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Destroyer escort (DE) was the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
mid-20th-century classification for a
warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster ...
designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean
convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
s of merchant marine ships. Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by the British need in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
for anti-submarine ships that could operate in open oceans at speeds of up to 20 knots. These "British Destroyer Escort"s were designed by the US for mass-production under
Lend Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
as a less expensive alternative to fleet
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
s. The
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
and Commonwealth forces identified such warships as frigates, and that classification was widely accepted when the United States redesignated destroyer escorts as frigates (FF) in 1975. From circa 1954 until 1975 new-build US Navy ships designated as destroyer escorts (DE) were called
ocean escort Ocean escort was a type of United States Navy warship. They were an evolution of the World War II destroyer escort types. The ocean escorts were intended as convoy escorts and were designed for mobilization production in wartime or low-cost mas ...
s. Similar types of warships in other navies of the time included the 46 diesel-engined ''
Kaibōkan or coastal defense ship was a type of naval ship used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II for escort duty and coastal defense. The term escort ship was used by the United States Navy to describe this category of Japanese ships ...
'' of the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
, 10 ''
Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
''
F-class escort ship The F-class escort ships were a class of fleet escorts () used by the German Navy ('' Kriegsmarine'') during the Second World War. Ten ships were built in total to fulfil a multi-purpose role. They were the only ships of this type of built by the ...
s, and the two '' Amiral Murgescu''-class vessels of the Romanian Navy. Postwar destroyer escorts and frigates were larger than those produced during wartime, with increased anti-aircraft capability, but remained smaller and slower than postwar destroyers. As
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...
destroyer escorts became as large as wartime destroyers, the United States Navy converted some of their World War II destroyers to
escort destroyer An escort destroyer with United States Navy hull classification symbol DDE was a destroyer (DD) modified for and assigned to a fleet escort role after World War II. These destroyers retained their original hull numbers. Later, in March 1950, ...
s (DDE).


General description

Full-sized
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed ...
s must be able to steam as fast or faster than fast
capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic im ...
s such as fleet carriers and
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several ...
s. This typically requires a speed of (dependent upon the era and navy). They must carry
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, ...
es and a smaller caliber of cannon to use against enemy ships, as well as antisubmarine detection equipment and weapons. A destroyer escort needed only to be able to maneuver relative to a slow convoy (which in World War II would travel at ), be able to defend against aircraft, and detect, pursue, and attack
submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s. These lower requirements greatly reduce the size, cost, and crew required for the destroyer escort. Destroyer escorts were optimized for antisubmarine warfare, having a tighter turning radius and more specialized armament (such as the forward-firing
Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...
mortar) than fleet destroyers. Their much slower speed was not a liability in this context, since
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...
was useless at speeds over . As an alternative to geared steam-turbine propulsion found in full-sized destroyers and larger warships, many US destroyer escorts of the World War II period had diesel-electric or turboelectric drive, in which the engine rooms functioned as power stations supplying current to electric motors sited close to the propellers. Electric drive was selected because it does not need gearboxes (which were heavily in demand for the fast fleet destroyers) to adjust engine speed to the much lower optimal speed for the propellers. The current from the engine room can be used equally well for other purposes, and after the war, many destroyer escorts were re-used as floating power stations for coastal cities in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
under programs funded by the
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
.. ships were the exception to this and they used a geared diesel engine to drive the propellers directly. s used the typical boiler and geared turbine propulsion system. The Tacoma-class patrol frigates (PF) had a greater range than the superficially similar destroyer escorts, but the US Navy viewed them as decidedly inferior in all other respects. The ''Tacoma'' class had a much larger turning circle than a destroyer escort, lacked sufficient ventilation for warm-weather operations – a reflection of their original British design and its emphasis on operations in the North Atlantic Ocean – and were criticized as far too hot below decks, and, because of the mercantile style of their hulls, had far less resistance to underwater explosions than ships built to naval standards like the destroyer escorts.Gardiner, Robert, ed., ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922–1946'', New York: Mayflower Books, 1980, , pp. 148–149. Destroyer escorts were also useful for coastal antisubmarine and radar picket ship duty. During World War II, seven destroyer escorts (DEs) were converted to radar picket destroyer escorts (DERs), supplementing radar picket destroyers. Although these were relegated to secondary roles after the war, in the mid-1950s, 12 more DEs were converted to DERs, serving as such until 1960–1965. Their mission was to extend the
Distant Early Warning Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see Proj ...
on both coasts, in conjunction with 16 s, which were converted
Liberty ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...
s. During World War II, some 95 destroyer escorts were converted by the US to
high-speed transport High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, t ...
s (APDs). This involved adding an extra deck which allowed space for about 10 officers and 150 men. Two large
davit Boat suspended from radial davits; the boat is mechanically lowered Gravity multi-pivot on Scandinavia'' file:Bossoir a gravité.jpg, Gravity Roller Davit file:Davits-starbrd.png, Gravity multi-pivot davit holding rescue vessel on North Sea ferr ...
s were also installed, one on either side of the ship, from which landing craft ( LCVPs) could be launched.


