Allied Warships

USS Swanson (DD 443)

Destroyer of the Benson / Gleaves class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Benson / Gleaves
Pennant	DD 443
Built by	Charleston Navy Yard (Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A.)
Ordered	1 Jul 1939
Laid down	15 Nov 1939
Launched	2 Nov 1940
Commissioned	29 May 1941
End service	6 Mar 1946
History	Decommissioned 6 March 1946. Stricken 1 March 1971. Sold 29 June 1972 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Swanson (DD 443)

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	Commander	From	To
1	Lt.Cdr. Marvin Peirce Kingsley, USN	29 May 1941	24 Jul 1942 (1)
2	Lt.Cdr. Lewis Merrill Markham, Jr., USN	24 Jul 1942	1 Dec 1942 (1)
3	T/Cdr. Edward Livingston Robertson, Jr., USN	1 Dec 1942	16 May 1944 (1)
4	Lt.Cdr. William Kenneth Ratliff, USN	16 May 1944	19 Jul 1945 (1)
5	Cdr. William G. Collar, USNR	19 Jul 1945	6 Mar 1946 (1)

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Notable events involving Swanson include:

29 Jan 1942
USS Swanson picks up 12 survivors from the Norwegian merchant Ringstad that was torpedoed and sunk on 24 January 1942, about 85 miles southeast of Cape Race in position 45°50'N, 51°04'W, by German U-boat U-333.

16 Nov 1942
German U-boat U-173 was sunk at Casablanca in position 33°40'N, 07°35'W by depth charges from the US destroyers USS Woolsey, USS Swanson and USS Quick.

22 Nov 1944
USS Blenny (Cdr. W.H. Hazzard, USN) arrived at Saipan. She was escorted in by USS Swanson (Lt.Cdr. W.K. Ratliff, USN).