USS Gunason (DE-795) a Buckley-class

Buckley class destroyer escort

The Buckley class destroyer escorts were 102 destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1943 - 1944. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. The lead ship was USS Buckley which was launched on 9 January 1943. The ships had General Electric steam...

 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...

 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...

, was named in honor of Lieutenant Robert W. Gunason who was killed in action while serving on the USS Astoria

USS Astoria (CA-34)

The second USS Astoria was a United States Navy New Orleans-class heavy cruiser that participated in both the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, but was then sunk in August 1942 at the Battle of Savo Island...

, during the Battle of Savo Island

Battle of Savo Island

The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the , was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces...

.

Gunason was launched 16 October 1943 by the Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; sponsored by Mrs. Mabel Meneley, the namesake's mother; and commissioned 1 February 1944, Comdr. H. G White, USNR, commanding.

History

After shakedown, Gunason sailed from Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 6 April 1944 for the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, reaching Trinidad 4 days later, and began inter-island escort duties. Until June she made frequent escort voyages between Trinidad and Guantanamo Bay

Guantánamo Bay (Cuba)

Guantánamo Bay is a bay located in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba . It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and is surrounded by steep hills creating an enclave cut off from its immediate hinterland....

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, delivering her convoys safely. Departing Trinidad 2 June, she rendezvoused at Barbados with a merchantman carrying one of the first loads of Barbadians to the United States to relieve the wartime farm labor shortage, and escorted the ship safely to Miami.

Subsequently, following repairs at Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Gunason reached Casco Bay, Maine, 25 June and joined sister destroyer escorts bound for Hampton Roads, where all arrived 2 July to form Task Force 61. Gunason served with this task force until early 1945, making three transatlantic escort voyages out of Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 to Bizerte, Plymouth, and Oran respectively from 4 July 1944 to 8 January 1945. Highlights of this exacting duty included she herding a stricken slow tow convoy which had been attacked by U boats. Gunason spent Christmas and New Year's standing by this convoy as it steamed into winter seas at 4 knots.

Gunason was soon to change her theater of operations. She sailed from Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 27 January 1945 via 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...

 for the South Pacific, arriving Manus 4 March. A round trip escort voyage thence to Leyte in March set the pattern she was to follow for the next 3 months—escorting convoys entering and departing Philippine waters—supporting America's last giant thrusts in the Pacific. In June, Gunason escorted troopships from Hollandia to Manila and after touching Ulithi put in at Manila again early in July.

The ship departed Subic Bay 26 July in company with three destroyer escorts and a flotilla of landing craft bound for Okinawa, arriving 9 days later. A pre-dawn air attack 5 August sent all ships off Hagushi Beach to General Quarters, but Gunason and her charges escaped damage. She returned to Leyte 8 August and, following an escort voyage thence to Ulithi and return, got underway 30 August with one of the first Leyte-Tokyo convoys, a flotilla of LCI's that entered Tokyo Bay 7 September. Gunason sailed the next day for Manila, arriving 17 September, and remained in the Philippines until November. Duties included a trip to Batan Island with a War Crimes Investigating Detail in which facts, later brought forth in the Yamashita War Crimes Trial, were gleaned. A search mission for a downed plane and a training exercise with submarines in Subic Bay occupied Gunason until 26 November when she stood out of Subic Bay for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, arriving San Diego, Calif., 17 December 1945. She operated out of there until 10 February 1947 when she sailed for the Far East via 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...

 and Guam. Gunason arrived Sasebo, Japan, 10 March. She sailed 3 days later for patrol off the eastern coast of Korea. Gunason remained in this service, with calls at Tsingtao and Yokosuka, until 10 September 1947, when she departed for California.

Arriving San Diego 19 September, Gunason conducted coastal operations until 12 December 1947, when she entered Long Beach for inactivation. Gunason decommissioned 13 March 1948 and was placed in reserve at Mare Island. In 1969 she was berthed at Stockton, Calif.. In 1973 she was sunk as a target.