History | |
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United States | |
Name: | Butler |
Namesake: | Smedley Butler |
Builder: | Philadelphia Naval Shipyard |
Laid down: | 16 September 1941 |
Launched: | 12 February 1942 |
Commissioned: | 15 August 1942 |
Identification: | DD-636 |
Reclassified: | DMS-29, 15 November 1944 |
Decommissioned: | 8 November 1945 |
Struck: | 28 November 1945 |
Fate: | Sold 10 January 1948 and broken up for scrap. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Gleaves-class destroyer |
Displacement: | 1,630 tons |
Length: | 348 ft 3 in (106.15 m) |
Beam: | 36 ft 1 in (11.00 m) |
Draft: | 11 ft 10 in (3.61 m) |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: | 37.4 knots (69 km/h) |
Range: | 6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement: | 16 officers, 260 enlisted |
Armament: |
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USS Butler (DD-636), a Gleaves-class destroyer, is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler, twice awarded the Medal of Honor.
Butler was launched on 12 February 1942 by Philadelphia Navy Yard, sponsored by Mrs. John Wehle, daughter of General Butler; and commissioned on 15 August 1942, Lieutenant Commander M. D. Matthews in command.
After undergoing shakedown trials, Butler engaged in escort work in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. On 14 January 1943, she departed on a trans-Atlantic voyage to Casablanca and thence to Dakar, French West Africa. From there she escorted two Free French vessels, Richelieu and Montcalm, to New York. After overhaul in New York and coastwise convoy escort work she set sail for the Mediterranean on 8 June. Following training exercises at Oran and Algiers, she proceeded to Bizerte whence she departed in July for the Allied invasion of Sicily from 9 July to 12 August. She took part in the Amphibious Battle of Gela and subsequently served on escort duty throughout the remainder of the operation. She then steamed for New York, arriving on 22 August.