>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1981) Vol. 7, pp.138-139.





THOMAS





	Clarence Crase Thomas--born on 26 December 1886 in 

Grass Valley, Calif.--was appointed midshipman on 7 July 

1904 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy on 

5 June 1908.  After service in armored cruiser MARYLAND 

(ACR-8) and gunboat YORKTOWN (PG-1), he was commissioned 

ensign on 29 June 1910.



	In the next few years, Thomas served in cruisers DENVER 

(C-14) and CLEVELAND (C-19) and battleship WEST VIRGINIA 

(BB-48).  Appointed lieutenant (jg) on 26 June 1913, he was 

detached from WEST VIRGINIA in the summer of 1914 to attend 

a post-graduate course in steam engineering at the Naval 

Academy.  He attended Columbia University in late 1915 and, 

on 24 June 1916, reported on board battleship FLORIDA 

(BB-30) as her electrical officer.



	Thomas was commissioned lieutenant on 8 January 1917 

and, about a fortnight after the United States entered World 

War I, was placed in charge of the naval armed guard on the 

merchant steamship SS VACUUM in April.  On the 28th, when a 

lookout reported sighting a German submarine, some 120 miles 

west of the Hebrides Islands, Lt. Thomas went to the ship’s 

after gun.  A few moments later, a torpedo from U-21 struck 

VACUUM and exploded, throwing Thomas and the gun’s crew into 

the water.  The ship sank within two minutes.  Picked up by 

a boat, Thomas soon died of cold and exposure.  He was the 

first United States naval officer to lose his life in the 

war with Germany and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross 

“for distinguished service in the line of his profession as 

commander of the armed guard crew of the . . . VACUUM.”





DE-102

Displacement:  1,240 t.

Length:  306’

Beam:  36’7”

Draft:  8’9”

Speed:  21 k.

Complement:  216

Armament:  3 3”; 6 40mm; 3 21” torpedo tubes;

	2 depth charge tracks;

	1 hedge hog

Class:  CANNON



	The second THOMAS (DE-102) was laid down on 16 January 

1943 at Wilmington, Del., by the Dravo Corp.; launched on 31 

July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Herndon B. Kelly; and 

commissioned on 21 November 1943, Lt Comdr. David M. Kellogg 

in command



	On 7 December 1943, THOMAS got underway for Bermuda to 

conduct her shakedown cruise which ended on 15 January 1944.  

During the first part of February she acted as a school ship 

at Norfolk and then joined Task Group (TG) 21.16, a 

submarine hunter-killer group, centered around escort 

carrier BLOCK ISLAND (CVE-21).  THOMAS remained with the 

task group until 31 March.  During this period, the group 

sank three German U-boats in the North Atlantic.  At 2208 

hours on 29 February, destroyer escort BRONSTEIN (DE-189) 

made radar contact with a vessel from a range of 6,500 

yards.  She, THOMAS, and destroyer escort BOSTWICK (DE-103) 

boxed the target, and BRONSTEIN fired flares which revealed 

a surfaced submarine.  When BRONSTEIN opened fire with her 

deck guns, the U-boat submerged.  The escorts tracked and 

depth charged the submarine until 0324 when a pattern of 

depth charges from THOMAS produced a huge secondary 

explosion that marked the end of U-709.  Meanwhile, 

BRONSTEIN had made a second contact and had sunk U-603 with 

a pattern of depth charges.  The third kill came on St. 

Patrick's Day when BRONSTEIN and destroyer CORRY (DD-463) 

aided aircraft from BLOCK ISLAND in sinking U-801.



	On 13 April, THOMAS departed Norfolk, steamed to North 

Africa with convoy UGS-39, and returned with convoy GUS-39 

on the 29th.  On 10 June, she was assigned to a hunter 

killer group (TG 22.10) whose nucleus was escort carrier 

CARD (CVE-11).  The ships hunted German submarines along the 

southern Great Circle Route.  At sunset on 5 July, they were 

approximately 100 miles south of Sable Island when destroyer 

escort BAKER (DE-190) developed a contact.  Two depth-charge 

patterns brought the U-boat to the surface.  THOMAS set a 

collision course and bore down on the submarine with all 

guns firing.  She sliced through U-233’s pressure hull about 

20 feet aft of the submarine's conning tower.  The U-boat 

sank stern first in less than a minute.  THOMAS rescued 20 

survivors, including the captain.  Two days later, she was 

detached from the task group to return to the Boston Navy 

Yard for repairs.



	THOMAS left the yard on 18 July and provided training 

services for new submarines until the end of August.  On 18 

September, she rejoined the CARD group and patrolled in the 

North Atlantic until 3 November when the ships of the group 

returned to east coast ports for repairs.  On 30 November, 

the reassembled task group headed back to its assigned area 

but contacted no enemy submarines during the patrol.



	On 29 December, THOMAS was ordered to return to New 

York.  She sortied again with her hunter-killer group on 16 

January 1945.  On 14 March, she returned to New York for 

repairs and rejoined CARD off the Florida coast 10 days 

later.  THOMAS acted as a plane guard during carrier 

qualifications for a month and then rendezvoused with convoy 

KN-32 at Key West to escort it to New York.



	On the night of 29 April, the convoy was east of Cape 

Henry when frigate NATCHEZ (PF-2) made sonar contact and 

sighted the snorkel of a German submarine.  The frigate 

attempted to ram the U-boat, but her quarry went deep.  When 

the ship radioed for help, THOMAS, BOSTWICK, and destroyer 

escort COFFMAN (DE-191) went to her assistance.  COFFMAN 

made three attacks; THOMAS unleashed a creeping barrage; and 

BOSTWICK moved in, firing a pattern of depth charges.  The 

American sailors heard deep sea explosions about eight 

minutes later.  NATCHEZ returned to the attack at 0207 and a 

pattern of her charges produced a large oil slick.  

Forty-five minutes later, THOMAS' sound crew heard a huge 

underwater explosion.  All contact with the submarine was 

lost, for German submarine U-548 had been destroyed.



	A little more than a week later, Germany surrendered, 

ending fighting in the Atlantic.  THOMAS conducted exercises 

in Long Island and Block Island Sounds in May and June.  The 

destroyer escort joined escort carrier MISSION BAY (CVE-59) 

for plane-guard duty in July and August and performed the 

same duties for CROATAN (CVE-25) during September and 

October.  On 27 October, the destroyer escort entered New 

York harbor to participate in the Navy Day celebration.  In 

November, THOMAS escorted the captured German submarine 

U-530 to various ports in Texas.



	THOMAS was decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla., 

in March 1946.  On 29 October 1948, the destroyer escort was 

transferred to Taiwan and renamed T’AI HO.  THOMAS was 

struck from the Navy list on 22 December 1948.



	THOMAS received four battle stars for World War II 

service.



	[T’AI HO was deleted by the Taiwanese Navy in 1972.

“Conway’s All The World’s Fighting Ships, 1947-1995,” p.56.]





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com