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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

Ship's patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Newell (DE-322)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - H - R - Z
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Red Cloud"
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal
Second Row: European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 1 star - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal w/ 1 star
Third Row: Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal - Vietnam Service Medal w/ 4 stars - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Class: Edsall      Type: FMR (geared diesel, Fairbanks-Morse reverse gear drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1,200 tons (std) 1,590 tons (full)   Dimensions: 306' (oa), 300' (wl) x 36' 10" x 12' 3" (max)
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
Machinery: 4 Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38d81/8 geared diesel engines, 4 diesel-generators, 6000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 21 knots   Range: 9,100 nm @ 12 knots   Crew: 8 / 201
Operational and Building Data
Laid down by Consolidated Steel, Orange TX on 5 April 1943, Launched 29 June 1943
Commissioned 30 October 1943, Decommissioned 20 November 1945
Loaned to USCG and Recommissioned WDE-422, 20 July 1951
Returned USN and Decommissioned 1 June 1954, reclassified and converted DER-322, 1 November 1956
Recommissioned 20 August 1957, Decommissioned 21 September 1968
Stricken 23 September 1968
Fate: Sold for scrapping 15 December 1971. After her engines were removed, her hulk
was used by 20th Century Fox in the making of the movie Tora, Tora, Tora.
Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Newell 7k Byron Bruce Newell, born in Camp Hill, Ala. 29 November 1909, graduated from the Naval Academy 5 June 1930. During the next decade he completed flight training and served in New Mexico, Saratoga, DDecatur, Kanawha, and at the Naval Observatory, Washington. D.C. In August 1939 he reported to cargo ship Gold Star, home ported at Guam, before returning to Newport News for fitting out Hornet (CV-8). Soon after the new carrier commissioned 20 October 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor plunging the United States into World War II. Newell served in the great flattop throughout her career. As she carried Col. Jimmy Doolittle’s Army B-25 bombers to less than 650 miles from Japan and launched them 18 April 1942 for their historic raid on Tokyo; as she helped rout a powerful Japanese task force in the decisive Battle of Midway. On the morning of 26 October, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a delayed action bomb exploded on the carrier’s fan tail killing Lt. Comdr. Newell.

USS Newell (DE-322) was the first ship to be named in his honor.		 Bill Gonyo
Newell 119k 29 June 1943: Orange TX - Mrs. Eleanor Newell, widow of Lcdr. Byron Newell, christens USS Newell Maj. John W. Newell (USAR)
grandson of ship's namesake
Newell 130k 29 June 1943: Orange TX - launching of USS Newell
Newell 65k 2 June 1944: New York - At anchor in New York Harbor, while painted in a modified version of Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D. (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official US Navy photo #NH91564, Naval Historical Center) Mike Green
Newell 69k 2 June 1944: New York - As previous photo (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official US Navy photo #NH91565, Naval Historical Center)
Newell 69k 2 June 1944: New York - As previous photo (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official US Navy photo #NH91566, Naval Historical Center)
Newell 65k 2 June 1944: New York - As previous photo (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official US Navy photo #NH91567, Naval Historical Center)
Newell 73k 2 June 1944: New York - As previous photo (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official US Navy photo #NH91568, Naval Historical Center)
Newell 64 2 June 1944: New York - As previous photo (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official US Navy photo #NH91569, Naval Historical Center)
Newell 8k undated wartime image Maj. John W. Newell (USAR)
Lcdr Byron Newell's grandson
Newell 106k 20 August 1956: At the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California - Awaiting conversion to a radar picket ship. She is wearing U.S. Coast Guard markings, used during her service as USCGC Newell (WDE 422) in 1951-1954. (Courtesy of A.D. Baker III, Official US Navy Photograph, Naval Historical Center, photo #NH 91592)
Newell 22k undated, as DER-322
Newell 10k undated, as DER-322
Newell 18k undated, as DER-322
Newell 79k November 1957: off San Diego (US Navy photo #NH103236 from the US Naval Historical Center) Robert Hurst
Newell 132k November 1957: off San Diego (US Navy photo #NH103235 from the US Naval Historical Center)
Newell 80k 1 June 1964: Underway in Pearl Harbor Channel, Hawaii. (Official US Navy photo #NH103237 by PH2 O'Brien, Naval Historical Center) Mike Green
Newell 17k c.1967: Market Time Ops, off coast of South Vietnam, Newell about to start an UNREP -
Newell 95k - -
Newell 61k PCF-60 returning to Newell for refueling and change of crews on the DER mothership -
Newell 63k a PCF patrol craft fast alongside Newell. Swift boats used DER's as remote bases, rotating crews, keeping the patrol craft on station for long periods at great distances from its parent base -
Newell 11k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. About to receive swift boat alongside to change crews. Pete Rabey
Newell 11k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. About to receive swift boat alongside to change crews
Newell 7k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. Rigged with bumpers, fenders, and tires to bring alongside patrol craft, and to receive and search suspect wooden and steel-hulled vessels Larry Lawniczak
Newell 7k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. Junk along side to be inspected
Newell 12k Fall 1967: searching a junk
Newell 16k Fall 1967: searching a small craft
Newell 19k undated Vietnam era photo Paul M. Lafave
View the USS Newell (DE 322), DANFS history entry
located on the US Naval Historical Center web site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Contact Name: Larry Lawniczak
Address: 939 Monroe St. / Oshkosh WI 54901
Phone: (920) 231-4755
E-mail: lplpjl@milwpc.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
DER Group on MSN
Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
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Page Last Updated 22 March 2008