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Another Ship Named William
Wood?
Yes!
and you
Can Help!
Contact our Government |
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The following are some resources you can contact. Below them are
some helpful addresses you can refer to. And below that, is a
history of the Wood, which you may also consider including with your
letter/petition. - Click Here for the 1st response received. |
The President:
Honorable Barack Obama (use current)
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500 |
The Vice President:
Honorable Joe Biden (use current)
Vice President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20500 |
The Surgeon General
of the Navy:
Regina Benjamin (use current)
Surgeon General of the Navy
Chief, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
2300 E Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20372-2300 |
Dir. Of Naval
Historical Center:
Rear Admiral Jay A. DeLoach, USN (ret.) (use current)
Acting Director of the Naval Historical Center
And Naval History
2000 Navy Pentagon
Washington, DC 20350-2000 |
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The following is a sample letter
to consider |
Dear
(President, Senator, Representative, Governor, Secretary, etc.):
I, (your name), as a registered voter in (your precinct or
district) of this great (State or Commonwealth) of (your state), and
your constituent, on behalf of the William M. Wood Association
(DD/DDR 715), request that you recommend to (current Secretary's
name), the Secretary of the Navy, the naming of another destroyer
after the first Surgeon General of the Navy, Dr. William M Wood. The
William M. Wood Association is the voluntary, official organization
of those who served on the USS William M. Wood DD/DDR 715. Our
Association is one of the most successful Navy Destroyer reunion
associations, having located and maintained communications with over
1,500 former crew, including some who reside in (your state), and is
consistently listed among those with the highest attendance and
activity.
Dr. William M. Wood was a Naval Officer and hero of the War
of 1848. At great personal peril he
traveled throughout Mexico gathering information on enemy activities
that was vital in ensuring victory for the United States and saving
American lives. He continued to serve our country throughout the
Civil War and beyond, ultimately becoming Surgeon General of the
Navy and the personal physician of President Zachary Taylor. A brief
biography of his 45 year Naval career is enclosed.
The DD/DDR 715 is the second destroyer to bear Dr. Wood’s
name. The first, the USS Wood (DD-317), was in service between the
two world wars. She was a Clemson class destroyer generally referred
to as a four stacker, and one of the few that remained in commission
for Pacific Fleet service after the end of WWI. A brief history of
the 317 is enclosed.
Our Wood was commissioned in July 1945 and was in service
until December 1976, having served our country well for over 31 years from the end of WWII
through the end of the Vietnam War. Her complement was approximately
235 officers and enlisted men, and it is estimated that between
3,500 and 4,000 men served aboard the Wood during her active duty.
Initially, she was a Pacific Fleet ship, but spent the majority of
her service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Fleets. She made 19
Mediterranean deployments including a 3 year extended deployment
from 1972 to 1975 where she was home ported in Greece. During the
70’s her mission included gathering electronic and other
intelligence about the then growing Soviet fleet in the
Mediterranean, conducting operations which frequently brought her
into dangerously close proximity with the most powerful and advanced
warships and aircraft of the Soviet Union. She was instrumental in
providing evidence which led to the U.S.A.-U.S.S.R. agreement on the
use of the seas. The 715 rests off the coast of Puerto Rico, having
been sunk in a Harpoon missile exercise in 1983. A brief history of
the DD/DDR 715 is also enclosed.
We in the William M Wood Association believe that naming
another ship after Surgeon General
Wood is warranted. Doing so would not only honor the memory of an
extremely brave man, but would also be a tribute to all of the naval
personnel who ensured the freedom of the seas between the two great
wars of the last century and during the Cold War era.
Sincerely,
(your name)
Former (your rating and rank) – USS William M Wood (your era)
Member, U.S.S. William Wood Association www.DD715.com |
Some History of the Wood
you may wish to
include with your letter |
William Maxwell Wood
(from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)
William Maxwell Wood—born in about 1809 in Baltimore, Md.—was appointed
assistant surgeon on 16 May 1829 and, between 1830 and 1838, served with the
West Indies and Home Squadrons, as well as with the Army during the Seminole
wars.
