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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Burke (DE-215 / APD-65)

Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - F - K - E

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 w/ 1 star - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Second Row: World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal - Philippine Liberation Ribbon

Class: Buckley      Type: TE (turbine-electric drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1,400 tons (std) 1,740 tons (full)   Dimensions: 306' (oa), 300' (wl) x 36' 9" x 13' 6" (max)
Armament: 3-3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1-1.1"/75 Mk2 quad AA (4x1), 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
Machinery: 2 "D" Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 knots   Range: 4,940 nm @ 12 knots   Crew: 15 / 198

Operational and Building Data
Laid down by Philadelphia NSY on 1 January 1943
Launched 3 April 1943, Commissioned 20 July 1943
Reclassified to APD-65, 24 January 1945, converted at Sullivan's Drydock and Repair Corp., Brooklyn, NY
Decommissioned 22 June 1949, Stricken 1 June 1968

Fate: to Colombia 12 August 1968, renamed ARC Almirante Brion (DTO-7),
stricken and scrapped in 1974.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
48k	John Edward Burke was born on 24 January 1905 in Bismarck, N.D. He was commissioned ensign upon graduation from the Naval Academy in 1928. Burke saw service afloat before serving as aircraft gunnery observer with the Battle Force Torpedo School. Service in USS *Wasp* (CV-7) was followed by periods of training duty. On 2 February 1942 Lt. Comdr. Burke reported to *South Dakota* (BB-57) at the New York Shipbuilding Corp. in Camden, N.J., for duty as air defense officer. The battleship was commissioned on 20 March and, following shakedown training, headed for the Pacific. Just after midnight on 15 November 1942, *South Dakota* engaged a Japanese bombardment group under Admiral Kondo off Guadalcanal. *South Dakota* took 42 hits which killed 30 crewmen and caused considerable damage. Lt. Comdr. Burke was one of those killed. Lt. Comdr. Burke was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. USS *Burke* (DE-215) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Photo from the US Naval Academy Yearbook; The Lucky Bag, Class of 1928.)	Bill Gonyo
102k	3 April 1943: Philadelphia Naval Shipyard - USS *Burke* (DE-215) awaits her turn as USS *Scott* (DE-214) is launched.	Robert Hurst
63k	June 1944 (USN photo #19N66900)	Nick Tiberio

View the USS Burke (DE-215 / APD-65), DANFS history entry
located on the US Naval Historical Center 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.

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Page Last Updated 16 December 2008