Overview
The USS Enright,
Buckley-class
Destroyer Escort was named for Lieutenant
(junior grade) Robert P.F. Enright, USNR (United States Naval Reserve),
Bradford, Pennsylvania, who was killed in action during the
Battle of Midway
on June 6, 1942.
Pre-Commissioning
She was christened (launched) at the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard (current
photo
WWII photos)
on May 29, 1943 as the Destroyer Escort 216 (DE-216). Robert Enright's mother, Mrs. Katherine Enright christened the USS Enright, named
in honor of her son.
More than a month before commissioning, a pre-commissioning detail had been
assigned at Submarine Chaser Training Center (SCTC) Miami, Florida.
This group consisted of all the ship's prospective officers and the key
enlisted men of a Destroyer Escort which was to be commissioned about six
weeks hence. This small group had the responsibility of molding
together a hulk of steel and about 185 men into a fighting unit within the
next three months.
Commissioning
The USS Enright was commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on
September 21, 1943. On the day of her commissioning, she was
officially accepted by a representative of the Secretary of the Navy and
turned over to Lieutenant Commander Adolfe Wildner, USN (United States
Navy), her first Commanding Officer.
Shake-down Cruise
About ten days after commissioning, the USS Enright sailed for Bermuda (map)
to undergo an intensive shake-down training period before joining the fleet.
This period consisted of all types of exercises including gunnery,
anti-submarine warfare with live subs, emergency drills, towing, passing the
mail, and numerous others. Upon completion of her training period, the
USS Enright was given a final military inspection.
This shakedown cruise will be remembered by all hands as one of all work,
and no play. When the USS Enright sailed from Bermuda to join the
Fleet she left behind her a good record. During this shakedown period,
the crew had changed from raw recruits to a fighting team.
Convoy Duty -- North Atlantic to Europe
Between November 15, 1943 and December 9, 1943 the USS Enright completed two
trips as escort to
Naval Station
Argentia, in
Argentia, Newfoundland (map
ap). Afterwards she reported for duty with
Escort Division 17 (aka
CortDiv 17) on
December 12, 1943 when she sailed with her first trans-Atlantic convoy to
Londonderry, Northern Ireland (map). The crew was eager to kill a
German submarine. Numerous stories were circulated about the ship of
how wolf packs of German submarines were expected to intercept the
convoy.
The trip however, was uneventful.
On March 9, 1944, Lieutenant Commander Ejnar Carl Hoglund, USNR, relieved
Commander Adolfe Wildner, USN as the Commanding Officer.
Collision with Portuguese Freighter in the North Atlantic
The second trip across in March 1944 was very similar to the first, but the
USS Enright's third trip home from Londonderry, she suffered her first
tragedy. On April 16, 1944, she was ordered out from the
anti-submarine screen to intercept an unidentified ship and divert it from
the convoy.
A thick fog reduced visibility to about 500 yards.
At 0906 the USS Enright collided with a Portuguese freighter, the S. Thome
(English translation "Saint Thomas"). After the
collision, the USS Burke (DE-215) and the
USS Weber (DE-675) came to the aid
of the USS Enright. Only slight damage was sustained by the freighter,
but the USS Enright was crippled with a 9 degree list to port, a 65-foot
hole in her port quarter, with all living compartments flooded. As a
result of the collision, a crew member of the USS Enright, Carl Augustus
Mims, SF3/c USN, was lost at sea. The USS Enright sailed into New York and
entered the Brooklyn Navy Yard (ap) on April 17, 1944. It required
thirty days of Navy Yard availability to get her repaired and ready for sea
again.
Return to Convoy Duty -- North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Europe, & North
Africa
On May 18, 1944, the USS Enright completed her repairs and proceeded to New
London, Connecticut (map) for training with submarines. On June 15,
1944, she returned to New York and rejoined Escort Division Seventeen.
On this date, Lieutenant Commander John Howard Church, USNR, relieved Lieutenant
Commander Ejnar Carl Hoglund, USNR, as the Commanding Officer.
Under Lieutenant Commander John H. Church, USNR, the USS Enright made one
trip to Londonderry and on July 21, 1944 Lieutenant Commander A.B. Bradley,
Jr., USNR, took command.
During the summer and fall of 1944, the USS Enright made a round trip to
Londonderry, Northern Ireland, one to
Cherbourg, France (map), and one to
Oran, Algeria (map). It was on this
trip through the Mediterranean Sea (map) when she traveled
with her largest convoy of approximately 100 ships. This trip was
completed on December 2, 1944.
