USS Levy (DE-162)

History
Name: USS Levy (DE-162)
Namesake: Uriah P. Levy
Ordered: Unknown
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey
Laid down: 19 October 1942
Launched: 28 March 1943
Commissioned: 13 May 1943
Decommissioned: 4 April 1947
Struck: 2 August 1973
Honours and
awards:		 5 battle stars (World War II)
Fate: Sold for scrap, 17 July 1974
General characteristics
Class and type: Cannon-class destroyer escort
Displacement:
  • 1,240 long tons (1,260 t) standard
  • 1,620 long tons (1,646 t) full
Length:
  • 306 ft (93 m) o/a
  • 300 ft (91 m) w/l
Beam: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft: 11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Propulsion: 4 × GM Mod. 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW), 2 screws
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range: 10,800 nmi (20,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: 15 officers and 201 enlisted
Armament:

USS Levy (DE-162) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort, named in honor of Commodore Uriah P. Levy (1792–1862), a notable figure of the 19th-century Navy.

The ship was laid down on 19 October 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Newark, New Jersey, launched on 28 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Charles Mathoff, niece of Commodore Levy; and commissioned on 13 May 1943, Capt. Frank S. Schmidt in command.

Service history

After shakedown off Bermuda, Levy, one of the Navy's first destroyer escorts, steamed for the South Pacific, arriving at the Society Islands on 19 August 1943. For the next eight months the ship escorted and screened oilers during various fueling operations in the South and Central Pacific theaters. In support of the Hollandia operation and the strikes against Truk, Statwan, and Ponape from 13 April to 4 May 1944, Levy escorted a convoy of logistic ships to a point north of Manus, arriving on 23 April for a refueling rendezvous with TF 58.

From 12 June to 16 August 1944, Levy screened the oilers which supported the invasion of the Marianas and fueled Admiral Mitscher's carriers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, in which American carrier-based planes caused significant damage to Japanese naval airpower. For the next four months, she escorted TG 30.8 which refueled and replenished the 3rd Fleet during the conquest of the western Carolines and the liberation of Leyte. On 20 November, while escorting a convoy from Ulithi for another rendezvous with Mitscher's flattops, Levy drove off enemy planes which attacked the formation. She sailed from Eniwetok on 24 November for the west coast and arrived San Diego on 8 December for a month-long overhaul.

Early in March 1945 the ship returned to the Pacific war zones and resumed escort and ASW duty. During the last two months of the war, Levy helped blockade and bombard the remaining Japanese-held atolls in the Marshalls and rescued a boatload of natives who had escaped from enemy-held Jaluit.

August and September marked a high point of the ship's wartime career. Aboard Levy, Capt. H. D. Grow negotiated and accepted the surrender of Mili Atoll on 22 August. A few days later Levy witnessed the surrender of Jaluit Atoll. On 4 September, Wake Island surrendered to Brig. Gen. L. H. M. Sanderson, USMC, embarked in Levy.

Departing the Pacific theater on 17 September, the ship steamed, via San Francisco, for the east coast. On 15 November she joined the St. John's River Group, 16th Fleet, at Green Cove Springs, Florida, and was placed in commission, in reserve. She was decommissioned on 4 April 1947, and berthed at Norfolk, Virginia, as part of the Atlantic Inactive Fleet.

Finally struck from the Navy List on 2 August 1973, the ship was sold for scrap to the Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Maryland, on 17 July 1974.

Awards

Levy received 5 battle stars for World War II service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

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