USS Vesole (DD-878)

USS "Vesole" (DD-878) was a Sclass|Gearing|destroyer of the United States Navy. She was named for Ensign Kay K. Vesole USN (1913–1943), killed in action during an air raid at Bari, Italy on 2 December 1943, and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

"Vesole" laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas on 3 July 1944, launched on 29 December 1944 by Mrs. Kay K. Vesole and commissioned on 23 April 1945.

"Vesole" alternated operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean with the 2nd Fleet with deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, participated in blockade operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1964, and served as plane guard for carriers on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in Sea Dragon and Market Time operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out Naval Gunfire Support missions during the conflict in Vietnam.

"Vesole" made a cruise in Northern European waters during January to June 1969, as a participant in STANAVFORLANT (the Standing Naval Force Atlantic), a NATO multinational squadron under a Dutch Commodore and Canadian Chief of Staff. During this cruise, "Vesole" made port calls at Den Helder, Netherlands; Portland, Portsmouth and London, England; Stavanger, Norway; Lisbon, Portugal; Fuchal Madeira, Portugal, Bermuda, and others. The STANAVFORLANT squadron incorporated U.S., Norwegian, Dutch, and English ships, as well as German and Portuguese ships for a period.

"Vesole" was decommissioned at Charleston and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1976 and sunk as a target off Puerto Rico on 14 April 1983.