Training with submarines & ship's conversion to 'High Speed Transport'
On December 8, 1944, she once more departed for New London, Connecticut and
spent about six weeks there training newly commissioned submarines. At
the end of this period she departed for the
Boston Navy Yard Annex, Boston
Massachusetts (map). Here on January 21, 1945, her classification was
officially changed from Destroyer Escort (DE-216) to
Auxiliary High Speed
Transport (APD-66) and she commenced undergoing conversion. Among
her modifications, the USS Enright now carried four amphibious landing
craft. These landing craft known as
Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel
(aka Higgins boats) are identical to those used for the beach invasion of
Normandy, France on D-Day.
During conversion on March 3, 1945, Lieutenant William F. Folkes, Jr., USNR,
relieved Lieutenant Commander A.B. Bradley, Jr., USNR, as the Commanding
Officer.
Headed for South Pacific Ocean
On March 28, 1945, the USS Enright (APD-66), completely converted, left
Boston for Norfolk, Virginia (map), where she went through a very short
shake-down training period before departing Norfolk for the Pacific Ocean
Area on April 7, 1945. On her way south, the ship stopped at Miami,
Florida where she was detailed to transport a Naval Air Unit to
Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba (map), her first assignment in her new classification. The
USS Enright was in port at Guantanamo Bay when
President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945.
After leaving Cuba, the USS Enright proceeded straight through the
Panama
Canal (map) and up the West Coast to San Diego, California (map).
Hawaii to train with Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT)
On
April 28, 1945, she left the continental United States for
Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii (map).
The USS Enright and her main than spent three weeks in the vicinity of the
Islands of Oahu and Maui undergoing intensive training
with UDTs
(Underwater Demolition Teams), the precursor to the modern-day
Navy SEALs.
The UDTs were training to be among the initial forces to the beaches during
the planned
Invasion of Japan, scheduled to begin in the Oct-Nov 1945 timeframe.
These Underwater Demolition Teams were to launch from the USS Enright using
the four Higgins Boats which
were installed on the USS Enright during the conversion from a Destroyer
Escort (DE) to an
Auxiliary High Speed
Transport (APD) in Boston, MA in January 1945.
On May 7, 1945, the USS Enright was in port at
Pearl Harbor when Germany surrendered (V-E
Day, i.e. Victory in Europe Day) ending the
war in Europe.
On May 16, 1945, the USS Enright sailed around the Hawaiian Islands.
Caroline and Marshall Islands
On May 20, 1945, the USS Enright shoved off from Pearl Harbor for
Ulithi
(map) in the
Caroline Islands. Along the way, on May 28, 1945
the USS Enright anchored at Eniwetok (map) in the
Marshall Islands and
refueled. On May 29 she left Eniwetok for Ulithi. On June 2, she
anchored at Ulithi for refueling and to bring on supplies.
Battle for Okinawa
On June 7 the USS Enright left Ulithi for
Okinawa (map) and reported there for
duty on June 11, 1945. It was here that many of the officers and men
came face-to-face with the enemy for the first time, being part of the
Battle for Okinawa.
From June 11 to July 1, 1945, the USS Enright served as part of a naval
blockade which formed an anti-submarine screen around Okinawa's west and
east coasts as well as the
Kerama Retto Islands, near Okinawa.
Rings of ships circled the Okinawa at radii of five, ten and fifteen miles.
The men could watch the battles on Okinawa, especially during the nighttime
hours. The ship was at General Quarters frequently. On June 21,
the men of the USS Enright witnessed an enemy plane being shot down.
On the night of June 28, 1945 the USS Enright was attacked by a Japanese
aircraft, and narrowly escaped being hit by
four bombs. After the four bombs were dropped, they fortunately
straddled the ship, and exploded upon impact with the ocean.
Philippine Islands & Borneo
On July 1, 1945, the USS Enright was ordered to report to the Commander
Philippine Sea Frontier and left Okinawa for
Leyte, Philippines (map) where
she arrived and reported on July 8, 1945. On July 9, 1945, the ship
left for Okinawa again as escort for a convoy. On July 11, the USS Enright's sonar detected a submarine and dropped five depth charges, with no
results. Upon arrival in Okinawa on July 12, she was again assigned to
duty in an anti-submarine screen.
The USS Enright left Okinawa and arrived in Leyte on July 21, 1945.
