USS Walton (DE-361)
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | Walton |
| Namesake: | Merrit Cecil Walton |
| Builder: | Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas |
| Laid down: | 21 March 1944 |
| Launched: | 20 May 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 4 September 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 May 1946 |
| Commissioned: | 26 January 1951 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 September 1968 |
| Struck: | 23 September 1968 |
| Identification: | DE-261 |
| Fate: | Sunk as target, 7 August 1969 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | John C. Butler-class destroyer escort |
| Displacement: | 1,350 tons |
| Length: | 306 ft (93 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft 8 in (11.18 m) |
| Draft: | 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 boilers, 2 geared turbine engines, 12,000 shp (8,900 kW); 2 propellers |
| Speed: | 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) |
| Range: | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: | 14 officers, 201 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Walton (DE-361) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in the United States Navy. It was named after Merrit Cecil Walton, a Marine Corps platoon sergeant with the U.S. 1st Marine Division, who died on Gavutu during the Battle of Guadalcanal and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism".
Walton's keel was laid down at Consolidated Steel Corporation, in Orange, Texas, on 21 March 1944. The ship was launched on 20 May 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Clara Olson, mother of Sgt. Walton. The vessel was commissioned on 4 September 1944, with Lieutenant Commander Wilbur S. Wills, Jr., in command.
After she conducted her shakedown out of Great Sound Bay, Bermuda, Walton underwent post-shakedown availability at the Boston Navy Yard. The new destroyer escort subsequently sailed for Hampton Roads, Virginia, and arrived at Norfolk on 15 November. While in that vicinity, she served as a school ship, training nucleus crews for the other destroyer escorts then entering the fleet.
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