USS ''Whitney'' (AD-4) was a ''Dobbin''-class

destroyer tender A destroyer tender or destroyer depot ship is a type of depot ship: an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of ...

named for

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

William Collins Whitney William Collins Whitney (July 5, 1841February 2, 1904) was an American political leader and financier and a prominent descendant of the John Whitney family. He served as Secretary of the Navy in the first administration of President Grover Cle ...

. She was launched on 12 October 1923, and was commissioned on 2 September 1924. She was decommissioned on 22 October 1946, later being sold for scrap to the Dulien Ship Products firm on 18 March 1948. She was on station in

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

at the time of the Japanese attack, amid a flotilla of destroyers; , , , , and . ''Whitney'' was undamaged during the attack. Dallas police detective

Jim Leavelle James Robert Leavelle (August 23, 1920 – August 29, 2019) was a Dallas Police Department homicide detective who, on November 24, 1963, was escorting John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald through the basement of Dallas Police headquarters ...

, who became renowned for escorting

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...

when Oswald was shot by Jack Ruby, served aboard the ''Whitney'' and was on board during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Machinist Mate 1st Class Ernest L. Quetschke served on ''Whitney'' from the onset of WWII to the end of WWII. "Ernie" doubled as a 6-pounder Hotchkiss gunner for his on-deck duties. Ernest Quetschke returned home to his hometown of Toledo, Ohio after the war ended.

References

External links

DANFS entry on USS ''Whitney''
1923 ships Dobbin-class destroyer tenders Ships present during the attack on Pearl Harbor Tenders of the United States Navy Destroyer tenders of the United States {{WWII-stub