USS Formoe
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| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Formoe (DE-509) |
| Namesake | Aviation Machinist 's Mate First Class Clarence Melvin Formoe (1909-1941) |
| Builder | Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newark, New Jersey |
| Laid down | 3 January 1944 |
| Launched | 2 April 1944 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. A. L. Bolshazy |
| Commissioned | 5 October 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 27 May 1946 |
| Recommissioned | 27 June 1951 |
| Decommissioned | 7 February 1957 |
| Fate | Loaned to Portugal 7 February 1957 |
| Stricken | 1 October 1968 |
| Fate | Sold to Portugal December 1968 |
 Portugal | |
| Name | NRP Diogo-Cão (F 333) |
| Namesake | Diogo Cão, 15th-century Portuguese explorer |
| Acquired |
|
| Decommissioned | 19 November 1968[1] |
| Fate | Scrapped 1970[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 1,350/1,745 tons |
| Length | 306 ft (93 m) overall |
| Beam | 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 4 in (4.06 m) maximum |
| Propulsion | 2 boilers, 2 geared turbine engines, 12,000 shp, 2 screws |
| Speed | 24 knots (44 km/h) |
| Range | 6,000 nm @ 12 knots (22 km/h) |
| Complement | 14 officers, 201 enlisted |
| Armament | 2- 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 1 Hedgehog, 8 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks |
USS Formoe (DE-509) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946 and from 1951 to 1957. She was then transferred to Portugal, where she served as NRP Diogo-Cão (F-333) until 1968. She was scrapped in 1970.
History
Formoe was
launched on 2 April 1944, sponsored by Mrs. A. L. Bolshazy. The ship was commissioned
on 5 October 1944.
Pacific War
Formoe arrived at
U.S. East Coast 15 January 1945, and ten days later sailed for Morotai to join a troop convoy bound with reinforcements for Lingayen. She entered Lingayen Gulf 10 February, and for the next month and a half operated in the Philippines, guarding minecraft and exploding the mines they swept in Baler Bay and Casiguran Sound, and sailing as escort from Lingayen to Leyte. From 21 to 30 March, Formoe patrolled off Panay
in a picket line covering landings there, then continued her Philippine escort duty, making one voyage to Manus to bring landing craft north.
The escort departed
Okinawa
.
At Manila at the close of hostilities, she began occupation duty with a return voyage to
Okinawa, then served as escort for the flagship of Fleet Air Wing 1 for most of the remainder of her career, calling at Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well as in Tokyo Bay. She returned to San Francisco, California, 20 January 1946, and was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Diego
, California, 27 May 1946.
Cold War
Recommissioned 27 June 1951, Formoe sailed from
U.S. Pacific Fleet
.
From February through June 1955, and again from October 1955 to March 1956, Formoe carried out tours of duty in the Far East, taking part in hunter-killer operations and serving as station ship at Hong Kong.
Upon her return she prepared for foreign transfer at
Mutual Defense Assistance Program. After being loaned to Portugal on 7 February 1957, the ship served in the Portuguese Navy as NRP Diogo-Cão (F-333) until decommissioned on 19 November 1968. The United States sold her to Portugal outright in December 1968, and she was scrapped in 1970.[1]
Military awards
Formoe received two
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
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Formoe (DE-509).
