Ray K. Edwards (APD-96)
1945-1960
Ray Keith Edwards -- born at Chicago, Ill., on 11 November 1923 -- enlisted in the Navy on 16 June 1941. Transferred to the Marine Corps at his own request, he was ultimately rated corporal on 23 February 1942. He lost his life while receiving an important radio message during an aerial bombardment on Guadalcanal on 12 September 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for this action.
(APD-96: displacement 2,130 (full load); length 306'0"; beam 37'0"; draft 12'7"; speed 23 knots; complement 201; troop capacity 162; armament 1 5-inch, 6 40 millimeter, 6 20 millimeter, 2 depth charge tracks; class Charles Lawrence)
Ray K. Edwards (DE-237) was laid down on 1 December 1943 at Charleston, S.C., by the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 19 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Lena M. Edwards; reclassified as a high speed transport, APD-96, on 17 July 1944; and commissioned on 11 June 1945, Lt. Caldwell R. Keyser in command.
Following shakedown off Guantanamo, Ray K. Edwards set course for the Pacific, reaching San Diego on 21 August 1945 and Pearl Harbor on 12 September, where she became flagship of Transport Division 104. She departed Pearl on 14 September for Eniwetok and Okinawa, whence she steamed to Japan. She sailed through Bungo Suido and anchored in Fukuru Wan, on 8 October, to replenish minesweepers, tank landing ships (LST) and infantry landing craft (LCI) assigned to that area. She remained in Japan through the end of 1945.
Returning to the United States, Ray K. Edwards transited the Panama Canal on 24 April 1946; and, after in-port periods at Boston, Jacksonville, and Charleston, was towed to Mayport, Fla., where she arrived on 13 August 1946. Decommissioned on 30 August 1946 and berthed at Green Cove Springs, Fla., she was stricken from the Navy list on 1 June 1960, and sold on 15 June 1961 to Diamond Manufacturing Co., Georgia.
9 August 2019