He became fleet surgeon with the Pacific Squadron in 1844 and, upon completion
of his tour, was about to return to the United States when relations between
that country and Mexico became decidedly strained. The commander of the Navy's
Pacific Squadron, Commodore John D. Sloat, consequently entrusted certain
dispatches to Wood to carry back to the United States with him. Wood volunteered
to travel through Mexico and report upon conditions there. Accompanied by the
American consul from Mazatlan, Mexico, the former fleet surgeon commenced his
journey across Mexico.
Arriving at Guadalajara on 10 May, Wood and his companion found the town "in a
high state of agitation" owing to the reception there of thee news of the
battles between American and Mexican forces at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma,
on the Rio Grande River. The surgeon immediately wrote a dispatch to Sloat at
Mazatlan, and it was delivered in five days—an exceptional occurrence in those
days. His message that hostilities with Mexico had actually commenced was the
first tidings of that nature that Sloat had received.
Wood meanwhile continued on his journey across Mexico and subsequently arrived
at Mexico City to be "startled and shocked by hearing newsboys crying through
the streets 'Grand victory over the North Americans.' " He later learned through
a trusted friend of the Mexican minister of war that General Zachary Taylor's
men had, in fact, annihilated the Mexican Army's choice regiment. Surgeon Wood
remained in Mexico City not less than a week and gathered more information which
he sent off to Commodore Sloat, apprising him of the situation, via Guadalajara.
Wood continued his mission, as he had since the beginning of it, in civilian
clothes—running the risk of being apprehended as a spy—and, while posing as an
Englishman, inspected the defenses of the castle at Chapultepec. Continuing on
to Veracruz, the surgeon carefully took notes on Mexico, its condition and
resources. Ultimately, the physician reached a neutral man-of-war and was taken
to the flagship of the American blockading squadron. Sailing on a vessel
especially detached for the purpose, Wood carried the vital intelligence
information to Washington.
Meanwhile, Commodore Sloat took action. As he later recorded in a letter to
Wood, "The information you furnished me at Mazatlan from the City of Mexico, via
Guadalajara, (at the risk of your life) was the only reliable information I
received of that event, and which induced me to proceed immediately to
California, and upon my own responsibility to take possession of that country,
which I did on the 7th of July, 1846."
Sloat considered the performance of Wood's journey through Mexico "as an
extraordinary feat, requiring great courage, presence of mind, and address. How
you escaped from the heart of an enemy's country . . . has always been a wonder
to me."
Following the Mexican War, Wood served in the receiving ship at Baltimore and
later went to the steamer Michigan, operating on the Great Lakes. He again
served as fleet surgeon—this time with the East India Squadron—from 1856 to
1858, and took part in Commodore Andrew H. Foote's attack upon the Chinese
Barrier Forts—of "enormous strength . . . built of large blocks of granite . . .
heavily armed."—at Canton, China, in response to Chinese attacks upon American
shipping.
Wood subsequently served a second tour in Michigan before he became fleet
surgeon for the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. While thus serving, Wood
witnessed the historic battle of the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (the
former USS Merrimack) in Hampton Roads; and later took part in the assault and
capture of Sewall's Point.
After the Civil War, Wood served at Baltimore in 1866 and 1867 and was President
of the Naval Examining Board in 1868 before he became Chief of the Bureau of
Medicine and Surgery in 1870. Appointed medical director on 3 March 1871, Wood
retired later that same year and died in Baltimore on 1 March 1880.
