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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

Ship's Patches Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Savage (DE 386)


N - T - X - P
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Lake Charles"
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: Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 1 star - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row: Navy Occupation Service Medal - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Fourth Row: Vietnam Service Medal w/ 6 stars - Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation w/ 1 star - Republic of Vietnam Campaign 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
Savage (DE 386) Building and Operational Data:
  • 30 April 1943: Keel laid by the Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.
  • 15 July 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Walter S. Savage, Sr.
  • 29 October 1943: Commissioned, Lcdr Oscar C. Rohnke, USCG, in command
  • 13 June 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla.
  • 3 September 1954: Redesignated DER 386
  • 28 October 1954: Commenced conversion to DER at The Boston Naval Shipyard
  • 18 February 1955: Recommissioned at Boston, Mass.
  • July 1955: Homeport assignment changed to Seattle, Wash. as a radar picket of the North American Continental Air Defense System
  • December 1958: Homeport assignment changed to Pearl Harbor, Hi.
  • 17 October 1969: Decommissioned at San Francisco, Cal.
  • 1 June 1975: Stricken from the NVR
  • 25 October 1982: sunk as target off California
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Savage 61k Walter Samuel Savage, Jr., born in New Orleans, La., on 26 April 1919, was commissioned Ensign, USNR, on 10 June 1941. After instruction at the Navy Supply Corps School, Harvard University, Ensign Savage reported to USS Arizona (BB 39) for duty as Assistant Paymaster. Ensign Savage, with 46 other officers and 1,057 enlisted men, gave his life for his country on 7 December 1941 when Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor and sank Arizona.

    USS Savage (DE 386) (1943-1969) was the first ship to be named in his honor.

    (U.S. Navy photo #NH 92074 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Bill Gonyo
    Savage 44k undated wartime image Robert Hurst
    Savage 62k unknown -
    Savage 26k Moored, Pier 91 Seattle, Wash., sometime between 1954 and 1957 Mel Kowal
    Lt. USNR (ret.)
    Savage 87k The Savage wardroom sometime in 1956
    Lcdr Ray Davis, CO; Lt. Thomas Fitzgerald, XO
    ***Carp / Savage*** 70k circa 1959: Pearl Harbor Naval Station - Broadside view of USS Carp's (SS 338) crew dressed in whites passing a nest of DE's with Savage in the foreground. Ron Phillipi
    ***Carp / Savage*** 70k circa 1959: Pearl Harbor Naval Station - Bow on view of USS Carp (SS 338) passing USS O'Bannon (DD 450) in the foreground and Savage in the background.
    Savage 70k January 1969: Savage tied up to a mooring buoy. (Hong Kong??) Robert Hurst
    Savage 71k 24-25 October 1982: Shown is the explosion of an AGM-88A Harm anti-radiation missile on the target ship USS Savage (ex-DER 386) in 1982. Her mast is visible on the left. Savage was finally sunk on 25 October 1982. (Photo from the U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News, May 1982 edition)
    View the USS Savage (DE 386) DANFS history entry
    located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    Savage's Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves
    29 Oct 1943 - 11 May 1944     Lcdr. Oscar Carl (Gus) Rohnke (later Radm.)
    11 May 1944 - 23 Dec 1944 Lcdr. Randolph Ridgely III (USCG)
    23 Dec 1944 - 11 Sep 1945 Lcdr. James A. Norton (USCG)
    11 Sep 1945 - 17 Sep 1945 Lcdr. Lewis W. Tibbits, Jr. (USCG)
    17 Sep 1945 - 13 Jun 1946 Lt. John M. Waters, Jr. (USCG)
    18 Feb 1955 - 23 Nov 1956 Lcdr. Raymond E. Davis
    23 Nov 1956 - 04 Aug 1958 Lcdr. Bobby C. Brogoitti
    04 Aug 1958 - 10 Dec 1959 Lcdr. Floyd Dennis Richards
    10 Dec 1959 - 17 Jun 1961 Lcdr. Robert Charles Peniston
    17 Jun 1961 - 12 Jun 1963 Lcdr. John Donald Stensrud
    12 Jun 1963 - 01 Sep 1965 Lcdr. Gerald R. Bradford
    01 Sep 1965 - 12 Jan 1967 Lcdr. John Emery Roe, Jr.
    12 Jan 1967 - 17 Sep 1968 Cdr. Daniel Theodore Holly, Jr.
    17 Sep 1968 - 17 Oct 1969 Cdr. Joseph S. Buggy, Jr.
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Contact Name: Raymond C. Zachgo
    Address: 181 Denny Lane / Winchester VA 22603
    Phone: (540) 662-6470
    E-mail: Raymond Zachgo
    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
    The Destroyer History Foundation
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    This Page Created And Maintained by Mike Smolinski
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    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated 6 July 2010