USS Earle (DD-635)

USS Earle, January 1943 at New York Navy Yard.
History
United States
Name:	Earle
Namesake:	Ralph Earle
Builder:	Boston Navy Yard
Laid down:	14 June 1941
Launched:	10 December 1941
Commissioned:	1 September 1942
Decommissioned:	17 May 1947
Struck:	1 December 1969
Fate:	Sold October 1970 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:	37 ft 0 in (11.28 m)
Draft:	11 ft 10 in (3.61 m)
Propulsion:	50,000 shp (37,000 kW); 4 boilers; 2 propellers
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:	4 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber dual purpose gun 4 × Bofors 40 mm guns guns 7 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons, 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (5 Mark 15 torpedoes) 6 × K-gun depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Earle (DD-635/DMS-42), a Gleaves-class destroyer, is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Ralph Earle.

Earle was launched on 10 December 1941 by Boston Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. John F. Hines, Jr., daughter of Rear Admiral Earle; and commissioned on 1 September 1942, Lieutenant Commander H. W. Howe in command.

Between 12 December 1942 and 28 April 1943, Earle escorted three convoys carrying essential men and supplies to Casablanca. On her first voyage, she made two night attacks on surfaced submarines. Sailing from Norfolk on 8 June she arrived at Oran on 22 June to prepare for the invasion of Sicily, and screened the transport area off Scoglitti on 10 July. Two days later she carried on an inspection of the beach area, then served on escort duty between north Africa ports and Sicily until 11 August when she got underway for New York, arriving the 22nd.

From 6 December 1943 to 1 May 1944, Earle escorted convoys between Boston and New York and the United Kingdom, making four such voyages. She crossed to Naples, arriving 31 May for a summer of general escort duty and training in the Mediterranean between 19 November 1944 and 11 June 1945.