USS Bronstein (DE-189) was a built for the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She served in the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 and provided escort service against submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 and air attack for Navy vessels and convoy

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, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

s. She returned home at war's end with a three battle stars. She was named in honor of Ben Richard Bronstein, Assistant Surgeon, who was killed in action 28 February 1942 when was sunk by an enemy submarine off Cape May, New Jersey

Cape May, New Jersey

Cape May is a city at the southern tip of Cape May Peninsula in Cape May County, New Jersey, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean and is one of the country's oldest vacation resort destinations. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 United States...

.

The ship was laid down on 26 August 1943 at Kearny, New Jersey

Kearny, New Jersey

Kearny is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It was named after Civil War general Philip Kearny. As of the United States 2010 Census, the town population was 40,684. The town is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark....

, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company

The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1949. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at...

, Port Newark, New Jersey

Newark, New Jersey

Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...

; launched on 14 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Dina Bronstein Kurtz, the mother of Lt.(jg.) Bronstein; and commissioned on 13 December 1943, Lt. Sheldon H. Kinney in command.

World War II Atlantic Ocean operations

Following shakedown exercises off Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 in January 1944, the destroyer escort sailed to Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, where she was assigned to Task Group

Task force

A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...

 (TG) 21.16, an anti-submarine hunter-killer group composed of carrier , destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

 , and destroyer escorts Bronstein, , , and . On 16 February, the group left Norfolk for patrol in the North Atlantic.

Sinking of German submarine U-709

After initially conducting a futile search for a Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 submarine reported to be operating between Bermuda and the Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, the group turned its attention to a wolf pack of about nine German submarines. Task Group 21.16 made numerous attacks on the pack; and, on the evening of the 29th, Thomas made a surface radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

 contact, and Bostwick joined her in the search to identify the contact. Meanwhile, Block Island had detached Bronstein to search for a second suspected U-boat

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

; and, while the destroyer escort hunted the new enemy, one of her star shells revealed on the surface preparing to attack Thomas and Bostwick. Bronstein opened fire, and her guns registered several hits. The submarine went deep to escape, and the three destroyer escorts attacked her with depth charges. Thomas finally sank U-709 early the next morning.

Sinking of German submarine U-603

As the second U-boat stealthily maneuvered to attack Block Island, Bronstein made sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

 contact on her and immediately began dropping depth charges. After only an hour's work, the warship

Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...

's crew received the reward of a tremendous explosion that could only have been the end of the submarine, later identified as . The hunter-killer group put into Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

 on 8 March for voyage repairs and refueling.

Sinking of German submarine U-801

Departing the Moroccan

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

 coast on the 11th, the Block Island group made radar contact four days later with . The submarine surfaced on the evening of 16 March only to be attacked by aircraft from the carrier. The U-boat dived and managed to evade the hunters until the early hours of the 17th, when the German skipper erred and sent a radio message. Corry ran down the bearing of the transmission, and she and Bronstein methodically boxed in the U-boat, forcing her to surface. The crew abandoned and scuttled their boat.

Bearing Polish gold to New York

Bronstein and Breeman were detached on 22 March for special duty in Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

, where they arrived on the 25th. There, they cleared space for 15 tons of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 ingots belonging to the Bank of Poland

Bank of Poland

Bank Polski is the name of two former banks in Poland, each of which acted as a central bank. The first was founded by Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki in 1828 in Congress Poland and functioned until 1885, when it was absorbed by the State Bank of the Russian Empire.The second was founded in 1924...

 and worth over 60 million dollars. Once loaded, the two escorts sailed for New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 with orders not to deviate from their course for any reason. They arrived on 3 April and were relieved of their precious cargo by an army of policemen and armored trucks.

Following a 10-day availability at the New York Navy Yard, Bronstein joined the screen of a Mediterranean-bound convoy and crossed the Atlantic without incident. The convoy reached Bizerte

Bizerte

Bizerte or Benzert , is the capital city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia and the northernmost city in Africa. It has a population of 230,879 .-History:...

, Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

, on 4 May. Bronstein also escorted the returning convoy, which sailed on 11 May. A German submarine attacked and disabled two merchantmen on 14 May, and Bronstein remained at the scene until relieved by ships of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 19. The remainder of the cruise passed more peacefully, and the convoy entered New York harbor on 29 May.

