Destroyer Escort Sailors Association

Gardner N. Hatch

Description

Destroyer Escort Sailors Assn - Vol III: Trim but Deadly

Sujets

• Histoire
• Armada de los Estados Unidos
• Military
• World War II
• History
• United States Navy

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 juin 1993
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681621494
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

TRIM . . .
but DEADLY
Volume III
T URNER P UBLISHING C OMPANY
The Front Line of Military History Books P.O. Box 3101
Paducah, Kentucky 42002-3101 [phone]
Copyright 1993. Turner Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Publisher and the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association.
Destroyer Escort Sailors Association, Volume III was compiled using available information. The Publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions
Destroyer Escort Sailors Association Staff:
Samuel L. Saylor, President
Donald A. Glaser, Executive Administrator
John P. Cosgrove, National Representative
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 86-51635
ISBN: 978-1-56311-052-8
Volume I and II also available. This book is a limited edition of which this copy is number _______.
Additional books may be purchased from Turner Publishing Company.
Opening page: Courtesy of artist John Charles Roach. Original painting may be viewed at the Destroyer-Escort Museum.
DESTROYER ESCORTS. . .
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Preface
Foreword

Ships Histories
Sea Stories

World War II
Significant Dates
British Destroyer Escorts
National Conventions and Keynote Speaker
DESA Report

DE Sculpture
DE Memorial

Veteran s Biographies
Roster of Members

DESA, Vol. I-III Index
A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The publication of this third and final volume of Trim but Deadly will mark the completion of one of the more important goals of the Destroyer-Escort Association. Early on, when we first met with the officials of the Turner Publishing Company, we had no idea ibis project would be so successful. The response from our members and others with an interest in naval history has been magnificent.
Since the publication of Volume II of Trim but Deadly another goal of our Association has been successfully completed. Our Destroyer-Escort bronze sculpture is in place within the circle of honor at the Navy Memorial in Washington. D.C. It is there for all to see and to know that the Destroyer-Escort and the men who sailed them did make a difference during the time of their service to our country.
Since the inception of Volume I and continuing through the publication of Volume III, our Association was fortunate to have had the services and dedication from so many shipmates and friends. I wish I could list every name that contributed to the excellence of these volumes. Some names do stand out and I would be remiss if I did not publicly thank them for their efforts. To shipmate John Cosgrove, who was our Editor-in-Chief of the three volumes, I offer my sincere thanks for a job well done. He was our guiding hand in this project. To Don Glaser and his staff, who provides us a functional office through which our business is done, I also offer my sincere thanks. To the members of our Board, past and present, who have given me the guidance to sit at the head of our Association, you have my sincere thanks. To the members of the Destroyer-Escort Sailors Association who, as they always do, give me the help to get any job done, you have my deep appreciation and thanks. To artists, Mike Felish, Tom Freeman, Max Bullock, Crock s Bill Rechin, Don Wilder and John Charles Roach for the beautiful and inspiring work they contributed to all three volumes. I thank them very much. Lastly, I wish to thank the professional staff of Turner Publishing Company for their efforts in seeing that the Destroyer-Escort Sailors Association s three volumes of Trim but Deadly are a fitting tribute to the men and ships that served so well in WW II, Korea, Vietnam, and during the interludes between.

