USS Bangust (DE-739)

History

United States
Name:	USS Bangust (DE-739)
Namesake:	Joseph Bangust, World War II Navy Cross winner
Builder:	Western Pipe and Steel Company, Los Angeles, California
Way number:	WPS Hull No. 96
Laid down:	11 February 1943
Launched:	6 June 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Stephen W. Gerber
Commissioned:	30 October 1943
Decommissioned:	17 November 1946
Struck:	18 April 1952
Honors and awards:	11 battle stars for World War II
Fate:	Transferred to Peru, 21 February 1952
Peru
Name:	BAP Castilla (F-61)
Acquired:	21 February 1952
Fate:	Scrapped, 1979
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) (max)
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, 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 Bangust (DE- 739) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned to the States at war's end with a near-record setting number of eleven battle stars. (Riddle (DE-185) earned the highest number for destroyer escorts: twelve.)

She was named in honor of Joseph Bangust who was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for his actions in the air against the Japanese early in the war. The ship was laid down on 11 February 1943 at Los Angeles, California, by the Western Pipe and Steel Company; launched on 6 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Stephen W. Gerber; and commissioned at her builder's yard on 30 October 1943, Lt. Comdr. Charles F. MacNish, USNR, in command.

After fitting out, Bangust reported for shakedown training on 21 November 1943, and conducted these operations from San Diego, California. Deemed ready to join the fleet upon the completion of her shakedown on 18 December, Bangust underwent post-shakedown availability at the Naval Drydocks, San Pedro, California, and ultimately reported to Commander, Western Sea Frontier, for duty on 9 January 1944, as she cleared San Pedro for San Francisco, California. Departing thence on 13 January for Hawaiian waters, in company with Reynolds (DE-42), Bangust arrived at Pearl Harbor on 19 January.

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