APD Ward burning in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands, after being struck by special attack aircraft, 7 Dec 1944; the firefighting ship was destroyer O'Brien, and photo was taken from APD Crosby

Caption     APD Ward burning in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands, after being struck by special attack aircraft, 7 Dec 1944; the firefighting ship was destroyer O'Brien, and photo was taken from APD Crosby ww2dbase
Photographer    Unknown
Source    ww2dbaseUnited States National Archives
Identification Code   80-G-335685
More on...   
Philippines Campaign, Phase 1, the Leyte Campaign   Main article  Photos  Maps  
Tokko "Kamikaze" Special Attack Doctrine   Main article  Photos  Maps  
Photo Size 740 x 600 pixels
Photos on Same Day 7 Dec 1944
Added By C. Peter Chen
Licensing  Public Domain. According to the US National Archives, as of 21 Jul 2010:
The vast majority of the digital images in the Archival Research Catalog (ARC) are in the public domain. Therefore, no written permission is required to use them. We would appreciate your crediting the National Archives and Records Administration as the original source. For the few images that remain copyrighted, please read the instructions noted in the "Access Restrictions" field of each ARC record.... In general, all government records are in the public domain and may be freely used.... Additionally, according to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government".

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Colorized By WW2DB     Colorized with Adobe Photoshop



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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. USNbubblehead says:
8 May 2015 10:37:46 AM

The U.S.S. Ward is the destroyer that fired the first U.S. shot of WWII when it fired on a Japanese midget sub trying to enter Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. She was commanded at the time by LCDR William W. Outerbridge.

The tale gets strange from here.

Reclasified an APD (high speed transport), it was sunk by gunfire from the U.S.S. O'Brien on December 7, 1944 when attmpts at damage control failed after a Japanese kamikaze attack exactly three years to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

And even stranger, the commanding officer of the O'Brien was none other than William W. Outerbridge who had commanded Ward three years before on that fateful day off Hawaii.

The truth is stranger than fiction.
2. Don Mericle says:
18 Dec 2015 11:36:25 AM

I was onboard the USS COFER APD 62, saw twin engine betty hit the Ward on the port side, the air cover (p-38s with Bong covering us) between the ships and air we shot down 85 planes that day, the biggest ship was a DD in the landing force.

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