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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Buckley (DE 51)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - P - G - J
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - Navy Unit Commendation
Second Row: American Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 3 stars - WWII Victory Medal
Specifications:
Class: Buckley
Type: TE (turbine-electric drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1400 tons (light), 1740 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 10' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 "D" Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 kts
Range: 6,000 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 3 x 3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1 twin 40mm Mk1 AA, 8 x 20mm Mk 4 AA, 3 x 21" Mk15 TT (3x1), 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (144 rounds), 8 Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks
Complement: 15 / 198
Buckley (DE 51) Building and Operational Data:
  • 29 June 1942: Keel laid by the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Hingham, Mass.
  • 9 January 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. James Buckley, mother of Aviation Ordnanceman Buckley
  • 30 April 1943: Commissioned, Lcdr A. W. Slayden in command
  • 27 October 1945: Celebrated Navy Day at Jacksonville, Fla.
  • 3 July 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla.
  • 26 April 1949: Reclassified DER 51
  • 29 September 1954: Reclassified DE 51
  • 1 June 1968: Stricken from the NVR
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Buckley 94k Artist's conception of Buckley by the renowned graphic illustrator John Barrett, with the text written by naval author and historian Robert F. Sumrall. Their company, Navy Yard Associates, offers prints of most destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers in various configurations during the ship's lifetime. ALL destroyer escorts are available in their WWII configuration. The prints can be customized with ship's patches, your photograph, your bio, etc. When you purchase artwork from them, please indicate that you heard about their work from Navsource. Navy Yard Associates
    Buckley 110k The launch of the USS Buckley at the Bethlehem-Hingham yard near Boston. This was one of the first long-hulled DE's, and the start of a most impressive building programme at this yard. [US Navy photo, from the book "Allied Escort Ships of World War II (A Complete Survey)", by Peter Elliott] Edib Krlicbegovic,
    Bosnia - Hercegovina
    Buckley 50k underway, undated (US Navy photo #19-N-44456, NARA II, College Park, Md.) Tracy White
    Buckley 84k underway, undated -
    Buckley 79k May 1943 Robert Hurst
    Buckley 21k undated wartime image (National Archives #BUSHIPS44457) Nick Tiberio
    Buckley 63k May-June 1944: Boston, Mass. - USS Buckley in drydock at the Boston Navy Yard, her bow bent from ramming U-66. (Photo from Captain Jerry Mason, USN ret.) Bill Gonyo
    Buckley 58k May-June 1944: Boston, Mass. - Lcdr. Brent Able, USNR, receives the Navy Cross for action as Commanding Officer of USS Buckley from Captain George L. Menocal at the Boston Navy Yard where Buckley is undergoing repairs. (Photo from Captain Jerry Mason, USN ret.)
    Buckley 94k circa 1945: The destroyer escort USS Buckley (DE 51), following conversion for radar picket service. Note her newly-fitted 5"/38 main battery guns and mainmast. Buckley was redesignated DER-51 in April 1949. (U.S. Navy Photo #NH 107405 from the Naval History and Heritage Command, obtained from the collection of Bruce H. Franklin, author of "The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts") Robert Hurst
    View the USS Buckley (DE 51) DANFS history entry
    located on the Haze Gray & Underway web site.
    History unavailable on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Contact Name: Nick Corbo
    E-mail: nydrummer1@aol.com
    Note About Contacts

    Contact information is compiled from various sources over a period of time and may, or may not, be correct. Every effort has been
    made to list the newest contact. However, our entry is only as good as the latest information that's been sent to us. We list only
    a contact for the ship if one has been sent to us. We do NOT have crew lists or rosters available. Please see the Frequently Asked
    Questions section on Navsource's Main Page for that information.

    Additional Resources
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    The Destroyer History Foundation
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    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated 26 December 2010