Pacific ships

Photos and the story

O'Brien

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ClassSims class
TypeDestroyer (DD)
HullDD-415
BuilderBoston Navy Yard
Launched1939-10-20
Commissioned1940-03-02
FateSunk. Hit in the bow by one torpedo from I-19 on 15 September 1942, southeast of Guadalcanal. She foundered on 19 October 1942 on the way to Pearl Harbor. The whole crew got off. This is DD-415.
Armament (class)Five 5-inch guns and one funnel.

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

O'Brien
USS O'Brien (DD-415), photographed soon after completion, circa 1940. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photograph NH 97787, as shown on NavSource. Public domain.

USS O'Brien (DD-415) was a Sims-class destroyer of the United States Navy. The Boston Navy Yard built her. She was launched on 20 October 1939 and commissioned on 2 March 1940.

On 15 September 1942, southeast of Guadalcanal, one torpedo from the submarine I-19 hit her in the bow.

That torpedo was part of the same spread that struck the carrier Wasp and the battleship North Carolina. O'Brien stayed afloat.

She started for Pearl Harbor with the damaged bow. On 19 October 1942, still on the way, the hull broke up and she foundered. The whole crew got off.

The ship that went down on that passage was the Sims-class destroyer DD-415. A later United States Navy destroyer also carried the name O'Brien.

The pictures on this page are the originals.