Samuel L. Saylor, President Destroyer-Escort Sailors Association
P REFACE

It seems like only yesterday that we were reading final proofs on Trim but Deadly and looking forward to seeing in print the first definitive history of the Destroyer-Escort.
We knew then, if not a little before, that the 352-page book was not going to tell the whole story of the DE ship and sailor. At hand was a sufficient stack of photos and stories to fill another book.
Dave Turner, aware of this treasure, suggested that we get Volume Two underway while Volume One was printed and distributed. The story was duplicated as Volume Two was put to bed, which leads directly to the wrapping-up of Volume III. This may be the final volume by Turner Publishing Company but it would appear that the DE story will never be complete so long as a DE sailor is around to tell his story, show off his album of snapshots, display precious artifacts and memorabilia-tangible ties to his part in saving the world.
That s right. When they were young, they saved the world. wrote Paul Donnelly, a writer of historical significance. History tells us that DE sailors in manning that 563 ship navy, played a major role in restoring peace to a war torn world. They were a special segment of those ordinary people-American s WWII generation- who lived in an extraordinary time. So well said, Mr. Donnelly.
Destroyer-Escorts were tailor-made for WWII. Many went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam, and a few are operating today in service of foreign nations. What a tribute to the designers and builders! Having been built under wartime secrecy not very much was told about their unique and unequaled ability to combat submarines. Many naval experts decreed that DE s were under-gunned and under-powered Destroyers-and obviously misnamed. The years have proven DE s to be masterfully designed. They captured and/or destroyed German U-boats, helped to win the Battle of the Atlantic, and continued to assume unforeseen assignments and responsibilities, some as APD s. in the Pacific operations.
Special categories and significant characteristics included: a short turning radius, hedgehogs, projectiles fired ahead of the ship, exploding only if they hit a solid object; the best sonar, and a ramming bow-a gigantic piece of steel built into the hull. Fleet doctrine for a sub on the surface was close and ram. In short, trim and deadly. These technical advances were superbly utilized and exercised by crews exhibiting skill, and a patriotic spirit similar to the exemplary standards set by our Founding Fathers.
As I write these words, I recall viewing the parade of Navy vessels marking the 40th anniversary of V-J Day aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in San Francisco Bay. Not a DD nor DE appeared nor ever mentioned. The story of tough little ships and brave men was sorely missing in that commemorative ceremony. Later in reporting this event for DESA News , I swore that so long as I could talk or write, the record of DE s and the men who sailed them, would not be forgotten.
It is with much satisfaction now, as we put the finishing touches to this final volume, that we have firmly established a proper niche for the Destroyer-Escort in the annals of naval history.

John P. Cosgrove USS Gendreau (DE-639)
F OREWORD

Rear Admiral Sheldon Kinney
The DE legacy is a story of an astonishingly able, mass-produced vessel that made a critical difference in the successful war at sea in WWII. Importantly, it is the story of the Navy and Coast Guard men who served in these ships, men heroic in combat, long-suffering in endless watches, capable of enduring cruel seas, cold, heat, boredom, waiting, watching, then suddenly rising to amazing capability in crisis.
As you turn page after page of these volumes, the story unfolds for the story of a ship is the individual stories of her men.
In that way I am honored to pen this Foreword responding to the request of John Cosgrove, who said make this your story. And so, since DEs were the most memorable part of 47 years in Navy uniform, this introduction reflects my DE experience as each of you have yours in the these volumes.
It was a thrilling moment when I experienced my first sight of a DE-USS Edsall (DE-129), leader of the class that bears her name. She stood on the building ways in February, 1943, at Orange, Texas, 75% complete. Among the earliest of this new breed she was the first to be build on the Gulf Coast. As the prospective executive officer and navigator, I felt most fortunate as I made my way through the empty compartments and worked from the bilges to the remarkable open bridge.
The very newness thrilled me. Leaving high school in 1935, Pasadena, CA, to enlist, I served as a seaman in the light cruiser Omaha, a signalman in the battleship New York, and made my three summer training cruises at the Naval Academy in ships of the same vintage, 1914-1922 construction. Upon graduation in February, 1941, I was assigned to USS Sturtevant (DD-240). Same story, an old four-piper. And here was new construction!
The yard in Orange was filled with what amounted to a production line of DE hulls. At very short intervals, launchings were to be quickly followed by keel layings in East, West, Gulf and Great Lakes building yards. This construction of almost 600 DEs, an armada of democracy, American-style, was to prove magnificent tribute to the genius of our shipbuilders. Once launched they were indeed trim, would they prove deadly?
And what of those who would man these new ships? The early commissionings enjoyed a level of experienced and trained personnel that as the war progressed would be steadily thinned. But the quality of men commissioning new DEs never was diluted. Moreover, once through shakedown and off to war the crews fulfilled their responsibilities with an astonishing competence as they rapidly formed a team of true men-o-warsmen.
The commanding officers of Navy DEs were 95% (at least) officers of the Naval Reserve. The ships benefited greatly from the NROTC graduates of the six original units-Harvard, Yale, Georgia Tech, Northwestern, California (Berkeley), Washington and from the Organized Reserve Battalions, American yachtsmen, particularly the New York Yacht Club were greatly in evidence. Often the