Earle B. Hall (APD-107)
1945-1965
Earle Boitnott Hall, born on 25 December 1919 in Dawson Springs, Ky., enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1938. Aviation Machinist's Mate Hall was posthumously awarded an Air Medal for meritorious achievement in a patrol mission against Japanese forces on the wild Sulu island of Jolo, Philippines, 27 December 1941. He was killed in this action.
(APD-107: displacement 1,450 (standard); length 306'0"; beam 37'0"; draft 12'0"; speed 22.5 knots (maximum); complement 204; armament 1 5-inch, 6 40 millimeter, 6 20 millimeter, 2 depth charge tracks; class Crosley)
Earle B. Hall (DE-597) was laid down on 19 January 1944 at Hingham, Mass., by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc.; launched on 1 March 1944; sponsored by Mrs. William Thomas Hall, mother of AMM Hall; reclassified as a high speed transport, APD-107, on 17 July 1944; and, following her conversion, was commissioned alongside Marginal Pier, Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard on 15 May 1945, Lt. Cmdr. Edward J. Haddon, DE, USNR, in command.
Earle B. Hall reached San Diego, Calif., from Norfolk, Va., on 17 August 1945. She embarked 90 men for passage to Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 12 September. She arrived at Okinawa on the 28th. While her boats were being converted for shallow water minesweeping, she carried passengers and minesweeping gear from Buckner Bay, Okinawa, to Sasebo, Japan, and through the Bungo Suido [Strait]. In December, her boats were returned, and with them she sailed to Wakanoura Bay, below Osaka, arriving on 14 December. There she provided logistics support for her boats, sweeping magnetic mines in the shallow waters of the Inland Sea, particularly at the major port of Kobe.
Earle B. Hall put to sea on 25 February 1946, and called at Eniwetok, in the Marshall Islands, Pearl Harbor and San Francisco, Calif., on her way to Boston, Mass., where she arrived on 9 April. She was placed out of commission in reserve at Mayport, Florida, on 27 September 1946.
Recommissioned on 7 December 1950, Cmdr. William H. Mack in command, Earle B. Hall sailed from Jacksonville, Fla., on 19 December, for her home port of Norfolk, Virginia. After refresher training, she departed on 29 May 1951 to begin a three-month northern cruise, supplying such outposts as Grondal, Greenland. Returning to Norfolk, she iembarked marines to participate in amphibious warfare exercises off Onslow Beach, N.C., and in the Caribbean.
Earle B. Hall sailed from Norfolk on 22 April 1953 for a Mediterranean tour with the Sixth Fleet, returning home on 26 October. Local operations off the Virginia capes alternated with two cruises to Key West , Florida, and Havana, Cuba, and amphibious exercises with marines in the Caribbean until 17 June 1955, when she sailed to the Azores, Lisbon, P{ortugal, and Cadiz, Spain, on a midshipman cruise, returning to Norfolk on 15 July. The remainder of her service was spent on the east coast and training in the Caribbean. She was placed out of commission in reserve again on 13 September 1957.
Recommissioned on 29 November 1961 at the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, N.Y., Lt. Comdr. Clarence E. Bolger in command, Earle B. Hall was ultimately decommissioned for the final time on 15 January 196. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 February 1965, the ship was sold for scrapping on 28 January 1966.
Earle B. Hall received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Cuba).
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
24 February 2022
