Camp DE-251

Camp

Born 27 August 19l6 in Jennings, La., Jack Hill Camp enlisted in the Naval Reserve 20 January 1941 and was appointed a naval aviator 29 December 1941. Attached to Patrol Squadron 44, Ensign Camp was killed in action 7 June 1942 during the Battle of Midway.

(DE-251; dp 1,200; 1. 306'; b. 36'7"; dr. 8'7"; s. 21 k.; cpl. 186, a. 3 3", 3 21" tt., 8 dep., 1 dcp. (hh.), 2 dct.; cl. Edsall)

Camp (DE-251) was launched 16 April 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex., sponsored by Mrs. O. H Camp; commissioned 16 September 1943, Lieutenant Commander P. B. Mavor, USCG, in command. and reported to the Atlantic Fleet

After duty as school ship for precommissioning crews for other escort vessels, Camp cleared Norfolk, VA., 14 December 1943, escorting a convoy bound for Casablanca with men and supplies for the operations in Italy. Camp returned to Norfolk 24 January 1944 to begin a year and a half of convoy escort operations from New York to ports of the United Kingdom, guarding convoys whose ships brought troops and mountains of equipment and supplies for the buildup and support of the assault on the European continent. Fighting the foul weather common in the North Atlantic, Camp's alertness against submarine attack and diligence were rewarded by no losses in any of the convoys she accompanied. A collision with a merchantman, in which one of Camp's crew members was killed, required a repair period during which Camp received a new bow and acquired 6" guns; otherwise her escort duty was uninterrupted until 19 June 1946.

Camp cleared Charleston, S.C., 9 July 1945 for the Pacific, and after serving as a training ship at Pearl Harbor, proceeded to Eniwetok for occupation duty. She supervised the evacuation of the Japanese garrison from Mili, then took on air-sea rescue duties off Kwajalein until 4 November, when she sailed for home, arriving at New York 10 December. She was decommissioned 1 May 1946.

Reclassified DER-251 on 7 December 1965, Camp was recommissioned 31 July l956 for duty as radar picket ship in the early warning system. She reported to Newport, R.I., 19 February 1957 and operated from that port to Argentia, Newfoundland, and into the North Atlantic through 1960.