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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Southard (DMS 10)



Call sign:
Nan - Able - Jig - King

ex-DD-207
ex-Destroyer No. 207

Clemson Class Destroyer/Chandler Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 18 August 1918 by William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Co., Philadelphia, PA
  • Launched 31 March 1919
  • Commissioned USS Southard, Destroyer No. 207, 24 September 1919
  • Designated DD-207, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 7 February 1922 at San Diego, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • Recommissioned 6 January 1930
  • Reclassified and converted to a Highspeed Minesweeper, DMS-10, 19 October 1940
  • Lost due to grounding in September 1945 at Tsuken Shima, Ryukyus Islands, Japan
  • Decommissioned 5 December 1945
  • Struck from the Naval Register 8 January 1946
  • Hulk destroyed 14 January 1946.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,190 t.(lt), 1,750 t.(fl)
  • Length 314' 5"
  • Beam 31' 8"
  • Draft 12' 2"
  • Speed 32.5 kts.
  • Complement 149
  • Armament: Three 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount and one twin 40mm mount
  • Propulsion: Three White-Forster boilers, two 26,000shp Bethlehem (Parsons design) geared turbines, De Laval single reduction gear, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Southard 88k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942
    U.S. Navy photo NH 97942    		 Naval Historical Center
    Southard 270k Off Mare Island on 9 June 1942
    Photo DMS 10 3191-6-42 from the files of the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum    		 Darryl Baker
    Southard 91k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942
    U.S. Navy photos NH 97943    		 Naval Historical Center
    Southard 133k At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942. Note that she still retains her original four smokestacks and 4"/50 guns. Other items visible include her whaleboat and gig, engine room hatches, reels for minesweeping cables, .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on the rear corners of her after deckhouse, depth charge tracks and minesweeping gear on her stern. A former sister ship, still fitted as a destroyer, is alongside, at left
    National Archives photos 19-N-30506 and 19-N-30509
    Southard 150k
    Southard 78k Photographed from dead ahead, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 June 1942. The actual date of the photo may be 9 June 1942. Note details of her conversion to a fast minesweeper: squared-off triangular transom, with her name visible; sweep gear and davits on the stern; depth charge tracks angled out over the propeller guards; .50 caliber anti-aircraft machineguns at the rear of her after deckhouse
    National Archives photos 19-N-30507 and 19-N-30508
    Southard 82k
    Southard 84k Off San Francisco, California, 27 May 1943, after overhaul
    U.S. Navy photos NH 97944 and NH 49821
    Southard 67k
    Southard 185k 27 May 1943
    Aft and forward plan views at Mare Island Navy Yard. Areas modified during the overhaul indicated by circles
    U.S. Navy photos 3946-43 and 3947-43    		 Darryl Baker
    Southard 223k
    Southard 203k c. 1945
    Off Mare Island Navy Yard
    From the collection of John Dickey
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Ed Zajkowski
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Russell Willson, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918), the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1942) and the Army Distinguished Service Medal (1946) - Retired as Vice Admiral    		24 September 1919 - 10 May 1920
    02CDR Isaac Foote Dortch, USN10 May 1920 - 1921
    03LCDR George William Kenyon, USN - USNA Class of 1907
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Commander    		1921 - 7 February 1922
    04LCDR Oliver Lee Downes, USN6 January 1930 - 10 April 1931
    05LT Robert Todd Whitten, USN10 April 1931 - 16 April 1931 (XOIC)
    06CDR Oscar Charles Badger, II, USN - USNA Class of 1911
    Awarded the Medal of Honor (1915), the Navy Cross (1918) and four Legions of Merit (Two in 1944 and two in 1945) - Retired as Admiral    		16 April 1931 - 23 June 1932
    07LCDR William Isiah Causey, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1913
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain    		23 June 1932 - 31 May 1933
    08LCDR Wallis Gearing, USN31 May 1933 - 9 February 1935
    09LCDR William J. Morcott, USN9 February 1935 - 19 May 1936
    10LCDR William Wohlsen Behrens, USN - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral19 May 1936 - 12 May 1938
    11CDR Robert Leon Boller, USN12 May 1938 - 21 January 1939
    12LCDR Alvin Duke Chandler, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit (1943)
    Retired as Vice Admiral    		21 January 1939 - 18 July 1940
    13LCDR Joe Brice Cochran, USN - USNA Class of 1926
    Awarded the Silver Star (1942), The Legion of Merit (1944) and the Bronze Star (1945) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		18 July 1940 - 26 September 1942
    14LCDR John Gardner Tennent, III, USN - USNA Class of 1932
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1943) and Posthumously, the Legion of Merit with Combat V (1944)    		26 September 1942 - 14 May 1943
    15LCDR Frederick Richard Matthews, USN14 May 1943 - 1 June 1944
    16LCDR John Edward Brennan, USNR - Awarded the Silver Star (1945)1 June 1944 - 1 September 1945
    17LT John Ryan, USN1 September 1945 - 13 November 1945
    18ENS Robert Samuel Coney, USN13 November 1945 - 5 December 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Southard (DMS-10)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Southard (DD-207)
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