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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Chaffee (DE 230)

Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - Y - K - X

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Campaign Medal - Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 3 stars - World War 2 Victory Medal
Second Row: Navy Occupation Service Medal w/Asia Clasp - Philippine Presidential Unit Citation - Philippine Liberation Ribbon

Specifications:
Class: Rudderow
Type: TEV (turbo-electric drive, long hull, 5" guns)
Displacement: 1,450 tons (light), 1,810 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 13' 9" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 CE boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 kts
Range: 5,050 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 2 - 5"/38 Mk30, 4 - 40mm Mk1 AA (2x2), 10 x 20mm/70 Mk 4 AA, 3 x 21" Mk15 TT (3x1), 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (230 rounds), 8 Mk6 depth charge projectors (40), 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks (60)
Complement: 12 / 192

Chaffee (DE 230) Building and Operational Data:

26 August 1943: Keel laid by the Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.

27 November 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. L. C. Chaffee

09 May 1944: Commissioned, Lcdr. A. C. Jones, USNR, in command

15 April 1946: Decommissioned at the Naval Supply Center, Oakland, Cal. after 1 year and 11 months of service

17 August 1946: Struck from the NVR

29 June 1948: Sold to the California Maritime Academy as training vessel

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
0623002	150k	undated wartime image	-
0623008	164k	undated wartime image	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
0623005	520k	26 July 1944: location unknown - *Chaffee* underway slowly with USS *SC-642* alongside. (U.S. Navy photos #G-245620 & G-245621 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.; courtesy of Chris Wright)	Ed Zajkowski Narvon, Pa.
0623006	484k		Ed Zajkowski Narvon, Pa.
0623003	65k	1944: Atlantic Ocean - patrolling in the Atlantic	Al (Sparky) Pinkus
0623009	123k	08 November 1945: Luzon, Philippine Islands - An unidentified Navy netlayer tries to pull the destroyer escort USS *Chaffee* (DE-230) off a reef in the San Bernardino Straits off Port Gubat, Luzon, Philippines. She was aground for three days.	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
0623010	276k	08 November 1945: Luzon, Philippine Islands - USS *Chaffee* (DE 230) in dry dock *ARD-20* at Manicani Island, Guiuan Roadstead, Philippines for repairs.	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
0623004	82k	November 1945: Luzon, Philippine Islands - in drydock after kamikaze torpedo attack	Al (Sparky) Pinkus
0623007	183k	November 1945: the Philippine Islands - On 04 November, *Chaffee* departed Leyte to rejoin her division at Subic Bay. Early on the morning of the 5th, during a local thunderstorm with zero visibility, she ran aground in the San Bernardino Straits off Port Gubat, Luzon. After three days on the reef, *Chaffee* was pulled clear and towed back to Guiuan Roadstead where she entered drydock *ARD-20. Her keel had been buckled, throwing the main engine out of line in #1 engine room. During five weeks in drydock, the starboard propeller was removed completely, the port tail shaft and screw replaced, and strengthening beams were welded to the keel, On 19 December Chaffee* went out on a successful trial run, having made good 18 knots on one screw. After anxiously awaitng news as to the ship's disposition, with personnel getting dangerously low due to demobilixation, *Chaffee* put her bow eastward on 10 January 1946, heading for Pearl Harbor, via Eniwetok, for further orders.	John Epp Curator DE Historical Museum USS Slater at Albany, N.Y.
0623011	123k	19 December 1945: Luzon, Philippine Islands - USS *Chaffee* (DE 230) at anchor, following her successful trial runs.	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

Chaffee History
View the Chaffee (DE 230) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
View the official War History of USS Chaffee as submitted by the ship at war's end.

Chaffee's Commanding Officers
Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, & Russ Moody

Dates of Command	Commanding Officers
1.) 09 May 1944 - 22 Oct. 1945	Lcdr. Arthur Collins Jones, USNR
2.) 22 Oct. 1945 - 15 Apr. 1946	Lcdr. Ralph M. Thompson, USNR

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Contact Name: Robert H. Christ / USS Chaffee Historian
Address: 985 Sentinel Oaks Drive
City/State: Clover SC 29710
Phone: (803) 831 8085
E-mail: Robert Christ

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, rosters, or deck logs available. Please see the
Frequently Asked Questions section on NavSource's Main Page for that information.

Additional Resources

Tin Can Sailors
The U.S. Navy Memorial
The Destroyer Escort Historical Museum
The Destroyer History Foundation

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