Misplaced Pages

#116883

28-584: USS Mason has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to: USS  Mason  (DD-191) , a destroyer in commission from 1920 to 1922 and from 1939 to 1940 USS  Mason  (DE-529) , a destroyer escort in commission from 1944 to 1945 USS  Mason  (DDG-87) , a destroyer in commission since 2003 See also [ edit ] USS  Charlie B. Mason  (SP-1225) USS  Leonard F. Mason  (DD-852) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] List of ships with

56-452: A 3 feet (0.91 m) deep band as a flotilla leader. As a divisional leader they had a 2 feet (0.61 m) wide vertical band the same colour as, and extending 6 feet (1.8 m) below, the upper flotilla band. Leaders bands were white for Home Fleet, red for Mediterranean Fleet, and the system of flotilla bands changed to; Flotilla bands were used throughout the war although war-losses, operational requirements, and new construction broke up

84-408: A fairly systematic basis, later allocations were on the basis of re-allocating numbers made available by the disposal of older vessels. The next major revision took place in the late 1930s, when the volume of new construction was such that insufficient 'spare' numbers were now available for new ships. Accordingly, older cruisers had the flag-superior 'I' added in front of their existing plain numbers; as

112-416: A flag inferior, uniquely identifies an individual ship. Not all pennant numbers have a flag superior. The Royal Navy first used pennants to distinguish its ships in 1661 with a proclamation that all of his majesty's ships must fly a union pennant. This distinction was further strengthened by a proclamation in 1674 which forbade merchant vessels from flying any pennants. The system of numbering pennants

140-629: A local basis. However, in November 1919 a new navy-wide system was introduced, with the intention that ships should now carry a permanent number. In most cases, plain numbers were given to capital ships and cruisers, and ones with flags-superior to smaller ships. While the numbers allocated to major warships (except for a few older vessels) would generally remain stable into the 1930s, destroyers were subject to further revisions, stability being reached in January 1922. While 1919/1922 numbers were allocated on

168-420: A new number. The Admiralty took the situation in hand and first compiled a "Naval Pendant List" in 1910, with ships grouped under the distinguishing flag of their type. In addition, ships of the 2nd and 3rd (i.e. reserve) fleets had a second flag superior distinguishing from which naval depot they were crewed: "C" for Chatham , "D" for Devonport , "N" for Nore and "P" for Portsmouth . A completely new system

196-476: A pennant number system based on that of the Royal Navy. The system guarantees that, amongst those navies and other navies that later joined, all pennant numbers are unique. The United States and Canada do not participate in this system; their ships are identified by unique hull classification symbols . Participating countries, with their assigned number ranges, include: The NATO pennant number system added

224-712: A result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 6 February 1922 limiting naval armament, the destroyer was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 3 July 1922. After World War II broke out in Europe, Mason recommissioned 4 December 1939. Under terms of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement of 2 September 1940, she became one of 50 overage ships of this class turned over to United Kingdom in exchange for 99-year leases on strategic bases in

252-409: A result, submarines, which had previously used 'I', were given a new scheme of flags-inferior. Other changes were also made at this time. The next major change took place in 1940, when there was a wholesale set of changes to flags-superior, including the old cruisers changing from 'I' to 'D'. Traditionally, a pennant number was reported with a full stop "." between the flag superior or inferior and

280-678: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles USS Mason (DD-191) USS Mason (DD-191) was a Clemson -class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II . She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Broadwater (H81) . The first Navy ship named for Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason (1799–1859), Mason was laid down by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company , Newport News, Virginia on 10 July 1918. The ship

308-425: Is not used (for instance the helicopter carrier Ocean  (L12) was followed by Albion  (L14) ). From 1925, flotilla leaders were issued with but did not paint on pendant numbers. Instead, a broad band 4 feet (1.2 m) deep was painted round their fore-funnel. Divisional leaders wore a pendant number and had a narrower 2 feet (0.61 m) deep band on the fore-funnel, painted 3 feet (0.91 m) from

SECTION 10

#1732772857117

336-423: The "H" and "L", and some transferred American vessels, were not issued names, only numbers. In these cases, the pendant number was simply the hull number inverted (i.e. L24 was issued pendant "24L"). Pre-war photos show the pendants painted correctly, with the flag inferior, but wartime photos show that the numbers tend to be painted "backwards", in that the inferior was painted on as a superior. For obvious reasons,

364-703: The Western Hemisphere. Mason arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia , 2 October; decommissioned 8 October 1940; and was transferred to the British Royal Navy as HMS Broadwater with the pennant number H81 the next day. On 15 October she departed Halifax for the British Isles , via St. John's, Newfoundland , arriving in the River Clyde , Scotland, on the 26th for service with the 11th Escort Group, Western Approaches Command . During

392-846: The early part of 1941 the Broadwater escorted convoys , carrying troops and military supplies, around the Cape of Good Hope to the Middle East. She spent May and June at Southampton England. Assigned to the Newfoundland Escort Force in July, the ship patrolled the North Atlantic and guarded convoys against the German submarine " wolfpacks " into the fall of that year. Detached from escorting Convoy TC 14, early in

