USS Camp (DE-251)

USS Camp after refit with two 5"/38cal guns
History
United States
Namesake:	Jack Hill Camp
Builder:	Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, Texas
Laid down:	27 January 1943
Launched:	16 April 1943
Commissioned:	16 September 1943
Decommissioned:	1 May 1946
Reclassified:	DER-251, 21 October 1955
Struck:	30 December 1975
Fate:	Transferred to South Vietnam, 13 February 1971
South Vietnam
Name:	RVNS Tran Hung Dao (HQ-01)
Namesake:	Tran Hung Dao
Acquired:	13 February 1971
Fate:	Escaped to the Philippines and transferred to the Philippine Navy, 5 April 1976
Philippines
Name:	RPS (later BRP) Rajah Lakandula (PF-4)
Acquired:	5 April 1976
Commissioned:	27 July 1976
Decommissioned:	1988
Struck:	1988
Status:	Was in service in 1999 as a barracks ship, probably sold as scrap
General characteristics
Class and type:	Edsall-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,253 long tons (1,273 t) standard 1,590 long tons (1,616 t) full load
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	36 ft 6 in (11.13 m)
Draft:	10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)
Propulsion:	4 FM diesel engines 4 diesel-generators 6,000 shp (4.5 MW) 2 screws
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range:	9,000 nmi (17,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	8 officers, 201 enlisted
Armament:	3 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 guns (3 × 1) 2 × 40 mm AA guns (1 × 2) 8 × 20 mm AA guns (8 × 1) 3 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (1 × 3) 8 × depth charge projectors 1 × depth charge projector (hedgehog) 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Camp (DE-251) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.

She was named in honor of Jack Hill Camp who was born 27 August 1916 in Jennings, Louisiana. Jack Hill Camp enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve 20 January 1941 and was appointed a naval aviator 29 December 1941. Attached to Patrol Squadron 44, Ensign Camp was killed in action 7 June 1942 during the Battle of Midway.

Camp was launched 16 April 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Texas; sponsored by Mrs. O. H. Camp; commissioned 16 September 1943, Lieutenant Commander P. B. Mavor, United States Coast Guard, in command; and reported to the United States Atlantic Fleet.

After duty as school ship for pre-commissioning crews for other escort vessels, Camp cleared Norfolk, Virginia, 14 December 1943, escorting a convoy bound for Casablanca with men and supplies for the operations in Italy. Camp returned to Norfolk 24 January 1944 to begin a year and a half of convoy escort operations from New York to ports of the United Kingdom, guarding convoys whose ships brought troops and mountains of equipment and supplies for the buildup and support of the assault on the European continent.