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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
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Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390), 1937-1948

USS Ralph Talbot, a 1500-ton Bagley class destroyer built at the Boston Navy Yard, was commissioned in October 1937. For the next four years she served with the Battle Force, mainly in the Pacific. Based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after mid-1941, she was moored there when the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941 and was able to get to sea before the raid was finished. Ralph Talbot spent the next few months operating with carrier task forces, participating in some of the early raids on Japanese bases in the central Pacific.

After serving as an escort for shipping in the west coast and Hawaii areas, in June 1942 Ralph Talbot steamed to the south Pacific. She took part in the Guadalcanal-Tulagi operation in early August and in the Battle of Savo Island on the 9th of that month. She was seriously damaged by gunfire in that action, losing twelve of her crew, and necessitating a return to the U.S. for repairs.

Ralph Talbot's next combat operations were in the central Solomons, where she participated in the Rendova-New Georgia invasion and the Battle of Kolombangara in July 1943. Later in the year, the destroyer supported landings in New Britain and in the first month of 1944 performed similar duties off New Guinea. She was assigned to the central Pacific in mid-1944, where her guns bombarded the enemy on Saipan and Tinian in July. From late August, Ralph Talbot escorted Task Force 38's aircraft carriers during strikes on the Volcano and Bonin Islands, the Palaus, Okinawa, Formosa and the Philippines. In this role, she took part in the action off Cape Engaño during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 25 October 1944.

In January-June 1945, Ralph Talbot took part in operations to capture northern Luzon, Iwo Jima and the Ryukyus. She was hit by a "Kamikaze" suicide attack off Okinawa on 27 April but was repaired locally and remained on duty in the central and western Pacific until the end of the Pacific War. At the beginning of September 1945, the destroyer was present when Japanese forces on Truk surrendered.

Following service supporting the occupation of Japan, Ralph Talbot returned to the United States in November 1945. The following spring the now-elderly ship was designated as a target in the upcoming atomic bomb tests at Bikini, in the Marshall Islands. She was contaminated by radioactivity after the two July 1946 nuclear explosions and was decommissioned a month later. USS Ralph Talbot was scuttled in deep water off Kwajalain on 8 March 1948.

USS Ralph Talbot was named in honor of U.S. Marine Corps aviator Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot (1897-1918), who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in aerial action over France and Belgium in October 1918 and died in a plane crash later in that month.

This page features selected views concerning USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390).

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

Photo #: 19-N-18829 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 23 March 1938. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 590 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-18830 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 23 March 1938. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 550 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: NH 74277 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Silhouetted against the sun, while off Manhattan Island, New York City, in about 1938. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 605 pixels
Photo #: 19-N-29240 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 11 April 1942. Note that her port side anchor and boat davits have been removed as weight-saving measures. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-29238 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 11 April 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 595 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National
Photo #: USMC 61603 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Escorting the Guadalcanal-Tulagi invasion convoy, circa 7-8 August 1942. HMAS Australia is dimly visible in the far right distance, beyond the three destroyers manuevering there. Photographed by Corp. L.M. Ashman, USMC. U.S. Marine Corps Photograph. Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 620 pixels
Photo #: 19-N-40185 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Underway off Honolulu, Hawaii, circa January 1943. This photograph was received by the Bureau of Ships from Pearl Harbor, with a letter of 17 January 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 590 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-40186 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Underway off Honolulu, Hawaii, circa January 1943. This photograph was received by the Bureau of Ships from Pearl Harbor, with a letter of 17 January 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 580 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-40190 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Underway in Hawaiian waters, circa January 1943. This photograph was received by the Bureau of Ships from Pearl Harbor, with a letter of 17 January 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-65222 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Photograph received by the Bureau of Ships from the Hunter's Point Navy Yard, San Francisco, California, with a letter of 19 May 1944. It was probably taken in San Francisco Bay just prior to that date. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 33, Design 1d. Note U.S. Coast Guard ensign flying from the vessel carrying the photographer. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-114587 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 20 March 1946, with harbor tugs alongside and nearby. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 177KB; 740 x 620 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-114589 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 20 March 1946, with harbor tugs alongside and a crane barge by her bow. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 132KB; 740 x 555 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-17912 USS Ralph Talbot (DD-390) Plaque mounted aboard the ship in honor of Second Lieutenant Ralph Talbot, USMC Reserve Flying Corps. Presented by the People of Weymouth, Massachusetts on 31 October 1936, it was photographed at about that time by the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 71KB; 455 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

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Page made 6 November 2001
New image added 23 January 2008