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USS ''William D. Porter'' (DD-579), a ''Fletcher''-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Commodore William D. Porter (1808–1864). ''William D. Porter'' was laid down on 7 May 1942 at Orange, Tex., by the Consolidated Steel Corporation; launched on 27 September 1942, sponsored by Miss Mary Elizabeth Reeder; and commissioned on 6 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A. Walter in command. == Atlantic service == ''William D. Porter'' departed Orange shortly after being commissioned. After stops at Galveston, TX, and Algiers, LA, the destroyer headed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 30 July 1943 for shakedown. She completed shakedown a month later and, following a brief stop at Bermuda, continued on to Charleston, SC, where she arrived on 7 September. ''Porter'' completed post-shakedown repairs at Charleston and got underway for Norfolk, Va., at the end of the month. For about five weeks, the warship operated from Norfolk conducting battle practice with ''Intrepid'' (CV-11) and other ships of the Atlantic Fleet.〔 On 12 November 1943, she departed Norfolk to rendezvous with ''Iowa'' (BB-61). That battleship was on her way to North Africa carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Cairo and Teheran Conferences.〔 ''William D. Porter'' was reported to have been involved in a mishap while departing Norfolk when her anchor tore the railing and lifeboat mounts off a docked sister destroyer while maneuvering astern. The next day, a depth charge from the deck of ''William D. Porter'' fell into the rough sea and exploded, causing ''Iowa'' and the other escort ships to take evasive maneuvers under the assumption that the task force had come under torpedo attack by a German U-boat. Ships logs from ''William D. Porter'' and ''Iowa'' do not mention a lost depth charge nor a u-boat search on 13 November. Both logs do mention that ''William D. Porter'' experienced a boiler tube failure on #3 boiler causing the ship to fall out of position in the formation until #4 boiler was brought online. On 14 November, at Roosevelt's request, ''Iowa'' conducted an anti-aircraft drill to demonstrate her ability to defend herself. The drill began with the release of a number of balloons for use as targets. While most of these were shot by gunners aboard ''Iowa'', a few of them drifted toward ''William D. Porter'' which shot down balloons as well. ''Porter'', along with the other escort ships, also demonstrated a torpedo drill by simulating a launch at ''Iowa''. This drill suddenly went awry when a torpedo from mount #2 aboard ''William D. Porter'' discharged from its tube and headed toward ''Iowa''.〔 ''William D. Porter'' attempted to signal ''Iowa'' about the incoming torpedo but, owing to orders to maintain radio silence, used a signal lamp instead. However, the destroyer first misidentified the direction of the torpedo and then relayed the wrong message, informing ''Iowa'' that ''Porter'' was backing up, rather than that a torpedo was in the water.〔 In desperation the destroyer finally broke radio silence, using codewords that relayed a warning message to ''Iowa'' regarding the incoming torpedo. After confirming the identity of the destroyer, ''Iowa'' turned hard to avoid being hit by the torpedo. Roosevelt, meanwhile, had learned of the incoming torpedo threat and asked his Secret Service attendee to move his wheelchair to the side of the battleship, so he could see.〔 Not long afterward, the torpedo detonated in the ship's wake, some 3,000 yards astern of the ''Iowa''. ''Iowa'' was unhurt, but according to legend, trained her main guns on ''William D. Porter'' out of concern that the smaller ship might have been involved in some sort of assassination plot.〔This was later proved false, but as a result of this friendly fire incident, ships would routinely greet the destroyer with the hail "Don't shoot! We're Republicans!" Bonner, 1994.〕 The entire incident lasted about 4 minutes from torpedo firing at 1436 to detonation at 1440.〔 Following these events, the ''William D. Porters captain, and her entire crew, were placed under arrest — the first time in U.S. Navy history that this had occurred. The ship and her crew were ordered to Bermuda for an inquiry into the ''Iowa'' affair. Chief Torpedoman (CTM(AA)) Lawton Dawson, whose failure to remove the torpedo's primer had enabled it to fire at ''Iowa'', was later sentenced to hard labor, though President Roosevelt intervened in his case, as the incident had been an accident.〔 LCDR Walter was not relieved of command following the incident and remained in command until 30 May 1944.〔 He later commanded other ships and eventually became a Rear Admiral.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Walter, Wilred Aves RADM, US Navy, WW@ / Korea (1908-1996) )〕 ''William D. Porter'' was in Bermuda from 16 to 23 November 1943, no mention was made of awaiting Marines or the entire crew being "arrested" in the ship's logs. On 25 November, ''William D. Porter'' returned to Norfolk and prepared for transfer to the Pacific. She got underway for that duty on 4 December, steamed via Trinidad, and reached the Panama Canal on the 12th. After transiting the canal, the destroyer set a course for San Diego, where she stopped between 19 and 21 December to take on cold weather clothing and other supplies necessary for duty in the Aleutian Islands.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS William D. Porter (DD-579)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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