USS William C. Cole

History
Name:	USS William C. Cole
Namesake:	William Carey Cole
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Francisco
Laid down:	5 September 1943
Launched:	29 December 1943
Commissioned:	12 May 1944
Decommissioned:	13 March 1948
Struck:	1 March 1972
Honors and awards:	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 20 November 1972
General characteristics
Class and type:	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement:	1,400 long tons (1,422 t) standard 1,740 long tons (1,768 t) full load
Length:	306 ft (93 m)
Beam:	36 ft 9 in (11.20 m)
Draft:	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion:	GE turbo-electric drive 12,000 shp (8.9 MW) 2 propellers
Speed:	24 knots (44 km/h)
Range:	4,940 nautical miles at 12 knots   (9,200 km at 22 km/h)
Complement:	15 officers, 198 men
Armament:	3 × 3 in (76 mm) DP guns, 3 × 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes, 1 × 1.1 in (28 mm) quad AA gun, 10 × 20 mm cannon, 1 × Hedgehog projector, 2 × depth charge tracks, 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors

USS William C. Cole (DE-641) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy, named in honor of Vice Admiral William C. Cole (1868–1935).

William C. Cole was laid down on 5 September 1943 at San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 29 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. William C. Cole, the widow of Adm. Cole; and commissioned on 12 May 1944, Lieutenant Clay Harrold in command.

Following shakedown in the San Diego area, William C. Cole underwent post-shakedown availability at her builder's yard before departing the west coast on 19 July, bound for the Hawaiian Islands. After reaching Oahu, the new destroyer escort trained out of Pearl Harbor for the remainder of the month.

William C. Cole departed Oahu on 1 August in company with Snyder (DE-745), as part of the screen for the oilers Neches (AO-47) and Atascosa (AO-66); the seaplane tender Kenneth Whiting (AV-14); the escort carriers Bougainville (CVE-100) and Admiralty Islands (CVE-99); the refrigeration ship Aldebaran (AF-10); and the merchant freighter SS Cape Pillar. After delivering that convoy safety to Majuro in the Marshalls, Cole escorted Admiralty Islands and Bougainville back to Pearl Harbor.

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