USS Nicholson (DD-52)

USS ''Nicholson'' (Destroyer No. 52/DD-52) was an built for the United States Navy before the American entry into World War I. The ship was the second U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of five members of the Nicholson family who rendered distinguished service in the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War: brothers James, Samuel, and John Nicholson; William Nicholson, son of John; and James W. Nicholson, grandson of Samuel.

''Nicholson'' was laid down by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia in September 1913 and launched in August 1914. The ship was a little more than in length, just over abeam, and had a standard displacement of . She was armed with four guns and had eight 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. ''Nicholson'' was powered by a pair of steam turbines that propelled her at up to .

After her April 1915 commissioning, ''Nicholson'' sailed off the east coast and in the Caribbean. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, ''Nicholson'' was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown, Ireland. In October 1917, ''Nicholson'' steamed to the rescue of , driving off German submarine , which had shelled the American cargo ship for over three hours. In November, ''Nicholson'' and another US destroyer, , were responsible for sinking German submarine , the first submarine taken by US forces during the war. In September 1918, ''Nicholson'' helped drive off after that U-boat had torpedoed the American troopship off the coast of France.

Upon returning to the United States after the war, ''Nicholson'' was placed in reduced commission in November 1919. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia in May 1922. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in January 1936 and sold for scrapping in June.

Design and construction

''Nicholson'' was authorized in March 1913 as the second of six ships of the , which was an improved version of the s authorized in 1911. Construction of the vessel was awarded to William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia which laid down her keel on 8 September 1913, the same date as of sister ship . On 19 August 1914, ''Nicholson'' was launched by sponsor Mrs. Charles T. Taylor. The ship was the second US Navy ship named after five members of the Nicholson family who gave distinguished service in the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War. They were brothers James Nicholson, the senior Continental Navy Captain; Samuel Nicholson, the first captain of ; and John Nicholson; Also honored were William Nicholson, son of John; and James W. Nicholson, grandson of Samuel.

As built, the destroyer was in length, abeam, and drew . The ship had a standard displacement of and displaced when fully loaded.

''Nicholson'' had two Zoelly steam turbines that drove her two screw propellers, and an additional pair triple-expansion steam engines, each connected to one of the propeller shafts, for cruising purposes. Four oil-burning White-Forster boilers powered the engines, which could generate , moving the ship at up to . ''Nicholson'' reached an average speed of over a 4-hour run during sea trials on 23 March 1915.

''Nicholson''s main battery consisted of four /50 caliber Mark 9 guns,The ''50'' denotes the length of the gun barrels; in this case, the gun is 50 calibers, meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its bore, or in this case. The Mark number is the version of the gun; in this case, the ninth US Navy design of the 4-inch/50 gun. with each gun weighing in excess of . The guns fired armor-piercing projectiles at . At an elevation of 20°, the guns had a range of .

''Nicholson'' was also equipped with eight torpedo tubes. The General Board of the United States Navy had called for two anti-aircraft guns for the ''O'Brien''-class ships, as well as provisions for laying up to 36 floating mines. From sources, it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for ''Nicholson'' or any of the other ships of the class.

World War I

''Nicholson'' was commissioned into the United States Navy on 30 April 1915. After a shakedown cruise in the North Atlantic, ''Nicholson'' operated in the Caribbean and along the east coast until early 1917.

After the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 entering World War I, ''Nicholson'' was put to sea from New York on 15 May with , , , and . The destroyers arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, 24 May for duty in the war zone.

