USS Baker (DE-190)

Escort Destroyer USS Baker (DE-190)
History
United States
Name:	USS Baker (DE-190)
Namesake:	John Drayton Baker
Builder:	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey
Laid down:	9 September 1943
Launched:	28 November 1943
Commissioned:	23 December 1943
Decommissioned:	4 March 1946
Struck:	18 April 1952
Honors and awards:	1 battle star for World War II
Fate:	Transferred to France, 29 March 1952
French Frigate Malgache (F724)
History
France
Name:	Malgache (F724)
Namesake:	Malagasy people
Acquired:	29 March 1952
Decommissioned:	1 January 1969
Fate:	Sunk as a target, 1970
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
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)
Propulsion:	4 × GM Mod. 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW), 2 screws
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range:	10,800 nmi (20,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	15 officers and 201 enlisted
Armament:	3 × single Mk.22 3"/50 caliber guns 1 × twin 40 mm Mk.1 AA gun 8 × 20 mm Mk.4 AA guns 3 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog Mk.10 anti-submarine mortar (144 rounds) 8 × Mk.6 depth charge projectors 2 × Mk.9 depth charge tracks

USS Baker (DE-190) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home at war’s end with a one battle star for her assistance in sinking a German submarine.

Baker was named after Ensign John Drayton Baker who was awarded a Navy Cross posthumously after the Battle of Coral Sea. The ship was laid down on 9 September 1943 at Port Newark, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched on 28 November 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Margaret Baker, the mother of Ens. Baker; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 23 December 1943, Lt. Comdr. Luke B. Lockwood, USNR, in command.

After fitting out at her builders’ yard, running the required trials in Long Island Sound, and undergoing a final check, the new destroyer escort departed the New York Navy Yard on 9 January 1944 for shakedown training. Following these drills and exercises that she conducted off Bermuda with friendly submarines, she returned to New York on 4 February.

Baker’s first convoy escort cycle proved uneventful. Sailing from New York to Hampton Roads on 11 and 12 February, she set out for French Morocco the following day and arrived at Casablanca on 3 March. Upon her return to New York on 24 March, the ship underwent a week long overhaul before carrying out antisubmarine warfare (ASW) training at Casco Bay, Maine. Assigned to Escort Division (CortDiv) 48, she returned to Hampton Roads.