USS William M. Wood (DD/DDR-715)
(from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)
William M. Wood (DD-715) was laid down on 2 November 1944 at Newark, N.J., by
the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched on 29 July 1945; sponsored by
Mrs. Joseph P. Tracy; and commissioned at the New York Naval Shipyard on 24
November 1945, Comdr. George R. Wilson in command. Following shakedown out of
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and type training in the Norfolk area, William M. Wood
operated in the Caribbean Sea from April to June 1946. In June, she was
reassigned to the Pacific Fleet. She arrived in San Diego during the first week
in July but departed there a week later bound for Hawaii. The destroyer operated
out of Pearl Harbor from mid-July to late
September, when she received orders to duty along the coast of China. The
warship arrived in Tsingtao China, near the middle of October and began
patrolling the Yellow Sea between northern China and Korea in an effort to stem
postwar smuggling. That task lasted until February 1947 when she headed back to
the United States, arriving in San Diego early in March. During the following
six months, William M. Wood conducted type training along the Pacific coast and
underwent a three-month overhaul. In October 1947 the destroyer joined Destroyer
Division (DesDiv) 131 in screening Valley Forge (CV-45) on an extended voyage to
the western Pacific. In the ensuing seven months, the ships called at Sydney,
Australia; Hong Kong; Shanghai and Tsingtao in China, and Yokosuka, Japan. She
returned to San Diego with the unit in May 1948 and resumed normal training and
upkeep operations which were broken once by a two-month overhaul at the Mare
Island Naval Shipyard.
On 1 April 1949, a new fleet organization was promulgated reassigning William M.
Wood to the Atlantic Fleet. The destroyer, however, remained on the west coast
until 5 October, when she finally sailed for her new home port, Newport, R.I.
She reported for duty with the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet (DesLant) on 21
October. The warship served DesLant as a school ship training junior officers in
gunnery and engineering. In May 1950, the warship participated in a Navy-Marine
Corps amphibious exercise conducted on the North Carolina coast. During the
following month, she conducted underway training out of Newport. July brought a
brief tour of duty in Caribbean waters with a hunter/killer group and a quick
visit to Iceland. The destroyer returned to Newport in August but put to sea the
next month for the first of many deployments with the 6th Fleet in the
Mediterranean Sea. After two months of duty, however, William M. Wood left the
6th Fleet to resume operations out of United States ports. Following a brief
leave and upkeep period at Newport, the destroyer moved south to Pensacola,
Fla., where she served for a time as plane guard for Monterey (CVL26) during
carrier qualifications. At the conclusion of that assignment, she returned to
normal duty out of Newport. In January 1952, she embarked upon her second
Mediterranean cruise. That tour of duty lasted seven months during which time
she participated in several NATO multinational exercises. That tour of duty also
included visits to ports in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Germany. She
returned to Newport in July and, after a voyage to Halifax in company with
Midway (CVB-41) late in September entered the Boston Naval Shipyard to begin
conversion to a radar picket destroyer. She was placed out of commission on 2
October 1952 and redesignated DRR-715.
William M. Wood completed her conversion to a radar picket destroyer during the
summer of 1953 and was recommissioned on 6 June 1953, Comdr. J. S. Slaughter in
command. Following a shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that fall, she
began her third tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in November. At the end of
several weeks of operations with the 6th Fleet, the radar picket destroyer
returned to Norfolk early in February 1954. The following month, she journeyed
south to Pensacola, Fla., where she once again plane-guarded for Monterey during
carrier qualifications. The summer of 1954 brought the ship a two-month
midshipman cruise to European waters where she made port calls at Cadiz, Spain,
and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. She returned to Norfolk in August and spent
the remainder of 1954 engaged in training operations. In January of 1955, she
embarked upon her fourth deployment to the Mediterranean. Again, NATO exercises
and port visits at various points along the Mediterranean littoral kept the ship
busy. She was in port at Volos, Greece, between 19 and 21 April, during which
time the city suffered a series of severe earthquakes. She remained there after
the disaster and rendered all possible aid to the victims. Returning to the
United States that summer, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a
major overhaul. That fall, the warship conducted refresher training and then
returned to Norfolk to prepare for her upcoming Mediterranean deployment. That
tour of duty began in February 1956 and ended the following June. Between June
and October, she operated out of Norfolk along the coasts of the Carolinas,
Georgia, and Florida conducting air defense exercises. Mounting tensions in the
Middle East precipitated an Israeli invasion of the Egyptian Sinai on 29
October, and William M. Wood hastened to the eastern Mediterranean in November
to join Task Force (TF) 26 in helping to restore peace and order in that
chronically troubled sector of the world. The crisis cooled quickly enabling the
warship to return home in time to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
USS William M. Wood (DD/DDR-715), continued
(from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)
The warship began 1957 with Operation "Springboard," conducted in the West
Indies in January and February. In March, she escorted Canberra (CA-70) when
that cruiser carried President Eisenhower to Bermuda to confer with British
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. William M. Wood provided transportation for the
members of the press who covered the President's visit. In June, she entered the
Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a three-month overhaul. Following that, she conducted
refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for six weeks. In November the
destroyer resumed normal duty out of Norfolk with the Atlantic Fleet. She began
1958 the same way she began 1957, with "Springboard" exercises in the Caribbean
during January and February. Then in June, at the conclusion of three months of
normal Atlantic Fleet duty, the warship embarked upon a Mediterranean cruise.
