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

(1963) Vol. 2, pp.327, 328.





EDSALL





	Norman Eckley Edsall born 3 June 1873 in Columbus, Ky., 

enlisted in the Navy 27 June 1898.  While serving in cruiser 

PHILADELPHIA (C-4), Seaman Edsall went ashore with a landing 

party on 1 April 1889 to suppress hostile natives near Apia, 

Samoa.  He was killed attempting to carry his wounded 

commander to safety, and is buried on Samoa.





DE-129

Displacement:  1,200 t.

Length:  306’

Beam:  36’7”

Draft:  8’7”

Speed:  21 k.

Complement:  186

Armament:  3 3”; 3 21” torpedo tubes; 

	2 depth charge tracks; 1 hedge hog

Class:  EDSALL



	The second EDSALL (DE-129) was launched 1 November 1942 

by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.; sponsored by Mrs. 

Bessie Edsall Bracey (see DD-219) and commissioned 10 April 

1943, Lieutenant Commander E. C. Woodward in command.



	EDSALL was schoolship at Norfolk, 20 June to 6 August 

1943, for precommissioning crews of escort vessels, then at 

Miami with the Submarine Chaser Training Center.  In March 

1944, she joined a tanker convoy at Galveston, assigned to 

Escort Division 69, whose flagship she became 24 March.  

EDSALL continued escort duty from the Gulf to New York and 

Norfolk and with one convoy to Argentia.  In May, she sailed 

to Bermuda for antisubmarine warfare tests using a captured 

Italian submarine.



	Between 1 July 1944 and 3 June 1945, she ranged 

Atlantic sealanes guarding seven convoys carrying the very 

lifeblood to the Mediterranean and Britain.  While escorting 

the sixth convoy en route to New York from Liverpool on 10 

April 1945, EDSALL along with other escorts were quick to 

come to the assistance of two tankers in the convoy who had 

collided.  EDSALL searched for survivors and helped 

extinguish fires which broke out.



	EDSALL sailed for the Pacific 24 June 1945, but the war 

ended while she was training at Pearl Harbor, and she 

returned East.  She was placed out of commission in reserve 

at Green Cove Springs, Fla., 11 June 1946.



	[Stricken from the Navy Register on 1 June 1968, EDSALL 

was sold in July 1969.



K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, “Register off Ships of 

the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990,” p.224.]





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com