In mid-October, ''Nicholson'' was part of the destroyer escort, for the eastbound convoy HS 14. At 0850, an SOS was received from SS ''J. L. Luckenbach'', traveling independently some ahead of the convoy. Commander Alfred W. Johnson on , the commander of the escorting destroyer unit, dispatched ''Nicholson'' to steam ahead to assist ''J. L. Luckenbach'', which was being shelled by a German submarine.Sims, p. 148. ''J. L. Luckenbach'' was equipped with guns of her own, but they were outranged by the pair of deck guns on her attacker, ''U-62''. By the time ''Nicholson'' arrived on the scene at about 1230, ''U-62'' had been shelling ''J. L. Luckenbach'' for over three hours. Despite many rounds fired, only about a dozen had hit the American steamer; some of the hits, however, had ignited ''J. L. Luckenbach''s cargo of cotton.Sims, p. 149.''J. L. Luckenbach'' had originally been the North German Lloyd passenger vessel SS ''Saale'', which had burned at Hoboken, New Jersey in June 1900 with the loss of nearly a hundred persons. Coincidentally, the fire in New Jersey had begun when cotton on the pier next to ''Saale'' had ignited and spread to the ship. See: ''Nicholson'' trained her guns on the U-boat and, by the time her gunners had fired a second round, ''U-62'' submerged and disappeared. The destroyer transferred a damage control party aboard ''J. L. Luckenbach'' which helped extinguish the fire and repair some of the damages to the ship. A few hours later, ''J. L. Luckenbach'' and ''Nicholson'' joined and rejoined the convoy, respectively.

Sinking of ''U-58''

The following month, ''Nicholson'' had a more successful encounter with a U-boat. Operating as the destroyer division's flagship, ''Nicholson'' - under the command of Lieutenant Commander Frank D. BerrienSweetman, p. 124. - and her group had joined the eastbound convoy OQ 20 on the afternoon of 17 November.Sims, p. 154-55. At about 1615, ''Fanning'' was steaming to her position at the rear of the eight-ship convoy when her lookouts spotted a periscope just ahead. The periscope belonged to ''U-58'' under the command of ''Kapitänleutnant'' Gustav Amberger,Messimer, pp. 78–79. who was lining up a torpedo shot on the British steamer SS ''Welshman''.

While ''Fanning'' circled around and dropped a depth charge on the spot where the periscope had been seen, ''Nicholson'', which had raced through the convoy, dropped another in nearly the same location; both were to good effect.Sims, p. 156. The two depth charges knocked out the electric motor that powered ''U-58''s diving planes, making the vessel unmanageable. ''U-58'' broached the surface momentarily and ''Fanning'' dropped another trio of depth charges over the submarine. These three knocked out all electrical power and the manual diving plane controls, which caused the submarine to descend through a depth of . Amberger ordered the ballast tanks blown and the submarine slowly rose to the surface, stabilizing on the surface with her bow pointing down. The submarines' four officers and 35 men evacuated ''U-58'' and surrendered to ''Fanning'' at 16:28, but not before opening the sea valves to allow the U-boat to sink. One of ''U-58''s crewmen drowned before reaching ''Fanning'', while another died of a heart attack after he was brought aboard the destroyer.

An official account of the sinking was released to the press on 29 December, and ''Fanning'' and ''Nicholson'' shared credit for what ''The Washington Post'' in a contemporary news account called the "first U-Boat prize of the U.S." during the war; later works still credit the pair of destroyers with the US Navy's first U-Boat kill.

In February 1918, ''Nicholson'' transferred to Brest where she escorted convoys along the French coast. In early September 1918, ''Nicholson'' was one of six destroyers escorting a westbound pair of US Navy transports, and ''Mount Vernon''.Gleaves, p. 143. On the morning of 5 September, about west of Brest, German submarine ''U-82'' torpedoed ''Mount Vernon'', knocking out half of the troopship's boilers. ''Nicholson'', , , and , all depth charged the U-boat without success, but, combined with defensive efforts from ''Mount Vernon'' herself, helped prevent the submarine from launching a ''coup de grâce'' against the former German liner.Gleaves, pp. 144–45. ''Mount Vernon'' safely made it back to Brest with the loss of 37 crewmen out of the 1,450 passengers and crew on board.Gleaves, p. 148.

Postwar period

Following the signing of the Armistice on 11 November, which ended all fighting, ''Nicholson'' remained in French waters. After arriving at New York on 10 January 1919, ''Nicholson'' resumed operations along the east coast until placed in reserve at Philadelphia on 27 November.

In July 1920, she was assigned the hull code of ''DD-52'' under the US Navy's alphanumeric classification system. In May 1921, ''Nicholson'' was reactivated with a reduced complement. She remained active for about a year, until she was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 26 May 1922. The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 January 1936, and on 30 June was sold for scrapping.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson (DD-52)
O'Brien-class destroyers
Ships built by William Cramp & Sons
1914 ships
World War I destroyers of the United States