.gif)
USS Burrows (DE-105)
Encyclopedia
USS Burrows (DE-105) was a built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and provided escort service against submarine
and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
She was laid down at Wilmington, Delaware
, on 24 March 1943 by the Dravo Corporation
; launched on 2 October 1943; sponsored by Miss Ruth C. Tech; and commissioned on 19 December 1943 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Lt. Comdr. Robert W. Graham in command.
, on 30 December 1943 for shakedown
training off Bermuda
and returned to Philadelphia on 9 February 1944 for post-shakedown repairs before steaming to Norfolk, Virginia
, for duty as a training ship for prospective destroyer escort crews. After less than three weeks, she received orders to New York City to await assignment to her first convoy
.
On 27 February, the warship
sailed for the first of 16 transatlantic crossings. In company with , , four destroyer
s, and seven other destroyer escorts, Burrows sailed through the cold and stormy North Atlantic and arrived safely in Belfast
, Northern Ireland
. She proceeded to Derry
to join Escort Division 28 (CortDiv 22); and, on 17 March, Burrows began her return voyage to New York
. Upon arriving there on 28 March, she entered the navy yard for an overhaul.
Burrows typical cycle for escort duty was to steam overseas, return to New York for overhaul, undergo brief refresher training, and then steam back to New York to join another convoy. She served in the screen of a convoy to England in April and, upon return to New York, she interrupted her convoy-escort routine to conduct experiments at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, with the Navy's FXR (foxer) gear
, an underwater noise-making device that trailed behind ships as a defense against German acoustic torpedoes. Back in New York by early June, Burrows stood out of port on the 13th with her longest and largest convoy, more than a hundred ships bound for Bizerte
, Tunisia
. The voyage took the convoy through the Strait of Gibraltar
, where reports of Luftwaffe
attacks prompted Burrows and the other escorts to lay smoke screens twice daily over the ships. Although German bombers passed within two miles, they did not strike; and the convoy arrived on 1 July. Burrows sailed on 10 July for the United States.
Following overhaul, the warship steamed to Casco Bay
, Maine
, for extended training in torpedo
evasion techniques. On 20 August, the destroyer escort got underway for New London, Connecticut
, where she put this training to good use during service as a practice target for American submarines. For 34 days, dummy torpedoes passed under Burrows while prospective commanding officers and submarine crews sharpened their fighting skills.
moved his submarines closer to their home bases and concentrated operations in the mid-eastern Atlantic, the Irish Sea
, and the English Channel
. Burrows convoy, however, encountered no German U-boats while steaming through the danger zone and arrived safely in Liverpool, England, on 17 October.
The destroyer escort made three more convoy trips before the end of March 1945. Once when she was only a few days out of New York on her seventh eastward crossing, high winds and heavy seas battered her convoy severely. Two of the convoy's merchant ships, SS Lone Jack and SS Frontenac Victory, collided. Burrows stood by the badly damaged ships for nine hours to render assistance, but the ships managed to stay afloat through the night. The night hours visited even more excitement on the warship after a fire broke out in the muffler spaces above her own machinery. Fortunately, her well-drilled damage control
parties rapidly extinguished the flames before the ship suffered any serious damage.
deck. In spite of the heavy pounding, Burrows maintained her station while accomplishing temporary repairs; and, on 25 March, she steamed into the safety of New York harbor.
, France — Burrows returned to Southampton
to prepare for her return voyage. On 8 May, while she transited the Atlantic, hostilities with Germany ended. During her 16 transatlantic trips, Burrows had escorted over 500 ships without having one of her convoys suffer a single loss from enemy action.
menace, Burrows was needed in the Pacific. On 8 June, she began the westward voyage, pausing first at Culebra Island in Puerto Rico
for shore bombardment exercises and then at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for refresher training. Finally, she carried out depth charge
exercises with a bottomed submarine in Gonaïves
Bay, Haiti
, before transiting the Panama Canal
on 28 June. After a short repair period in San Diego, California
, the destroyer escort headed west, arriving in Pearl Harbor
on 19 July. There, she underwent a strenuous training program designed to bring the warship to her fighting peak before she met the Japanese. On 6 August, Burrows left for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands
. While she was anchored in Eniwetok lagoon
on 15 August, the message arrived announcing the end of hostilities with Japan
.
