Buckley class destroyer escort

The "Buckley" class destroyer escorts were 102 destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1943 - 1944. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. The lead ship was USS "Buckley" (DE-51) which was launched on 9 January 1943. The ships had General Electric steam turbo electric drive engines. The ships were prefabricated at various factories in the United States, and the units brought together in the shipyards, where they were welded together on the slipways.

The "Buckley" was the 2nd class of Destroyer Escort coming after the "Evarts", one of the main design differences was that the hull was significantly lengthened on the "Buckley"; this long-hull design proved so successful that it was used for all further Destroyer Escort classes.

Forty-six of the "Buckleys" were delivered to the Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease agreement. They were classed as frigates and named after captains of the Napoleonic Wars, and formed part of the Captain class frigates along with 32 ships of the "Evarts" class.

After World War II, most of the surviving units of this class were transferred to Taiwan, South Korea, Chile, Mexico and other countries. The rest were retained by the US Navy's reserve fleet until they were decommissioned.

ee also

* List of destroyer escorts of the United States Navy
* List of frigates of the United States Navy subset of above with hull numbers DE/FF 1037 and higher plus all DEG/FFGs because of the United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification
* List of frigates
** List of frigate classes of the Royal Navy

Film Appearance

Most of the film "The Enemy Below" (1957) was filmed on USS "Whitehurst" (DE-634), a "Buckley"-class DE. The rest of the film is set on the submarine that it is hunting.

External links

* [http://www.desausa.org/ http://www.desausa.org/] Destroyer Escort Sailors Association (DESA).
* [http://www.ussslater.org/ USS "Slater", the Destroyer Escort Historical Museum]
* [http://www.captainclassfrigates.co.uk/ Captain Class Frigates Association]
* [http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=Destroyer+Escort uboat.net: Destroyer Escorts]
* [http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/classbuck.html destroyersonline.com: "Buckley" class]
* [http://www.williammaloney.com/Dad/WWII/DestroyerEscortSlater/index.htm USS "Slater"] — Photos on board the destroyer escort USS "Slater"
* [http://www.williammaloney.com/Dad/WWII/DadWWII/DadWWIIindex.html USS "Bangust"] — Photos of life on board the destroyer escort USS "Bangust" (DE-739) in WWII
* [http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/classbuck.html Destroyers Online - Buckley class destroyer escorts]

References

* "The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts" by Bruce Hampton Franklin, published by Chatham Publishing (1999), ISBN 086176118X.
* "The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War" by Donald Collingwood. published by Leo Cooper (1998), ISBN 085052 615 9.