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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS J. Richard Ward (DE 243)


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

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
American Campaign Medal w/ 1 star- WWII Victory Medal
Specifications:
Class: Edsall
Type: FMR (geared diesel, Fairbanks-Morse reverse gear drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1200 tons (light), 1590 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 10" (extreme)
Draft: 20' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 4 Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38d81/8 geared diesel engines, 4 diesel-generators, 6000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 21 kts
Range: 9,100 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: 8 / 201
J. Richard Ward (DE 243) Building and Operational Data:
  • 30 September 1942: Keel laid by the Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.
  • 6 January 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Miss Marjorie Ward, sister of Seaman First Class Ward
  • 5 July 1943: Commissioned, Lt. T. S. Dunstan in command
  • 13 June 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla.
  • 2 January 1971: Stricken from the NVR
  • 10 April 1972: Sold for scrapping
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    J. Richard Ward 54k James Richard Ward was born in Springfield, Ohio on 10 September 1921. He enlisted in the Navy at Cincinnati, Ohio, in November 1940. When
    the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Ward was serving in the battleship Oklahoma. As that ship was capsizing, and had been ordered
    abandoned, he remained in a turret holding a flashlight, thus sacrificing his own life to permit other members of the crew to escape. For his heroism at that time,
    he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

    USS J. Richard Ward (DE 243) (1943-1946) was the first ship named in his honor.

    (U.S. Navy photo #NH 92309 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Bill Gonyo
    J. Richard Ward 75k 14 May 1944: J. Richard Ward, taken while lying to, off the New York Navy Yard. Jim Spittel
    View the USS J. Richard Ward (DE 243) 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
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    Tin Can Sailors Shipmate Registry - USS J. Richard Ward
    The Destroyer History Foundation
    To The DE Photo Index Page Back To The Main Photo Index

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    This Page Created And Maintained by Mike Smolinski
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated 31 December 2009