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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 53548:  USS Hobson off Charleston, S.C., 4 March 1942.

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

USS Hobson (DD-464, later DMS-26), 1942-1952

USS Hobson, a 1630-ton Gleaves class destroyer, was built at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina. Commissioned in January 1942, she escorted the carrier Ranger across the Atlantic in mid-year and participated with her in the November invasion of North Africa. Hobson continued as Ranger's consort for most of 1943, taking part in the carrier strike on shipping off Norway in October. She served with anti-submarine task groups during the first months of 1944, helping to sink the German submarine U-575 on 13 March. In June and August, Hobson was part of the great armadas that supported the invasions of Normandy and Southern France. Convoy escort duties followed, lasting until November 1944, when she began conversion to a destroyer-minesweeper.

Redesignated DMS-26, Hobson steamed through the Panama Canal in January 1945 to join the war against Japan. Beginning in March, she participated in the invasion of Okinawa, providing minesweeping, patrol, radar picket and night illumination services. She was damaged by a suicide plane attack on 16 April and was later sent to the U.S. east coast for repairs, which lasted until after the Second World War ended.

Hobson remained on active duty with the Atlantic Fleet during the post-war years. When the Korean War's outbreak in late June 1950 intensified the ongoing tensions with the Soviet Union, her schedule became more vigorous, including participation in amphibious exercises and service as a fleet escort. On the night of 26 April 1952, while screening USS Wasp in the central Atlantic, the carrier collided with the much smaller destroyer minesweeper. In one of the great tragedies of the Cold War, USS Hobson was cut in two, sinking with 176 of her crew.

USS Hobson was named in honor of Rear Admiral Richmond P. Hobson, a Naval Constructor and hero of the Spanish-American War.

This page features our only views of USS Hobson, and a selected photograph of her christening.


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 #: NH 53548

USS Hobson (DD-464)


Off Charleston, South Carolina, 4 March 1942. She is painted in camouflage Measure 12 (Modified).
This photograph has been censored to remove radar antennas atop her foremast and Mark 37 gun director.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53549

USS Hobson (DD-464)


Off Charleston, South Carolina, 4 March 1942. She is painted in camouflage Measure 12 (Modified).
This photograph has been censored to remove radar antennas atop her foremast and Mark 37 gun director.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 585 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-418 (Color)

USS Hobson (DD-464)

Underway in the Atlantic, circa late 1942.
She is painted in camouflage Measure 15.

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

Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 53550

USS Hobson (DD-464)


Expended cartridge cases and powder tanks from the ship's 5"/38 guns litter the deck, after firing in support of the Normandy invasion off Utah Beach, 6 June 1944. View was taken on the ship's afterdeck, with mount 54 at right.

Courtesy of Rear Admiral Kenneth Loveland, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 515 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97512

USS Wasp (CV-18)


Damage to the carrier's bow from her 26 April 1952 collision with USS Hobson (DMS-26). Photographed in drydock at Bayonne, New Jersey.
Photograph released 19 May 1952.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53551

USS Hobson (DD-464)


Is christened by Mrs. Richmond P. Hobson, at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, 8 September 1941. Looking on are Bishop Albert S. Thomas and The Honorable Joseph W. Powell.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 


One of the ships seen in the following photograph is probably USS Hobson (DD-464):

Photo #: 19-N-26590 (cropped)

Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina

Destroyers fitting out and refitting alongside the Navy Yard piers in January 1942. These ships are (from left to right):
USS Tillman (DD-641), commissioned 9 June 1942;
probably USS Beatty (DD-640), commissioned 7 May 1942;
probably USS Hobson (DD-464), commissioned 22 January 1942;
USS Anderson (DD-411);
USS Hammann (DD-412); and
USS Mustin (DD-413).
Note that the three incomplete ships at left are painted in Measure 12 camouflage, while those refitting (at right) wear Camouflage Measure 12 (Modified).
This image is cropped from Photo # 19-N-26590, which shows USS Morris (DD-417). Note (in the left foreground, atop her Mark 37 gun director) the bracket for the antenna of an FD radar.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 138KB; 1200 x 510 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Arc

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Hobson (DD-464 and DMS-26). The following list features some of 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-16186
    USS Hobson (DD-464) on 1 September 1942, photographed by USS Ranger (CV-4).
    Port bow surface view, underway. Hobson is painted in camouflage Measure 15.

  • Photo #: 80-G-229311
    USS Hobson (DD-464) underway off the U.S. east coast (position 36 54'N, 75 35'W) steaming on course 264, at 1150 hrs, 18 April 1944. Photographed a blimp of squadron ZP-14, from NAS Weeksville, N.C. She is probably in company with USS Corry (DD-463).
    Port bow aerial view. Hobson is painted in camouflage Measure 22.

  • Photo #: 80-G-391654
    USS Hobson (DMS-26) at sea, 9 March 1948. Photographed by USS Coral Sea (CVB-43).
    Port bow surface view, underway. Hobson wears a large number "26" on her bow.


    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 in this box 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."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 9 March 2001
    New image added 8 September 2006