This 20″ x 16″, 1976 signed AB Chesley print of the USS Ward by Leeward Publications is in excellent condition, with 2 original signatures from the artist and Captain. On the morning of 7 December 1941, under the command of LCDR William W. Outerbridge, Ward was conducting a precautionary patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor when she was informed at 03:57 by visual signals from the coastal minesweeper Condor of a periscope sighting, whereupon Ward began searching for the contact. The target sunk was a Japanese Ko-hyoteki-class, two-man midget submarine, thus Ward fired the first American shots of World War II a few hours before Japanese carrier aircraft formally opened the conflict with their attack on the Pacific Fleet inside the harbor. In 1942, Ward was sent to the West Coast for conversion to a high-speed transport. Redesignated APD-16 in February 1943, she steamed to the South Pacific to operate in the Solomon Islands area. She helped fight off a heavy Japanese air attack off Tulagi on 7 April 1943, and spent most of the rest of that year on escort and transport service. On the morning of 7 December, three years to the day after she fired the opening shot of the US involvement in the war, while patrolling off the invasion area, she came under attack by several Japanese kamikazes. One bomber hit her hull amidships, bringing her to a dead stop. Outerbridge, had been in command of Ward during her action off Pearl Harbor three years before. In early December 2017, Ward’s wreckage was located by RV Petrel in 686 ft (209 m) of water. The item “WW1, WWI, USS Ward, Fired First Shot at Pearl Harbor, WW2 with Original Signatures” is in sale since Friday, December 21, 2018. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Transportation\Boats & Ships\Military\Other Naval Collectibles”. The seller is “ivonlinesales” and is located in Greenville, California. This item can be shipped to United States.
- Modification Description: with 2 signatures
- Modified Item: Yes