USS Gosselin

History
United States
Name	USS Gosselin
Namesake	Edward W. Gosselin
Ordered	1942
Builder	Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
Laid down	1944
Launched	17 February 1944
Commissioned	31 December 1944
Decommissioned	11 July 1949
Stricken	1 April 1964
Honors and awards	1 battle star (World War II)
Fate	Sold for scrap 23 March 1965
General characteristics
Class and type	high speed transport
Displacement	1,450 long tons (1,473 t)
Length	306 ft (93 m)
Beam	36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion	2 × boilers Turbo-electric drive with 2 × turbines 2 × solid manganese-bronze 3600 lb. 3-bladed propellers, 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m), 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch 12,000 hp (8.9 MW) 2 rudders 359 tons fuel oil
Speed	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range	3,700 nmi (6,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	4 × LCVPs
Troops	162 troops
Complement	204 (12 officers, 192 enlisted)
Armament	1 × 5 in (130 mm) gun 6 × 40 mm guns 6 × 20 mm guns 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Gosselin (APD-126) was a

, in service from 1944 to 1949. She was sold for scrap in 1965.

Namesake

Edward Webb Gosselin was born on 1 May 1917 at Hamden, Connecticut. He was educated at Yale University. He enlisted as an apprentice seaman on 30 September 1940 and was commissioned on 14 March 1941. Ensign Gosselin's first duty station was on board the battleship USS Arizona and he reported on board on 3 May 1941 as an engineer. When Arizona was sunk on 7 December 1941 during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, he was officially declared dead as of that date.

History

Gosselin was laid down at the

on 17 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs. E. N. Gosselin, mother of Ensign Gosselin. On 17 July 1944, the Navy decided that Gosselin would be completed as a Crosley-class high speed transport, with the designation APD-126. Since she was so near to completion, Defoe completed her as a destroyer escort, and then when she reached New Orleans prior to commissioning, she was converted in a shipyard to the APD configuration. She was commissioned on 31 December 1944.

Namesake

Edward W. Gosselin was born on 1 May 1917, in

. He was officially declared dead as of 7 December 1941.

Service history

Pacific War, 1945

After shakedown in

, returning to Okinawa on 27 April.

From 27 April until the end of May, Gosselin was assigned at an Okinawa radar picket station protecting the invasion area, shooting down one Japanese plane, taking several others under fire, and rescuing a number of survivors and casualties from ships hit by suicide planes.

From 1 June, Gosselin went to the

.

Post-war operations, 1945–1949

Gosselin was transferred on 29 August to the task group commanded by Commodore R. W. Simpson, USN, assigned to liberate and evacuate prisoners of war. That same day, her boats were sent first to reach Omori Prison Camp, from which the first prisoners were evacuated, and brought out the first boatloads of prisoners. On 27 September 1945, Gosselin was berthed in front of the Port Director's office, Yokosuka, and used as a barracks ship for shore-based and transient personnel. She remained there until 15 December when she got underway for San Francisco via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor. Gosselin discharged her passengers at San Francisco on 28 December.

Gosselin remained in the

during American efforts to stabilize the situation in China. Gosselin departed Shanghai on 18 February 1949 and reached San Diego on 11 March.

Decommissioning and sale

Gosselin was decommissioned at San Diego on 11 July 1949, and was placed out of commission in reserve. She was berthed with the San Diego Group,

on 1 April 1964 and sold for scrapping.

Awards

Gosselin received one

service.

References

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

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Gosselin at NavSource Naval History
• hazegray.org: USS Gosselin
• USS Gosselin organization website