USS Leslie L.B. Knox (DE-580)

USS Leslie L. B. Knox (DE-580) was a Rudderow-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1973.

History
United States
Name: USS Leslie L. B. Knox
Namesake: Leslie L. B. Knox
Builder: Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard
Laid down: 7 November 1943
Launched: 8 January 1944
Commissioned: 22 March 1944
Decommissioned: 15 June 1946
Honors and
awards:		 three battle stars
Fate: scrapped, 1973
General characteristics
Type: Rudderow-class destroyer escort
Displacement: 1,740 tons (1,770 metric tons) (fully loaded)
Length: 306 ft (93.3 m) (overall)
Beam: 36 ft 6 in (11.1 m)
Draft: 11 ft (3.4 m) (fully loaded)
Propulsion: General Electric steam turbo-electric drive engine
Speed: 24 knots
Range: 5,500 nautical miles at 15 knots (10,200 km at 28 km/h)
Complement:
  • Officers: 15
  • Enlisted: 198
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Radar: SL surface search
  • Sonar: Type 128D or Type 144 both in retractable dome.
Armament:

Construction and service

Leslie L. B. Knox was laid down 7 November 1943 by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., Hingham, Massachusetts; launched 8 January 1944; sponsored by Louise Kennedy Knox, widow of Lieutenant (jg.) Knox; and commissioned 22 March 1944, Lt. J. A. Moffett in command.

Battle of the Atlantic

After shakedown out of Bermuda, the new destroyer escort was assigned to Escort Division 67, Atlantic Fleet. Following two runs escorting coastal convoys between New York and Norfolk, Virginia, she departed Hampton Roads 24 June 1944 on the first of two round-trip voyages escorting convoys to Bizerte, Tunisia. Returning from the second voyage, she arrived New York 16 October for repairs.

Pacific War

Leslie L. B. Knox steamed from New York and 3 November rendezvoused with Escort Division 67 en route to the Pacific. After transiting the Panama Canal and touching the Galapagos, Society, and Solomon Islands, she arrived Hollandia, New Guinea, 11 December.

From December 1944 through June 1945, the ship was engaged in convoy escort duty, ASW patrols, and mail runs in the New Guinea and Philippine waters. She received her first battle star for convoy escort duty from Hollandia to Leyte Gulf 3 to 14 January 1945 in support of the Lingayen Gulf landing. During this mission, the convoy fought off Japanese kamikaze planes so that only one merchant ship was damaged.

After the successful Lingayen Gulf landing, Leslie L. B. Knox continued convoy-escort and mail-run duties, earning two more battle stars for her work in the Manila Bay-Bicol Operation and the campaign to liberate the southern Philippine Islands. After V-J Day, she steamed to Okinawa, arriving 7 September 1945 for occupation duty and service along the coast of China. During this period the ship called at Jinsen, Korea, and Shanghai and Tsingtao, China.

Postwar

She departed 14 October for the United States, arriving San Diego 5 November. Leslie L. B. Knox decommissioned 15 June 1946, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego. Later she was berthed at Stockton, California. Leslie L. B. Knox received three battle stars for World War II service. She was scrapped in 1973.

See also

References
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