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USS Basilone (DD-824/DE-824)

Please see below for item level images and donated collection containing phtoographs of USS Basilone (DD-824/DE-824)

USS Basilone (DD-824) was laid down on 7 July 1945 at Orange, Tex., by the Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd; launched on 21 December 1945; and sponsored by Sgt. Lena Mae Basilone, USMCWR, Sgt. John Basilone’s widow. After lying inactive for more than two years, the ship was slated for conversion to an escort destroyer (DDE). ATA-211 towed USS Basilone from Orange, Tex., to Quincy, Mass., where the ship was converted by the Bethlehem Steel Co. Redesignated DDE-824 on 28 January 1948 USS Basilone (DDE-824) was commissioned on 26 July 1949, Comdr. Mark E. Dennett in command.

Following commissioning, USS Basilone (DDE-824) proceeded to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, whence she carried out shakedown training during late October and November. She returned to New England to spend Christmas in Boston before concluding shakedown at Key West in January 1950. On 18 April 1952, the escort destroyer departed Norfolk, loaded ammunition, and headed for Tangier, Morocco. Following Mediterranean operations in mid-May, USS Basilone (DDE-824) visited Sicily; Marseilles, France; Naples, Italy; and Gibraltar before leaving the Mediterranean on 17 June.

USS Basilone (DDE-824) returned to Norfolk early in December and began a period of leave and upkeep. At the end of the first week in 1953, she resumed normal operations out of Norfolk and remained so engaged until the beginning of February when she headed south to the West Indies to carry out several weeks of ASW drills. February and March of 1955 found USS Basilone (DDE-824) under the operational control of ComAntiSubLant participating in a series of ASW helicopter evaluation exercises. During her deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in the summer of 1958, USS Basilone (DDE-824) joined other 6th Fleet units in patrolling the coast of Lebanon in response to internal political upheavals in that country. On 26 January 1966, a week after departing Newport, USS Basilone (DDE-824)transited the Panama Canal to complete the first leg of her passage to join Task Force (TF) 77 on Dixie Station off South Vietnam. 

On 3 January 1969, she got underway for 10 days of task group operations after which she visited Tunis en route to turnover at Majorca on the 18th. Early in 1971, USS Basilone (DDE-824) twice sailed to the Bahamas. During the first two weeks of February, she participated in an ASW exercise off Andros Island then returned to the Tongue of the Ocean for three weeks late in April and early in May as part of a Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) project evaluating the Mark 48 torpedo. Upon returning to Norfolk, USS Basilone (DDE-824) readied herself for her last Mediterranean deployment. Following her departure from Norfolk on 15 January 1977, the destroyer paused at Rota for turnover formalities before sailing on to Naples. The destroyer departed the Mediterranean on 22 July for Norfolk where she arrived on 1 August. USS Basilone (DDE-824) was decommissioned on 1 November 1977, and her name was struck from the Navy list that same day.

For a complete history of USS Basilone (DD-824/DDE-824) please see its DANFS page.