Remembering a Far-Traveled Four Piper by Captain Alexander Monroe
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frerrhefall ofFrance, in Jun e 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill predicted that very soon the whole might and fury ofNazi Germany would be turned again st the United Kingdom for "Hitler [knew] that he must break us in this island or lose the war." The critical factor in British survi val was keeping sea lanes open, and to do that the Royal Navy so rely needed destroyers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized Britain's desperate need and, in response to Churchill's second plea in July 1940, he arranged to exchange fifry overage destroyers for the right to build naval and air bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda and the West Indies. The destroyers-forbases deal was signed on 2 Sep tember and an nou nced on 4 September 1940. In Richmond, Virginia, an artifact of those dark times has recently emerged from a library stack in the Richmond Public Library. It is the bridge badge, known in the US Navy as a ship's plaque, of HMS Richmond (G-88), formerly USS Fairfax (DD-93), a "fo ur-piper" destroyer turned over to Britain in 1940. T he destroyers-for-bases deal was complex and extraordinarily controversial, particularly since 1940 was a presidential election year. Attorney General Robert Jackson, later to become a Supreme Court Justice and the United States's prosecutor at the Nuremburg War Crimes trials, had in June 1940 opined that building PT boats and turning them over to the English would
be a clear violation of the Neutrality Act. However, he held that the destroyers (which had an estimated useful life of sixteen years) were obsolescent, had not been built for delivery to a belligerent power, and could therefo re be transferred to the Royal Navy. In response to the Attorney General's opinion, Admiral H arold R. Stark, USN, C hief of Naval Operations, immediately certified that the ships being exchanged were obsolete, all having been built before 1922, and that the opportunity to establish naval and air bases strengthened national defense. The chosen vessels sailed from Norfolk and other east coast ports to Boston, where they were placed in full operational condition . The Richmond Times-Dispatch of 6 September 1940 reported that their guns were "uncovered," and depth charges "ready in stern racks" as they lefr port, "apparently en route to an unnamed Canadian port." The pace of transfer was rapid. British crews were soon worki ng with their American counterparts to learn how their new ships operated. By 7 September 1940, 28 of the 50 destroyers had reached Halifax, Nova Scotia. As soon as Royal Navy crews reported, the ships sailed for the United Kingdom for refit and installation of standard Royal Navy amenities. Initially, it was intended that the ships should retain their American names out of courtesy to the US. Instead they became known as Town-class des troyers and were rechristened with names of towns common to Britain and the US . A star on the
destroyers' bridge badges se t th em apart and indicated their American origin. Fairfax reached Ha1i fax on 26 Nove mber 1940 . The Wickes-class destroyer had been launched from the Mare Island Navy Yard and commissioned on 6 April 1918. She was decommissio ned in 1922, then recommissioned in May 1930 for training duty, until her transfer to Britain. On 5 December 1940 the destroyer was turned over to her Royal Navy crew and recommissioned as G-88, HMS Richmond. T he four piper could claim an earlier British co nnection. She was named for the Virginia-born Rear Admiral Donald McNei l Fairfax, USN . During the C ivil War, while executive officer of USS San Jacinto, Fairfax led the boarding parry that removed two Confederate officials, James Mason and John Slidell, from the British RMS Trent and took them to Boston for temporary incarceration at Fort Warren; this action nearly ruptured diplomatic relations between England and the US . U nder her new flag, HMS Richmond had a somewhat checkered wartime career. Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Alfred Francis Llewellyn Evans, RN, she sailed for Northern Ireland on 19 D ecember 1940, but returned to Newfoundland on Christmas Eve because of "piping obstruction." Ultimately, the tiny ship reached England by 1 February 194 1. She finished workups by 16 March, but unhappily grounded offHolyhead, leading to a yard period at Liverpool. She finally joined the 17th Escort Gro up, NewfoundThe four-piper Fairfax (left) was in New York Harbor for the World's Fair in 1939. (US Naval Institute) A decade Later, she was steaming as Zhivuchi (below), with Soviet officers (bottom Left) and crew. (Courtesy Central Naval Museum, St. Petersburg)
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