, until 23 August, then moved to Leyte
and Cebu
in the Philippine Islands to pick up a convoy carrying occupation troops to Japan. The convoy began the cruise on 2 September. On the morning of 8 September, Burrows steamed into Tokyo Bay
which was still filled with the ships of the U.S. 3rd Fleet which had anchored there for the formal surrender ceremony. Four days later, the escort left Tokyo to chaperone a group of LSTs to Okinawa. Enemy submarines and aircraft no longer presented a threat, but the thousands of anchored or floating mines in the water were a hazard to the convoys and had to be destroyed by the escorts.
On 15 September, Burrows escorted her convoy into Buckner Bay, turned, and left port immediately to escape approaching Typhoon Ida. The warship returned to Buckner Bay on the 18th to join another LST group bound for Honshū
where they arrived a week later. Burrows tied up alongside for a repair period that was interrupted by another storm-evasion cruise. Following completion of the availability, Burrows set out to sea on 8 October for Leyte Gulf
with a third LST group. After another delay due to still another typhoon evasion, the escort and convoy arrived safely on 20 October. Burrows longest cruise in Pacific waters began in the southern Philippines on 28 October and took her to Aomori
on the northernmost tip of Honshū and then to Otaru in southern Hokkaidō
. After stopping at both ports, Burrows rendezvoused with LST Flotilla 29 and returned with the ships to Yokohama
.
and thence to Guiuan, Samar
, to embark five officers and 58 men of the Philippine Army and two Japanese prisoners of war. These troops were being dispatched to Borongan to attempt to force the surrender of Japanese soldiers in the area. On the morning of 12 December, Burrows disembarked her passengers and stood by to await developments. Four days later, the escort recovered all her original passengers as well as 75 Japanese prisoners and got underway for Tacloban, Leyte, where she discharged all the troops and prisoners before returning to Guiuan.
During the remainder of December 1945 and throughout January 1946, Burrows was either at anchor in Guiuan Harbor or on weather patrol. On 31 January, the ship received orders to join CortDiv 16 to return to the United States. After a stop in Pearl Harbor on 13 February, Burrows continued on to San Pedro, California, where she tied up on the 23d. In March, the destroyer escort steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, to prepare for inactivation that was completed in Green Cove Springs, Florida
. There, she was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 14 June 1946.
on 26 September 1950. Renamed HNMS Van Amstel, she served for 17 more years under the Dutch flag until the Royal Netherlands Navy
declared her to be excess to their needs in 1968 and sold her to Simons Scheepsslooparij N.V. of Rotterdam
for scrapping.
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 convoys.
She was laid down at Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, on 24 March 1943 by the Dravo Corporation
Dravo Corporation
Dravo Corporation was a shipbuilding company with shipyards in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. It was founded by Frank and Ralph Dravo in Pittsburgh during the 1890s.-Facilities:...
; launched on 2 October 1943; sponsored by Miss Ruth C. Tech; and commissioned on 19 December 1943 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Lt. Comdr. Robert W. Graham in command.
World War II North Atlantic operations
The destroyer escort left Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, on 30 December 1943 for shakedown
Sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...
training 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...
and returned to Philadelphia on 9 February 1944 for post-shakedown repairs before steaming 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....
, for duty as a training ship for prospective destroyer escort crews. After less than three weeks, she received orders to New York City to await assignment to her first 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...
.
On 27 February, 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...
sailed for the first of 16 transatlantic crossings. In company with , , four 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...
s, and seven other destroyer escorts, Burrows sailed through the cold and stormy North Atlantic and arrived safely in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. She proceeded to Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
to join Escort Division 28 (CortDiv 22); and, on 17 March, Burrows began her return voyage to 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...
. Upon arriving there on 28 March, she entered the navy yard for an overhaul.
