USS Dufilho

	USS Dufilho (DE-423) underway off Houston, Texas on 24 July 1944
History
United States
Name	Dulfiho
Namesake	Marion William Dufilho
Builder	Houston, Texas
Laid down	31 January 1944
Launched	9 March 1944
Commissioned	21 July 1944
Decommissioned	14 May 1946
Stricken	1 December 1972
Fate	Sold for scrapping 12 September 1973
General characteristics
Class and type	John C. Butler-class destroyer escort
Displacement	1,350 long tons (1,372 t)
Length	306 ft (93 m)
Beam	36 ft 8 in (11 m)
Draft	9 ft 5 in (3 m)
Propulsion	2 boilers, 2 geared turbine engines, 12,000 shp; 2 propellers
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h)
Range	6,000 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 12 kt
Complement	14 officers, 201 enlisted
Armament	2 × single 5 in (127 mm) guns; 2 × twin AA guns ; 10 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) AA guns ; 1 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes ; 8 × depth charge throwers; 1 × Hedgehog ASW mortar; 2 × depth charge racks;

USS Dufilho (DE-423), was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort.

Namesake

Marion William Dufilho was born on 22 May 1916 in

Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross

.

Construction and commissioning

She was laid down 31 January 1944 by

Houston, Texas

, launched 9 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. M. W. Dufilho, widow of Lieutenant Dufilho, and commissioned 21 July 1944.

History

USS Dufilho escorted

French Morocco, as escort for USS Kasaan Bay from 24 October to 14 November, Dufilho sailed from Norfolk 7 December for the Pacific, passed through the Panama Canal on 17 December, crossed the equator on 20 December, and arrived at Manus, Admiralty Islands

, 15 January 1945.

Dufilho got underway for

anti-submarine

patrol and escort duty.

Between 26 April and 5 July 1945, Dufilho joined in the Borneo operation, escorting shipping from the Philippines and Mios Woendi to Morotai in preparation for the landings at Tarakan and Brunei Bay in May and June. She convoyed reinforcements to Tarakan, and patrolled off the beaches during the assaults at Brunei Bay, escorted support troops in, and returned with empty landing craft to San Pedro Bay.

After brief overhaul, Dufilho patrolled out of Leyte on antisubmarine, air-sea rescue, weather reporting and escort duty. On 2 August 1945 she aided in the rescue of survivors from

Seattle Star before the war, pieced together radio messages regarding "debris in the water" and sped to the debris coordinates. Arriving after dark, Dufilho lookouts spotted a lone survivor. While the whaleboat was picking him up, Dufilho's sonar picked up a strong sonar contact only 900 yards (820 m) away. Concerned the Japanese submarine might still be lurking in the area, Dufilho attacked with depth charges and hedgehogs

. After 20 minutes with no evidence of a destroyed submarine, Dufilho picked up the whaleboat and survivor and commenced screening for the rescue operation until 1615 the following afternoon, when she was released to return to Leyte.

Following a voyage to Okinawa to convoy LSTs and LSMs to Leyte for repairs, Dufilho sailed from Leyte 6 September and after calling at Okinawa, arrived at Shanghai 22 September, the first ship to enter Shanghai harbor in four years. She operated on a variety of duties at port and Hong Kong until 5 January 1946 when she sailed for the west coast. Dufilho stopped in Pearl Harbor before arriving at San Diego 12 February and was decommissioned on 14 May 1946. Dufilho was stricken from the inventory on 1 December 1972 and was sold for scrapping on 1 August 1973 by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service.

References

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

External links

Photo gallery of Dufilho at NavSource Naval History
Destroyer Escort Central: Dufilho