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The USS
WEEDEN
(DD-797), a
BUCKLEY-class
destroyer
escort, was
launched on
27 October
1943 at
Orange,
Texas, by
the
Consolidated
Steel
Corporation
and
commissioned
on 19
February
1944. Once
repairs to
her power
plant had
been made,
she was
ready for
shakedown
and brief
duty in
Provincetown,
Massachusetts,
as target
ship for the
Atlantic
Fleet
Torpedo
Squadron
Training
School. In
June, she
reported for
duty with
Escort
Division (CortDiv)
56, and on 4
July left
Boston in
the screen
of a convoy
bound for
Bizerte,
Tunisia. She
escorted
another
convoy on
her return
to Boston
and was
again
escorting a
Bizerte‑bound
convoy out
of Norfolk
in
mid‑September.
Midway
across the
ocean,
CortDiv 56
was ordered
leave the
convoy and
head for
Plymouth,
England,
where they
picked up a
convoy of
LSTs bound
for the
United
States. Her
last convoy
of the year
took her via
Gibraltar to
Oran,
Algeria,
then. back
to Boston.
The WEEDEN
began 1945
in Norfolk
where she
served
briefly as a
school ship.
On 28
January, the
destroyer
escort left
Norfolk for
duty with
the Pacific
Fleet. In
late
February,
after
undergoing
repairs at
Manus in the
Admiralty
Islands, she
got underway
for Leyte.
From March
to
September,
she escorted
convoys
among the
various
islands of
the
Philippines
and between
the
Philippines
and American
bases in
other island
groups. Her
first escort
assignment
was a
round‑trip
voyage to
Ulithi and
back to
Leyte. In
April, she
saw a convoy
safely to
Hollandia,
New Guinea,
and returned
to Leyte
with a
formation of
tugs.
Early in
May, the
WEEDEN made
a high‑speed
mail
delivery on
the
Philippine
circuit
visiting
Zamboanga,
Mindoro;
Iloilo,
Manila; and
Subic Bay.
For the
remainder of
May and the
entire month
of June, she
operated in
the
Philippines,
either
patrolling
the entrance
to San Pedro
Bay, Leyte;
escorting
convoys from
Leyte to
Manila; or
making the
inter‑island
mail run. In
July, the
WEEDEN made
two
round‑trip
voyages
escorting
convoys
between
Leyte and
Ulithi. At
the
conclusion
of the
second run,
she steamed
to Subic Bay
where she
joined the
escort of a
convoy bound
for Okinawa.
She left
Subic Bay on
27 July with
a large
group of
LSTs and
LSMs and,
after
evading a
typhoon,
arrived at
Okinawa on 4
August.
Three days
later, the
destroyer
escort
started back
to Leyte
and, soon
after her
arrival, the
Japanese
surrendered.
Over the
next few
weeks, the
WEEDEN
completed
escort
missions in
support of
the
occupation
of former
Japanese
territory.
Late in
August, she
made a
round‑trip
voyage to
Okinawa and
back to
Manila.
Following
that, the
destroyer
escort
screened a
British
escort
carrier to
Nagasaki,
where the
latter ship
picked up
former
Allied
prisoners of
war for
repatriation.
On the
return
voyage, the
WEEDEN
herself
carried 70
Dutch former
prisoners as
far as
Okinawa and
then
continued on
to Subic Bay
for repairs.
En route,
she received
orders to
assume plane
guard duty
on a station
located
about 100
miles north
of Luzon.
She
performed
that duty
for four
days and,
then,
resumed her
voyage to
the
Philippines.
She arrived
in Subic Bay
on 26
September
and remained
there,
undergoing
repairs,
until 10
November. By
the 26th,
the WEEDEN
was headed
for San
Pedro,
California,
where she
was
decommissioned
on 9 May
1946 and was
berthed with
the Pacific
Reserve
Fleet at San
Diego.
In November
1946, the
WEEDEN
resumed
activity,
though still
out of
commission,
reporting on
the 20th for
duty
training
naval
reservists
in the 11th
Naval
District.
Her status
changed
again on 26
May 1950
when she was
placed in
commission,
in reserve,
and in less
than three
months, she
reported for
duty with
the Pacific
Fleet. Her
mission,
naval
reserve
training in
the 11th
Naval
District,
remained the
same. Over
the next
seven years,
her training
cruises took
her north to
British
Columbia;
south as far
as Callao,
Peru; and
west to the
Hawaiian
Islands. Her
center of
operations,
however,
remained the
coast of
California.
Following
inactivation
overhaul at
Portland,
Oregon, she
was
decommissioned
on 26
February
1958. The
WEEDEN was
berthed at
Astoria,
Oregon, with
the Columbia
River Group,
Pacific
Reserve
Fleet until
30 June
1968, at
which time
her name was
struck from
the navy
list. She
was sold for
scrapping to
Zidell
Explorations,
Inc., of
Portland on
27 October
1969. |
