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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 97787:  USS O'Brien soon after completion, circa 1940

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

USS O'Brien (DD-415), 1940-1942

USS O'Brien, a 1570-ton Sims class destroyer, was built at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts. She was commissioned in early March 1940 and operated in the Atlantic area for nearly two years. In January 1942, soon after the United States was brought into World War II, O'Brien was sent to join the Pacific Fleet. She was employed on patrol and convoy escort duties out of Pearl Harbor during March and April, then shifted to Samoa for more than a month of service in the south Pacific before returning to Hawaii. The destroyer began operations in support of the campaign to hold Guadalcanal, in the southern Solomon Islands, in mid-August 1942.

On 15 September, while serving with a carrier task force in the Guadalcanal area, O'Brien was hit in the extreme bow by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-19, only a few minutes after the same submarine had torpedoed the carrier Wasp (CV-7). Though the damage appeared modest to the casual observer, the shock of the explosion had severely flexed the ship's lightly-constructed hull, much weakening her structure amidships. After emergency repairs at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, and Noumea, New Caledonia, she began the long transit back to the United States for permanent restoration, stopping at Suva, Fiji, in mid-October. However, while at sea off Samoa on 19 October 1942, O'Brien's hull failed amidships. She began to break in two, sinking after her crew had abandoned ship. Her loss taught the Navy important damage control and repair lessons that would be invaluable during the rest of the Pacific War.

This page features our only views of USS O'Brien (DD-415).


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 97787

USS O'Brien (DD-415)


Photographed soon after completion, circa 1940.

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

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 545 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-457818

USS O'Brien (DD-415)


Is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the Guadalcanal Campaign, 15 September 1942.
USS Wasp (CV-7), torpedoed a few minutes earlier, is burning in the left distance.
O'Brien was hit in the extreme bow, but "whipping" from the torpedo explosion caused serious damage to her hull amidships, leading to her loss on 19 October 1942, while she was en route back to the United States for repairs.

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

Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 480 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-22178

USS O'Brien (DD-415)


Ship's Historical Data Plaque, photographed at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 3 September 1940.

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

Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 630 pixels

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

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS O'Brien (DD-415), taken soon after she was torpedoed. The following list features two 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-20942
    USS O'Brien (DD-415) at Suva, Fiji, 16 October 1942.
    View is taken from directly off the ship's port side, showing her damaged bow, and her Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage scheme.

  • Photo #: 80-G-20943
    USS O'Brien (DD-415) at Suva, Fiji, 16 October 1942.
    View is taken from directly off the bow, with a pier in the foreground.

    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."


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    Page made 5 December 2001