USS Gantner (APD-42)

History

United States
Name:	USS Gantner (DE-60)
Namesake:	Samuel Merritt Gantner
Ordered:	1942
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down:	31 December 1942
Launched:	17 April 1943
Commissioned:	23 July 1943
Reclassified:	APD-42, 23 February 1945
Decommissioned:	2 August 1949
Struck:	15 January 1966
Fate:	Transferred to the Republic of China, 22 February 1966
History
Taiwan
Name:	ROCS Wen Shan (DE-34)
Acquired:	22 February 1966
Reclassified:	PF-34
Reclassified:	PF-834
Struck:	1991
Fate:	Broken up, 1992
General characteristics
Class and type:	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) light 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) standard
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11 m)
Draft:	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m) standard 11 ft 3 in (3.43 m) full load
Propulsion:	2 × boilers General Electric turbo-electric drive 12,000 shp (8.9 MW) 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter, 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch 2 × rudders 359 tons fuel oil
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:	3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	15 officers, 198 men
Armament:	3 × 3"/50 caliber guns 1 × quad 1.1"/75 caliber gun 8 × single 20 mm guns 1 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Gantner (DE-60/APD-42), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Boatswain's Mate Samuel Merritt Gantner (1919-1941), who was killed in action during the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands.

Gantner was launched on 17 April 1943 by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, sponsored by Mrs. Samuel M. Gantner, widow of Boatswain's Mate Gantner; commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 23 July 1943, with Lieutenant Commander Barklie M. Henry in command.

After shakedown out of Bermuda, Gantner escorted SS George Washington from Puerto Rico to New York, arriving there on 1 December 1943. She departed New York on 26 December 1943 as a part of the escort for a convoy which reached Derry, Northern Ireland on 8 January 1944. She returned to New York on 24 January and by 8 October had made seven more trans-Atlantic escort voyages from that port to Derry.

Following repairs in the Boston Naval Shipyard and battle practice in Casco Bay, Gantner departed Boston on 3 November 1944 escorting fleet tug Pinto (ATF-90) and towing concrete repair dock ARDC-1 to Cristóbal, Canal Zone. She then proceeded to Miami, Florida, to serve as floating school ship in waters extending to the Bahamas and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She departed Miami on 19 February 1945 for conversion to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport in the New York Naval Shipyard. She was reclassified APD-42 on 23 February 1945.

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