Afterwards she sailed to and anchored near
Calicoan Island, Philippines
(map) and
Tolosa, Leyte,
Philippines on July 29.
The USS Enright
then began the first of two mail ship runs. During her first run she
arrived in:
On August 7, 1945, between the two mail runs, Captain John A. Glick, USN,
reported aboard as the Commander Transport Division 110, thus making the USS
Enright the flagship of Transport Division 110.
On her second mail
ship run, the USS Enright arrived in:
- Cebu, Philippines on August 10
- Iloilo, Philippines
on August 11
- Puerto Princesa, Philippines on August 12
- Brunei Bay, Borneo on August 13
- Zamboanga, Philippines on August 15
The USS Enright was in port in
Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippines when Japan surrendered (V-J Day) ending
World War II on August 15, 1945.
The USS Enright arrived in Madajarda Bay and Calicoan on August 16, and in
Leyte, Philippines on August 17.
On August 21 she was underway to serve as en
escort to a supply convoy. She sighted the convoy about 250 miles from
Tokyo on August 27. On August 29 the USS Enright sailed for Leyte and
arrived on September 2. By September 7 she was underway for
Manila, Philippines
where she arrived on September 9, 1945.
Japan
On September 10, the USS Enright was underway for
Tokyo Bay, Honshu Island,
Japan where she
anchored on September 17, about two weeks after V-J Day.
On September
18, a Landing Ship, Tank (LST) hit the USS Enright's fantail six times,
there were no casualties. On September 19, she anchored on the
outskirts of Yokohama, in Tokyo Bay. On September 20, the USS Enright
traveled 180 miles to
the north up Honshu's east coast to
Shiogama,
Japan were she arrived on September
21.
The USS Enright arrived in Ominipo, Japan on October 1 and
Sendai,
Japan on
October 3, 1945, both on Japan's main island of Honshu. The ship
arrived back in Ominipo on October 4 and back to Tokyo Bay, where she
anchored on October 9, 1945. On October 18, then men of the USS
Enright had liberty in the bomb-devastated city of Tokyo. While operating
in and around Japan, the ship was under the command of the Commander Third
Amphibious Force.
Philippine Islands, China, & Japan
On October 26, 1945, the USS Enright was ordered back to the Commander
Philippine Sea Frontier after receiving a "Well Done" from the Commander
Third Amphibious Force.
She arrived in Manila, Philippines on October
31. On November 13, 1945 the USS Enright arrived on the
Philippine
Island of Samar in order to pick up passengers.
She was underway with a full load of officers and enlisted men for Shanghai,
China on November 17. While underway she sank two
floating mines on November 20, then arrived in
Shanghai, China (map) on November 21 where her passengers disembarked. On November
25 the USS Enright departed the
Whangpoo
(Huangpu) River in Shanghai with more
passengers and arrived on the island of
Okinawa, Japan on November 27 where
the passengers departed from the ship. The next day she departed
Okinawa with new passengers, bound for Manila, were she arrived on December
1, 1945.
Return to Atlantic seaboard via Hawaii, San Diego & Panama Canal
On December 2, 1945, the ship was ordered back to the USA and left Manila on
that date with a full load of passengers, arriving in
Eniwetok, on December
10 where she refueled.
The USS Enright arrived in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaiian Islands on December 16 and departed from there on December 19.
She arrived in San Diego, California on December 25 and departed on December
28.
The ship docked in
Coco Solo,
Panama Canal Zone, then went through the Panama Canal on January 5,
1946. She left the Canal Zone the next
day bound for
Norfolk, Virginia, where the USS Enright arrived on January
11, 1946.
Decommissioning & Atlantic Reserve Fleet
The USS Enright was decommissioned and placed in the
Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Florida Group at
Green Cove
Springs, Florida on June 21, 1946.
Transfer to Ecuador
On July 14 1967, after 21 years in the US Atlantic Reserve Fleet, the USS Enright was
transferred to the Navy of
Ecuador.
She was modified to carry a helicopter and was renamed
Veinticinco de Julio (English translation "25th
of July"). Her hull number was changed to E12.
In 1976-1977 she was once again renamed as the frigate Moran Valverde (hull number D-01). Her hull number was changed
to DD-03, then
DD-02.
The ship was purchased outright by Ecuador on August 30, 1978. In
1989, after over 45 years of service to
both the USA and Ecuador, she was
dismantled, with her metal parts reclaimed.
Information courtesy of the personal diary of Ivan McCombs, USS
Enright sailor and "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" (1969).
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