Sinking of German submarine U-233

Bronstein sailed for Casco Bay

Casco Bay

Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, on 10 June for refresher training and then proceeded to Norfolk to join a hunter-killer group formed around . Designated task group TG 21.10, the group headed for Newfoundland

Dominion of Newfoundland

The Dominion of Newfoundland was a British Dominion from 1907 to 1949 . The Dominion of Newfoundland was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland and Labrador on the continental mainland...

 in pursuit of a U-boat reported to be operating in that vicinity. and Thomas sank on 5 July, and TG 21.10 set course for Boston to land the prisoners and for Thomas to repair damage she suffered while ramming the submarine. The task group left Boston, Massachusetts, on 10 July to patrol the West Indies. On the 16th, a plane spotted a contact 60 miles to the northwest of the formation, and Bostwick joined Bronstein in the search. In the early evening, Card suffered an engine casualty and, for six hours thereafter, lay dead in the water, making it impossible for the carrier to recover the airplane. Bronstein vectored the plane safely to Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 before spending the rest of the night in a fruitless search for the U-boat. The escorts rejoined TG 21.10 en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

, where they arrived on 18 July.

Hunting submarines in the Azores

Three of the escorts resumed the search immediately after refueling. Baker and Bronstein relieved two of them on 24 July. The entire hunter-killer group continued to a point northeast of the Azores by 17 August without contacting any submarines; and, by the end of the month, the escorts were in the New York Navy Yard for repairs.

Following the yard work, Bronstein underwent refresher training in Casco Bay and then sailed for Norfolk to rejoin Card. On 18 September, she got underway with TG 22.2 for Bermuda to conduct coordinated air/sea/subsurface training exercises. The hunter-killer group then conducted an unsuccessful search north of the Azores for a reported submarine; and, after making a refueling stop at Casablanca on 25 and 26 October, TG 22.2 returned to New York.

Celebrating New Year's in New York

Bronstein stood out to sea with TG 22.2 on 13 November for training near Bermuda. She spent Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 in the West Indies, but returned to New York in time to celebrate New Year's Day

New Year's Day

New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

, 1945. During January and the first two weeks of February, the destroyer escort performed a variety of duties such as lifeguard work for carrier qualifications, training, and coastal escort assignments. On 11 February, Bronstein departed Casco Bay to join south of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

.

She sighted the Core group, TG 22.4, on 16 February; and all 12 destroyer escorts of the group formed a scouting line 90 miles long to search for a weather-reporting submarine believed to be in the vicinity. The task group did not find the U-boat, but did encounter high winds and mountainous seas. For two days, the escorts fought the weather and, as it improved, made needed repairs. The winds returned in force on the 23rd, but Bronstein made port safely at Hvalfjörður

Hvalfjörður

Hvalfjörður is situated in the west of Iceland between Mosfellsbær and Akranes. The fjord is approximately 30 km long and 5 km wide....

, Iceland, on 25 February.

On the last day of February, the destroyer escorts put to sea again to follow several submarines reportedly heading west toward the Flemish Cap

Flemish Cap

The Flemish Cap is an area of shallow waters in the north Atlantic Ocean centered roughly at 47° north, 45° west or about 350 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador....

. Although the weather had improved somewhat, the warships were continually pounded by the seas and were grateful to be relieved on 14 March. Bronstein arrived in New York on 17 March for five days of voyage repairs and then, with Baker, reported to New London, Connecticut

New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....

, to serve as an escort and target ship for submarine training.

Sinking another submarine off the Chesapeake Bay

Bronstein returned to patrol duty on 14 April when all ships of her division received orders to search for a submarine off the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

. With Baker and Breeman, Bronstein searched the southern channels. The group searching the northern channel attacked and sank a submarine on the night of 29 and 30 April. The warships sailed to New York and were there on 7 May to celebrate Germany's surrender.

On 9 May, Bronstein returned to screening carriers during pilot qualification flights, working with Card, , and . She interrupted this duty once, in July, to embark civilians for an "industrial incentive cruise" followed by a technical availability in the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Brooklyn Navy Yard

The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...

. Bronstein entered the Boston Navy Yard

Boston Navy Yard

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

 later in the year for repairs to one of her main engines and then sailed to New York on 23 October to participate in the Navy Day

Navy Day

Several nations observe or have observed a Navy Day to recognize their navy. The term is also used in Britain to mean an open day at a dockyard such as HMNB Portsmouth, when the public can visit military ships and see air displays, roughly along the lines of an American Fleet Week .- Argentina...

 Review.

Post-War decommissioning

Bronstein departed New York on 3 November and proceeded to Green Cove Springs, Florida

Green Cove Springs, Florida

Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....

, where she was decommissioned on 17 June 1946 and berthed with the St. Johns River

St. Johns River

The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...

 Group. On 3 May 1952, Bronstein was sold to Uruguay

Uruguay

Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...

 and recommissioned as ROU Artigas (DE-2). Her name was struck from the Navy List

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

on 14 May 1952.