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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive


Ship's patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Calcaterra (DE 390)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - H - V - B
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Hazel Creek"
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
Second Row: American Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Third Row: National Defense Service Medal - Antarctica Service Ribbon - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
"Vigilante - Victoria"
(Vigilance - Victory)
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
Calcaterra (DE 390) Building and Operational Data:
  • 28 May 1943: Keel laid by the Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex.
  • 16 August 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. G. M. Stites
  • 17 November 1943: Commissioned, Cmdr H. J. Wuensch, USCG, in command
  • 1 May 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla.
  • 28 October 1954: Reclassified DER 390, conversion to DER commenced at Norfolk Naval Shipyard
  • 12 September 1955: Recommissioned at Norfolk, Va., assigned to Newport, R.I. as a radar picket of the North American Continental Air Defense System
  • 2 July 1973: Decommissioned and struck from the NVR
  • 14 May 1974: Sold for scrapping
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Calcaterra 69k 1943 location unknown Joe Doyle, 11/43 to 7/45
    ***Alger / Calcaterra*** 56k early 1944: USS Hamul (AD 20) with (from left to right) DEs USS Calcaterra (DE 390); USS Pride (DE 323); USS Falgout (DE 324); USS Alger (DE 101) and USS Eichenberger (DE 202), alongside at Bermuda. Note HF/DF antenna visible on three of the five DEs, and the two-tone Measure 22 camouflage on four of the five DEs. (U.S. Naval Historical Center photo #NH 86271, courtesy of the Captain D.L. Madeira Collection) Robert Hurst
    Calcaterra 73k undated as DER 390 -
    Calcaterra 275k date / location unknown: A photo of the radar picket escort ship USS Calcaterra (DER 390) tied up pierside. (U.S. Navy Photo; from "The World Encyclopedia of Destroyers and Frigates" by Bernard Ireland) Robert Hurst
    Calcaterra 85k underway at Otego Harbor, Dunedin, New Zealand. Taken between 11/65 and 2/66 Gene Spinelli ETR2, USNR
    From collection of Joe Thorne IC2, USN
    Calcaterra 57k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark Karsten Petersen,
    Middelfart, Denmark



    All Photos in this Series
    © Karsten Petersen
    Calcaterra 51k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 54k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 46k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 74k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 45k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 88k 1970 at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 66k 1970: at Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 60k 1970: departing Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 51k 1970: departing Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 60k 1970: departing Esbjerg, Denmark
    Calcaterra 55k 1970: departing Esbjerg, Denmark, into the mist of the North Sea
    Calcaterra 133k Summer 1970: the Atlantic Ocean - The crew of the destroyer escort USS Calcaterra (DE 390) watch as Soviet retrieval teams from the surveillance trawler Khariton Laptev (SSV-503) raced to pick up Poseidon launch debris and telemetry buoys from the first test launch from USS James Madison (SSBN 627) off Cape Canaveral in the late summer of 1970. (Photo courtesy of   Rear Admiral Gleb P. Kondratiev from the book "Rising Tide" by Gary E. Weit and Walter J. Boyne) Robert Hurst
    Calcaterra 58k July 1971: departing Bremen, Germany Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    Frankfurt a.M., Germany
    Calcaterra 61k 1973 in Key West, shortly before decommissioning (Photo © Randy Mays) Randy Mays
    Calcaterra Memorabilia
    Ship's Plaque
    (painted)
    Calcaterra
    Courtesy of
    Gene Spinelli    		 Ship's Plaque
    (unpainted)
    Calcaterra
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Ship's Plaque
    (painted)
    Calcaterra
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Deepfreeze Patch

    Calcaterra
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski
    View the USS Calcaterra (DE 390) 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
    USS Calcaterra DE 390
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    Tin Can Sailors Shipmate Registry - USS Calcaterra
    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
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    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated 24 March 2012