USS Eldridge

USS Eldridge (DE-173), a Cannon-class destroyer escort, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Lieutenant Commander John Eldridge Jr., a hero of the invasion of the Solomon Islands.

USS Eldridge (DE-173) c. 1944
History
United States
Name: Eldridge
Namesake: John Eldridge Jr.
Ordered: 1942
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey
Laid down: 22 February 1943
Launched: 25 July 1943
Commissioned: 27 August 1943
Decommissioned: 17 June 1946
Stricken: 26 March 1951
Fate: Sold to Greece, 15 January 1951
General characteristics
Class and type: Cannon-class destroyer escort
Displacement:
  • 1,240 long tons (1,260 t) (standard)
  • 1,620 long tons (1,646 t) (full load)
Length:
  • 306 ft (93 m) o/a
  • 300 ft (91 m) w/l
Beam: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Installed power:
Propulsion:
Speed: 21 kn (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range: 10,800 nmi (12,400 mi; 20,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 15 officers and 201 enlisted
Armament:

Namesake

Eldridge was born in Buckingham County, Virginia, on 10 October 1903 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1927. After flight training at Pensacola, Florida, he served at various stations on aviation duty. From 11 September 1941, he was Commander, Scouting Squadron 71, attached to Wasp (CV-7). Lieutenant Commander Eldridge was killed in action in the Solomon Islands on 2 November 1942. For his extraordinary heroism in leading the air attack on Japanese positions in the initial invasion of the Solomons on 7 August and 8 August 1942, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.[1]

Construction

Eldridge was laid down 22 February 1943, by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newark, New Jersey. Eldridge was launched on 25 July 1943, sponsored by Lieutenant Commander Eldridge's widow Mrs. John Eldridge Jr., and commissioned on 27 August 1943, with Lieutenant C. R. Hamilton, USNR, in command.[2]

Service history

Between 4 January 1944 and 9 May 1945, Eldridge sailed on the vital task of escorting, to the Mediterranean Sea, men and materials to support Allied operations in North Africa and on into southern Europe. She made nine voyages to deliver convoys safely to Casablanca, Bizerte, and Oran.[2]

Eldridge departed New York City on 28 May 1945, for service in the Pacific. En route to Saipan in July, she made contact with an underwater object and immediately attacked, but no results were observed. She arrived at Okinawa on 7 August, for local escort and patrol, and with the end of hostilities a week later, continued to serve as escort on the Saipan–Ulithi–Okinawa routes until November. Eldridge was placed out of commission in reserve 17 June 1946.[2]

On 15 January 1951, she was transferred under the Mutual Defense Assistance Act to Greece where she served as Leon (D54).[2] Leon was decommissioned on 5 November 1992, and on 11 November 1999, was sold as scrap to the Piraeus-based firm V&J Scrapmetal Trading Ltd.[3]

Philadelphia Experiment

The "Philadelphia Experiment" was a purported naval military experiment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sometime around 28 October 1943, in which Eldridge was to be rendered invisible (i.e. by a cloaking device) to human observers for a brief period.[4][5] Due to the lack of evidence for the alleged "Philadelphia Experiment", the confession of Carlos Miguel Allende who started the myth and who admitted that he had made up the story and relayed it to author Morris K. Jessup, and the fact that the timeline of the alleged "experiment" is inconsistent with historical facts (confirmed by the actual crew of the USS Eldridge no less), the story is considered a hoax.

Awards

References
  1. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  2. DANFS 2016.
  3. Leon.
  4. Carroll 2007.
  5. Adams 1987.

Bibliography
  • "Eldridge (DE-173)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2017. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  • "HELLENIC NAVY – LEON D-54 (1951–1992)". www.hellenicnavy.gr. Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
  • Carroll, Robert Todd (3 December 2007). "Philadelphia experiment". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 5 February 2008.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Adams, Cecil (23 October 1987). "Did the U.S. Navy teleport ships in the Philadelphia Experiment?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved 20 February 2007.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Philadelphia Experiment". Naval Historical Center of the United States Navy. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2016.


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