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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive
Ship's patch courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Kirkpatrick (DE 318)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - T - L - K
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: European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - WWII Victory Medal - National Defense Service 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
Kirkpatrick (DE 318) Building and Operational Data:
  • 15 March 1943: Keel laid by the Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.
  • 05 June 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Genevieve Kirkpatrick, widow of Captain Kirkpatrick
  • 23 October 1943: Commissioned at Orange City Dock, Lcdr. V. E. Bakanas, USCG, in command
  • 01 May 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. after 2 years and 7¼ months of service
  • 01 October 1951: Reclassified and converted DER 318
  • 23 February 1952: Recommissioned, Lcdr. George S. Davis in command
  • 11 July 1952: Assigned to Newport, R.I. for radar picket operations on the Atlantic Barrier, the seaward extention of the Distant Early Warning (DEW) line across northern Canada
  • 24 June 1960: Decommissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard after 8 years and 4 months of service
  • 01 August 1974: Struck from the NVR with a total of 10 years and 11¼ months of service
  • 12 March 1975: Sold for scrapping
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Kirkpatrick
    0631801    		 51k Thomas LeRoy Kirkpatrick was born 05 July 1887, in Cozad, Nebr. Upon completion of high school he entered Colorado College where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911. Completing the divinity program at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago in 1918, he was ordained on 06 February 1918, by the Presbytery of Chicago, Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and would very soon be ministering in the military. He was appointed Acting Chaplain, U.S. Navy, on 19 February 1918. Chaplain Kirkpatrick was assigned to USS North Dakota on 24 June 1919. After serving as chaplain to stations in the United States and abroad, for the next 20 years he served in Utah, Pittsburgh and Saratoga in addition to duty at Samoa from 1935 to 1937.

    He reported to USS Arizona on 13 September 1940, and was commissioned Captain on 01 July 1941. On Sunday morning, 07 December 1941, Capt. Kirkpatrick was the first chaplain of the United States military killed in World War II. Chaplain Kirkpatrick had been going about his Sunday duties while drinking coffee and chatting with the men in anticipation of the morning service he would lead. However, Chaplain Kirkpatrick along with hundreds of others were gone, in an instant, when a Japanese 800 kilogram bomb found its target and detonated the magazine of USS Arizona in an explosion that heaved the deck before it broke apart into shrapnel, conflagration, wreckage, and billowing smoke. Captain Kirkpatrick lost his life when Arizona was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

    USS Kirkpatrick (DE 318) (1943 - 1960) was the first ship to be named in his honor.

    (U.S. Naval Historical Center photo #NH 68504 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Bill Gonyo
    Downey, Cal.

    Assoc. Researcher
    Navsource
    Kirkpatrick
    0631802    		 345k 06 July 1944: Lower New York Harbor - USS Kirkpatrick (DE 318) underway off New York City while on Atlantic convoy escort duty. She is painted with Design 3D of the Camouflage Measure 31-32-33 series

    (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-240423 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Tracy White
    Seattle, Wash.
    Kirkpatrick
    0631807    		 583k 06 July 1944: off Brooklyn, N.Y. - Two views of Kirkpatrick taken in waters near the New York Navy Yard.

    (U.S. Navy photos #CP-DE-318 19-N-67978 and CP-DE-318 19-N-71648 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.; courtesy of  Chris Wright)    		 Ed Zajkowski
    Narvon, Pa.
    Kirkpatrick
    0631808    		 355k
    Kirkpatrick
    0631803    		 114k undated

    (Photo #BuAer 301389; photog. unknown from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter List)    		 Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.
    Kirkpatrick
    0631809    		 437k 06 October 1952: Narragansett Bay, R.I. - USS Kirkpatrick (DER 318) underway off Newport, Rhode Island. The large radar antennas atop her forward and after superstructures have not yet been installed.

    (U.S. Navy photo from the National Archives #80-G-659246 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Mike Smolinski
    Clifton, N.J.

    Navsource Archive Manager
    DE / FF / LCS Archive
    Kirkpatrick
    0631804    		 107k undated: off Newport, R.I. Edward R. Dube
    SFM3
    Kirkpatrick
    0631805    		 91k
    Kirkpatrick
    0631806    		 113k
    Kirkpatrick
    Memorabilia
    Ship's Plaque
    Kirkpatrick
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski
    Kirkpatrick History
    View the USS Kirkpatrick (DE 318) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    Kirkpatrick's Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler
    Dates of Command Commanding Officers
                U. S. Navy as DE-318  (Coast Guard Manned)
    1.) 23 Oct. 1943 – Aug. 1945Lcdr. Victor Edward Bakanas, USCG (Comm. CO) (USCGA ‘37) (New Britain, Conn.)
    2.) Aug. 1945 – 01 May 1946Lt. John J. Atwater Jr., USCGR (Decomm. CO)
                U. S. Navy as DER-318
    3.) 23 Feb. 1952 – Dec. 1953Lcdr. George Stebbins Davis Jr. (Recomm. CO) (USNA ‘43) (Kalamazoo, Mich.)
    4.) Dec. 1953 – 1954Lcdr. Evan Jones Robinson
    5.) 1954 – 1956Lcdr. George Willis Kingston (Omaha, Nebr.)
    6.) 1956 – 21 Apr. 1958Lcdr. Francis Houghton Stubbs Hall (USNA '44) (Annapolis, Md.)
    7.) 21 Apr. – 27 Jul. 1959Lcdr. Jack Louis Erickson (Butte, Mt.)
    8.) 27 Jul. 1959 – 24 Jun. 1960Cmdr. William Webster Bischof (Decomm. CO)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Last Known Reunion: September 2015 at Charleston, S.C.

    Reunion Contact: Harmon Meeker
    Address: 19413 N. 86th Drive
    City/State: Peoria AZ 85382
    Phone: 623-566-6103
    E-mail: Harmon Meeker
    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
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    The Destroyer Escort Historical Museum
    The Destroyer History Foundation
    Tin Can Sailors Shipmate Registry - USS Kirkpatrick
    To The DE, FF, LCS Photo Index Page
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    This Page Created And Maintained By Mike Smolinski
    All pages copyright Navsource Naval History
    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated: 19 January 2023