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Foley (DE-270)

1945 

The U.S. Navy retained the name assigned to this ship by the Royal Navy. 

(DE-270: displacement 1,140; length 289'5"; beam 35'1"; draft 11'; speed 21 knots; complement 156; armament 3 3-inch, 4 20 millimeter, 8 depth charge projectors, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog), 2 depth charge tracks; class Evarts)

Gillette (DE-270) was laid down on 7 April 1943 at Boston, Mass., by the Boston Navy Yard and launched on 19 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Charles T. [Laura] Owens. Allocated to the United Kingdom under Lend Lease on 14 June 1943 and renamed Foley, the ship was transferred to the Royal Navy on 8 September 1943 and commissioned at her building yard as HMS Foley (K.474) on that date, Lt. Cmdr. Donald E. Mansfield, RN, in command.

During her service under the White Ensign, Foley, classed as a Captain-class frigate, operated in concert with the modified Black Swan-class frigate HMS Crane (U.23) (Lt. Cmdr. Ralph G. Jenkins, RN) southwest of Ireland to depth charge and sink the German submarine U-538 (Kapitänleutnant Johann-Egbert Gossler), on her maiden war patrol, on 21 November 1943. U-538’s entire crew of 55 souls, including Kapitänleutnant Gossler, who had turned 29 years of age only five days earlier, died. Foley continued her service in the Royal Navy through the end of hostilities in the European theater.

While Foley lay moored at Buoy No.2 in the River Stoure, at Harwich, England, during the forenoon watch on 22 August 1945, Lt. Cmdr. Charles A. H. Bird, RNVR (who had relieved Lt. Cmdr. Mansfield on 6 January 1944) turned the ship over to Lt. Stuart M. Strauss, USNR, who placed her in commission as Foley (DE-270). Shortly thereafter, she received on board the officers and men who had recently returned the gunboat Ready (PG-67) to the Royal Navy, the British having loaned that vessel to the U.S. under reverse lend-lease.

Foley shifted berths, mooring alongside Hoste (DE-521) at 1730 on 23 August 1945. During the mid watch on 27 August, 2nd Lt. John W. Day, AUS, reported on board at 0111 for transportation to the U.S.  Shortly after noon that same day, 1st Lt. Harold W. Burch, AC, reported on board at 1210 with 26 USAAF enlisted men for transportation. Subsequently, the ship embarked Lt. Cmdr. J. Bramwell, RNVR, her pilot for the passage through British coastal waters.

Underway at 0640 on 28 August 1945, Foley cleared the River Stoure, setting course for The Downs and conforming to the Harwich Channel. Later that day, after passing the Sand Head bell buoy abeam to starboard, she dropped her starboard anchor in Trinity Bay at 1220. An hour and a half later, Lt. Cmdr. Bramwell, his duty as pilot completed, departed the ship.

Clearing Trinity Bay the next morning at 0930 on 29 August 1945, Foley proceeded in Task Group (TG) 21.3 in company with nine other returned frigates, setting course for Philadelphia, Pa.  The voyage proceeded uneventfully until 2 September when Foley sighted an object in the water at 0925, and left formation to investigate. The object in question proved to be an unoccupied wooden life raft from an unidentified ship. Foley then returned to the group.

Detached from TG 21.3 at 1615 on 3 September 1945 along with Bayntun (DE-1), Foley set course for Newfoundland to fuel. At 2300, Foley sighted a white light in the distance, and two hours later maneuvered to allow a merchant ship to pass clear of her. She stood in to the channel to Argentia at the mid-point of the morning watch the next day, then moored at the fuel dock alongside Bayntun at 0747, the large harbor tug Chekilli (YTB-175) assisting in the evolution (0747-0750). After receiving 26,193 gallons of fuel (0830-0940), Foley took on board foul weather clothing and stores (1035-1135). She moved from the dock out into the stream at 1402 and soon thereafter joined Bayntun, resuming the voyage to Philadelphia.

Outside of a short period of time (0851-0859 on 7 September 1945) when she broke down due to a temporary failure of electrical power, Foley’s voyage home proceeded uneventfully. She picked up Lt. Cmdr. D. A. Porter, USCG, her pilot for the last leg of the homeward passage, at the Overfalls lightship (1608-1615) on 9 September, then steamed up the channel through Delaware Bay, then proceeded up the Delaware River to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, maintaining station 1,000 yards astern of Bayntun, mooring alongside her sister ship at 0020 on 10 September, alongside Pier “C.” Within the hour, she detached the Army and Army Air Force passengers who had ridden with the ship from Harwich.

The little harbor tug YTL-16 assisted Foley to the ammunition dock at Ft. Mifflin (0855-0943) on 18 September 1945, the ammunition removal process commencing at 1020 and continuing until completed at 1245. Later, Achigan (YTB-218) secured alongside to port at 1500 and YTL-16 to starboard five minutes later. Foley cast off all lines at 1518 and, assisted by the yardcraft, returned to Pier “C” at 1550, with Bayntun mooring alongside during the first dog watch.

Foley remained alongside Pier “C” through mid-October 1945, the defueling process beginning on 1 October. Ultimately, following a brief (1100-1120) preliminary decommissioning inspection on 17 October, Foley was decommissioned at 0930 on 19 October 1945, her colors and commissioning pennant being struck and the watch secured. Ens. Herbert J. Zaslove (D), USNR, signed the ship’s last log entry, and the ship’s officers and men, being detached for leave or transferred to the receiving station for leave and further transportation elsewhere, departed.

Stricken from the Navy Register on 1 November 1945, the ship that served under one name but under two flags, the White Ensign and the Stars and Stripes, was broken up for scrap in June 1946.

Commanding Officer                       Dates of Command

Lt. Stuart M. Strauss, USNR              22 August-19 October 1945

Robert J. Cressman

9 January 2018

Published: Tue Jan 09 18:25:20 EST 2018