USS Osterhaus (DE-164)
_underway_in_the_Atlantic_Ocean,_in_June_1943.jpg) USS Osterhaus (DE-164) |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Shipyard |
Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Newark, New Jersey |
| Keel laying | November 11, 1942 |
| Launch | April 18, 1943 |
| 1. Period of service |
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| Commissioning | June 12, 1943 |
| Decommissioning | June 26, 1946 |
| Awards | 3 Battle Stars (World War II) |
| Whereabouts | Sold to Greece for scrapping on May 30, 1974 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1,240 ts |
| length |
93 m |
| width |
11.2 m |
| crew |
15 officers and 201 men |
| speed |
21 kn |
| Range |
10,800 nm at 12 kn |
| Armament |
3 × 76.2 mm cannons |
The USS Osterhaus (DE-164) was a destroyer escort of the US Navy during the Second World War and the only ship to date to bear this name. It belonged to the Cannon class and was named after Rear Admiral Hugo Osterhaus .
The ship's godmother was Mrs. Helen Osterhaus, a granddaughter of the namesake; first in command was Commander Rowland H. Groff (US Navy Reserve).
The building yard was the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Port Newark , ( New Jersey )
After the training voyage in the Great Sound ( Bermuda ) area, the "Osterhaus" left New York City on August 21, 1943 to begin her first mission in the waters off Espiritu Santo ( New Hebrides ). After arriving on October 3, the destroyer repeatedly undertook escort duties between the advanced bases of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia to the various front sections in the Solomon Islands .
During a patrol off Kola Point on the Guadalcanal coast on the morning of October 11, 1943, two low-flying Japanese torpedo bombers attacked the cargo ships "SS George Bliss" and "SS John H. Couch". The “couch” was hit and started to burn. It was then secured by the "Osterhaus" and the " USS Bebas (DE – 10) "; the destroyers commanded fire-fighting and rescue personnel on board the merchant ship for the next two days. In the end, the fire was extinguished and the valuable cargo of ammunition, equipment and pioneer equipment saved.
In the following months, the destroyer escorted troop transports and supply ships from supply bases to Guadalcanal and Bougainville Island, these escorts were interrupted by anti-submarine patrols between Guadalcanal and the Fiji Islands .
After the preparations for the amphibious landings on the Mariana Islands were completed, the "Osterhaus" took a course from Guadalcanal to Eniwetok on the Marshall Islands to shield troop transports. After arriving on June 18, 1944, the ship left the port the next day to escort a supply transport to the area east of Saipan . There was no enemy contact during this voyage.
On July 23, 1944, another escort began from Eniwtok, which led a convoy of troops to Guam, which was reached on July 29. The next day the landing operation began in Agat Bay. With the Escort Division Eleven , the "Osterhaus" started the return trip to Eniwetok on the evening of July 30th. From there she ran out on August 20, 1944 to move her base of operations to Seeadler Harbor on Manus ( Admiralty Islands ). From here the flagship of the Escort Division Eleven escorted three escort aircraft carriers and a number of fleet tankers to a meeting point with the Fast Carrier Task Force on September 6th . After arriving in the designated area on September 11th, the Fast Carrier Task Force was supplied with materials and equipment by this convoy in preparation for the attack on the Western Carolines and the Philippines . On November 20, 1944, the "Osterhaus" left Seeadler Harbor and ran back to San Francisco via Hawaii , where she arrived on December 13, 1944. There it was relocated to the Terminal Island Shipyard in San Pedro for overhaul . Then she drove to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on April 23, 1945. From here the destroyer drove in the company of a convoy of transporters and merchant ships across the Marshall Islands to Ulithi on the Carolines, where it arrived on June 9, 1945. After that, the "Osterhaus" carried out escort duties between the Carolines, the Marianas and the Marshall Islands until the end of the war. With the Escort Division Eleven , she left Kwajalein Lagoon on September 16 and ran via Pearl Harbor, San Diego and the Panama Canal to New York City, where she arrived on October 27, 1945. It was moved to Green Cove Springs in Florida with the decommissioning on June 26, 1946. The "Osterhaus" remained in the reserve until November 1, 1972 and was then deleted from the shipping list. On May 30, 1974, the ship was sold for demolition.
The "Osterhaus" were awarded for their services:
- three battle stars
- the Combat Action Ribbon
- the American Campaign Medal
- the Arctic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three stars
- the World War II Victory Medal
- the Philippines Liberation Medal