USS Bache (DD-470)

	USS Bache at sea
History
United States
Name	Bache
Namesake	George M. Bache
Builder	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Staten Island
Laid down	19 November 1941
Launched	7 July 1942
Commissioned	14 November 1942
Decommissioned	1 March 1968
Stricken	1 March 1968
Identification	DD-470/DDE-470
Fate	Wrecked off Rhodes, 6 February 1968
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement	2,050 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.8 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (44,742 kW); 2 propellers
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement	329
Armament	5 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns; 5 × twin AA guns; 7 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns; 2 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 × single depth charge throwers; 2 × depth charge racks;

USS Bache (DD/DDE-470), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy of that name. The destroyer was named for Commander George M. Bache.

Bache was

Staten Island, New York and sponsored by Miss Louise Bache, daughter of Commander Bache. The destroyer was commissioned

on 14 November 1942.

Service history

Reporting to the

Atlantic Fleet, she acted as escort to a westbound convoy to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then returned to New York for her post-shakedown overhaul. On 6 February 1943, she left Norfolk as escort for HMS Victorious. The vessels arrived at Pearl Harbor on 4 March 1943. On 10 May, after a training period, Bache departed for the Aleutian Islands. She served in the Aleutian area until December 1943, taking part in the bombardment of Kiska. After a brief overhaul at Pearl Harbor she joined the 7th Fleet

23 December 1943.

Until 29 October 1944, Bache operated with the 7th Fleet taking part in the bombardment of

Battle of Surigao Strait

. On 29 October, Bache departed Leyte en route to the United States for yard overhaul.

Marshall Islands, Okinawa

Upon completion of her overhaul, she joined the

Kerama Retto

, Okinawa, for temporary repairs.

Bache arrived at

New York Navy Yard on 13 July 1945 for permanent repairs and then went to Charleston, S.C.

, for inactivation. On 4 February 1946, Bache went out of commission in reserve at Charleston.

In 1950, Bache was converted to an escort destroyer at Boston Navy Yard (reclassified DDE-470 on 2 January 1951) and recommissioned on 1 October 1951. Bache was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, and since that time made six cruises to the Caribbean Sea for operations and training exercises and three cruises in the Mediterranean Sea, where she operated as a unit of the 6th Fleet.

Bache reverted to DD-470 on 30 June 1962. At some point, Bache was equipped with a

decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register

on 1 March 1968.

Honors

Bache received eight

battle stars for her World War II

service.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

navsource.org: USS Bache
hazegray.org: USS Bache
ussbache.org: USS Bache Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine