USS Ingraham (DD-444)



USS Ingraham (DD-444), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain Duncan Ingraham (1802–1891), who was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal following his actions regarding Martin Koszta, a Hungarian who had declared in New York his intention of becoming an American citizen, and who had been seized and confined in the Austrian ship Hussar.

Ingraham was launched on 15 February 1941 by the Charleston Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. George Ingraham Hutchinson, granddaughter of Captain Ingraham; and commissioned on 19 July 1941,[1] Lieutenant Commander [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Haynsworth,_Jr. William M. Haynsworth, Jr. ], in command.

After shakedown and local operations along the East Coast, Ingraham commenced duties as a convoy escort in December 1941 as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor drew America into World War II. In 1942, she escorted convoys between the U.S., Iceland, and the United Kingdom, bringing supplies desperately needed by the Allies to stem Hitler's advance and to take the offensive. Under constant threat from German U-boats, Ingraham continued her escort duty to Europe and as far south as the Panama Canal.

On the night of 22 August, as she was investigating a collision between the destroyer  Buck  and a merchant vessel, Ingraham collided with the oil tanker  Chemung  in heavy fog off the coast of Nova Scotia and Ingraham sank almost immediately. Depth charges on her stern exploded. Only 11 men survived the collision. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 September 1942.