Allied Warships

USS Champlin (DD 601)

Destroyer of the Bristol class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Bristol
Pennant	DD 601
Built by	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Quincy, Massachusetts, U.S.A.)
Ordered	16 Dec 1940
Laid down	31 Jan 1942
Launched	25 Jul 1942
Commissioned	12 Sep 1942
End service	31 Jan 1947
History	Decommissioned 31 January 1947. Stricken 2 January 1971. Sold 8 May 1972 and broken up for scrap. Further info on this website (offsite link).

Commands listed for USS Champlin (DD 601)

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	Commander	From	To
1	T/Cdr. Charles Leroy Melson, USN	12 Sep 1942	28 Jan 1944
2	Lt. John Jackson Shaffer, 3rd, USN	28 Jan 1944	7 Apr 1944
3	Robert Louis Baughan, Jr., USN	7 Apr 1944	19 Apr 1944
4	T/Cdr. Francis Edward Fleck, Jr., USN	19 Apr 1944	22 May 1945
5	T/Lt.Cdr. Francis Clyde Rydeen, USN	22 May 1945	21 Mar 1946

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Notable events involving Champlin include:

12 Mar 1943
German U-boat U-130 was sunk west of the Azores, in position 37°10'N, 40°21'W, by depth charges from the US destroyer USS Champlin.

15 Mar 1943
USS Champlin (T/Cdr. C.L. Melson, USN) picked up 127 survivors from the French merchant Wyoming that was torpedoed and sunk by German U-boat U-524 in the North Atlantic north of the Azores in position 40°18'N, 28°56'W. The survivors, the entire crew and all passengers, were landed at Casablanca, Marocco.

17 Mar 1943
USS Rowan, USS Champlin and the American merchant William Johnson together pick up survivors from the American merchant Molly Pitcher that was torpedoed and damaged by German U-boat U-167 in the North Atlantic about 500 nautical miles west of Lisbon. The Molly Pitcher was abandoned and finally sunk the next day by German U-boat U-521.

7 Apr 1944
German U-boat U-856 was sunk in the North Atlantic east of New York, in position 40°18'N, 62°22'W, by depth charges from the US destroyer USS Champlin and the US destroyer escort USS Huse.