USS Hobson (DD-464/DMS-26), a , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Richmond Pearson Hobson, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions during the Spanish–American War. He would later in his career attain the rank of rear admiral and go on to serve as a congressman from the state of Alabama.
Hobson, constructed at a cost of $5 million, was launched at the Charleston Navy Yard on 8 September 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Grizelda Hobson, widow of Rear Admiral Hobson. As the new destroyer slid down the ways, she was cheered on by spectators and whistle blasts from other vessels on the Cooper River. Hobson was commissioned on 22 January 1942.
In 1952, Hobson collided with the aircraft carrier and sank with the loss of 176 crew. The ships had been undertaking amphibious exercises in the Atlantic, with Wasp practicing night flying, when Hobson attempted to turn in front of the carrier and collided with Wasp. Hobson was broken in two and quickly sank, causing the greatest loss of life on a US Navy ship since World War II.
Service prior to D-day
Hobson was pennant of Destroyer Division 20 (DesDiv 20), composed of , and that along with Destroyer Division 19 made up Destroyer Squadron 10 (DesRon 10), with its pennant on ; Destroyer Flotilla Four, with its flag on ; Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet. Following extensive shakedown and training operations in Casco Bay, Maine, the new destroyer under command of Lt. Cdr. Kenneth Loveland and her sister ships of Desdiv 20 joined veteran aircraft carrier at Norfolk, Virginia, and sailed on 1 July 1942 to escort her to Africa. Carrying a vital cargo of 72 P-40 aircraft, Ranger arrived safely via Trinidad, unloaded the planes and returned with Desdiv 20 on 5 August 1942. Hobson then conducted training exercises off Newport, Rhode Island, and Norfolk until 3 October 1942, when she departed Norfolk for Bermuda on escort duty.
Operation Torch, the Invasion of North Africa
As the Allies prepared to land in North Africa, Hobson, the three other destroyers of DesDiv 20 and Ellyson as destroyer flag under Capt. J.L. Holloway, joined Task Group 34.2 Airgroup under Rear Admiral Ernest D. McWhorter, composed of Ranger, Sangamon-class escort carrier , light cruiser , two submarines and a fleet oiler. The group was part of Task Force 34, Western Naval Task Force- Morocco, under Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt, flag on the cruiser . The Allies organized three amphibious task forces to seize the key ports and airports of Vichy French-controlled Morocco and Algeria simultaneously, targeting Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. Successful completion of these operations was to be followed by an advance eastwards into Tunisia.
The Western Task Force (aimed at Casablanca) was composed of American army forces under the command of Major General George S. Patton and Rear Admiral Hewitt heading the naval operations. The army units consisted of the U.S. 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions—35,000 troops in a convoy of over 100 ships. They were transported directly from the United States in the first of a new series of UG convoys providing logistic support for the North African campaign.Hague 2000 pp.179–180 Hobson and the other four destroyers' main job was to screen and protect Ranger while the carrier's mobile air power supported the army's assault at Casablanca. Departing from Bermuda on 25 October 1942, Hobsons group arrived off Fedhala on 8 November 1942. As the Operation Torch landings proceeded, the air group provided indispensable air support, launching 496 combat sorties in the three-day operation. Rangers planes hit shore batteries, the immobile Vichy French battleship , and later helped turn back the attack by French ships on the transport area in the Naval Battle of Casablanca. As Rangers planes were attacking Jean Bart on D-Day Plus 2 (10 November), the French submarine Le Tonnant fired four torpedoes at the carrier which passed harmlessly astern. At 1010, Ellyson spotted a periscope and dropped a full barrage of depth charges on sight at shallow setting. As Ranger turned to port, Hobson dropped another full pattern at deep setting. Capt. Holloway later wrote, "I am convinced that this fortunate sight contact by Ellyson saved Ranger from torpedo attack at closer range." Casablanca capitulated to the American forces on 11 November 1942 and Ranger departed the Moroccan coast 12 November, returning to Norfolk on the 23d. Hobson screened Ranger until she sailed for Norfolk, leaving the Allies fully in command of the assault area.
