USS Gilmore (DE-18) was an Evarts-class

Evarts class destroyer escort

The Evarts class destroyer escorts were destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1942–1944. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. They were also known as the GMT or "short hull" DE class, with GMT standing for General Motors Tandem Diesel...

 short-hull
destroyer escort

Destroyer escort

A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

 in the service of 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...

, named after Commander Walter William Gilmore, Supply Corps

Navy Supply Corps (United States)

The Supply Corps of the United States Navy traces its beginnings to February 23, 1795 when the nation's first Purveyor of Public Supplies, Tench Francis, Jr., was appointed by President George Washington. The Supply Corps is one of the oldest staff corps in the U.S. Navy. Supply Corps officers are...

, killed on 8 May 1942 while serving as the supply officer of the in the Battle of Coral Sea.

Originally allocated to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 under terms of the Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

 Program the ship was launched as HMS Halder (BDE-18) on 22 October 1942 by Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California; sponsored by Mrs. Otis J. Boyer, wife of a Quarterman Rigger of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. She was reallocated back to the United States Navy and renamed USS Gilmore on 19 February 1943, and commissioned on 17 April 1943, with Lt. Cmdr. S. C. Small in command.

Northern Pacific, 1943–1944

Gilmore conducted her initial training in San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. After this initial training period she escorted troopships from San Francisco, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 to 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...

 from 28 June to 8 July 1943. Her next mission would be escorting the submarine tender to Attu Island

Attu Island

Attu is the westernmost and largest island in the Near Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, making it the westernmost point of land relative to Alaska and the United States. It was the site of the only World War II land battle fought on the incorporated territory of the United States ,...

 on 20 September from San Francisco. Sailing as part of the 14 Destroyer Escort Division Pacific, she then served as the escort ship for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey

U.S. National Geodetic Survey

National Geodetic Survey, formerly called the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey , is a United States federal agency that defines and manages a national coordinate system, providing the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a large number of applications of science...

 ship from 18 October to 29 October. For the next three months, Gilmore would serve as an escort between various Alaskan ports, until 20 January 1944. She then participated in air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue is the coordinated search and rescue of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their sea-going vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships...

 operations off the coast of Attu Island for the 4th Fleet Air Wing until 1 February.

Three days later, Gilmore left Attu for Adak

Adak, Alaska

Adak , formerly Adak Station, is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 326. It is the westernmost municipality in the United States and the southernmost city in Alaska. The city is the former location of the Adak Army Base and Adak...

 escorting merchant ships, and then escorted and SS Henry Failing to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington...

 in Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

, arriving on 16 February 1944. She returned to Dutch Harbor

Unalaska, Alaska

Unalaska is a city in the Aleutians West Census Area of the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. Unalaska is located on Unalaska Island and neighboring Amaknak Island in the Aleutian Islands off of mainland Alaska....

 on 1 March and completed nine escort missions between that port and Attu by 20 April 1944.

She departed Dutch Harbor on 23 April to assist in the escort of merchantmen bound for Kodiak

Kodiak, Alaska

Kodiak is one of 7 communities and the main city on Kodiak Island, Kodiak Island Borough, in the U.S. state of Alaska. All commercial transportation between the entire island and the outside world goes through this city either via ferryboat or airline...

. Near midnight of 25 April her radar picked up a surfaced submarine which dived. Gilmore gained underwater sound contact, made two 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...

 attacks, then regained contact at 0010, 26 April. She exploded six depth charges near the submarine and five minutes later six others were dropped directly over the target. A violent underwater explosion caused minor damage in the after motor room of Gilmore as the 1,630-ton Japanese Kaidai class

Kaidai class submarine

The was a type of 1st class submarine operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. The type name, was shortened to . All Kaidai class submarines originally had a two digit boat name, from I-51 onwards. On 20 May 1942, all Kaidai submarines added a '1' to their name. For...

 submarine I-180 settled to the bottom in latitude 50° 10' North; longitude 155°40' West.