Not long after her arrival in the Mediterranean, fighting erupted in Lebanon.
The intensification of the strife prompted the pro-western Lebanese President
Chamoun to seek military help from the United States. President Eisenhower
responded immediately by sending Marine Corps units ashore in the troubled
country and stationing 6th Fleet ships offshore to support them. During the
period 14 July and 3 September, William M. Wood spent 40 days on station
patrolling off the Lebanese coast. Following brief visits to Izmir, Turkey;
Naples, Italy; and Gibraltar, she headed back to Norfolk and arrived there on 30
September. Normal Atlantic Fleet operations, including exercises along the coast
and in the Caribbean, ensued.
Over the next decade, William M. Wood continued to alternate 6th Fleet
deployments with duty along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean area. In
August 1962, she returned to the United States from her 10th Mediterranean
assignment and resumed operations out of Norfolk. That employment, however, was
interrupted in October when President John F. Kennedy declared the "quarantine"
of Cuba in response to the siting of offensive, nuclear missiles on the island.
For 57 days William M. Wood participated in the quasi-blockade patrols conducted
around Cuba to prevent the importation of further missiles and to ensure the
removal of those already there. At the successful conclusion of that mission,
the warship resumed normal east coast operations. In February 1963, members of
Venezuela's communist insurgent group, the FALN, hijacked the Venezuelan
freighter SS Anzoategui, and William M. Wood joined ships from several navies in
an international search for the merchant ship. Their efforts proved to be in
vain for the terrorists eluded capture, entered the Brazilian port of Belem, and
received political asylum. Following her return from her 11th Mediterranean
deployment in the spring of 1964, William M. Wood entered the Philadelphia Naval
Shipyard on 18 May 1964 to begin a Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM)
overhaul. During that period, she was converted from a radar picket destroyer
back to an all-purpose destroyer. She was redesignated DD-715 on 1 July 1964 and
completed her FRAM conversion on 11 March 1965 when she headed back to Norfolk
to rejoin the Atlantic Fleet. In the midst of her post-overhaul refresher
training a revolution broke out in the Dominican Republic on 24 April. On the
29th, the destroyer received orders interrupting her refresher training, and she
hastened to the scene of the conflict to protect foreign nationals caught in the
middle and to support an American, and later multinational expeditionary force
dispatched to the island by the Organization of American States. The situation
was soon stabilized, and William M. Wood began a coastal patrol and surveillance
assignment. While so engaged, she picked up 13 foreigners, including some
American citizens, who requested evacuation. These people were transferred to
Pawcatuck (AO-108) on 7 May; and, the following day, O'Hare (DD-889) relieved
her on station off the Dominican Republic. William M. Wood then resumed
refresher training and completed it on 20 May. On 18 June, after post-refresher
availability at Norfolk, the destroyer embarked upon another tour of duty in the
Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet and continued alternating such deployments with
normal duty out of Norfolk with the Atlantic Fleet. During 1968, she operated
with the antisubmarine warfare (ASW) forces attached to the Atlantic Fleet. In
May and June of 1968 she participated in the unsuccessful search for the nuclear
attack submarine Scorpion (SSN-589) reported missing on 27 May. She closed the
year in overhaul at Norfolk.
