The Tale Of The Destroyer Escorts USCGM – JUNE, 1954, PAGES 34-36 by GEORGE DIBS, SK2, USCGC VANCE "Seven mighty ships left the bar With many men from fields afar, Their days now gone, their travels won, Their story now shall be sung." In the annals of Coast Guard history two years represents only a small part of the passing parade and seven ships an almost insignificant part of an illustrious "navy." Yet, now that the Destroyer Escorts have been laid to rest, a soliloquy is in order. De's are only ordinary in appearance and certainly there are few unusual characteristics that could be mentioned now. But just as the ships were somewhat typical, the effect upon those who served aboard them was anything but typical. This story shall by necessity be limited to the seven Destroyer Escorts which arrived in Honolulu in 1952 to take part in expanded air-sea rescue operations and weather station duty. So many experiences were held in common by the officers and crews of these ships that their story is really one. They came to the 14th District to do a job. By name – durant, forster, lansing, newell, ramsden, richey and vance. They did their job, they did it well, and they left an impression on every person who served aboard one of them (whether career or "short timer") which they will be a long time forgetting. Perhaps our story begins in the early months of 1952 when the first Coast Guardsmen gathered in Green Cove Springs, Florida, at the Navy Mothball Fleet to activate the ships. Quite a few of this first group rode the ships all the way to the decommissioning docks of San Diego and Long Beach, California, two years later. For three months the big job of getting the ships ready for their task went on in Florida and then major alterations and repairs were carried on in the shipyards of Philadelphia and Curtis Bay. These days were filled with hard work and well earned good liberty. Finally, just past mid-1952, the ships departed their temporary east coast homes for the wide, wide Pacific, traveling down the Atlantic and across the Gulf of Mexico and lying over in San Diego for training, before setting sights and sailing for Diamondhead Mountain and the now all-too-familiar Aloha Tower in Honolulu. One fact quickly stands out above all others, -- travel, travel, travel. The trip outlined above was just the beginning. In the course of time these thin white ships were to be seen from the coast of tropical Luzon in the Philippines to the rugged snow-laden Aleutian chain, and for the happy shores of Japan to the world-famous beaches of Hawaii. To a sailor's way of thinking they were not good duty. Rolling and shaking, the DE's were short on comfort and ill-prepared for the tasks they were assigned. Many were the men who gave a silent prayer for the shipyard worker of ten years ago while the winds and strong seas of the North Pacific buffeted and beat upon the small white specks in the world's largest ocean! And despite their maturity, many were the men who sat bored to tears and sick for the sight of "the mainland" on tropical islands such as Guam and Midway, counting their months to rotation. Yet there were happy times also, -- the liberty in Japan which broke up a five month patrol into bearable periods of duty, the layover in Hong Kong after three months in the Philippines, and the weekends during the summer months when the tourist Mecca's of Honolulu offered the promise of stateside girls. The average traveling for each DE in the course of two years reached the staggering total of 25,000 miles, enough to circle the globe, and all this despite many months spent in shipyards and underway training periods. The travels and schedules did not allow the married men that time with their families which normally accrues on other types of duty. And it should be worthwhile to mention that few were the marriages that occurred during these two years, either because short in-port periods prevented time for romance to blossom of a lack of a suitable variety of eligible females caused hopes to dwindle. Yet, if these words cause a reader to think of these men who served thereon as complainers, be it mentioned now that these experiences in far corners of the Pacific produced a tough breed of sailor, a different species of Coast Guardsman, tried and true, with few found wanting! And now, with their crews dispersed into every district, these Destroyer Escorts are returned to their dormant wait in the mothball fleet. May they lie long waiting; may the memories of our travels and hard work stay with us always.