Origins

The Lend-Lease Act was passed into law in the United States in March 1941, enabling the United Kingdom to procure merchant ships, warships, munitions, and other materiel from the US, to help with the war effort. This enabled the UK to commission the US to design, build, and supply an escort vessel that was suitable for antisubmarine warfare in deep open-ocean situations, which they did in June 1941. Captain E.L. Cochrane of the
American Bureau of Shipping American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
came up with a design which was known as the British destroyer escort (BDE). The BDE designation was retained by the first six destroyer escorts transferred to the United Kingdom (BDE 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, and 46); of the initial order of 50, these were the only ones the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...
received, the rest being reclassified as destroyer escorts on 25 January 1943 and taken over by the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. When the United States entered the war, and found they also required an antisubmarine warfare ship and that the destroyer escort fitted their needs perfectly, a system of rationing was put in place whereby out of every five destroyer escorts completed, four would be allocated to the U.S. Navy and one to the Royal Navy.


Post–World War II U.S. ship reclassification

After World War II, new-build United States Navy destroyer escorts were referred to as
ocean escort Ocean escort was a type of United States Navy warship. They were an evolution of the World War II destroyer escort types. The ocean escorts were intended as convoy escorts and were designed for mobilization production in wartime or low-cost mas ...
s, but retained the
hull classification symbol The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ...
DE. However, other navies, most notably those of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
countries and the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
, followed different naming conventions for this type of ship, which resulted in some confusion. To remedy this problem, the 1975 ship reclassification declared ocean escorts (and by extension, destroyer escorts) as
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...
s (FF). This brought the USN's nomenclature more in line with NATO, and made comparing ship types with the Soviet Union easier. As of 2006, no plans existed for future frigates for the US Navy. and the
littoral combat ship The littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for operations near shore by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeat ...
(LCS) were the main ship types planned in this area. However, by 2017 the Navy had reversed course, and put out a Request For Proposals (RFP) for a new frigate class, temporarily designated
FFG(X) The ''Constellation'' class is a class of multi-mission guided-missile frigates under development for the United States Navy as a follow-on to the modular littoral combat ship. The U.S. Navy announced the FFG(X) frigate project in the United Sta ...
. One major problem with ship classification is whether to base it on a ship's role (such as escort or air defense), or on its size (such as displacement). One example of this ambiguity is the air-defense ship class, which is classified as
cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several ...
, though it uses the same hull as the s.


Vietnam War

During the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, the Republic of Vietnam Navy received two s from the United States.


US Navy destroyer escort classes


World War II shipbuilding programs

total ships in the table: 507DEs + 56APDs 37 ''Buckleys'' listed here as ''Buckleys'' were converted to APDs after having been commissioned as destroyer escorts. All APDs listed in the table were completed as conversions. ''Captains'' were converted before commissioning as DEs. Data from "Ship's Data U.S. Naval Vessels" hull numbers for WGT and FMR are still incomplete, price of $2,157 for Brown/WGT DE-423 is assumed to be a typo other classes missing (work in progress) From the same document, List of Naval Vessels, pp. 11:


''Captain''-class frigates of the Royal Navy

The ''Captain'' class was a designation given to 78 frigates of the Royal Navy, constructed in the United States, launched in 1942–1943 and delivered to the United Kingdom under the provisions of the Lend-Lease agreement (under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945), they were drawn from two subclasses of the destroyer escort (originally British destroyer escort) classification: 32 from the ''Evarts'' subclass and 46 from the ''Buckley'' subclass. Upon reaching the UK, the ships were substantially modified by the Royal Navy, including removal of torpedo tubes, making them distinct from the US Navy destroyer escort ships. ''Captain''-class frigates acted in the roles of
convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
escorts, antisubmarine warfare vessels, coastal forces control frigates and headquarters ships for the
Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
. During the course of World War II, this class participated in the sinking of at least 34 German submarines and a number of other hostile craft with 15 of the 78 ''Captain''-class frigates being either sunk or written off as a
constructive total loss Marine insurance covers the physical loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport by which the property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and the final destination. Cargo insurance is the sub-branch o ...
. In the postwar period, all of the surviving ''Captain''-class frigates except one (HMS ''Hotham'') were returned to the US Navy before the end of 1947 to reduce the amount payable under the provisions of the Lend-Lease agreement; the last such frigate was returned to United States custody in March 1956.


