USS Haverfield (DE-393)

USS Haverfield (DER-393) in 1960
History
United States
Namesake:	James Wallace Haverfield
Builder:	Brown Shipbuilding, Houston, Texas
Laid down:	1 July 1943
Launched:	30 August 1943
Commissioned:	29 November 1943
Decommissioned:	2 June 1969
Reclassified:	DER-393, 2 September 1954
Struck:	2 June 1969
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 15 December 1971
General characteristics
Class and type:	Edsall-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,253 tons standard 1,590 tons full load
Length:	306 feet (93.27 m)
Beam:	36.58 feet (11.15 m)
Draft:	10.42 full load feet (3.18 m)
Propulsion:	4 FM diesel engines, 4 diesel-generators, 6,000 shp (4.5 MW), 2 screws
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h)
Range:	9,100 nmi. at 12 knots (17,000 km at 22 km/h)
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 Haverfield (DE-393) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.

She was named in honor of Ensign James Wallace Haverfield, USNR, who was killed aboard the USS Arizona (BB-39) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She was launched 30 August 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Texas; sponsored by Mrs. George Tracy (Bessie) Haverfield, mother of Ensign Haverfield; and commissioned 29 November, Lieutenant Commander Jerry A. Matthews in command.

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Haverfield joined the escort aircraft carrier USS Bogue's hunter-killer (HUK) group in patrolling Atlantic convoy lanes in search of marauding German U-boats. Departing Norfolk, Virginia, 26 February 1944, the hunter-killer group, aided by a Canadian corvette and British aircraft, sank the German submarine U-575 on the 23rd of March. With some seven survivors of the U-boat aboard, Haverfield continued her patrol to Casablanca, where she reported to Commander Moroccan Sea Frontier and turned over the German prisoners 18 March. After returning to Norfolk, Haverfield sailed on her second offensive combat cruise with the Bogue HUK group on 5 May. Operating with another HUK group under the escort carrier USS Block Island (CVE-21), the Bogue force sank RO-501, ex-U-1224, at 18°08′N 33°13′W / 18.133°N 33.217°W / 18.133; -33.217 on 13 May as the former German ship was heading for her new home in Japan.