Name USS Weaver Laid down 13 March 1943 Decommissioned 3 July 1947 Construction started 13 March 1943 | Namesake Luther Dayton Weaver Commissioned 31 December 1943 Struck 18 April 1952 Launched 4 July 1943 | |
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Builders Western Pipe and Steel Company, Los Angeles | ||
USS Weaver (DE-741) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home after the war with nine battle stars, far more than the average for destroyer escorts.
Contents
- World War II Pacific Theatre operations
- Supporting major invasions
- End of War activity
- Post War decommissioning
- Awards
- References
She was named in honor of Luther Dayton Weaver who was killed during the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. the ship was laid down on 13 March 1943 at Los Angeles, California, by the Western Pipe and Steel Company; launched on Independence Day 1943; sponsored by Mrs. John Franklin Weaver; and commissioned on 31 December 1943; Lt. Comdr. R. S. Paret, USNR, in command.
World War II Pacific Theatre operations
Weaver conducted shakedown training along the California coast during the first two months of 1944. On 2 March, she stood out of San Francisco Bay, bound for the western Pacific. The destroyer escort made an overnight stop at Pearl Harbor on 14 and 15 March and then continued her voyage west via Kwajalein. She arrived in Majuro later that month and joined the screen of Task Group (TG) 50.17, the U.S. 5th Fleet replenishment and refueling group. Weaver operated as a unit of the screen of the 5th/3d Fleet logistics group throughout her World War II service.
Operating from the base at Majuro, she escorted the oilers to refueling rendezvous with the fast carriers during their raids on Truk, Satawan, and Ponape in late April and early May. Moving forward to the base at Eniwetok soon thereafter, she continued to protect the logistics group during the assault on Saipan in June. Later that summer, she and her charges kept the carriers in action during the invasion of the Western Carolines and the Palaus. Following that operation, the logistics group moved forward again operating briefly out of Seeadler Harbor at Manus in the Admiralty Islands and then out of Ulithi in the Western Carolines for the remainder of the war.
Supporting major invasions
Ulithi served as the base for TF 58/38 during the last year of the war in the Pacific. Weaver escorted the oilers to Ulithi where they replenished their storage tanks and then back to sea to refill the carriers' oil bunkers. Thus, in 1945, she helped to keep the pressure on the Japanese during the Luzon landings, the Iwo Jima assault, and during the Okinawa campaign. The latter phases of her service also included escort missions in support of the fast carrier raids on the Japanese home islands during the summer of 1945.
End-of-War activity
When the Japanese capitulated on 15 August 1945, the destroyer escort was at sea with TG 30.8 keeping the carriers in fuel. On 28 August, she carried a prize crew from USS Proteus to the surrendered Japanese submarine I-400 and then entered Sagami Wan, Japan, to begin duty with the occupation forces. For the next month, the warship assisted in the evacuation of former Allied prisoners of war from Japan. On 2 October, however, she concluded her duty in Japan and set sail from Yokosuka, bound for home. Steaming via Pearl Harbor, San Pedro, California, and the Panama Canal, she arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 22 November to begin preparations for inactivation.
Post-War decommissioning
Late in December, she moved south to Green Cove Springs, Florida, where, though technically still in commission, she joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Weaver was not finally decommissioned until 29 May 1947. She remained at Green Cove Springs until 21 February 1952 at which time she was sold to Peru. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 18 April 1952. She served the Peruvian Navy as BAP Rodriguez (DE-163) as a submarine accommodation ship until she was stricken and broken up in 1979.
Awards
Weaver earned nine battle stars during World War II