USS Ward

Ward in dazzle camouflage in 1918 (as DD-139)
History
United States
NameWard
NamesakeJames H. Ward
BuilderMare Island Navy Yard
Laid down15 May 1918
Launched1 June 1918
Commissioned24 July 1918
Decommissioned21 July 1921
Recommissioned15 January 1941
ReclassifiedHigh-speed transport, APD-16, 6 February 1943
FateSunk by kamikaze[1] 7 December 1944
General characteristics
Class and typeWickes-class destroyer
Displacement1,247 long tons (1,267 t)
Length314 ft 4 in (95.8 m)
Beam30 ft 11 in (9.4 m)
Draft9 ft 10 in (3.0 m)
Propulsion
Speed35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Complement231 officers and enlisted
Armament

USS Ward was laid down as a 1,247-long-ton (1,267 t) Wickes-class destroyer (designated DD-139) in the United States Navy during World War I, later converted to a high speed transport (designated APD-16) in World War II. She was responsible for the first American-caused casualties in the Pacific in World War II when she engaged and sank a Japanese midget submarine before Japanese aircraft arrived in the attack on Pearl Harbor, killing both crewmen on board.

  1. ^ Brown, p. 133