The USS Courtney was built by the Defoe Shipbuilding Company located in Bay City, Michigan in the year 1954. It was a Dealey class destroyer escort which would be used until the year 1973 when it was struck and sold for scrap in the year 1974. Over the course of the ships life it was used for training exercises and tests.
This vessel which at 314 feet displaced 1877 tons when fully loaded and had a range of 6000 nautical miles. It was equipped with 4 guns capable of firing projectiles 3 inches in diameter as well as anti-submarine rockets and finally torpedoes.
It was named after the Marine major Henry A. Courtney Jr. who was killed by a mortar round while fighting Japanese during WWII on the island of Okinawa. He received a Medal of Honor for his leadership during the charge up Sugar Loaf Hill and as stated before had this ship named after him.
During the life of the USS Courtney it exercised antisubmarine warfare as well as escort techniques in the British West Indies, she also took part in exercises off of South Carolina and Florida. She also conducted training with the Norwegian Navy and in 1958 participated in convoy escort and screening duties which placed her all around South America.
The ultimate fate of the USS Courtney was for scrap in 1974 when she was sold for $75,141 to the Union Minerals and Alloys Corp. located in New York, NY.
Sources
- Thistle, Scott. Marine’s display…City Hall. (2006). 11 Oct. 2015
- Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Courtney. (1998). 11 Oct. 2015
- Paul R. Yarnall. Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive. (18 June 2015). 11 Oct. 2015