Oswald (DE-767)
(DE-767: dp. 1,240; l. 306-; b. 36-8-; dr. 11-8-; s. 21 k.; cpl. 186; a. 3 3-, 6 40mm., 10 20mm., 2 dct, 8 dcp., 1 dcp. (hh.); cl. Cannon)
Harvey Emerson Oswald, born in Columbus, Ohio, 11 September 1918, enlisted in the Naval Reserve in April 1938. Discharged from the reserve at his own request 3 August 1939, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy the same day. Assigned the following December to William B. Preston, he was killed when that ship came under Japanese aerial attack at Darwin, Australia, 19 February 1942. For his prompt and courageous manning of a .50 caliber PBY airplane machine gun, he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
The name Oswald was assigned to DE-71 on 23 February 1943, but was reassigned to DE-767 after DE-71 was designated to be turned over to the United Kingdom under the terms of Lend Lease. Transferred to the Royal Navy 29 September 1943, DE-71 served the British war effort as Affleck (K-462). At the end of World War II she was returned to the US Navy in Britain, where she was sold on 24 January 1947 and into 1970 serves as the Mercantile hulk Nostra Senora de la Luz.
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Oswald (DE-767) was laid down 1 April 1943 at the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Fla.; launched 25 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Zola F. Oswald, mother of Harvey E. Oswald, MM2/c; and commissioned 12 June 1944, Lt. Edward L. Patton, USNR, in command.
Following a Bermuda shakedown, Oswald sailed north to Boston, thence to New York where she reported for duty with CortDiv 22 in TG 21.5. On 19 August she sailed with CU 36 on her first transatlantic convoy escort mission. Off Northern Ireland, on the 30th, she hunted unsuccessfully for an enemy submarine after the loss of the tanker SS Jacksonville. Rejoining the convoy, the escort vessel saw the remainder of her charges into Londonderry and on 4 September began the voyage back to New York. During the next 8 months, she escorted ten additional convoys across the North Atlantic without a loss.
In June 1945, her task group, then designated 61.2, was dissolved and Oswald reported to Quonset Point, R. I., to serve as plane guard during carrier qualification exercises on Croatan (CVE-25). Reassigned in August, she proceeded to southern Florida for similar duties with Mission Bay (CVE-59). In October, she returned to New York, underwent preinactivation overhaul, and then sailed south again. Arriving at Green Cove Springs, Fla., 9 November, she decommissioned there 30 April 1946 and joined Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Transferred to the Philadelphia Reserve Group in 1951, she has remained in reserve into 1970.
