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USS Chatelain (DE-149) on 4 June 1944 | |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Namesake | Hubert Paul Chatelain |
Builder | Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas |
Laid down | 25 January 1943 |
Launched | 21 April 1943 |
Commissioned | 22 September 1943 |
Decommissioned | 14 June 1946 |
Stricken | 1 August 1973 |
Honours and awards | 5 battle stars plus the Presidential Unit Citation |
Fate | Sold for scrapping 24 June 1974 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Edsall-class destroyer escort |
Displacement |
|
Length | 306 feet (93.27 m) |
Beam | 36.58 feet (11.15 m) |
Draft | 10.42 full load feet (3.18 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h) |
Range |
|
Complement | 8 officers, 201 enlisted |
Armament |
|
USS Chatelain (DE-149) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was finally scrapped in 1974.
She was named in honor of Hubert Paul Chatelain who was awarded a Silver Star posthumously for his valiant actions before he was killed in action 26 October 1942 during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
Chatelain (DE-149) was launched 21 April 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp. of Orange, Texas; sponsored by Mrs. L. T. Chatelain; commissioned 22 September 1943 and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.
Destined to play an important part in sweeping the Atlantic of German submarines, Chatelain escorted two convoys from east coast ports to Derry and Gibraltar between 20 November 1943 and 7 March 1944, and was then assigned to operate as part of the hunter-killer group formed around USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). During the last year of the European war, while operating with the Guadalcanal group, Chatelain joined in the sinking of two German submarines, and the capture of a third.
Her first action took place 9 April 1944, as her group sailed from Casablanca to the United States. U-515 was detected when her radio transmissions were picked up, and planes and ships of the task group pressed home a firm attack. Chatelain forced the enemy submarine to the surface with two depth charge attacks, then joined in the general firing at point-blank range which followed, sending U-515 to the bottom at 34°35′N19°18′W / 34.583°N 19.300°W .
On 4 June 1944, Chatelain had the distinction of initiating one of the most dramatic incidents of the war, when she made a sound contact, and hurled a barrage of hedgehogs at a U-boat. A second attack by Chatelain, this time with depth charges, holed U-505 's outer hull and forced her to surface, her crew jumping overboard as she broke water. Now the task group seized its chance to carry out the boarding operation it had been planning for months, for the first capture by Americans of an intact German submarine. Successful in taking control of the submarine and executing the damage control that made its towing practicable, the group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for this action.
In one of the last antisubmarine actions of the Atlantic war, Chatelain took part in a 12-hour hunt for the submarine which had torpedoed USS Frederick C. Davis (DE-136) on 24 April 1945. Eight other ships joined her as the group again and again attacked U-546, sinking her finally at 43°53′N40°07′W / 43.883°N 40.117°W .
Chatelain had patrol and convoy escort duty, as well as serving as plane guard during aviation exercises, until 20 November 1945, when she arrived at Charleston, South Carolina. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs, Florida on 14 June 1946.
In addition to the Presidential Unit Citation, Chatelain received five battle stars for World War II service.
USS Bogue (AVG/ACV/CVE/CVHE-9) was the lead ship in the Bogue class of escort carriers in the United States Navy during World War II. The ship was named for Bogue Sound in North Carolina.
USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60) was a Casablanca-class escort carrier of the United States Navy, which served during and after World War II. She was the first ship to carry her name. She was the flagship of Task Group 22.3, a hunter-killer group which captured the German submarine U-505 in 1944.
USS Buckley (DE-51) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer escorts in the service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. After spending 23 years in reserve, she was scrapped in 1969.
USS Otter (DE-210), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, in service from 1944 to 1947. She was finally sunk as a target in 1970.
USS Hubbard (DE-211/APD-53) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1966.
The Edsall-class destroyer escorts were destroyer escorts built primarily for ocean antisubmarine escort service during World War II. The lead ship, USS Edsall, was commissioned on 10 April 1943 at Orange, Texas. The class was also known as the FMR type from their Fairbanks-Morse reduction-geared diesel drive, with a type of engine used in the submarines of the time. The FMR's substitution for a diesel-electric power plant was the essential difference from the predecessor Cannon ("DET") class. This was the only World War II destroyer escort class in which all the ships originally ordered were completed as United States Navy destroyer escorts. Destroyer escorts were regular companions escorting the vulnerable cargo ships. Late in the war, plans were made to replace the 3-inch (76 mm) guns with 5-inch (127 mm) guns, but only Camp was refitted. In total, all 85 were completed by two shipbuilding companies: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas (47), and Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, Texas (38). Most were en route to the Pacific Theater when Japan surrendered. One of the ships participated in Operation Dragoon and two were attacked by German guided missiles.
USS Oberrender (DE-344) was a John C. Butler–class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Lieutenant Commander Thomas Olin Oberrender Jr., the engineering officer of the light cruiser USS Juneau, who was killed when that ship was torpedoed and sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942.
USS Frederick C. Davis (DE-136) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the last US Naval vessel lost in the Battle of the Atlantic.
USS Fiske (DE-143) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Rear Admiral Bradley Allen Fiske, she was the first of two U.S. Naval vessels to bear the name. The vessel entered service in 1943 and served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II as part of a hunter-killer anti-submarine group. On 2 August 1944, Fiske was sunk by a torpedo fired by the German submarine U-804. Thirty-three of the ship's crew were killed and a further 50 were injured.
German submarine U-515 was a Type IXC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine built for service during World War II. She was commissioned on 21 February 1942 and sunk on 9 April 1944. U-515 completed seven operational patrols and sank 23 ships, badly damaged two ships which later sank, and damaged two additional ships.
USS Pillsbury (DE-133) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947. She served again as a radar picket ship from 1955 to 1960 and was sold for scrapping in 1966.
USS Pope (DE-134) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
USS Flaherty (DE-135) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. She was sold for scrap in 1966.
USS Pride (DE-323) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home at war's end with three battle stars and then entered into service for the U.S. Coast Guard before final decommissioning.
USS Falgout (DE-/DER-324) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. Post-war, she was borrowed by the U.S. Coast Guard and also served as a radar picket ship on the Distant Early Warning Line. She was reclassified DER-324 on 28 October 1954.
USS Koiner (DE-331) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. Post-war, she was loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard, and also reclassified as a radar picket ship.
USS Neunzer (DE-150) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1947. After spending several decades in reserve, she was sold for scrap in 1973.
USS Varian (DE-798) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy.
USS Jenks (DE-665) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1968.
German submarine U-546 was a Type IXC/40 U-boat operated by Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II. She was laid down at the Deutsche Werft in Hamburg as yard number 367 on 6 August 1942, launched on 17 March 1943 and commissioned on 2 June 1943 under Oberleutnant zur See Paul Just. The U-boat was a member of three wolfpacks.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.