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Photo # 80-G-K-15590:  USS Edwards underway in the Caribbean, circa November 1942

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Edwards (DD-619), 1942-1973

USS Edwards, a 1630-ton Gleaves class destroyer built at Kearny, New Jersey, was commissioned in September 1942. Following shakedown in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean, she was sent to the Pacific in November 1942 to join the war against Japan. She was present during the late January 1943 air-sea Battle of Rennell Island, the last major naval combat action of the Guadalcanal Campaign.

In April 1943 Edwards went to the Aleutians, where she participated in the campaigns to recapture Attu and Kiska. On 12 May, she joined other destroyers in sinking the Japanese submarine I-31 off Attu. Sent back to warmer climates after the recovery of Kiska, Edwards escorted aircraft carriers during strikes on Rabaul in November 1943. Later in the month she supported the later phases of the Gilberts Campaign.

During March-August 1944, Edwards patrolled in the Central Pacific, also screening the fast carriers during raids in the Marshalls, Carolines and New Guinea. In October, she steamed to Leyte to participate in the battle for the Philippines. Her subsequent activities included the Ormoc Bay invasion in December 1944, convoy escort service, and the assault on Borneo in May-July 1945. More convoy duty followed until Japan capitulated in mid-August. Edwards left the former war zone in September, en route to the United States. She was decommissioned at Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1946. USS Edwards spent the next twenty-five years in the Atlantic Reserve fleet. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in July 1971, she was sold for scrapping in May 1973.

USS Edwards was named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Walter A. Edwards, USN, (1886-1928), who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism while commanding USS Bainbridge (DD-246) during the 16 December 1922 rescue of 482 survivors of the burning French transport Vinh-Long.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Edwards (DD-619).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 80-G-K-15590 (Color)

USS Edwards (DD-619)

Underway in the Caribbean Sea during her shakedown period, circa November 1942.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 530 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

Note:
This image has been cropped to emphasize the ship. The original transparency in the National Archives shows considerably more ocean and sky.

 
Photo #: NH 98119

USS Edwards (DD-619)


At Port Newark, New Jersey, on 27 October 1942 or 27 October 1945, with a large crowd on board and nearby for Navy Day ceremonies.
Photographed by the U.S. Steel Corporation.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 132KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98118

USS Edwards (DD-619)


Launching, at the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Kearny, New Jersey, on 19 July 1942.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 68KB; 335 x 765 pixels

 


In addition to the views referenced above, the National Archives appears to hold at least three other photographs of USS Edwards (DD-619). The following listing describes these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • Photo #: 80-G-230027
    USS Edwards (DD-619) underway at sea "on North Atlantic Patrol". The photograph is dated "10/27". No year is given, but it must have been 1942.
    Port bow surface view, with white capped waves around the ship and another ship's wake in the foreground.

  • Photo #: 80-G-321671
    USS Edwards (DD-619) underway at sea. Photograph taken by USS Chenango (CVE-28). It is undated, but was received 15 May 1945.
    Port stern surface view, taken from about the height of Edwards' gun director.

  • Photo #: USN 1049789
    USS Edwards (DD-619) afloat immediately after she was launched, at Kearny, New Jersey, 19 July 1942.
    Starboard bow surface view, with the ship's structure cropped out of the view from the after deckhouse to her stern. She was launched with her 5"/38 guns and torpedo tubes in place, but without gunhouse shields, and is decorated with flags for the launching ceremony. A harbor tug is in the foreground, visible from off its port side.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed above are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 20 October 2002