USS Kephart

History
United States
Name	USS Kephart
Namesake	William P. Kephart
Ordered	1942
Builder	Charleston Navy Yard
Launched	6 September 1943
Commissioned	7 January 1944
Decommissioned	21 June 1946
Stricken	1 May 1967
Fate	Transferred to South Korea, 16 May 1967
South Korea
Name	Gyeongbuk
Acquired	16 May 1967
Commissioned	1967
Stricken	30 April 1985
General characteristics
Class and type	Buckley-class destroyer escort
Displacement	1,400 long tons (1,400 t)
Length	306 ft (93 m)
Beam	36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
Draft	9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)
Propulsion	2 boilers, General Electric Turbo-electric drive; 2 solid manganese-bronze; 3,600 lb (1,600 kg) 3-bladed propellers,; 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter,; 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) pitch; 12,000 hp (8.9 MW); 2 rudders;
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h)
Complement	186 officers and enlisted
Armament	3 × 3"/50 guns (3×1); 4 × 1.1" guns (1×4); 8 × 20 mm guns (8×1); 3 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (1×3); 8 depth charge projectors (8×1); 1 Hedgehog depth charge projector; 2 depth charge tracks;

USS Kephart (DE-207/APD-61) was a

Republic of Korea Navy

and served another 18 years as Kyong Puk (PF-82) until she was struck in 1985.

Namesake

William Perry Kephart was born on 9 September 1915 in

United States Naval Reserve on 15 August 1937 and was appointed Aviation Cadet 3 months later. After flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. He was commissioned Ensign

on 1 December 1938.

Kephart served with air groups on the

Lieutenant (j.g.) 15 June 1942 and Lieutenant

(temporary) 1 October.

His squadron was performing a scouting mission on 15 September when the Wasp was hit. Finding it ablaze upon returning, he and the remainder of his squadron landed on the USS Hornet. Kephart and six other pilots were sent to Guadalcanal on 4 October. In the early morning of 14 October, the dugout he was sheltering in received a direct hit during a heavy Japanese naval bombardment and he lost his life along with his Squadron Commander, Executive Officer, and a recently arrived Flight Officer of a Marine squadron.

History

Kephart was

Charleston Navy Yard, sponsored by Mrs. A. P. Kephart, Lt. Kephart's mother, and commissioned

on 7 January 1944.

Battle of the Atlantic

After shakedown off

high speed transport

, she was reclassified APD-61 on 5 July.

Pacific War

Kephart departed New York on 30 September and joined the

anti-submarine

and amphibious operations.

Carrying men of the

Cebu (26 March); and Cotabato

, Mindanao (17 April).

Kephart departed Leyte Gulf on 4 May for escort and assault operations in the Dutch East Indies, arriving Morotai on 7 May. After escorting a convoy to Mindanao (18–20 May), she returned to Morotai on 21 May and embarked troops of the Australian Army for an amphibious assault at Brunei Bay, North Borneo. Sailing on 4 June, she landed troops on 10 June amid dwindling enemy resistance; then she patrolled the South China Sea, hunting submarines before returning Morotai on 19 June. She sailed on 26 June carrying Australian soldiers to the eastern coast of Borneo, arriving on 1 July for the final major amphibious operation of the war – the landing operations at Balikpapan, Borneo.

Continuing escort and anti-submarine duty, Kephart departed Morotai on 16 July and reached Leyte Gulf two days later. On 4 August she began amphibious training at

Chinese Nationalists' effort to repel Communist

aggression on the Chinese mainland.