fought throughout the night to remain afloat. Finally, assisted by a tug from Leyte, she effected the repair of her crudely patched holes and the pumping out of excess water and oil, resolutely continuing damage control measures until she could be taken in tow to an anchorage in Leyte Gulf. Crippled but undaunted, the ALBERT W. GRANT, superbly handled by gallant officers and men, rendered distinctive service and upheld the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
All personnel attached to and serving on board the ALBERT W. GRANT from October 24 to 27, 1944, are authorized to wear the NAVY UNIT COMMENDATION Ribbon.
/s/ John L. Sullivan
Acting Secretary of the Navy |
USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649)
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100k | At Mare Island Navy Yard, February 1944. | Pieter Bakels |
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127k | Naval Gun Fire Support (NGFS) plan for the invasion of Saipan, 15 June 1944. | Wayne VanDerVoort |
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142k | USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) showing fragment damage from a 6-inch shell hit received during the Battle of Surigao Strait. The ship received thirteen hits, three 120 mm Japanese hits and ten 6” U.S. Cruiser fire.
Navy Department Library, Destroyer Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage Report; War Damage Report No. 51 | Mike Green |
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152k | Hit No.2 on the USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) looking aft on the second platform. The hole was caused by a dud 6” AP shell which passed through the crew’s mess. The shell was fired from a U.S. cruiser during the Battle of Surigao Strait.
Navy Department Library, Destroyer Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage Report; War Damage Report No. 51 | Mike Green |
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137k | Shell hit #2, showing hole caused by 6-inch dud AP shell where it entered the forward fireroom on the USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) on October 24, 1944. The shell was fired by a United States light cruiser during the Battle of Surigao Strait. The shell appears to have broken into several large fragments, as it penetrated the bulkhead.
Navy Department Library, Destroyer Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage Report; War Damage Report No. 51 | Mike Green |
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315k | Battle damage diagram dated October 25 1944.
Navy Department Library, Destroyer Gunfire, Bomb and Kamikaze Damage Report; War Damage Report No. 51 | Mike Green |
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115k | CDR Terrell Nisewanger, Commanding Officer of USS Albert W. Grant (DD 649), recieves the Bronze Star at Mare Island, 20 January 1945. | Darryl Baker |
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1012k | Article on Motor Machinists Mate 1st Class Richard Hardy, awarded Silver Star for his action aboard USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) during the battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October 1944.
Article from Mare Island Naval Hospital News, 06 April 1945. | Darryl Baker |
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53k | Off Mare Island after completion of battle repairs, 20 February 1945. | Don Scott, YNCS (SS) USN (Ret.) |
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163k | Off Mare Island, 20 February 1945.
Photo from the collection of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum | Darryl Baker |
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112k | Off Mare Island, 20 February 1945. | Ed Zajkowski |
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109k | Amidships looking forward plan view of USS Albert W. Grant (DD 649) at Mare Island, 23 February 1945. She was in overhaul at the yard from 09 December 1944 to 25 February 1945. | Darryl Baker |
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105k | Amidships looking aft plan view of USS Albert W. Grant (DD 649) at Mare Island, 23 February 1945. | Darryl Baker |
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99k | The C.I.C team aboard USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) during the bombardment of Brunei Bay in support of the Australian landings, June 1945. Australian officer is at far left. Photo and text taken from "United States Destroyer Operations of World War II" by Theodore Roscoe. | Robert Hurst |
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48k | USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649) underway at speed during fleet operations against Balikpapan, Borneo, 03 July 1945.
Australian War Memorial photo 112183 | Darryl Baker |
| | Herbert J. Thomas (DD-833), Albert W. Grant (DD-649) and Henry A Wiley (DM-29) moored together at the San Diego inactive ship maintenance facility in 1971. The Thomas was sold to Taiwan three years after this photograph was taken and renamed Han Yang. The others were broken up the following year (Courtesy L.Cote). | Robert Hurst |
