View source for USS Witek

{{Short description|Gearing-class destroyer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[Image:USS Witek (DD-848) underway at sea in the mid-1950s.jpg|300px|USS Witek]]
|Ship caption=
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country= United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1968}}
|Ship name=USS ''Witek''
|Ship namesake=[[Frank P. Witek]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Bath Iron Works]], [[Bath, Maine]]
|Ship laid down= 16 July 1945
|Ship launched= 2 February 1946
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 23 April 1946
|Ship decommissioned= 19 August 1968
|Ship struck= 17 September 1968
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname= 
|Ship honors=
|Ship fate=Sunk as a target, 4 July 1969
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class= {{sclass|Gearing|destroyer}}
|Ship displacement= {{convert|3460|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full
|Ship length= {{convert|390|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|40|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|14|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship propulsion=Geared turbines, 2 shafts, {{convert|60000|shp|MW|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship speed= {{convert|35|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= {{convert|4500|nmi|km|abbr=on}} at {{convert|20|kn|abbr=on}}
|Ship complement=336
|Ship armament=*6 × [[5"/38 caliber gun]]s
*12 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40 mm AA guns]]
*11 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm AA guns]]
*10 × [[American 21-inch torpedo|21-inch (533 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s
*6 × [[depth charge]] projectors
*2 × depth charge tracks
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Witek'' (DD/EDD-848)''' was a {{sclass|Gearing|destroyer}} of the [[United States Navy]], named for [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] Private First Class [[Frank P. Witek]] (1921–1944), who was awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] posthumously for his heroism during the [[Battle of Guam (1944)|Battle of Guam]].

''Witek'' was laid down on 16 July 1945 at [[Bath, Maine]], by the [[Bath Iron Works]]; [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 2 February 1946; sponsored by Mrs. Nora Witek, the mother of PFC&nbsp;Witek; and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] at the [[Boston Naval Shipyard]] on 23 April 1946.

==Service history==

===1946&ndash;1957===
''Witek'' departed Boston on 27 May, bound for [[Cuba]]n waters, and reached [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base|Guantanamo Bay]] on 1 June. She conducted shakedown training out of Guantanamo until 2 July, when she headed north, returning to Boston on 6 July for post-shakedown availability. Fitted out for experimental development work in [[anti-submarine warfare]] (ASW) systems, ''Witek'' received the classification of '''EDD-848'''. She arrived at [[Naval Submarine Base New London|New London, Connecticut]], her new [[home port]], on 7 December 1946.

Over the next 20 years, ''Witek'' operated primarily off the eastern seaboard of the United States from [[Narragansett Bay]] to the [[Virginia Capes]] and to [[Key West, Florida]] She ranged on occasion into the [[Caribbean]] and touched at places such as [[Nassau, Bahamas]]; Guantanamo Bay and [[Havana]], Cuba; the [[Panama Canal Zone]]; [[St. Croix, Virgin Islands]]; [[Bridgetown, Barbados]]; [[San Juan, Puerto Rico]]; [[Hampton Roads]]; and Boston. On one occasion, the ship visited the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] – spending six months in operations out of [[Naval Station San Diego|San Diego, California]], testing the sound gear formerly installed in the [[Kriegsmarine|German]] [[heavy cruiser]] {{Ship|German cruiser|Prinz Eugen||2}} – in mid-1948. During those tests, carried out under the supervision of the [[Naval Electronics Laboratory]], ''Witek''{{'}}s silhouette took on a decidedly different "look" compared to that usually associated with a ''Gearing''-class destroyer. Her second twin 5-inch gun mount (mount&nbsp;52) was removed at the Boston Naval Shipyard, and its place was taken by the "house-trailer full" of former [[Germany|German]] electronics equipment. These tests included the sonic listening device '''GHG''', which had been used heavily by German submarines. That "trailer" was eventually removed at the [[Norfolk Naval Shipyard]] in the autumn of 1950. Its place was taken, in turn, by a trainable Mk.&nbsp;15 "[[Hedgehog (weapon)|hedgehog]]" anti-submarine mortar.

While at Nassau, Bahamas, in late October 1954, ''Witek'' went to the aid of the local fire department in the British colony when a serious fire threatened the city. Faced with a bad warehouse fire, 140&nbsp;men from ''Witek'' rushed into action with 3,000 feet of fire hose, [[walkie-talkie]] radio sets, "smoke-eater" masks, four fog applicators, and two portable pumps on Sunday, 24 October. Working for two hours alongside Nassau police, firemen, and volunteers, ''Witek''{{'}}s sailors earned a unanimous vote of thanks in "helping stem what might have been the most disastrous fire in the Colony's history."

Due to the nature of ''Witek''{{'}}s work, her routine was little publicized, and she gained none of the overseas deployment excitement in the course of her more than two decades of experimental work. She made no deployments to the [[Mediterranean]] nor any to the western Pacific; in addition, she never visited European waters. Outside visiting [[La Guaira]], Venezuela, the seaport for [[Caracas]], in January 1948, ''Witek'' spent most of her underway time off the eastern seaboard and in the [[western Atlantic]] – sometimes in the Caribbean – participating in experimental exercises with other units of the [[Operational Test and Evaluation Force|Operational Development Force]] based at New London. She operated primarily with other experimental ships, such as {{USS|Maloy|DE-791|2}} (EDE-791), and [[submarine]]s, testing ASW electronics installations. On some occasions, when she conducted project work out of New London, she would slip up the coast to [[Rockland, Maine]], or to [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth, N.H.]] Her local operations in [[Long Island Sound]] even earned her the nickname: "The Galloping Ghost of the Long Island Coast."

On occasion, though, outside her normal independent routine, ''Witek'' conducted exercises with [[carrier task force]]s for ASW maneuvers. During one such evolution in 1955, ''Witek'' exercised with the [[Aircraft carrier|fleet carrier]] {{USS|Leyte|CV-32|2}} (CVS-32) and the atomic submarine {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571|2}}; other carriers with which ''Witek'' operated included {{USS|Antietam|CVS-36|2}} and {{USS|Randolph|CVA-15|2}}.

===1958&ndash;1968===
Besides carrying out operational tests of ASW electronics equipment, ''Witek'' served as the test-bed for the "[[pump jet]]" propulsion system. On 2 July 1958, ''Witek'' entered Drydock No.&nbsp;4 at the Boston Naval Shipyard for an "extensive overhaul and installation of the pump jet system." The destroyer remained in [[drydock]] at Boston until a little over a week before Christmas, when she emerged with the new system installed. Over the ensuing years, ''Witek'' tested the system under operational conditions. In 1960, she operated for a time with [[Task Group Alpha]], the first time in four years since she had operated with the fleet. She conducted extensive ASW operations with that unit until returning to her home port.

Due to the grounding of {{USS|Bache|DD-470|2}} in early 1968, ''Witek'' was retained in active service. Subsequently, [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] at [[Naval Station Norfolk|Norfolk, Virginia]], on 19 August 1968, the ship's name was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy List]] on 17 September 1968. She was then berthed at the Inactive Ship Facility, Norfolk, to await final disposition. ''Witek'' was sunk as a target off [[Virginia]] on 4 July 1969.

==References==
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/enwiki/w/witek.html|http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd848txt.htm}}

==External links==
* {{navsource|05/848|USS Witek}}
* [http://www.usswitek.org/  USS ''Witek'' Association website]

{{Gearing class destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Witek (DD-848)}}
[[Category:Cold War destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Bath, Maine]]
[[Category:1946 ships]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]
[[Category:Gearing-class destroyers of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Virginia coast]]