USS Wintle (DE-25)

History
United States
Name	USS Wintle
Builder	Mare Island Navy Yard
Laid down	1 October 1942
Launched	18 February 1943
Commissioned	10 July 1943
Decommissioned	14 November 1945
Stricken	28 November 1945
Honors and; awards	3 battle stars (World War II)
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 25 August 1947
General characteristics
Type	Evarts-class destroyer escort
Displacement	1,140 long tons (1,158 t) standard; 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) full;
Length	289 ft 5 in (88.21 m) o/a; 283 ft 6 in (86.41 m) w/l;
Beam	35 ft (11 m)
Draft	11 ft (3.4 m) (max)
Propulsion	4 × General Motors Model 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6,000 shp (4,474 kW); 2 screws;
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Range	4,150 nmi (7,690 km)
Complement	15 officers and 183 enlisted
Armament	3 × single dual purpose guns; 1 × quad 1.1"/75 Mk.2 AA gun; 9 × 20 mm Mk.4 AA guns; 1 × Hedgehog Projector Mk.10 (144 rounds); 8 × Mk.6 depth charge projectors; 2 × Mk.9 depth charge tracks;

USS Wintle (DE-25) was an

battle stars

.

Namesake

Jack William Wintle was born on 18 April 1908 in

NROTC

midshipmen.

Late in April 1942, he reported to the Bureau of Navigation in Washington where he learned that his next assignment was to be aide and flag lieutenant to the Commander, South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force. On 15 June 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant commander and, four days later, reported for duty in his new assignment in the South Pacific. He served under Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan, Chief of Staff to the Commander South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force, through the early months of the Guadalcanal campaign in late 1942. Late in October 1942, when Callaghan went to sea as the commander of a cruiser-destroyer force, Wintle joined him on his flagship USS San Francisco as a member of his staff.

On the night of 12 and 13 November during the

Navy Cross

.

Construction and commissioning

Wintle was laid down on 1 October 1942 at the

lend-lease program; launched on 18 February 1943; sponsor unknown (Lt. Comdr. Wintle's widow sponsored DE-266 which ship carried the name Wintle at the time BDE-25 was launched); reallocated to the United States Navy

on 4 June 1943; named Wintle on 14 June 1943 when DE-266 was allocated to the Royal Navy as her replacement; and commissioned on 10 July 1943.

World War II Pacific Theater operations

Wintle completed

warships

participating in that campaign. On 8 December, Wintle completed her labors in behalf of "Galvanic" and set a course for Funafuti where she stopped between 9 and 12 December before continuing on toward Oahu in the screen for a convoy.

Wintle involved in collision

The warship arrived in Pearl Harbor on 21 December. After several days in port, she began battle practice training in the Hawaiian operating area. On 3 January 1944, Wintle and

mattresses

into the breach in her hull and shored them up as best they could to prevent serious flooding. Wintle was able to make 10 knots without shipping too much water and reached Pearl Harbor the following morning to begin repairs. She completed repairs rapidly and returned to sea to resume exercises on 11 January.

Supporting the invasion of the Marshall Islands

Ten days later, Wintle received orders assigning her to the 5th Amphibious Force for "

Kwajalein, then headed back to Pearl Harbor, where she arrived on the 23rd. Wintle remained in the Hawaiian Islands until 2 March, when she got underway with Stadtfeld (DE-29) to escort a three-ship convoy to the Gilberts. They saw their charges safely to the Gilberts on 11 March and got underway the following day for the Solomons. Proceeding via Funafuti, the two destroyer escorts arrived off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, on 18 March and reported for duty with the 3rd Fleet. For the next six months, Wintle crisscrossed the Southwest Pacific escorting tankers, transports, and cargo-men to and from various American bases, most frequently between the Solomons and the Admiralty Islands. When not engaged in escort missions, she honed her ASW

skills during exercises with American submarines.

On 19 September, she arrived at

star shells over the passage and nearby Ngeregong Island in support of troops embarked in landing craft patrolling against the possibility of enemy reinforcements reaching Peleliu from Ngeregong. That duty lasted until 12 November when she left station to assist PC-1260, damaged in a collision with Kenmore (AK-221)

.

Operating on the Saipan Patrol

The destroyer escort exited Kossol Passage on 18 November and steamed via

Eniwetok

and back.

On 5 February 1945, she received orders transferring her to the Marshalls-Gilberts Escort Force. She arrived at Eniwetok on 10 February and began duty escorting convoys from bases in the Marshalls and Gilberts to forward areas. She made frequent voyages between Guam, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok and cruised with a

Jaluit

, and Wotje in late April and early May, Wintle provided air-sea rescue services; but, fortunately, no aviator needed her assistance. On the night of 5 and 6 May, she covered the evacuation of natives from Japanese-held Jaluit Atoll. On 13 May, Wintle departed Eniwetok to screen two merchant ships on a voyage to the Palaus.

Wintle arrived in Kossol Passage on the 18th and, two days later, headed for Ulithi. There, she joined two ships damaged at

Okinawa, Hazelwood (DD-531) and Rathburne (APD-25)

, and escorted them on the Ulithi-to-Eniwetok leg of their voyage home. The ships departed Ulithi on 25 May and made Eniwetok on the 29th. There, the destroyer escort resumed patrol and escort duties with the Marshalls-Gilberts Escort Force which she continued to perform until mid-June.

Antisubmarine patrol operations

On 17 June, Wintle and Levy (DE-162) stood out of Eniwetok to take up ASW station on the shipping lanes between Eniwetok and the Marianas. The next day, she responded to a report that Endymion (ARL-9) had been torpedoed but, upon reaching the repair ship, found no submarine to attack. After an unsuccessful search, she headed back to Eniwetok. The warship continued intermittent patrols until 1 July when she put to sea from Eniwetok lagoon to rendezvous with a hunter-killer group built around Kassan Bay (CVE-69). She searched for Japanese submarines along the Eniwetok-Marianas shipping lanes until relieved by Snyder (DE-745) on 8 July. Wintle returned to Eniwetok where she took on fuel and supplies in preparation for the long voyage back to the United States. The destroyer escort exited the lagoon on 12 July, visited Pearl Harbor on the 18th and 19th, and entered San Francisco Bay on the 26th.

Post-War activity

The ship unloaded

drydock

on 15 August when news of the Japanese capitulation arrived; and, on the 18th, most work ceased.

Post-War deactivation

Finally, on 15 November 1945, Wintle was placed out of commission and was berthed at

Union Minerals & Alloys Corporation

on 25 August 1947.

Awards

	Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
	American Campaign Medal
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with three service stars )
	World War II Victory Medal

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 Wintle (DE-25) at NavSource Naval History