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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Earle (DD-635)
ex-DMS-42
ex-DD-635



Call sign:
November - Uniform - Kilo - Oscar
Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 14 June 1941 at the Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Mass.
  • Launched 10 December 1941
  • Commissioned USS Earle (DD-635), 1 September 1942
  • Reclassified and converted to a High Speed Minesweeper, DMS-42, 23 June 1945
  • Decommissioned 17 May 1947 at San Francisco, CA and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Stockton, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists plan for decommissioning and placing in reserve as January 1947
  • Reclassified as a Destroyer Minesweeper 7 February 1955
  • Reclassified back to a Destroyer, DD-635, 15 July 1955
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 December 1970
  • Sold for scrap in October 1971.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,200 t.(fl)
  • Length 347' 10"
  • Beam 36' 1"
  • Draft 15' 8"
  • Speed 37 kts.
  • Complement 261
  • Armament: Four 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts, four 40mm mounts, five 20mm mounts, six depth charge projectors, two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 50,000shp General Electric geared turbines, De Laval double reduction gears, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Earle (DD 635)
    Butler 131 Murphy (DD 603), Gherardi (DD 637), Butler (DD 636), Herndon (DD 638) and Earle
    From the collection of Clifton Leon Prewitt, Fire Controlman Third Class    		 Bobby Kleinaman
    (C. L. Prewitt's grandson)
    Earle 69k 10 October 1943
    Off New York Navy Yard
    National Archives photo BS 54580    		 Joe Radigan
    USS Earle (DMS 42)
    Earle 148k John Robert Barrett
    Earle 384k Original photo: c. 1946
    Replacement photo: circa 1946
    Courtesy of D.M. McPherson, 1974
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 79742
    Second replacement photo: Photographed circa 1945
    Courtesy of D.M. McPherson, 1974
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 79742    		 Original photo: David Buell
    Replacement photo: Mike Green
    Second replacement photo: Darryl Baker
    Second replacement photo added 28 September 2021
    Earle 297k Photo copyright Allied Photographers, San Francisco, 1946 David Wright
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Hamilton Wilcox Howe, USN - USNA Class of 1926
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1942) and the Navy Commendation Medal - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1 September 1942 - 24 August 1943
    02CDR Timothy Norman Hobbs, USN24 August 1943 - 31 December 1944
    03CDR Martin Norman Chamberlain, USN31 December 1944 - 16 October 1945
    04LCDR Edward Muhlenfeld, USN16 October 1945 - 13 March 1946
    05LCDR Kenneth Steen, USN - USNA Class of 194113 March 1946 - 17 May 1947
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Joe Radigan
    View the Earle (DMS-42)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    NavSource DD Pages, USS Earle (DD-635)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Destroyer Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan & Michael Mohl
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History