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USS J. DOUGLAS BLACKWOOD DE-219

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Hull Number: DE-219

Launch Date: 05/29/1943

Commissioned Date: 12/15/1943

Call Sign: NWMU

Voice Call Sign: WATERBURY, JANGLE HOW (EARLY 50'S)


Class: BUCKLEY

BUCKLEY Class

Namesake: JAMES DOUGLAS BLACKWOOD

JAMES DOUGLAS BLACKWOOD

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, July 2015

James Douglas Blackwood was born in Philadelphia 12 November 1881, and enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve as an Assistant Surgeon 14 April 1917. The doctor served on transports in the Atlantic during World War I, earning the Navy Cross for attending the sick and wounded when troop transport President Lincoln was torpedoed 31 May 1918. He entered the Regular Navy in 1919, and served in various ships and at Naval Hospitals here and abroad in the years that followed. Blackwood served the people of Haiti 1927 to 1930 when assigned to a Public Health unit on that island. He was appointed Medical Inspector with the rank of Commander in 1938, reported to Vincennes (CA-44) 30 September 1940, and was on board during the critical early months of America’s participation in World War II. During the Battle of Savo Island 9 August 1942, one of the many sea fights during the Solomons Campaign, a cruiser-destroyer force was surprised at night by Japanese cruisers and dealt a crushing blow. Blackwood was killed when the gallant Vincennes was sunk along with two other cruisers and a destroyer.



Ship History

USS J. DOUGLAS BLACKWOOD DE-219 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, July 2015

James Douglas Blackwood was born in Philadelphia 12 November 1881, and enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve as an Assistant Surgeon 14 April 1917. The doctor served on transports in the Atlantic during World War I, earning the Navy Cross for attending the sick and wounded when troop transport President Lincoln was torpedoed 31 May 1918. He entered the Regular Navy in 1919, and served in various ships and at Naval Hospitals here and abroad in the years that followed. Blackwood served the people of Haiti 1927 to 1930 when assigned to a Public Health unit on that island. He was appointed Medical Inspector with the rank of Commander in 1938, reported to Vincennes (CA-44) 30 September 1940, and was on board during the critical early months of America’s participation in World War II. During the Battle of Savo Island 9 August 1942, one of the many sea fights during the Solomons Campaign, a cruiser-destroyer force was surprised at night by Japanese cruisers and dealt a crushing blow. Blackwood was killed when the gallant Vincennes was sunk along with two other cruisers and a destroyer.