Burrows typical cycle for escort duty was to steam overseas, return to New York for overhaul, undergo brief refresher training, and then steam back to New York to join another convoy. She served in the screen of a convoy to England in April and, upon return to New York, she interrupted her convoy-escort routine to conduct experiments at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, with the Navy's FXR (foxer) gear
Foxer
Foxer, was the codename for a British built acoustic decoy, used to confuse German acoustic homing torpedoes like the G7es torpedo during the Second World War. A US version codenamed FXR was deployed in 1943. A Canadian version was also built called the CAT...
, an underwater noise-making device that trailed behind ships as a defense against German acoustic torpedoes. Back in New York by early June, Burrows stood out of port on the 13th with her longest and largest convoy, more than a hundred ships bound for 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...
. The voyage took the convoy through the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
, where reports of Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
attacks prompted Burrows and the other escorts to lay smoke screens twice daily over the ships. Although German bombers passed within two miles, they did not strike; and the convoy arrived on 1 July. Burrows sailed on 10 July for the United States.
Following overhaul, the warship steamed to 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...
, for extended training in torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
evasion techniques. On 20 August, the destroyer escort got underway for 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....
, where she put this training to good use during service as a practice target for American submarines. For 34 days, dummy torpedoes passed under Burrows while prospective commanding officers and submarine crews sharpened their fighting skills.
Sailing her fourth convoy
Burrows departed New York again on 6 October with her fourth convoy. By this time, the German submarine strategy had changed. During her earlier trips, the U-boats were attacked principally in the western and middle Atlantic. Later in the war, as the German effort faltered and the Allies invaded Europe, DönitzKarl Dönitz
Karl Dönitz was a German naval commander during World War II. He started his career in the German Navy during World War I. In 1918, while he was in command of , the submarine was sunk by British forces and Dönitz was taken prisoner...
moved his submarines closer to their home bases and concentrated operations in the mid-eastern Atlantic, the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
, and the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
. Burrows convoy, however, encountered no German U-boats while steaming through the danger zone and arrived safely in Liverpool, England, on 17 October.
The destroyer escort made three more convoy trips before the end of March 1945. Once when she was only a few days out of New York on her seventh eastward crossing, high winds and heavy seas battered her convoy severely. Two of the convoy's merchant ships, SS Lone Jack and SS Frontenac Victory, collided. Burrows stood by the badly damaged ships for nine hours to render assistance, but the ships managed to stay afloat through the night. The night hours visited even more excitement on the warship after a fire broke out in the muffler spaces above her own machinery. Fortunately, her well-drilled damage control
Damage control
Damage control is a term used in the Merchant Marine, maritime industry and navies for the emergency control of situations that may hazard the sinking of a ship...
parties rapidly extinguished the flames before the ship suffered any serious damage.
Damaged in rough North Atlantic seas
In the morning, a westbound convoy appeared on the horizon, and two of its escorts relieved Burrows of her standby duties, enabling her to catch up to her own convoy by the next day. The remainder of the trip passed without incident, and the ships arrived in Liverpool on 11 March. Heavy weather again tormented Burrows return convoy. On 23 March, a huge wave tore off her forward 3-inch gun shield, ripping two holes in the forecastleForecastle
Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...
deck. In spite of the heavy pounding, Burrows maintained her station while accomplishing temporary repairs; and, on 25 March, she steamed into the safety of New York harbor.
Her last eastbound convoy
Burrows departed New York on 16 April with her eighth and last eastbound convoy. The crossing was easy; and — after dropping one part of the convoy in Weymouth, England, and delivering the rest to Le HavreLe Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
, France — Burrows returned to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
to prepare for her return voyage. On 8 May, while she transited the Atlantic, hostilities with Germany ended. During her 16 transatlantic trips, Burrows had escorted over 500 ships without having one of her convoys suffer a single loss from enemy action.
