USS Oswald

USS Oswald (DE-767) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort inb service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was sold for scrapping in 1973.

History
United States
Name: USS Oswald
Namesake: Harvey Emerson Oswald
Builder: Tampa Shipbuilding Company, Tampa, Florida
Laid down: 1 April 1943
Launched: 25 April 1944
Commissioned: 12 June 1944
Decommissioned: 30 April 1946
Stricken: 1 August 1972
Fate: Sold for scrapping, 15 October 1973
General characteristics
Class and type: Cannon-class destroyer escort
Displacement:
  • 1,240 long tons (1,260 t) standard
  • 1,620 long tons (1,646 t) full
Length:
  • 306 ft (93 m) o/a
  • 300 ft (91 m) w/l
Beam: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Propulsion: 4 × GM Mod. 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW), 2 screws
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range: 10,800 nmi (20,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 15 officers and 201 enlisted
Armament:

History

USS Oswald was named in honor of Harvey Emerson Oswald, who was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for his prompt and courageous manning of a .50 caliber PBY airplane machine gun during the Japanese attack on Darwin, Australia, on 19 February 1942. She was laid down on 1 April 1943 at the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Florida; launched on 25 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Zola F. Oswald, mother of Harvey E. Oswald, MM2/c; and commissioned on 12 June 1944, Lt. Edward L. Patton, USNR, in command.

Following a Bermuda shakedown, Oswald sailed north to Boston, Massachusetts, thence to New York City where she reported for duty with CortDiv 22 in TG 21.5. On 19 August she sailed with Convoy CU-36 on her first transatlantic convoy escort mission. Off Northern Ireland, on 30 August, she hunted unsuccessfully for an enemy submarine after the loss of the tanker SS Jacksonville. Rejoining the convoy, the escort vessel saw the remainder of her charges into Derry, and on 4 September began the voyage back to New York. During the next eight months, she escorted ten additional convoys across the North Atlantic without a loss.

In June 1945, her task group, then designated 61.2, was dissolved and Oswald reported to Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to serve as plane guard during carrier qualification exercises on Croatan (CVE-25). Reassigned in August, she proceeded to southern Florida for similar duties with Mission Bay (CVE-59).

In October, she returned to New York, underwent pre-inactivation overhaul, and then sailed south again. Arriving at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 9 November, she decommissioned there on 30 April 1946 and joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Transferred to the Reserve Group at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1951, she remained in reserve until she was sold for scrapping on 15 October 1973.

See also

References
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