USS Rich (DE-695)

History
USS Rich, left, shortly before being mined, 1944

Name:	USS Rich
Namesake:	Ralph M. Rich
Ordered:	1942
Builder:	Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
Laid down:	27 March 1943
Launched:	22 June 1943
Commissioned:	1 October 1943
Honors and awards:	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate:	Sunk by mines, 8 June 1944
General characteristics
Class and type:	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,400 t) (standard) 1,740 long tons (1,770 t) (full load)
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
Installed power:	12,000 shp (8,900 kW)
Propulsion:	General Electric turbo-electric drive 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
Speed:	23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h)
Range:	3,700 nmi (4,300 mi; 6,900 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) 6,000 nmi (6,900 mi; 11,000 km) at 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h)
Capacity:	359 tons fuel oil
Complement:	15 officers, 198 men
Armament:	3 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cals dual purpose guns, 4 × 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 cal anti-aircraft guns (4×1), 8 × 20 mm cannons, 9 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3×3), 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar, 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Rich (DE-695) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort, the first United States Navy ship named in honor of Lieutenant (j.g.) Ralph M. Rich (1916–1942) who was awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership as a fighter pilot off Enterprise during the Battle of Midway.

Rich was laid down on 27 March 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan, the third destroyer escort to be built at that yard. She was launched on 22 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ralph McMaster Rich, widow of Lt. Rich. Builder's trials before her pre-commissioning cruise were done in Lake Huron.

After completion, Rich sailed from the builder's yard at Bay City to Chicago, Illinois, where they arrived on 24 September. From there, they went through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and down the Chicago River to Joliet, Illinois, where pontoons were attached to the ship so it could be pushed down the Des Plaines River, Illinois River, and Mississippi River as part of a barge train. After arriving at the Todd Johnson Shipyard in Algiers, Louisiana, on the west bank of the Mississippi at New Orleans, the rest of the crew reported aboard, and Rich was commissioned on 1 October 1943, Lieutenant Commander E. A. Michel, Jr., USNR, in command.

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