USS Riddle (DE-185)

Destroyer Escort USS Riddle (DE-185)
History
United States
Name:	USS Riddle
Namesake:	Joseph Riddle, Jr.
Builder:	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey
Laid down:	29 July 1943
Launched:	17 October 1943
Commissioned:	17 November 1943
Decommissioned:	June 1946
Struck:	26 September 1950
Honors and awards:	12 battle stars (World War II)
Fate:	Transferred to France, 12 August 1950
French Frigate Kabyle (F718)
History
France
Name:	Kabyle (F718)
Namesake:	Kabyle people
Acquired:	12 August 1950
Struck:	1959
Fate:	Broken up, 1959
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cannon-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,240 long tons (1,260 t) standard 1,620 long tons (1,646 t) full
Length:	306 ft (93 m) o/a 300 ft (91 m) w/l
Beam:	36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft:	11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Propulsion:	4 × GM Mod. 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW), 2 screws
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range:	10,800 nmi (20,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	15 officers and 201 enlisted
Armament:	3 × single Mk.22 3"/50 caliber guns 1 × twin 40 mm Mk.1 AA gun 8 × 20 mm Mk.4 AA guns 3 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × Hedgehog Mk.10 anti-submarine mortar (144 rounds) 8 × Mk.6 depth charge projectors 2 × Mk.9 depth charge tracks

USS Riddle (DE-185) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home at war's end with a record-setting twelve battle stars, more battle stars than any other destroyer escort in World War II.

She was named after Joseph Riddle, Jr., who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The ship was laid down by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newark, New Jersey, on 29 July 1943; launched on 17 October 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Anna B. Riddle; and commissioned on 17 November 1943, Lt. Comdr. Roland H. Cramer, USNR, in command.

Following shakedown off Bermuda, Riddle sailed for Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal, arriving on 1 February 1944. On 10 February she got underway as an escort vessel with Task Unit 16.11.6, bound for the Marshall Islands. Upon arrival she conducted anti-submarine patrols in the Roi Namur-Kwajalein-Majuro Atoll area until steaming for Pearl Harbor on 15 March.