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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Schmitt (DE-676 / APD-76)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - K - Y - R
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 w/ 1 star - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
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 Bethlehem Steel, Quincy MA on 22 February 1943
Launched 19 May 1943, Commissioned 23 July 1943
Decommissioned 2 January 1945 for redesignation and conversion to APD-76
(conversion carried out at US Naval Frontier Base, Tompkinsville, Staten Island, NY)
Recommissioned as APD-76, 3 April 1945
Decommissioned 28 June 1949, Stricken 1 May 1967
Fate: To Taiwan 18 February 1969, renamed ROCS Lung Shan (PF-44)
Stricken and broken up in 1976
Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Schmitt 70k Aloysius H. Schmitt (4 December 1909 - 7 December 1941) was born in St. Lucas, Iowa. He was appointed Acting Chaplain with rank of Lieutenant (jg.) in the United States Navy on 28 June 1939. He was serving on board the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. When his ship capsized, he became entrapped, along with other members of the crew, in a compartment where only a small porthole provided outlet for escape. He assisted a number of men through the porthole, and then gave up his own chance to escape so that more men might be rescued. He received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal posthumously for his courage and self-sacrifice.

USS Schmitt, DE-676, was the first ship named in his honor.

(Photo from the book: These Men Shall Never Die by Lowell Thomas (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1943), p. 10.)		 Bill Gonyo
Schmitt 24k undated wartime image Jerry Church
Schmitt 71k undated wartime image, from Peter's Father, Lt(jg) Joseph A. Fernandez, Jr. Peter Fernandez
Schmitt 147k undated wartime image, from Peter's Father, Lt(jg) Joseph A. Fernandez, Jr. Peter Fernandez
View the USS Schmitt (DE-676 / APD-76), DANFS history entry
located on the US Naval Historical Center web site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Contact Name: Alton R. Blanks
Address: 6524 Merrill Road / Columbia SC 29209
Phone: (803) 776-5148
E-mail:Alton Blanks
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
Navsource APD Pages, SCHMITT
Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
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Page Last Updated 8 March 2008