_at_anchor_in_June_1944.jpg) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Laid down | 24 August 1943 |
| Launched | 25 September 1943 |
| Commissioned | 27 October 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 3 February 1947 |
| Stricken | 1 December 1972 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap 11 September 1973 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 306 ft 0 in (93.27 m) |
| Beam | 36 ft 9 in (11.20 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 24knots (44 km/h) |
| Range | 4,940 nautical miles (9,150 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h) |
| Complement | 15 officers, 198 men |
| Armament |
|
USSGillette (DE-681) was aBuckley-classdestroyer escort of theUnited States Navy in service from 1943 to 1947. She was finally scrapped in 1973.
Douglas Wiley Gillette was born on 10 September 1918 inWilmington, North Carolina. He enlisted in theUnited States Naval Reserve on 5 March 1936. After serving atNaval Station Norfolk, on theUSS McDongal and after studying at theUnited States Naval Academy andNorthwestern University, he was commissionedEnsign on 12 September 1941. Ordered to active duty on the carrierUSS Hornet on 17 November 1941, he was appointedLieutenant (junior grade) (temporary). He was killed in action in theBattle of Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942.
The shiplaunched on 25 September 1943 by theBethlehem Steel Co.'sFore River Shipyard,Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Mrs. Pearl M. Gillette, the namesake's mother; andcommissioned on 27 October 1943.
Aftershakedown offBermuda,Gillette sailed fromBoston on 2 January 1944 forBalboa,C.Z., where for four months she conducted intensive exercises withsubmarines and escorted aconvoy toGuantanamo Bay,Cuba, and returned. She sailed 9 May forPuerto Limon,Costa Rica, on a good-will tour and visitedBarranquilla,Colombia, as well before returning to Boston 2 June.
From 4 July 1944 to 18 February 1945,Gillette made four round trip transatlantic escort voyages – three out ofHampton Roads and one fromNew York – toOran andUnited Kingdom ports protecting Allied shipping. She subsequently served as a submarine training ship atNew London, Connecticut, until 14 April 1945.
On 14 April 1945, she sailed forHollandia viaBorabora andManus, and escorted a convoy thence toManila, where she put in 17 June. Patrol and escort duties in thePhilippines and toUlithi occupied the busy ship until 6 August, when she sailed forOkinawa and returned as convoy escort toSubic Bay on 17 August. Following a round trip escort voyage from Subic Bay to Tokyo and return,Gillette continued patrol and logistics duties in the Philippines until departing Subic Bay on 26 November forSan Diego, Calif., where she moored on 17 December 1945.
Gillette remained at San Diego untildecommissioned there 3 February 1947 and placed in reserve with thePacific group at San Diego.
Gillette was stricken from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 December 1972, sold on for scrapping on 11 September 1973.[1]
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