420-465: The first letter of the ship's name) for aircraft carriers and large vessels operating aircraft, and pairs of letters (usually letters from the ship's name) for smaller vessels. The United States Navy , with its larger fleet, uses the numeric part of the hull classification number (a system analogous to pennant numbers). Deck codes used by contemporary major British naval warships include: Several European NATO and Commonwealth navies agreed to introduce

448-412: The funnels. Flotilla leaders continued to display a large band at the top of the funnel and half leaders would carry a thin black band around the funnel. Aircraft carriers and vessels operating aircraft have a deck code painted on the flight deck to aid identification by aircraft attempting to land. This is in a position clearly visible on the approach path. The Royal Navy uses a single letter (typically

476-526: The homogeneity of the destroyer flotillas. Vessels were deployed as and when they were needed or available, and were often incorporated into mixed "escort groups" containing a range of vessel types such as sloops , corvettes , frigates and escort carriers . A few of the escort groups adopted funnel bands; others (like the B7 escort group) wore letters on their funnels. Post-war Flotillas were no longer identified by bands, but by large cast metal numbers bolted to

504-536: The inferior "U" was not used so as not to confuse friendly ships with German U-boats . For similar reasons "V" was not used. Pendant numbers 00–10, 13, and those ending in a zero were not allocated to flag inferiors. After the Second World War, in 1948, the Royal Navy adopted a rationalised "pennant" number system where the flag superior indicated the basic type of ship as follows. "F" and "A" use two or three digits, "L" and "P" up to four. Again, pennant 13

532-531: The morning of 17 October she attacked a U-boat , one of a pack assaulting the eastbound Convoy SC 48 some 400 miles (640 km) south of Iceland. That night Broadwater was hit by torpedoes of U-101 and sank at 13:40 on 18 October. Four officers and forty crew lost their lives including Lt. John Stanley Parker RNVR , the first American to die in action whilst serving under the White Ensign. Broadwater ' s bell and ship's documents were presented to

560-495: The number was increased by 100, 200 or 300, as necessary. The 1948 system was later taken over by NATO, and a single pennant list set up for all NATO navies, apart from the USA and Canada. During the 1970s, the service stopped painting pennant numbers on submarines on the grounds that, with the arrival of nuclear boats, they spent too little time on the surface, although submarines do continue to be issued numbers. HMS  Lancaster

588-506: The number, although this practice has gradually been dropped, and inter-war photos after about 1924 tend not to have the full stop painted on the hull. The system was used throughout the navies of the British Empire so that a ship could be transferred from one navy to another without changing its pennant number. Pennant numbers were originally allocated by individual naval stations and when a ship changed station it would be allocated

SECTION 20

#1732772857117

616-549: The people of Broadwater, Nebraska by the British government after the end of World War II. They can be viewed at the Broadwater Public Library and City Museum. 57°1′N 19°8′W  /  57.017°N 19.133°W  / 57.017; -19.133 Pennant number In the current system, a letter prefix , called a flag superior , identifies the type of ship, and numerical suffix , called

644-517: The same or similar names This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Mason&oldid=1052113440 " Categories : Set index articles on ships United States Navy ship names Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description

672-487: The top. The Mediterranean Fleet wore black leader bands and the Atlantic – later Home Fleet wore white bands. The flotillas wore combinations of bands on their after funnel to identify them. From 1925 the following bands were worn; When single funnelled destroyers entered the fleet with the J class in 1939 and with an expansion in the number of flotillas, the system was changed accordingly. Single funnelled ships wore

700-425: Was launched 8 March 1919; sponsored by Miss Mary Mason Williams, great-granddaughter of Secretary Mason. Mason was commissioned at Norfolk Navy Yard 28 February 1920, with Lieutenant Carl F. Holden temporarily in command until 8 March. On 17 July Mason was designated DD-191. After shakedown off Norfolk, Virginia , she operated along the east coast for the next 2 years until she sailed for Philadelphia . As

728-403: Was adopted in 1948, when flags-superior specific to a type of ship were introduced. For example, cruisers had the flag-superior 'C', destroyers 'D', frigates 'F' and carriers 'R'. In general, the existing numerical part of a ship's number was kept, except where this would lead to duplication (especially in the case of frigates, where 'F' now absorbed the former 'K', 'L' and 'U' lists), in which case

756-602: Was adopted prior to the First World War to distinguish between ships with the same or similar names, to reduce the size and improve the security of communications, and to assist recognition when ships of the same class are together. During the First World War, pennant numbers were changed on a regular basis, with only those for ships in Home waters centrally controlled; those on foreign stations were allocated on

784-490: Was initially allocated the pennant number F232, until it was realised that in the Royal Navy, form number 232 is the official report for ships that have run aground; sailors being superstitious, it was quickly changed to F229. Pendant number 13 was not allocated. Pendant numbers 13 were not allocated to flag superiors. The letters J and K were used with three number combinations due to the number of vessels. Flags inferior were applied to submarines. Royal Navy submarines of

#116883