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

(1968) Vol. 3, pp.405-406.





HURST





	Born 16 October 1910 at Falls City, Nebr., Edwin 

William Hurst graduated from the Naval Academy in 1932.  

After serving in battleship TENNESSEE (BB-43), he completed 

flight training in 1935.  He was then assigned to several 

squadrons and aviation shore facilities before reporting on 

board aircraft carrier LEXINGTON (CV-2) 19 May 1941.  Hurst 

earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses.  During the 

critical Battle of the Coral Sea, 7 to 8 May 1942, he 

daringly attacked aircraft carrier SHOHO, scoring hits 

which contributed to her sinking; and the following day 

severely damaged carrier SHOKAKU.  While flying over the 

uncharted Owen Stanley range, he pressed home a successful 

torpedo attack in the face of heavy antiaircraft fire, 

severely damaging enemy shipping and installations at 

Salamaua and Lae, N.G., 10 March 1942.  With his gallant 

carrier LEXINGTON sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea, 

Lt. Hurst flew from New Zealand until his death 9 June 1942 

in a crash near Whemuapai.





DE-250

Displacement:  1,200 t.

Length:  306’

Beam:  36’7”

Draft:  8’7”

Speed:  21 k.

Complement:  186

Armament:  3 3”; 

	2 depth charge tracks;

	8 hedge charge projectors;

	1 hedge hog

Class:  EDSALL



	The second HURST (DE-250), a destroyer escort, was 

launched by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex., 14 April 

1943; sponsored by Mrs. Jeanette Harris Hurst, widow; and 

commissioned 30 August 1943, Lt. Comdr. B. H. Brallier 

commanding.



	HURST departed Houston 3 September and after a short 

period of outfitting at Galveston, sailed 12 September for 

shakedown training off Bermuda.  After returning briefly to 

Charleston in November and screening a convoy to the 

Caribbean, HURST arrived Norfolk, Va., 29 November 1943 to 

join Escort Division 20.



	Assigned to the vital job of protecting ocean commerce 

from submarines, HURST departed Norfolk with her first 

convoy 14 December 1943, stopped at Casablanca, and returned 

to New York 24 January 1944.  She then conducted gunnery and 

antisubmarine warfare exercises in Casco Bay, Maine, before 

sailing with another convoy from New York 23 February.  

Enemy action was not the only hazard on such voyages as two 

days out of New York, merchant vessels EL COSTON and 

MURFREESBORO collided and sank during a heavy gale, the 

survivors being taken on board one of the ever-ready escort 

ships.  HURST reached Lisahally, Northern Ireland, 5 March 

1944, and 1 week later returned to New York with another 

convoy.



	HURST made no less than 10 more escort voyages from 

Boston or New York to ports in Northern Ireland and Great 

Britain before returning to New York 11 June 1945.  In this 

way she contributed mightily to winning the "Battle of the 

Atlantic".  After her final voyage, the destroyer escort 

sailed with her division for training in Chesapeake Bay and 

at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Reassigned to the Pacific Fleet 

for these last months of the war, she transited the Panama 

Canal and arrived Pearl Harbor via San Diego 26 July 1945.  

There the ship took part in exercises with submarines and 

departed 27 August for the Samoan Islands.  Arriving Pago 

Pago 25 September, HURST spent the next weeks steaming among 

the small outlying islands of the Samoan, Fiji, and Society 

and other island groups, sending parties ashore to search 

for missing personnel and to investigate possible remaining 

enemy units.  Completing this painstaking duty, she departed 

Pago Pago 3 November 1945 and sailed for San Diego via Pearl 

Harbor.  She arrived San Diego 23 November and sailed 2 days 

later for New York via the Panama Canal.  HURST entered New 

York harbor 10 December 1945, sailed to Green Cove Springs, 

Fla., and then decommissioned there 1 May 1946.  She then 

entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Green Cove Springs.  

In January 1947 HURST was transferred to Orange, Tex., where 

she remains.



	[Stricken from the Navy Register on 1 December 1972, 

HURST was transferred to Mexico on 1 October 1973.  Renamed 

frigate MANUEL AZUETA (A-06), then COMMODORO MANUEL AZUETA 

PERILLOS (E-30), she is currently used (May 1998) as the 

Gulf Fleet command training ship with all her ASW weapons 

and sensors removed.



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

the U. S. Navy, 1775-1990,” p.225.

“Jane’s Fighting Ships, 1997-98,” p.440.

“The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World, 

1998-99,” pp.511-512.]





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com