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USS Price (DE-332)
Encyclopedia
USS Price (DE-332) was an built for the U.S. Navy during World War II
. She served in the Atlantic Ocean
and the Pacific Ocean
and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine
and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. Post-war she was assigned additional duties, including those of a radar picket
ship.
She was named in honor of Lieutenant (junior grade) Edward Max Price who was killed in action in the Battle of the Coral Sea
8 May 1942. She was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Texas
, 24 August 1943; launched 30 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Ray P. Reynolds; and commissioned 12 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. J. W. Higgins, Jr., USNR, in command.
off Bermuda
, Price departed Norfolk, Virginia
, on convoy escort duty 23 March. On the night of 11 April German
planes attacked in force, leaving dead in the water from a torpedo
hit. Price shot down one plane, then escorted Holder, towed by rescue tug , into Algiers
, before continuing on to Bizerte
, Tunisia
. She then escorted a return convoy to the United States
, subsequently escorting two more convoys to Bizerte.
On 28 September, she was detached from task force
TF 65, and with the rest of Escort Division 58, was assigned to task group
TG 21.7 and duty escorting vital convoys across the stormy North Atlantic. By 29 May 1945 she had escorted five convoys across the Atlantic and back.
an hostilities she was transferred to the Pacific and arrived Pearl Harbor
27 July. On 31 August she got underway for Eniwetok as plane guard and escort for . She subsequently put into Ulithi
, Guam
, and Okinawa. On 6 December she departed Guam for Iwo Jima
and Chichi Jima where she established the military occupation of the Bonin and Volcano Islands
.
She departed Chichi Jima 9 January 1946 on a "Magic Carpet" run to the United States. Embarking veterans at Iwo Jima
, Guam
, and Pearl Harbor, she carried them to San Pedro, California, then sailed for the East Coast. She reached Boston, Massachusetts, 21 February, and in late March headed south to Green Cove Springs, Florida
. Decommissioned 16 May 1947, she remained there, a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until reactivated in 1955.
escort on her reactivation, she was redesignated DER–332, 21 October 1955. Price recommissioned at New York 1 August 1956 and reported for duty with CortRon 18 at Newport, Rhode Island
, 11 September. For the next three and a half years she patrolled the Atlantic Barrier from north of Newfoundland
, and south from the English Channel
to the Azores
. This duty was interrupted by a schedule of training cruises to waters off Cuba
, Bermuda
, and, the Virginia Capes
and in December 1959 by SAR duty for President Dwight D. Eisenhower
’s flight home from Paris
.
, 1 April 1960 and was decommissioned there 30 June 1960. She remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy List on 1 August 1974. She was sold for scrapping 12 March 1975.
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 the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
and provided destroyer escort protection 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 convoys. Post-war she was assigned additional duties, including those of a radar picket
Radar picket
A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...
ship.
She was named in honor of Lieutenant (junior grade) Edward Max Price who was killed in action in the Battle of the Coral Sea
Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...
8 May 1942. She was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Texas
Orange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
, 24 August 1943; launched 30 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Ray P. Reynolds; and commissioned 12 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. J. W. Higgins, Jr., USNR, in command.
World War II North Atlantic operations
After shakedownShakedown (testing)
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...
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...
, Price departed 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....
, on convoy escort duty 23 March. On the night of 11 April German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
planes attacked in force, leaving dead in the water from a 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...
hit. Price shot down one plane, then escorted Holder, towed by rescue tug , into Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, before continuing on to 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...
. She then escorted a return convoy to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, subsequently escorting two more convoys to Bizerte.
On 28 September, she was detached from task force
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...
TF 65, and with the rest of Escort Division 58, 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 21.7 and duty escorting vital convoys across the stormy North Atlantic. By 29 May 1945 she had escorted five convoys across the Atlantic and back.
Transferred to the Pacific Fleet
With the end of EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an hostilities she was transferred to the Pacific and arrived 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...
27 July. On 31 August she got underway for Eniwetok as plane guard and escort for . She subsequently put into Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, and Okinawa. On 6 December she departed Guam for 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...
and Chichi Jima where she established the military occupation of the Bonin and Volcano Islands
Volcano Islands
The Volcano Islands is a group of three Japanese islands south of the Bonin Islands that belong to the municipality of Ogasawara...
.
She departed Chichi Jima 9 January 1946 on a "Magic Carpet" run to the United States. Embarking veterans at 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...
, Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, and Pearl Harbor, she carried them to San Pedro, California, then sailed for the East Coast. She reached Boston, Massachusetts, 21 February, and in late March headed south 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....
. Decommissioned 16 May 1947, she remained there, a unit of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until reactivated in 1955.
Converted to radar picket ship
Converted to a radar picketRadar picket
A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...
escort on her reactivation, she was redesignated DER–332, 21 October 1955. Price recommissioned at New York 1 August 1956 and reported for duty with CortRon 18 at Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, 11 September. For the next three and a half years she patrolled the Atlantic Barrier from north of Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, and south from 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...
to 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...
. This duty was interrupted by a schedule of training cruises to waters off 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...
, 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, the Virginia Capes
Virginia Capes
The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America....
and in December 1959 by SAR duty for President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
’s flight home from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Final decommissioning
She was placed in commission in reserve at Orange, TexasOrange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
, 1 April 1960 and was decommissioned there 30 June 1960. She remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until struck from the Navy List on 1 August 1974. She was sold for scrapping 12 March 1975.