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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Lee Fox (DE65 / APD45)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - Z - D - L
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
Second Row: European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 2 stars - World War II Victory Medal - Philippine Liberation Ribbon
Specifications:
Class: Buckley (lend-lease), Royal Navy - Captain Class
Type: TE (turbine-electric drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1400 tons (light), 1740 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 13' 6" (max draft)
Propulsion: 2 "D" Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 kts
Range: 4.940 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 3 x 3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1-1.1"/75 Mk2 quad AA (4x1), 8-20mm Mk 4 AA (varied by ship), 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10, 4 Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks
Complement: 186
Lee Fox (DE65) Building and Operational Data:
  • 1 March 1943: Keel laid by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., Hingham, Mass.
  • 29 May 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Lee Fox, mother of Ensign Fox
  • 30 August 1943: Commissioned, Lcdr W. C. Jennings in command
  • 21 February 1945: Commenced conversion to APD
  • 23 February 1945: Reclassified as APD45
  • 13 May 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla.
  • 1 September 1964: Stricken from the NVR
  • 31 January 1966: Sold for scrapping to the Southern Scrap Material Co., New Orleans, La.
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Lee Fox 48k Lee Fox, Jr. was born on 11 January 1920 at Rock Island, III. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Fox of New Cumberland, Pa., and prepared for college at New Cumberland High School. He attended the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania for two years, and then transferred to Franklin and Marshall for his last year. He began his flight training in the Civil Aeronautics Course as an undergraduate at Franklin and Marshall College. Appointed an aviation cadet in the Naval Reserve 9 January 1941, he won his pilot’s wings at Pensacola and was commissioned an ensign 5 August. After brief service on the west coast, he reported for duty in Hawaii on 17 September and served with Patrol Squadron 12 until his death. Lee was reported lost during the heroic defense of the U.S. Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, during the Japanese sneak attack of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. His body was never recovered following the attack and he was presumed killed in action. Ensign Fox was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.

    USS Lee Fox (DE65) was the first ship to be named in his honor.

    (Photo courtesy of the Archives and Special Collections, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA)    		 Bill Gonyo
    ***HMS Calder / Lee Fox*** 100k 15 July 1943: Hingham MA - USS Amesbury (DE66) and USS Lee Fox (DE65) in the background during the handing over and commissioning ceremony for HMS Calder. (Photo from the private collection of Electrical Artificer Ron Ayres as printed in "The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War" by Donald Collingwood) Robert Hurst
    Lee Fox 17k undated wartime image (U.S. Navy photo from the National Archives) -
    View the USS Lee Fox (DE65 / APD45) DANFS history entry
    located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    None
    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
    Navsource APD Pages, USS Lee Fox (APD45)
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    The Destroyer History Foundation
    To The DE Photo Index Page Back To The Main Photo Index

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    Page Last Updated 6 November 2009