Free French

Six ''Cannon''-class destroyer escorts were built for the Free French Navy. Although initially transferred under the Lend-Lease Act, these ships were permanently transferred under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program (MDAP). * FFL ''Algérien'' (F-1), ex-''Cronin'' (DE-107) * FFL ''Sénégalais'' (F-2), ex-''Corbestier'' (DE-106) * FFL ''Somali'' (F-3), ex-''Somali'' (DE-111) * FFL ''Hova'' (F-4), ex-''Hova'' (DE-110) * FFL ''Marocain'' (F-5), ex-''Marocain'' (DE-109) * FFL ''Tunisien'' (F-6), ex-''Crosley'' (DE-108)


Mutual Defense Assistance Program – Post WWII

Under the MDAP the destroyer escorts leased to the Free French were permanently transferred to the French Navy. In addition, the following navies also acquired DEs:


Republic of China Navy (Taiwan)

: DE-47, DE-6


French Navy

:DE-1007, DE-1008, DE-1009, DE-1010, DE-1011, DE-1012, DE-1013, DE-1016, DE-1017, DE-1018, DE1019


Hellenic Navy

: DE-173, DE-766, DE-768, DE-193


Italian Navy

:DE-1020, DE-1031


Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force

: DE-168, DE-169


Philippine Navy

: DE-168, DE-169, DE-170, DE-770, DE-771, DE-251, DE-637


Portuguese Navy

: DE-509, DE-1032, DE-1039, DE-1042, DE-1046


Republic of Korea Navy

: DE-770, DE-771


Royal Navy

DE-574DE-574 was originally provided to the United Kingdom under the
Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
(Public Law 77-11) scheme, DE-574 was returned to the US custody under the provisions of the Lend-Lease scheme on the 25 April 1952 and simultaneously transferred back to the United Kingdom under the Mutual Defence Assistance Program.


Royal Netherlands Navy

: USS ''Burrows'' (DE-105), USS ''Rinehart'' (DE-196), USS ''Gustafson'' (DE-182), USS ''O'Neill'' (DE-188), USS ''Eisner'' (DE-192), USS ''Stern'' (DE-187)


Royal Thai Navy

: DE-746


National Navy of Uruguay

: DE-166, DE-189,


Comparison with contemporary frigates

The table below compares destroyer escorts and frigates designed for similar missions.


Surviving destroyer escorts

Five destroyer escorts are preserved as museum ships, while others remain in active service. * The is preserved in
Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. * The is preserved in
Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...
. * The BNS ''Bauru'' (BE-4), formerly is preserved in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. * The modified , ARC ''Cordoba'' (DT-15), formerly is preserved in Tocancipa,
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
. * The , formerly , was recently decommissioned by the
Philippine Navy The Philippine Navy (PN) ( tgl, Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, , Sea Army of the Philippines) ( es, Armada de Filipinas, , Ejército del Mar de las Filipinas) is the naval warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It has an ...
and will be preserved as a museum ship at Sangley Point. * The HTMS ''Pin Klao'' (DE-1), formerly , is active in the Royal Thai Navy as a training ship. She is the last operational World War II destroyer escort in any navy. * The
Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...
operates six s.


See also

* ''
The Enemy Below ''The Enemy Below'' is a 1957 DeLuxe Color war film in CinemaScope about a battle between an American destroyer escort and a German U-boat during World War II. Produced and directed by Dick Powell, the movie stars Robert Mitchum and Curt J� ...
'', a movie filmed on a DE *
List of destroyers of the Second World War This is a list of destroyers of the Second World War. The List of ships of the Second World War contains major military vessels of the war, arranged alphabetically and by type. The list includes armed vessels that served during the war and in the ...
* List of escort vessel classes of the Second World War * List of Escorteurs of the French Navy *
List of frigates This list of frigate classes includes all post–World War II frigate classes listed alphabetically. See also List of frigate classes by country. {, class="wikitable sortable" , Frigate class , , width=120px align= ...
** List of Captain class frigates ** List of frigates of the Second World War **
List of frigates of the United States Navy A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
subset of above with hull numbers DE/FF 1037 and higher plus all DEG/FFGs because of the
United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification The United States Navy reclassified many of its surface vessels in 1975, changing terminology and hull classification symbols for cruisers, frigates, and ocean escorts. Classification prior to 1975 From the 1950s to 1975, the US Navy had three ...
* Naval tactics


Notes and references


Footnotes


Source notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *


Online sources

*


Further reading

* On the subject of a particular example of this type of ship in World War II, the USS ''Abercrombie'' (DE-343), see ''Little Ship, Big War: The Saga of DE-343'' by Edward Peary Stafford. Naval Institute Press (2000) * On the subject of the Captain-class frigate variant of the destroyer escort in World War II, see ''The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War'' by Donald Collingwood. published by Leo Cooper (1998),


External links


DESA – Destroyer Escort Sailors Association

Destroyer Escort Historical Museum, Albany, NY

Captains Class Frigates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Destroyer Escort Ship types