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U.S.S. CALCATERRA
(DE-390)VIGILANTE VICTORIA
VICTORY TO THE VIGILANT
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USS CALCATERRA (DE-390) - an Edsall-class destroyer escort
In Commission 1943 to 1973DE-390 Deployments - Major Events
| Add a DE-390 Shellback Initiation | Add a DE-390 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
| Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAY | 1943 | - | Keel Date: 28 MAY 1943 at Brown Shipbuilding Houston Texas | ||
| AUG | 1943 | - | Launch Date: 16 AUG 1943 | ||
| NOV | 1943 | - | Commissioned: 17 NOV 1943 | ||
| OCT | 1962 | - | OCT | 1962 | Cuban Missle Blockade |
| MAY | 1964 | - | JUN | 1964 | Caribbean |
| AUG | 1965 | - | Shellback Initiation - 25 AUG 1965 - Pacific Ocean | ||
| SEP | 1965 | - | MAY | 1966 | Antarctic Circle |
| AUG | 1967 | - | MAY | 1968 | Operation Deep Freeze |
| SEP | 1967 | - | Shellback Initiation - 15 SEP 1967 - Pacific Ocean | ||
| JUL | 1973 | - | Decommissioned: 2 JUL 1973 | ||
DE-390 General Specifications
Class: Edsall-class destroyer escort
Named for: Herbert A. Calcaterra
Complement: 8 Officers and 201 Enlisted
Displacement: 1253 tons
Length: 306 feet
Beam: 36.58 feet
Flank Speed: 21 knots
Range: 9 100 Nautical Miles
Final Disposition:Sold 14 May 1974 and broken up for scrap
USS CALCATERRA (DE-390)
Calcaterra (DE-390)
was launched 16 August 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.;
sponsored by Mrs. G. M. Stites; commissioned 17 November 1943, Commander
H. J. Wuensch, USCG, in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.
Assigned to the vital duty of escorting convoys between
the United States and the Mediterranean, Calcaterra
made eight round trips between 13 February 1944
and 10 June 1945. The ships she guarded provided the men and equipment
which insured the success of the invasions of Italy and
southern France. Twice the escort vessel met the challenge of
enemy opposition when she depth charged a suspected submarine contact and
fired on two
aircraft. Her alert action helped prevent damage or loss to the ships under convoy.
On 9 July 1945 Calcaterra headed for the
Pacific to tackle a new job, but the war ended shortly before her arrival at Pearl Harbor. She lifted passengers back
to the west coast, then sailed on to
the Atlantic. Calcaterra was
placed out of commission in reserve at Green Cove Springs, Fla., 1 May
1946.
Reclassified
DER-390, 28 October 1954, Calcaterra was converted to a radar picket
ship at Norfolk and recommissioned 12
September 1955. Based on Newport, the
radar picket ship has almost continuously served in the violent weather of the North Atlantic to
maintain her link in the extension of the Distant Early Warning system.
Except for exercises with the fleet in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and a cruise to Europe (August-October 1958), Calcaterra
continued this duty through 1960.
[Note: The above USS CALCATERRA (DE-390) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS CALCATERRA (DE-390), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]