A destroyer escort (DE) is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection against aircraft and smaller attack vessels. The US built roughly 457 destroyer escorts spread out over 8 classes. The Royal Navy deployed destroyer escorts of the Evarts subclass and of the Buckley subclass (with the torpedo tubes removed) and classified them as frigates.
Although destroyer escorts lacked the arms, armor and speed to attack fast armored cruisers and battleships, at the Battle off Samar, the task group Taffy 3 of escort carriers, destroyers and destroyer escorts were attacked by superior Japanese fleet led by the giant battleship Yamato. The Butler-class destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts became known as "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship" as it inflicted damage from torpedoes and gunfire on much larger cruisers, and was an instrumental part of a small task force of light ships forcing a far superior enemy fleet to turn back.
Read more about Destroyer Escort: Origins, General Description, Battle Off Samar, Postwar U.S. Ship Reclassification, US Navy Destroyer Escort Class Overview, Captain Class Frigates of The Royal Navy, Free French, Mutual Defense Assistance Program - Post WWII
Other articles related to "escort, destroyer escort, destroyer, escorts":
... with Sitkoh Bay (CVE-86) and Barnes (CVE-20) and proceed in company with the escort carriers to Manus in the Admiralty Islands ... The destroyer escort screened Sitkoh Bay as the escort carrier headed back to the Admiralty Islands for repairs to her catapult ... on Leyte — Wesson got underway to escort Sitkoh Bay to Manus, and they arrived back in Seeadler Harbor on 26 October ...
... The Edsall-class destroyer escort was a 1,253 ton, 306-foot (93 m) vessel, with a crew of 186 ...
... the Caribbean from 29 June to 26 July, the destroyer escort made one round-trip voyage across the Atlantic escorting Convoy UGS-50 to Bizerte, Tunisia, and back before departing Boston with ... There, after the destroyer escort had taken on 15 aerial torpedoes as deck cargo, she headed for Manus ... On 28 December, the destroyer escort departed Aitape with Task Group 78.1, the San Fabian Attack Force, which was transporting the 43rd Infantry Division to make ...
... for the Philippines, in company with the destroyer Shields (DD-596) and the destroyer escort George E ... Davis (DE-357), as escorts for a merchant, Leyte-bound convoy ... Arriving there on the 24th, the destroyer escort shifted to Kerama Retto the following day where she rendezvoused with Curtiss (AV-4), two ATA's (124 and 125 ...
1945), they were drawn from two sub-classes of the American destroyer escort (originally British destroyer escort) classification 32 from the Evarts sub-class and 46 from ... substantially modified by the Royal Navy, making them distinct from the US Navy destroyer escort ships ... Captain-class frigates acted in the roles of convoy escorts, anti-submarine warfare vessels, coastal forces control frigates and headquarters ships for ...
Famous quotes containing the words escort and/or destroyer:
“When you escort someone, escort him all the way to his destination; if you help someone, help him thoroughly.”
—Chinese proverb.
“The supreme, the merciless, the destroyer of opposition, the exalted King, the shepherd, the protector of the quarters of the world, the King the word of whose mouth destroys mountains and seas, who by his lordly attack has forced mighty and merciless Kings from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same to acknowledge one supremacy.”
—Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–59 B.C.)