Transferred to the Pacific Theatre
With the Atlantic free of the U-boatU-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...
menace, Burrows was needed in the Pacific. On 8 June, she began the westward voyage, pausing first at Culebra Island in 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...
for shore bombardment exercises and then at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for refresher training. Finally, she carried out depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...
exercises with a bottomed submarine in Gonaïves
Gonaïves
Gonaïves is a city in northern Haiti, the capital of the Artibonite Department. It has a population of about 104,825 people . The city's name derives from the original Amerindian name of Gonaibo. It is also known as Haïti's "independence city"...
Bay, Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, before transiting the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
on 28 June. After a short repair period in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, the destroyer escort headed west, arriving in Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 19 July. There, she underwent a strenuous training program designed to bring the warship to her fighting peak before she met the Japanese. On 6 August, Burrows left for Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. While she was anchored in Eniwetok lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
on 15 August, the message arrived announcing the end of hostilities with Japan
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...
.
End-of-War operations
Although the war was over, Burrows work was not. She carried out an antisubmarine sweep around Truk, in the Caroline IslandsCaroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
, until 23 August, then moved to Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
and Cebu
Cebu
Cebu is a province in the Philippines, consisting of Cebu Island and 167 surrounding islands. It is located to the east of Negros, to the west of Leyte and Bohol islands...
in the Philippine Islands to pick up a convoy carrying occupation troops to Japan. The convoy began the cruise on 2 September. On the morning of 8 September, Burrows steamed into Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
which was still filled with the ships of the U.S. 3rd Fleet which had anchored there for the formal surrender ceremony. Four days later, the escort left Tokyo to chaperone a group of LSTs to Okinawa. Enemy submarines and aircraft no longer presented a threat, but the thousands of anchored or floating mines in the water were a hazard to the convoys and had to be destroyed by the escorts.
On 15 September, Burrows escorted her convoy into Buckner Bay, turned, and left port immediately to escape approaching Typhoon Ida. The warship returned to Buckner Bay on the 18th to join another LST group bound for Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
where they arrived a week later. Burrows tied up alongside for a repair period that was interrupted by another storm-evasion cruise. Following completion of the availability, Burrows set out to sea on 8 October for Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...
with a third LST group. After another delay due to still another typhoon evasion, the escort and convoy arrived safely on 20 October. Burrows longest cruise in Pacific waters began in the southern Philippines on 28 October and took her to Aomori
Aomori, Aomori
is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Japan. As of 2009, the city had an estimated population of 302,068 and a density of 366 persons per km². Its total area was 824.52 km².- History :...
on the northernmost tip of Honshū and then to Otaru in southern Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...
. After stopping at both ports, Burrows rendezvoused with LST Flotilla 29 and returned with the ships to Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
.
Mopping up in the Philippines
Shortly after she tied up in Yokohama, the destroyer escort received orders to Manila BayManila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...
and thence to Guiuan, Samar
Samar
Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...
, to embark five officers and 58 men of the Philippine Army and two Japanese prisoners of war. These troops were being dispatched to Borongan to attempt to force the surrender of Japanese soldiers in the area. On the morning of 12 December, Burrows disembarked her passengers and stood by to await developments. Four days later, the escort recovered all her original passengers as well as 75 Japanese prisoners and got underway for Tacloban, Leyte, where she discharged all the troops and prisoners before returning to Guiuan.
During the remainder of December 1945 and throughout January 1946, Burrows was either at anchor in Guiuan Harbor or on weather patrol. On 31 January, the ship received orders to join CortDiv 16 to return to the United States. After a stop in Pearl Harbor on 13 February, Burrows continued on to San Pedro, California, where she tied up on the 23d. In March, the destroyer escort steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, to prepare for inactivation that was completed in Green Cove Springs, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. There, she was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 14 June 1946.
Post-War decommissioning
In 1950, Burrows was designated for transfer to the Netherlands under the Mutual Defense Aid Program (MDAP). Towed to Boston, Massachusetts, in February for overhaul, she was transferred to the Netherlands government on 1 June 1950, and her name was struck from the Navy ListNaval 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 26 September 1950. Renamed HNMS Van Amstel, she served for 17 more years under the Dutch flag until the Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy
The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
declared her to be excess to their needs in 1968 and sold her to Simons Scheepsslooparij N.V. of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
for scrapping.