Earl K. Olsen (DE-765)
1944-1972
Earl Kenneth Olsen, born on 2 July 1903 in Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated with the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1926. After varied duty afloat and ashore, he was ordered to the heavy cruiser Pensacola (CA-24) on 9 February 1939.
Lt. Cmdr. Olsen was serving as engineering officer during the night battle of Tassafaronga, off Guadalcanal, 30 November-1 December 1942. When a torpedo hit flooded the engine room, he coolly and efficiently directed evacuation of survivors. Attempting to carry another officer to safety, he himself succumbed to smoke and toxic gases. Olsen was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
(DE-765: displacement 1,240; length 306'0"; beam 36'8"; draft 8'9"; speed 21 knots; complement 186; armament 3 3-inch, 2 40 millimeter, 10 20 millimeter, 3 21-inch torpedo tubes, 8 depth charge projectors, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog), 2 depth charge tracks; class Cannon)
Earl K. Olsen (DE-765) was laid down on 9 March 1943 at Tampa, Florida, by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Inc.; launched on 13 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. H. E. Olsen, mother of Lt. Cmdr. Olsen; and commissioned on 10 April 1944, Lt. Cmdr. Winfield F. DeLong, USNR, in command.
After serving as schoolship for the Fleet Sound School at Key West, Florida (24 June--13 August 1944), Earl K. Olsen steamed to Casco Bay, Maine, for refresher training before reporting to Boston, Mass., on 24 August, for convoy duty. Between 28 August 1944 and 24 May 1945, she made six voyages escorting convoys between Boston, New York, and United Kingdom ports.
On the fifth voyage as the convoy sailed for Southampton, England. U.S. Army transport J. W. McAndrew and the French aircraft carrier Beam collided on 13 March in a violent storm. Earl K. Olsen rescued two men and escorted the two stricken ships into Ponta Delgada, Azores, for emergency repairs while Earl K. Olsen rejoined her convoy.
After the close of the war in Europe with Germany's surrender in the spring of 1945, Earl K. Olsen sailed from New York on 8 June 1945 to join the U.S. Pacific Fleet, training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during her voyage to Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, where she arrived on 19 July. Heading west again on 6 August, she escorted ships to island ports and arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands, on 3 September. The same day she commenced the first of four voyages to escort tank landing ships (LST) to Yokohama, Japan, in support of the unfolding operations to occupy the erstwhile enemy's homeland. She then operated in the Philippines until 9 January 1946.
Earl K. Olsen returned to San Pedro, Calif., on 24 February 1946, and sailed on 10 March for Norfolk, Virginia, arriving on the 26th. On 11 April she got underway for Green Cove Springs, Fla., arriving on the 13th, to be decommissioned. She was placed out of commission in reserve on 17 June 1946.
Assigned to Naval Reserve Training (NRT) duty on 13 December 1946, Earl K. Olsen was towed to Tampa and served with a reduced complement. Recommissioned on 21 November 1950, six months after the start of hostilities in Korea, she reached Charleston, S.C., her new home port, on 7 January 1951.
With her complement increased, she continued to carry out NRT duty, but with an expanded cruising range, visiting the Caribbean, France, Spain, and Portugal two summers, 1951 and 1955. From 18 July 1953, she continued NRT duty out of Philadelphia, Pa., punctuated by fleet exercises. Reporting for inactivation on 23 November 1957, Earl K. Olsen was placed out of commission in reserve again, on 25 February 1958, at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
Earl K. Olsen never again performed active service. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 August 1972, ex-Earl K. Olsen was sold on 28 September 1973 to Boston Metals Corp., for scrapping, which took place at the firm's Curtis Bay, Maryland, yard (1974-1976).
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
23 February 2022
