page_title: Destroyer minesweeper
section_title: Gleaves class minesweeepers
hierarchical_section_title: Destroyer minesweeper / Gleaves class minesweeepers
caption_attribution_description: IWM caption&#160;: A 20 mm Oerlikon gunner on board HMS DIDO getting a light from a pal between bombing attacks in the eastern Mediterranean. FURTHER INFORMATION: The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon depicted here is on a Mark IIA Mounting. Original caption notes: Four cruisers and several destroyers left Alexandria to escort four merchantmen laden with troops, tanks, etc, to Malta. The weather was extremely bad at the beginning of the journey, and one destroyer, GHURKA, was torpedoed and sunk, and one merchantman was bombed and set on fire and had to be abandoned after the troops had been rescued from her. The rest of the convoy reached Malta safely.
context_page_description: "Destroyer minesweeper" was a designation given by the United States Navy to a series of destroyers that were converted into high-speed ocean-going minesweepers for service during World War II. The hull classification symbol for this type of ship was "DMS." Forty-two ships were so converted, beginning with USS Dorsey, converted to DMS-1 in late 1940, and ending with USS Earle, converted to DMS-42 in mid 1945. The type is now obsolete, its function having been taken over by purpose-built ships, designated as "minesweeper" with the hull classification symbol MMD.
  The original Clemson class and Wickes class ships were obsolete four-stack destroyers built in 1918 with usable power plants; they were nicknamed "four-pipers" on account of their four smokestacks. Although the full conversion process to minesweepers for the original 17 Wickes and Clemson class destroyers began in October-November of 1940, it was not completed for all seventeen until around mid-1942.
context_section_description: The 24 subsequent ships in the series were Gleaves-class destroyers completed during the war.  They had a longer range, a larger crew, and guns highly effective against aircraft, 5 × 5 in (127 mm) Dual Purpose guns, and 6 × 0.50 in. (12.7 mm) guns.  The later Gleaves class destroyers had 6 × 0.50 in. and (12.7 mm) guns.  Twelve Atlantic Fleet ships (DD-454–458, 461, 462, 464, 621, 625, 636, and 637) were converted in 1944, with the rest in the Pacific in 1945 (DD-489, 490, 493–496, 618, 627, and 632–635). Many of these Atlantic based minesweeper fleets were switched to the Pacific by the end of the war however, a few as early as late 1944. Viewing the table below, an argument could be made that even the increased firepower and accuracy of the antiaircraft guns on the Gleaves class destroyers did not adequately protect them from the wide scale attack by kamikazes at Okinawa, but one might assert that if Clemson class destroyers had been used more widely at Okinawa, they might have suffered greater damage and experienced more sinkings.
  Magnetic and acoustic minesweeping gear was fitted to the new minesweepers, while armament was somewhat reduced from the former Destroyer configuration to three 5 in guns, no torpedo tubes, two K-guns for launching depth charges, four 40 mm guns, likely Bofors, in two twin mounts, and seven 20 mm Oerlikon antiaircraft guns on the Atlantic ships. The Pacific ships and Hobson had increased light AA armament, with eight 40 mm guns, likely Bofors, in two quad mounts and six 20 mm Oerlikon antiaircraft guns in two twin and two single mounts. For their size, these ships carried some of the most highly effective anti-aircraft weaponry of the war. At lower right, the USS Hambleton, shown fully converted to minesweeper in 1944.  Note the large number of fully shielded and more modern antiaircraft guns, a major improvement over converted Clemson class sweepers, and the stern crane or davits used to haul minesweeping equipment. Shown below is a list of the Gleaves class destroyers, launched in 1941, and converted to destroyer minesweepers from 1944-5, with their Minesweeper hull designation first, and their former Destroyer designation on the right. 
  USS Ellyson (DMS-19) (DD-454) Atlantic
  USS Hambleton (DMS-20) (DD-455) Atlantic
  USS Rodman (DMS-21) (DD-456) Atlantic
  USS Emmons (DMS-22) (DD-457) Atlantic
  USS Macomb (DMS-23) (DD-458) Atlantic
  USS Forrest (DMS-24)(DD-461) Atlantic
  USS Fitch (DMS-25) (DD-462) Atlantic
  USS Hobson (DMS-26) (DD-464) Atlantic
  USS Jeffers (DMS-27) (DD-621) Atlantic
  USS Harding (DMS-28) (DD-625) Atlantic
  USS Butler (DMS-29) (DD-636) Atlantic
  USS Gherardi (DMS-30) (DD-637) Atlantic
  USS Mervine (DMS-31) (DD-489) Pacific
  USS Quick (DMS-32) (DD-490) Pacific
  USS Carmick (DMS-33) (DD-493) Pacific
  USS Doyle (DMS-34) (DD-494) Pacific
  USS Endicott (DMS-35) (DD-496) Pacific
  USS Davison (DMS-37) (DD-618) Pacific
  USS Thompson (DMS-38) (DD-627) Pacific
  USS Cowie (DMS-39) (DD-632) Pacific
  USS Knight (DMS-40) (DD-633) Pacific
  USS Doran (DMS-41) (DD-634) Pacific
  USS Earle (DMS-42) (DD-635) Pacific
  USS Hale (DMS-43) – not converted to DMS
  The Forrest, Hobson, Macomb, Dorsey, Hopkins, Ellyson, Hambleton, Rodman, Emmons, Butler, Gherardi, Jeffers, and Harding served in Okinawa in April of 1945.  All were Gleaves class destroyer minesweepers with the exception of the Dorsey, and Hopkins.
caption: A single mount 20 mm Oerlikon gun on a ship in 1942
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