USS Ahrens (DE-575)

USS Ahrens (DE-575) in the Atlantic Ocean
History
United States
Name:	USS Ahrens
Namesake:	Edward H. Ahrens
Ordered:	1942
Builder:	Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Hingham, Massachusetts
Laid down:	5 November 1943
Launched:	21 December 1943
Commissioned:	12 February 1944
Decommissioned:	24 June 1946
Struck:	1 April 1965
Honors and awards:	2 battle stars (World War II)
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 20 January 1967
General characteristics
Class and type:	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) standard 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) full load
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) standard 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) full load
Propulsion:	2 × boilers General Electric turbo-electric drive 12,000 shp (8.9 MW) 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter, 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch 2 × rudders 359 tons fuel oil
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:	3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	15 officers, 198 men
Armament:	3 × 3"/50 caliber guns 1 × quad 1.1"/75 caliber gun 8 × single 20 mm guns 1 × triple 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Ahrens (DE-575), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Private Edward H. Ahrens (1919–1942), who was killed during the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo on 8 August 1942. He was posthumously awarded a Navy Cross.

Ahrens was laid down on 5 November 1943 at Hingham, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation; launched on 21 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Marie Ahrens, the mother of Private First Class Ahrens; and commissioned on 12 February 1944, Lieutenant Commander Morgan H. Hains in command.

Late in February 1944, Ahrens proceeded to Bermuda for shakedown training. In early April, she sailed to Casco Bay, Maine, for additional training. On 22 April at Norfolk, Virginia, the destroyer escort joined Task Group (TG) 21.11, a hunter/killer group — built around the escort carrier Block Island — which was operating in the Atlantic and Caribbean. On 29 May, the German submarine U-549 torpedoed and sank Block Island and Barr (DE-576). Ahrens rescued 673 survivors in a period of 40 minutes. While carrying out rescue operations, the ship assisted the destroyer escort Eugene E. Elmore in locating the submarine. Eugene E. Elmore made two hedgehog attacks which sank the German submarine.