USS Harwood (DD-861)

USS Harwood (DD-861) in 1945
History
United States
Name: USS Harwood
Builder: Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Pedro, California
Laid down: 29 October 1944
Launched: 22 May 1945
Commissioned: 28 September 1945
Decommissioned: 1 February 1971
Struck: 1 February 1971
Fate: Sold to Turkey, 17 December 1971
Turkey
Name: TCG Kocatepe (D 354)
Acquired: 17 December 1971
Fate: Sunk in error by Turkish aircraft, 22 July 1974
General characteristics
Class and type: Gearing-class destroyer
Displacement: 3,460 long tons (3,516 t) full
Length: 390 ft 6 in (119.02 m)
Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Draft: 14 ft 4 in (4.37 m)
Propulsion: General Electric geared turbines, 2 shafts, 60,000 shp (45 MW)
Speed: 36.8 knots (68.2 km/h; 42.3 mph)
Range: 4,500 nmi (8,300 km) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 336
Armament:

USS Harwood (DD/DDE-861) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was named for Commander Bruce L. Harwood USN (1910–1944) who was twice awarded the Navy Cross, and killed in action during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Harwood was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at San Pedro in California on 29 October 1944, launched on 22 May 1945, by Mrs. Bruce Lawrence Harwood, widow of Commander Harwood and commissioned on 28 September 1945.

Harwood alternated operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean with the 2nd Fleet with deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul at the New York Naval Shipyard between 2 May 1961 and 2 February 1962.

Harwood was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 February 1971, transferred to the Turkish Navy on 17 December 1971, and renamed TCG Kocatepe (D 354). The ship was sunk in error by Turkish aircraft on 22 July 1974, mistaking it for a Greek vessel during Turkish landings on Cyprus (see also Turkish invasion of Cyprus and Friendly fire). Sixty-seven Turkish marines and members of her crew were killed in the incident.

USS Harwood (DDE-861) in 1960.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.

External links

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