POSTAVENO
HISTORY
Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh
(April 5, 1888 – December 7, 1941)
On December 4, USS Arizona sailed under
his command with the USS Nevada (BB-36)
and USS Oklahoma (BB-37) for night firing
exercises, and after completing the exercises, returned to Pearl Harbor on December
6 to moor berth F-7 alongside Ford Island.
Captain Van Valkenburgh, as well as the
Commander of the 1st Battleship Division,
Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, spent Saturday evening of December 6 aboard Arizona. When the alarm was sounded at 0800
on the morning of December 7, he ran from
his cabin and reached the navigation bridge,
where he immediately began directing the
defense of his ship and where he was killed
either by the explosion of a Japanese bomb
in the bow or by the subsequent fatal explosion of the ammunition magazines. His body,
like that of Rear Admiral Kidd and much of
the other 1,175 members of the Arizona‘s
crew, was never recovered. As in the case
of Rear Admiral Kidd, his Annapolis Naval
Academy graduate ring was found during
the salvage work.
Captain Van Valkenburgh was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The citation
Navy Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh be- for the Medal of Honor states: “For conspicame Captain of the Arizona on February cuous devotion to duty, extraordinary cour5, 1941, succeeding Captain Harold C. Train. age and complete disregard of his own life,
during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor T.H., by Japanese forces on December
7, 1941. As commanding officer of the U.S.S.
Arizona, Capt. Van Valkenburgh gallantly
fought his ship until the U.S.S. Arizona blew
up from magazine explosions and a direct
bomb hit on the bridge which resulted in the
loss of his life.“
The Fletcher-class destroyer USS Van Valkenburgh (DD-656), launched on 19 December 1943 and commissioned on 2 August
1944, was named in his honor. The ship took
part in a number of operations against Japanese forces in the Pacific, participated
in support of the landings at Iwo Jima and
Okinawa, operated in Japanese waters
at the end of the war, arrived at Nagasaki,
destroyed by atomic bombing, on 15 September, and participated in the repatriation of Allied prisoners of war the following
week. After the war, the ship continued in
service, participated in the Korean War, and
was retired from US Navy service in 1954.
She remained in reserve, however, and in
1967 was sold to Turkey, where she served
in the Turkish Navy as TCG Izmir (D 341)
until the 1980s. She was finally retired from
service and scrapped in 1987.
General characteristics
as completed (1916)
final configuration (1941)
length overall
maximum beam
max. draft (at full load)
standard displacement
full load displacement
machinery
shaft horsepower
maximum speed
fuel oil capacity
reserve boiler feed water
endurance
electricity
608´ 0´´
97´ 0+1/2´´
29´ 10´´
31,400 tons
32,567 tons
12 x Babcock&Wilcox boilers
8 Parsons-type turbines on four shafts
34,000 SHP, four propellers, 12´ 1+1/2´´ diameter
21 knots
2,332 tons
373,5 tons
4,750 nautical miles at 15 knots
4 x 300 kW/240 volt turbo-generator sets
complement/accommodations
1,087 total; 56 officers, 1,031 enlisted
armor protection
sides: mail belt 13,5´´ – 8´´
decks: 120-lb and 40 to 60-lb
turrets: face plates 18´´, sides 9 to 10´´
conning tower: 16´´
14 x 14´´cal. 45 Mk. 3 (4 x III)
22 x 5´´cal. 51 Mk.15 (22 x I)
4 x 4´´cal. 50 Mk. 21 (4 x I)
2 x 21´´fixed TT Mk. 3 (2 x I)
Saluting cannons and practice
loading guns not included
608´0´´
106´ 2+3/4´´
30´ 1+3/4´´
32,600 tons
37,654 tons
6 x Bureau-Express boilers
4 Westinghouse geared turbines
35,081 SHP, four propellers, 12´ 7´´
20,7 knots
4,630 tons
323 tons
13,600 nautical miles at 15 knots
4 x 400 kW/120-240 volt turbo-generator sets
2 x auxiliary generators (2 x 88 kW)
2,037 total, 90 officers, 72 chief petty officers,
1,947 enlisted
same
120 + 70-lb and 40 to 60-lb
same
same
14x14´´cal. 45 Mk. 12 (4 x III)
10x5´´cal. 51 Mk. 15 (10 x I)
8 x 5´´cal. 25 Mk.11 (8 x I)
8 x 0,50´´ Browning M2921A1 (8 x I)
armament
April 2022
INFO Eduard
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