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U.S.S. FORSTER
(DE-334)Click to view crew list
USS FORSTER (DE-334) - an Edsall-class destroyer escort
In Commission 1944 to 1971DE-334 Deployments - Major Events
Add a DE-334 Shellback Initiation | Add a DE-334 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUG | 1943 | - | Keel Date: 31 AUG 1943 at Consolidated Steel Corporation Orange TX | ||
NOV | 1943 | - | Launch Date: 13 NOV 1943 | ||
JAN | 1944 | - | Commissioned: 25 JAN 1944 | ||
JAN | 1962 | - | MAR | 1962 | Antarctic Circle |
JAN | 1962 | - | Shellback Initiation - 15 JAN 1962 - Pacific Ocean | ||
JAN | 1962 | - | Shellback Initiation - 1 JAN 1962 - Pacific Ocean | ||
MAY | 1962 | - | OCT | 1962 | 1962 Nuclear Sea Tests Christmas and Johnson Island |
JAN | 1963 | - | JAN | 1963 | Mercury Capsule Recovery |
JAN | 1963 | - | MAR | 1963 | Antarctic Circle |
APR | 1965 | - | OCT | 1965 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
DEC | 1965 | - | SEP | 1966 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
DEC | 1966 | - | SEP | 1967 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
DEC | 1967 | - | SEP | 1968 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
DEC | 1968 | - | SEP | 1969 | West Pac-Viet Nam |
SEP | 1971 | - | SEP | 1971 | Decommisioning |
SEP | 1971 | - | Decommissioned: 25 SEP 1971 |
DE-334 General Specifications
Class: Edsall-class destroyer escort
Named for: Edward William Forster
Displacement: 1253 tons
Length: 306 feet
Beam: 36.58 feet
Draft: 10 feet 4 in
Range: 9 100 Nautical Miles
Final Disposition: Loaned to South Vietnam 25 September 1971
USS FORSTER (DE-334)
Forster (DE-334) was launched 13 November
1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; sponsored by Mrs.
E. W. Forster, widow of Machinist Forster; and commissioned 25 January
1944, Lieutenant Commander I. E. Davis, USNR, in command. She was reclassified
DER-334 on 21 October 1955.
Beginning her convoy escort duty in the Atlantic, Forster
sailed from Norfolk 23 March 1944 in a convoy bound
for Bizerte. Off the north African coast 11 April, her group came under
heavy attack from German bombers, several of which Forster splashed.
When Holder (DE-401) was torpedoed by a submarine during
the air attack, Forster stood by the stricken ship,
firing a protective antiaircraft cover and taking off
her wounded.
Forster returned to New York 11 May
1944, and during the next year, made six voyages across the Atlantic
to escort convoys to Bizerte, England, and France. Between these missions, she served as
school-ship for precommissioning crews for new construction and gave escort
services along the east coast and to Bermuda. On 20 June 1945, she sailed from New
York for training in Chesapeake and
Guantanamo Bays en route to San Diego
and Pearl Harbor, where she arrived 25 July.
Forster
departed
Pearl Harbor 30 August 1945 for occupation
duty in the western Pacific, primarily escort assignments between the Marianas and Japan. She sailed for home from Guam 9 January 1946, reaching Philadelphia 12 February. Forster was
decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs 15 June 1946.
Between 20 June 1951 and 25 May 1954, Forster was
in commission in the Coast Guard, serving on weather station
duty out of Honolulu, and once voyaging to Japan. She returned to reserve in naval custody
until recommissioned at Long Beach, Calif.,
23 October 1956. After training, she
joined Escort Squadron 5 at Seattle,
Wash., for radar picket duty in the continental air defense system. She continued similar duty from Pearl Harbor, her home port from 20 June 1958, serving in the Pacific Barrier, a distant early
warning line of picket ships and
aircraft operating from Hawaii to Alaska.
Through 1962, Forster alternated periods on demanding patrol duty with necessary maintenance at Pearl Harbor, occasionally calling at Alaskan
ports.
Forster received one battle star for
World War II service.
[Note: The above USS FORSTER (DE-334) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS FORSTER (DE-334), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]