USS Acree (DE-167)

USS "Acree" (DE-167) was a "Cannon"-class destroyer escort in the United States Navy. She was named for John White Acree, a Lt.(jg) serving aboard the "Enterprise". "Acree" died while leading a damage-control party on October 26, 1942 during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

"Acree" was laid down on 30 November 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearney, N.J.; launched on 9 May 1943; sponsored by Mrs. John W. Acree, the widow of Lt. (jg.) Acree; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 19 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander William H. Siegmund in command.

After shakedown off Bermuda and training out of Norfolk, Virginia, the destroyer escort sailed for the South Pacific on 28 September, transited the Panama Canal on 5 October, stopped briefly at the Galapagos Islands three days later, and steamed on independently to Bora Bora in the Society Islands, where she arrived on the 18th. After refueling, "Acree" rendezvoused with SS "Mormactern" on 25 October and escorted her to Noumea, New Caledonia.

As a member of Escort Division 11, "Acree" carried out numerous convoy and antisubmarine patrol operations in the South Pacific during the next six months. Her stops included Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides; Laotoka, Fiji Islands; Guadalcanal; Noumea, New Caledonia; and the Russell Islands. This routine was broken on 28 April 1944 when the ship joined the antisubmarine screen of Task Group (TG) 50.17, which was formed to refuel Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force, TF 58. She completed this assignment on 3 May, sailed back to Purvis Bay, and began antisubmarine patrol duty off that port.

On 9 June, "Acree" became a member of TG 53.19 slated to take part in the invasion of the Marianas. She arrived off the southern end of Tinian Island on 7 July and provided illuminating and harassing fire on Tinian Town. The destroyer escort opened fire at 1905 and continued firing at 40-minute intervals throughout the night. She moved to Saipan harbor the next day and later joined the antisubmarine screen off Saipan.

For the next four months, "Acree" carried out escort and patrol duties in the central Pacific. On 13 November, "Acree" departed Eniwetok bound for the United States. She stopped at Pearl Harbor on the 21st and arrived at San Francisco on 3 December 1944 and, the following day entered the United Engineering Co., Ltd., shipyard at Alameda, California, for overhaul.

The destroyer escort got underway for sea trials on 31 January 1945; sailed for Hawaii on 4 February: and, following her arrival at Pearl Harbor on the 10th, participated in training exercises north of the Hawaiian Islands in company with USS|McConnell|DE-163 and USS|Sangamon|CVE-26. "Acree" returned to Eniwetok on 24 March and spent the remainder of the war escorting convoys and acting as a barrier patrol off Pacific islands such as Guam, Entwetok, Ulithi, Saipan, and Kwajalein.

Following Japan's surrender, the ship got underway from Kwajalein on 15 September, bound for home. After a one-day stop at Pearl Harbor, she resumed her eastward voyage and reached San Diego, California, on 28 September. On 6 October, she sailed for the east coast and, after transiting the Panama Canal, arrived at New York on 20 October to begin a preinactivation availability. On 29 November, the destroyer escort arrived at Green Cove Springs, Fla., where she was decommissioned on 1 April 1946. "Acree" was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1972 and sold on 19 July 1973 to the Boston Metals Co., of Baltimore, Md., for scrapping.

"Acree" earned five battle stars for her service in World War II.

External links

* [http://www.destroyersonline.com/usndd/de167/ www.destroyersonline.com - USS Acree DE 167]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/escorts/de167.htm? Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. IA, pp. 42]

ee also

USS|Lloyd E. Acree|DE-356, a "Butler"-class destroyer escort, named for Lloyd E. Acree.