During her last eight years of active service, William M. Wood made two more
routine Mediterranean cruises and then served there on a three-year extended
deployment. During the first of her last two normal Mediterranean deployments,
which lasted from 12 November 1969 to 22 May 1970, she shadowed two new Soviet
ships, Moskva and Leningrad, to gather intelligence on the new hermaphrodite
cruisers/ASW carriers. The second of the two cruises lasted from 8 February to
23 July 1971 and consisted of more routine 6th Fleet operations, mostly training
exercises both multinational and unilateral.
USS William M. Wood (DD/DDR-715), continued (from the Dictionary of American
Naval Fighting Ships)
Following almost 13 months of 2d Fleet operations during late 1971 and early
1972, the warship embarked upon an extended assignment to the 6th Fleet on 18
August. Her home port was officially changed to Athens Greece, from which port
she operated for almost three years. The warship spent most of her time during
that period engaged in training operations with other units of the 6th Fleet and
with elements of Allied navies. She also made several forays into the Black Sea
for special operations there. In July and August of 1974, she conducted
continuous patrols in the vicinity of Crete during the Turkish invasion of
Cyprus. Her extended deployment with the 6th Fleet ended in June of 1975 when
she began a long voyage home. The destroyer visited ports in France, Germany,
Denmark, England, and Bermuda before arriving back in Norfolk on 23 July. After
six months of normal operations out of Norfolk, William M. Wood deployed to the
Mediterranean one final time in January of 1976. She returned to the United
States that summer and resumed 2d Fleet operations. On 1 December 1976, she was
placed out of commission at Norfolk, and her name was struck from the Navy list
that same day. She was stripped at Norfolk and [sunk as a target in a Harpoon
anti-ship missile test in March 1983.]
USS Wood (DD-317) (from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)
Wood (Destroyer No. 317) was laid down oon 23 January 1919 at San Francisco,
Calif., by the Union Iron Works plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp;
launched on 28 May 1919; sponsored bby Mrs. George Kirkland Smith, the
granddaughter of William Maxwell Wood; reclassified DD-317 on 177 July 1920; and
commissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, Calif., on 28 January 1921,
Lt. Comdr. Paul M. Bates in command.
Following commissioning, Wood underwent her trials before mooring at the Santa
Fe docks, San Diego, Calif., where she remained as part of the "rotating
reserve" into the summer of 1921. The new destroyer then spent the ensuing
months, into the late spring of 1922, operating off the coast of southern
California on drills and exercises, off the port of San Pedro, and the Coronado
Islands.
At the end of that period of activity in June of 1922, Wood shifted northward
and reached Seattle, Wash., on 1 July 1922. She spent the 4th of July there
before visiting Port Angeles, Wash., with the fleet, for exercises and
maneuvers. She then conducted tactical drills and exercises in the Pacific
Northwest, touching at Ta-coma, Port Angeles, Bellingham, and Seattle before
departing Port
Angeles on 2 September, bound for Mare Island.
After taking on board ammunition at Mare Island on 5 and 6 September, Wood put
to sea, bound for San Diego, Calif., for a machinery overhaul. Upon completion
of those repairs, the destroyer rejoined the fleet for rehearsals for shortrange
battle practices. She then operated on various trials into November.
Over the next nine and one-half years, Wood operated with the Battle Fleet in an
active role, while many of her sisters lay in "Red Lead Row" awaiting the call
to active service. Breaking her local operations off the west coast, Wood
participated in Fleet Problems I through IX—the large scale fleet exercises that
were held once a year (except in 1924, when three were held) involving most of
the Fleet's active units. During the course of those maneuvers, she ranged from
the Caribbean to the Panama Canal and from Hawaii to the coast of Central
America. She also ventured as far north as the coast of Alaska.
Highlighting Wood's service in the autumn of 1925 was the cruise with the fleet
to Australia as part of Destroyer Division 34. The destroyerr subsequently took
part in the search for the downed PN-9 flying boat. In March 1927, during one of
the phasees of Fleet Problem VII, Wood participated in the search for survivors
from the lost German steamship Albatros and later that same year, from 27 June
to 16 July, Wood supported American peace-keeping forces ashore on Nicaragua.
Decommissioned at San Diego on 31 March 1930, Wood was struck from the Navy list
on 22 July. Her hulk was then sold for scrap on 14 November 1930. |
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