Gilmore arrived at Kodiak on 29 April; returned to Dutch Harbor with Army transport Otsego on 9 May, and made five escort voyages between that port and Adak before serving on air-sea rescue station for pilots of Fleet Air Wing Four (1-4 July 1944). Fourteen more escort missions for troop transports were made to Kodiak, Adak, Attu, Kiska

Kiska

Kiska is an island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska located at . It is about long and varies in width from - Discovery :...

 and Amchitka

Amchitka

Amchitka is a volcanic, tectonically unstable island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island is about long, and from wide...

 by 8 September 1944, followed by plane guard

Plane guard

A plane guard is a warship or helicopter tasked to recover the aircrew of planes or helicopters which ditch or crash in the water during aircraft carrier flight operations.-Ships:...

 patrol west of Attu for Fleet Air Wing Four until 1 October. She then resumed escort missions between various Alaskan and Aleutian ports.

Western Pacific, 1945

Gilmore departed Dutch Harbor on 13 January 1945 for overhaul in the Mare Island Naval Shipyard

Mare Island Naval Shipyard

The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the...

 until 4 March, then sailed for Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. She entered 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 10 March, became flagship of Escort Division 14, and departed Pearl Harbor on 20 March as screen commander for a troopship convoy escorted safely to Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls on 29 March. After guarding escort aircraft carrier to Apra Harbor

Apra Harbor

Apra Harbor is a deep-water port on the western side of Guam in the Mariana Islands. The harbor is formed by Orote Peninsula in the south and Cabras Island in the north. To the south, the harbor narrows and then widens again to form an inner harbor. The southern end of the harbor is the location...

, Guam, she touched at Saipan

Saipan

Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of . The 2000 census population was 62,392...

 on 13 April to act as station guide for a task element of tank landing ships that arrived off Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, officially , is an island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain, which lie south of the Ogasawara Islands and together with them form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The island is located south of mainland Tokyo and administered as part of Ogasawara, one of eight villages of Tokyo...

 on the 18th. After joining in the escort of two merchantmen to Guam, she departed Saipan on 1 May 1945 with another convoy of amphibious assault ships that arrived off Iwo Jima on the 4th. Assigned to rescue station, she closed within 12 miles of Mount Suribachi that afternoon to rescue an Army aviator from his crashed plane. On the 10th she sent her medical officer to for treatment of injured airmen rescued by that submarine. She escorted Jallao into Tanapag

Tanapag

Tanapag is a settlement on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. It is located close to Tanapag Beach on the northwest coast, just to the north of Capital Hill, the island group's centre of government...

 Harbor, Saipan, on 12 May and was relieved as division flagship by on 20 July 1945.

Gilmore made an escort voyage for troopships to Okinawa and return (22 July-7 August 1945), then joined an anti-submarine warfare task group built around escort carrier for an unrewarding search for enemy submarines in waters extending some 250 miles southwest of Guam. She returned to Saipan from this mission on 17 August 1945, made two escort voyages for troop convoys to Okinawa and return by 11 September, proceeded off Marcus Island

Minami Torishima

or Marcus Island is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some SE of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight line between Tokyo and Wake Island, which is east southeast...

 for patrol (13-28 September), thence to Apra Harbor, Guam.

Gilmore sailed for home on 12 October via Pearl Harbor to San Pedro, California, arriving on 27 October 1945. Gilmore was decommissioned on 29 December 1945 and remained in the San Diego Group, U.S. Pacific Reserve Fleet, until sold for scrapping on 1 February 1947.

Awards

	Combat Action Ribbon Combat Action Ribbon The Combat Action Ribbon is a personal military decoration of the United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard which is awarded to those who, in any grade including and below that of a Captain in the Navy and Coast Guard , have actively participated in ground or...  (retroactive)
	American Campaign Medal American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal was a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was first created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal is a service decoration of the Second World War which was awarded to any member of the United States military who served in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945 and was created on November 6, 1942 by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was...  (with one service star Service star A service star, also referred to as a battle star, campaign star, or engagement star, is an attachment to a United States military decoration which denotes participation in military campaigns or multiple bestowals of the same award. Service stars are typically issued for campaign medals, service... )
	World War II Victory Medal