The USS Maddox (DD-622)

USS Maddox (DD-622)

Three U.S. Navy ships have been named Maddox: DD-168, DD-622, and DD-731. All three

were named in honor of Captain William Alfred Maddox, a U.S. Marine Corps officer from

Charles County, Maryland, who served during the first half of the nineteenth century.

Federal Shipbuilding of Kearny, New Jersey, built the second USS Maddox (DD-622) and

launched it on September 15, 1942. After the ship passed a series of required sea trials,

the Navy commissioned it on October 31, 1942.

At 348 feet long and 36 feet wide at the beam, the new USS Maddox displaced 1,630 tons,

with a draft of seventeen feet, five inches. Twin-screw 50,000 horsepower Westinghouse

geared turbines with high-pressure super-heated boilers turned out a top speed of 37 knots.

Cruising at an average speed of 12 knots, the ship had a range of 6,500 nautical miles.

With Lieutenant Commander Eugene S. Sarsfield in command, the Maddox departed New York

on January 2, 1943, en route to Norfolk, Virginia. On station at Norfolk, the new destroyer

began conducting escort duty. After two missions accompanying oil tankers between Norfolk

and Galveston, Texas, the Maddox embarked on a series of trans-Atlantic crossings escorting

convoys from New York and Norfolk to north Africa. On June 8, 1943, the Maddox departed

Norfolk for Oran, Algeria, where it joined with Task Force 81, the assault force assembling

for the invasion of Sicily. On July 10, 1943, as the invasion took place on shore, the Maddox

conducted antisubmarine patrols sixteen miles off the coast of Gela, Sicily. Cruising alone,

she came under attack from a four-man German dive bomber. During the ensuing engagement,

a bomb dropped from the plane struck the Maddox's aft magazine, causing a huge explosion.

The ship rolled on its side and sank within two minutes. Chief Water Tender Thomas Stevens,

at his station in a boiler room far below deck, had no chance to reach the surface. He and

211 shipmates perished in the sea, while only 74 members of the crew managed to survive.

Tom Steven's widow, Virginia, recalled how apprehensive he felt before that last voyage. He

told her that the Maddox was grossly overloaded, carrying extra ammunition for the cruisers

in the convoy. "Even the fire hoses," he told her, "were uncoiled on deck and filled with small

caliber rounds. If we take just one hit, we will blow up like a bomb." On the morning of their

last day together, Tom sat with his wife at the kitchen table and reviewed the details of what

she would have to do in the event of his death. As he rose to leave for the ship, he reached

out and handed Virginia his pocket watch -- his most prized possession.

Sources: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships; recollections of Mrs. Virginia Plummer;

and chronicles of the USS Maddox Destroyer Association.