Atlantic Convoy Duty
Upon her return to Norfolk on 27 November 1942, the destroyer took part in exercises in Casco Bay, later steaming with a convoy to the Panama Canal Zone in December. Hobson and DesDiv 20 again joined Ranger in early 1943 and the anti-submarine group sailed on 8 January 1943 to patrol the western Atlantic. Groups such as Rangers did much to protect Allied shipping in the Atlantic from U-boats, and contributed to the eventual victory in Europe. Typical of Hobsons versatile performance was her rescue off Bermuda of 45 survivors from the British merchantman on 2 March 1943. The freighter had been torpedoed and sunk four days earlier by the German submarine and the no. 3 lifeboat with 35 crew and passengers, under a red sail and towing a liferaft holding 10 more crewmen, had sailed 93 nautical miles southwest of the sinking, when it was spotted by Rangers aircraft at 0745 hours. Hobson thereafter broke from the destroyer screen to investigate. The destroyer picked up the survivors at 1003 and the lifeboat and raft were sunk by gunfire from the ship. The St Margaret survivors were landed at Bermuda on Friday 5 March, where the crew were put on board an HM ship on 15 March and were landed at Portsmouth, England, seven days later.
In April 1943, Hobson and Ranger arrived at Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland, and began operations out of that base. The ships provided air cover for convoys and anti-submarine patrol, and in July 1943 had the honor of convoying , carrying Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Quebec Conference. The veteran destroyer arrived in Boston 27 July 1943 to prepare for new duties.
Operation Leader, Bodø, Norway Hobson sailed with Ranger and other ships 5 August 1943 to join the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow. Arriving 19 August, she operated under Royal Navy orders in northern waters, helping to provide cover for vital supply convoys to Russia. While at Scapa Flow, she was inspected by US Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark on 21 September. Hobson and DesDiv 20 along with Ranger and the heavy cruisers and formed a task force under the command of Rear Admiral Olaf M. Hustvedt that executed Operation Leader, a daring raid of combined British and American naval forces on 2–4 October 1943, when Rangers air wing of dive bombers, torpedo bombers and fighters staged a devastating attack on German shipping at Bodø, Norway. Following this operation, the destroyer continued to operate with Home Fleet. She screened the aircraft carrier during flight operations in November and after two convoy voyages to Iceland, Hobson and Desdiv 20 returned to Boston and U.S. operational control 3 December 1943.
Hunter-killer anti-submarine duty
During the first two months of 1944, Hobson trained in Chesapeake Bay and operated with carriers between the East Coast and Bermuda. She joined escort carrier , flagship of Anti-Submarine Task Group 21.11, and the group's four other destroyers or destroyer escorts at Norfolk for temporary duty, departing 26 February 1944. These Hunter-killer Groups (HUK's) played a major part in driving German U-boats from the sea lanes, and this cruise was no exception. After patrolling for over two weeks, the destroyers spotted an oil slick, made sonar contact, and commenced depth charge attacks on the afternoon of 13 March 1944. The was severely damaged and was forced to surface, after which gunfire from Hobson, , a torpedo bomber from Composite Squadron Ninety-Five (VC 95) based on Bogue, the Canadian frigate HMCS Prince Rupert and an RAF Flying Fortress (No. 220 Squadron) sank her. After further anti-submarine sweeps as far east as the Azores, Hobson detached from the HUK on 25 March 1944, and returned to Boston 2 April 1944.
D-Day, Utah Beach
For some time the Allies had been building up tremendous strength in England for the eventual invasion of France. Hobson and the other three destroyers of DesDiv 20, Corry, Forrest and Fitch, sailed from Norfolk on 21 April 1944 to join the vast armada of Operation Neptune that would transport and protect the soldiers and their mechanized equipment during Operation Overlord. Hobson spent a month on patrol off Northern Ireland, arriving at Plymouth on 21 May for final invasion preparations. Assigned to Rear Admiral Don P. Moon's Utah Beach Assault Group "U", flag on the , Hobson and her three sister-ships of DesDiv 20 were elements of Bombardment Group 125.8 that comprised the battleship , the heavy cruisers , , British cruiser , monitor , ten American destroyers, four British destroyers and a Dutch gunboat.
The destroyers arrived off "Point Mike", the outermost area of Utah with the other ships of the bombardment group at 0140 on 6 June. All vessels entering into Utah had to remain in their assigned asymmetrical and exact mine-swept channels that had been drawn up and cleared to provide the maximum safety from the mine peril and to permit access to all the carefully designated positions of the bombardment ships. Minesweepers cleared the area where transport craft would assemble and discharge; and provided adequate channels for all the amphibious boats between "Transport Area" and the landing beaches. The order of ships was the British destroyers , , and the Dutch gunboat . The American destroyers , , " Hobson and Forrest followed as screen for Bayfield and three other Allied transports carrying General Raymond O. Barton's 4th Infantry Division troops as far as the transport area. The destroyers then closed in on their action stations. Fire Support Unit 3, Hobson, Corry and Fitch, led the first waves of landing boats down the boat lane, breaking off in time to be in their stations at 0540.