- USS O'Reilly (DE-330)
-
Career (US) 
Namesake: Edward Joseph O'Reilly Builder: Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas Laid down: 29 July 1943 Launched: 2 October 1943 Commissioned: 28 December 1943 Decommissioned: 15 June 1946 Struck: 15 January 1971 Fate: Sold for scrapping 10 April 1972 General characteristics Class and type: Edsall-class destroyer escort Displacement: 1,253 tons standard
1,590 tons full loadLength: 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 screwsSpeed: 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 O'Reilly (DE-330) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. It served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.
It was named in honor of Edward Joseph O'Reilly who died in action in the Battle of Savo Island in the Eastern Solomons on August 9, 1942. It was laid down on July 29, 1943, by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Texas; launched November 14, 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Bride O'Reilly, mother of Lieut. O'Reilly; and commissioned December 28, 1943, Lt. Comdr. William C. F. Robards in command.
Contents
World War II North Atlantic operations
After fitting-out and sea trials in the Orange, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, O'Reilly left on January 18, 1944, for shakedown off Bermuda. This was followed by a ten-day availability in Charleston, South Carolina, before she sailed for Guantánamo Bay, Aruba, and Curaçao.
On March 9 O'Reilly picked up its first convoy, out of Curaçao, for Gibraltar and several North African ports, and arrived in Algiers on the 25th. It returned the following month, then made two more Mediterranean voyages from the West Indies and one from New York before undergoing repairs and upkeep at the New York Navy Yard in early September.
O'Reilly then switched convoy routes, and on September 20 began its first of five round trips across the North Atlantic to England. On November 18, while heading to Plymouth, England, on the second of these, it attacked a submarine with unknown results. During its nine Atlantic crossings not one ship under iys protection was lost to submarine or air attack.
Transfer to the Pacific Fleet
In April 1945, with the European War well on the way to its conclusion, O'Reilly was ordered to the Pacific. It left New York on May 24, transited the Panama Canal June 8, and proceeded to Pearl Harbor after a brief stop at San Diego, California. It conducted five weeks of local training in Hawaiian waters then, on August 1, sailed for Leyte Gulf with stops at Eniwetok and other islands. At Leyte it spent several weeks in upkeep, then sailed on a good-will tour via Okinawa to Shanghai and Taiwan.
Damaged on a Reef
While entering Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on October 23, O'Reilly struck a reef with one of its propellers and threw a shaft out of alignment. it remained there until December 2 for repairs, then sailed for Los Angeles, California, arriving the 22nd.
Post-War inactivation and decommissioning
On January 16, 1946, it departed for New York and there underwent pre-inactivation availability. It decommissioned 15 June 1946 and joined the Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs, Florida. During 1961 she shifted to Orange, Texas. She was struck from the Navy List on 15 January 1971 and sold for scrapping 10 April 1972.
See also
References
- This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
- Edward Joseph O'Reilly
- NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive - USS O'Reilly (DE-330)
Categories:- Edsall class destroyer escorts
- Ships built in Texas
- 1943 ships
- World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States
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