USS Greiner (DE-37)

USS Greiner (DE-37) was an Evarts-class destroyer escort constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. She was promptly sent off into the Pacific Ocean to protect convoys and other ships from Japanese submarines and fighter aircraft. She performed dangerous work in numerous battle areas, and sailed home proudly with three battle stars.

History
United States
Name: USS Greiner (DE-37)
Laid down: 7 September 1942
Launched: 20 May 1943 as BDE-37
Commissioned: 18 August 1943 as USS Greiner (DE-37)
Decommissioned: 19 November 1945
Stricken: 5 December 1945
Fate: Sold for scrap on 10 February 1946
General characteristics
Class and type: Evarts class destroyer escort
Displacement: 1,140 (standard), 1,430 tons (full)
Length: 283 ft 6 in (86.41 m) (waterline), 289 ft 5 in (88.21 m) (overall))
Beam: 35 ft 2 in (10.72 m)
Draft: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) (max)
Propulsion:
Speed: 19 kn (35 km/h)
Range: 4,150 nm
Complement: 15 officers, 183 enlisted
Armament: 3 × 3 in (76 mm) cal Mk 22 dual purpose guns (1×3), 4 × 1.1"/75 caliber guns (1×4), 9 × Oerlikon 20 mm Mk 4 AA cannons, 1 × Hedgehog Projector Mk 10 (144 rounds), 8 × Mk 6 depth charge projectors, 2 × Mk 9 depth charge tracks

She was named for Lieutenant, junior grade Kenneth Frederick Greiner, who was killed when the Japanese attacked American-held islands in the Aleutians. She was originally intended for Great Britain under lend-lease, was launched as BDE-37 on 20 May 1943 by the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington and commissioned on 18 August 1943, Lieutenant Commander F. S. Dowd in command.

Service history

Following shakedown and training exercise along the California-Washington coast, Greiner sailed for Pearl Harbor, reaching there on 31 October 1943. A series of training and patrol operations kept her in the Hawaiian area until 23 December, when she sailed for recently won Tarawa as flagship of Escort Squadron 28 (EscSquad 28). Greiner spent virtually a year in the Gilbert Islands-Marshall Islands area, as the great American island offensive swept westward toward Japan. The ship performed a variety of tasks, including the most important job of escorting transport vessels to the assault areas. She rescued 13 men from a downed PBM Mariner on 26 January 1944, and shelled Kusaie in the Caroline Islands, in reply to a salvo from Japanese batteries, on 1 June.

Greiner spent 3 months at Pearl Harbor for repairs and operations from July–October, and after antisubmarine exercises in Hawaiian waters spent December patrolling around Wotje, Mili, Jaluit, and Maloelap, "leapfrogged" earlier in the war. She spent the remainder of the war in the Gilberts and Marshalls plane-guarding and screening escort carrier forces, except for a short voyage to Okinawa 29 June-3 July 1945.

Greiner steamed back to the United States from Kerama Retto on 3 July, and arrived San Francisco, California on 28 July.

She decommissioned at Oakland, California on 19 November 1945 and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 December. The ship was subsequently sold to J. G. Berkwit & Co. on 10 February 1945, and resold in 1947.

Awards
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
American Campaign Medal
 Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with three service stars)
World War II Victory Medal

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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