USS Thomason

History
United States
Laid down	5 June 1943
Launched	23 August 1943
Commissioned	10 December 1943
Decommissioned	22 May 1946
Stricken	30 June 1968
Fate	Sold for scrap, 30 June 1969
General characteristics
Displacement	1,740 full; 1,400 tons, standard;
Length	306 ft (93 m)
Beam	37 ft (11.3 m)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion	GE turbo-electric drive,; 12,000 hp (8.9 MW); two propellers;
Speed	23.6 knots (44 km/h)
Range	4,940 nautical miles at 12 knots; (9,200 km at 22 km/h);
Complement	15 officers, 198 men
Armament	3 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 DP guns,; 3 × 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes,; 1 × AA gun,; 8 × 20 mm cannon,; 1 × hedgehog projector,; 2 × depth charge tracks,; 8 × K-gun depth charge projectors;

USS Thomason (DE-203) was a

Buckley-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy

from 1943 to 1946. She was scrapped in 1969.

History

USS Thomason was named in honor of

Makin Island raid

.

Thomason was laid down on 5 June 1943 at the

launched on 23 August 1943; sponsored by Miss Sara Jeanette Thomason; and commissioned

on 10 December 1943.

Pacific War

The destroyer escort held shakedown training in the

antisubmarine duty in Indispensable Strait which separates Guadalcanal and Malaita

Islands, escorted ships to Guadalcanal.

On 26 May, she arrived at

Schouten Islands

. In early September, she returned to Espiritu Santo for an overhaul.

On 4 October, DE-203 stood out to sea to rendezvous with two

Neuendorf

(DE-200) bombarded Sarmi and targets along the bay. With the aid of Army spotting planes, the two ships set fire to enemy storehouses and several other buildings.

Thomason headed for the Philippines on 9 November in the screen of a large convoy of landing craft and supply ships. She arrived in Leyte Gulf on the 15th and sailed the same day with a convoy bound for Hollandia. The destroyer escort then conducted intensive antiaircraft and antisubmarine training at Mios Woendi and landing exercises at Aitape with attack transports that were scheduled to participate in the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.

On 28 December 1944, the destroyer escort sortied for Luzon with Task Group 78.1 (TG 78.1), the San Fabian Attack Force. En route to the Philippines, she was detached to accompany two fuel oil tankers who were scheduled to refuel the escort ships of Task Force 79 (TF 79), which was also en route to Lingayen Gulf.

Thomason began antisubmarine patrols in Mangarin Bay, off Mindoro on 7 January 1945. One month later, she and Neuendorf began antisubmarine patrol duty off the west coast of Luzon. At 22:22 on 7 February, Thomason's SL surface radar made a contact at a range of 14 miles (26 km), which was thought to be a small boat. She closed the range and challenged the craft with a flashing light. There was no answer, and surface radar lost contact. However, sonar soon made an underwater contact.

The escort made a

oil slick, 250 yards in diameter, rose to the surface. The two ships patrolled until late in the morning, in an expanding search pattern, but never regained contact with the Japanese submarine. Ro-55

had been sunk in over 800 fathoms (4,800 ft; 1,500 m) of water.

Thomason returned to Mangarin Bay where she resumed antisubmarine patrols. On the 24th, she rescued four airmen who had bailed out of their burning

Okinawa

.