Picking file photo [1660]

Picking

CountryUnited States
Ship ClassFletcher-class Destroyer
BuilderBethlehem Steel Corporation, Staten Island, New York, United States
Laid Down24 Nov 1942
Launched1 Jun 1943
Commissioned21 Sep 1943
Decommissioned20 Dec 1945
Displacement2,050 tons standard; 2,924 tons full
Length376 feet
Beam40 feet
Draft14 feet
MachineryGeneral Electric geared turbines with two screws
Power Output60,000 shaft horsepower
Speed38 knots
Range6,500nm at 15 knots
Crew273
Armament5x5in, 10x40mm anti-aircraft, 7x20mm anti-aircraft, 10x21in torpedo tubes

Contributor:

ww2dbasePicking was a destroyed named for WW1-era submariner Sherwood Picking. She had her shakedown cruise off Bermuda. Via the Panama Canal, she arrived at Dutch Harbor, Alaska on 28 Dec 1943 to join the North Pacific Fleet Destroyer Squadron 49. On 4 Feb 1944 she bombarded Paramushiro, on 13 Jun Matsuwa Island, and on 26 Jun again Paramushiro, all in the Japanese-held Kurile Islands. After some time in San Francisco, California for upkeep, she joined the Third Fleet at Pearl Harbor and escorted transports. For the remainder of the war, she escorted transports to various locations in the Pacific and provided anti-aircraft protection for ships and beachheads. On 1 Apr 1945, she also performed bombardment duty against Japanese positions on Okinawa.

ww2dbaseAfter WW2, she was decommissioned on 20 Dec 1945, but was recommissioned on 26 Jan 1951 in response to the Korean War. She arrived at Yokosuka, Japan on 4 May 1953 and operated off Korean waters. She spent time with the Sixth Fleet off Ireland and the 7th Fleet off Taiwan, and then participated in several anti-submarine practices. She screened for carrier Ranger during the Cuban Missile Crisis of Oct 1962. In the 1960s, she served off Vietnam in a naval gunfire support role. She was finally decommissioned on 6 Sep 1969 at Long Beach, California. She was sunk as a target on 27 Feb 1997.

ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.

Last Major Revision: Mar 2006

Photographs

USS Picking underway, circa 1943Admiral Arleigh Burke and a Third Class Quartermaster on bridge of destroyer Picking, circa 1955-1961Line drawing of the Fletcher-class destroyer.

Picking Operational Timeline

21 Sep 1943 Picking was commissioned into service.
20 Dec 1945 Picking was decommissioned from service.




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Destroyer Picking Photo Gallery
USS Picking underway, circa 1943
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