View source for USS Fessenden (DE-142)

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{{Infobox Ship Image
|Ship image=[[Image:USS Fessenden (DE 142).jpg|300px|AlternateTextHere]]
|Ship caption=28 October 1958: the Pacific Ocean - USS ''Fessenden'' (DER 142) alongside USS ''Kawishiwi'' (AO 146) 
}}
{{Infobox Ship Career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=US
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1960}}
|Ship name=USS ''Fessenden''
|Ship namesake=[[Reginald Fessenden|Reginald Aubrey Fessenden]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Consolidated Steel Corporation]], [[Orange, Texas]]
|Ship laid down=4 January 1943
|Ship launched=9 March 1943
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=25 August 1943
|Ship decommissioned= 30 June 1960
|Ship reclassified=DER-142, 1 October 1951
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=1 September 1966
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours= 2 battle stars for [[World War II]]
|Ship fate=Sunk as target off [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Hawaii]], 20 December 1967
|Ship status=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox Ship Characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Edsall|destroyer escort}}
|Ship displacement=1,253&nbsp;tons standard<br/>1,590&nbsp;tons full load
|Ship length=306&nbsp;feet (93.27&nbsp;m)
|Ship beam=36.58&nbsp;feet (11.15&nbsp;m)
|Ship draft=10.42 full load&nbsp;feet (3.18&nbsp;m)
|Ship propulsion=4&nbsp;[[Fairbanks-Morse|FM]]&nbsp;[[diesel engine]]s, <br/>4&nbsp;diesel-[[Engine-generator|generator]]s, <br/>6,000&nbsp;shp (4.5&nbsp;MW), <br/>2&nbsp;screws
|Ship speed=21&nbsp;[[knot (speed)|knot]]s (39&nbsp;km/h)
|Ship range=9,100&nbsp;[[nautical mile|nmi.]] at 12&nbsp;knots<br/>(17,000&nbsp;km at 22&nbsp;km/h)
|Ship complement=8 officers, 201 enlisted
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament= {{Edsall class destroyer escort armament}} 
|Ship armour=
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|Ship aircraft=
|Ship aircraft facilities=
|Ship notes=
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'''USS Fessenden (DE-142)''' was an [[Edsall-class]] [[destroyer escort]] built for the [[U.S. Navy]] during [[World War II]]. She served in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] and the [[Pacific Ocean]] and provided destroyer escort protection against [[submarine]] and air attack for Navy vessels and [[convoys]].

She was named in honor of [[Reginald Fessenden|Reginald Aubrey Fessenden]], born in [[Brome County, Quebec]], [[Canada]], 6 October 1866.  He served as head [[chemist]] with [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[East Orange, New Jersey]], laboratories. In 1890 he began concentrating on electrical engineering, and through the next years made many important inventions and improvements in existing devices. His great contributions in the field of [[radio]] (particularly the invention of [[Marine and mobile radio telephony|radio-telephony]] were of marked benefit not only to the Navy but to all seamen. He died 22 July 1932, at his home on [[Bermuda]].

''Fessenden (DE-142)'' was launched 9 March 1943 by [[Consolidated Steel]] Corp., [[Orange, Texas]]; sponsored by Mrs. R. K. Fessenden, daughter-in-law of ''Professor Fessenden''; and commissioned 25 August 1943, Lieutenant Commander W. A. Dobbs, [[USNR]], in command. She was reclassified DER-142 on 1 October 1951.

== World War II Atlantic Ocean operations==

After a period at [[Norfolk, Virginia]], as [[training ship]] for crews for escorts soon to be commissioned, ''Fessenden'' carried out an escort mission to the [[Panama Canal Zone]], returning to Norfolk 5 November 1943. Between 23 November and 18 March 1944, she escorted [[convoys]] on two voyages to [[Casablanca]], then on 3 April sailed again to guard a convoy to [[Bizerte]]. Off Bone 20 April the convoy came under heavy air attack, one guardian destroyer being sunk, and on the homeward bound passage, the convoy screen lost two more destroyers to submarine attack. ''Fessenden'' returned safely to New York 21 May.

She sailed from Norfolk next on 12 June 1944, and escorted a convoy as far as [[Gibraltar]], where she was detached to escort two captured [[Italy|Italian]] [[submarines]] to Bermuda. One developed engine trouble 2 July and was ordered back to Gibraltar, but ''Fessenden'' reached Bermuda with the other 16 July. Returning to [[New York]] 22 July, she was briefly overhauled, then sailed out of [[New London, Connecticut]], training submarines from 3 August to 2 September. Next came special training off [[Maine]], and her return to Norfolk to join the [[Hunter-killer armored-vehicle team|hunter-killer]] group formed around [[USS Mission Bay (CVE-59)]].

== Sinking of German Submarine U-1062 ==

Operating with this group south of the [[Cape Verde]] Islands on 30 September 1944, ''Fessenden'' and two other ships investigated a contact, making a [[depth charge]] attack late in the afternoon, sinking [[U-1062]] in {{coord|11|36|N|34|44|W}}. The group continued its [[antisubmarine]] patrols in the South Atlantic refueling at [[Dakar]], French West Africa, [[Bahia, Brazil|Bahia]] and [[Recife, Brazil]], and [[Cape Town, South Africa]]. ''Fessenden'' returned to New York 26 November, joined in training exercises in [[Long Island Sound]], then off [[Guantánamo Bay]], until 19 January 1945 when she reported to [[Miami, Florida]], to serve as [[school ship]] for the Naval Training Center for a month.

She returned to Guantanamo 12 February 1945 to rejoin the Mission Bay group as it provided air cover for a convoy northeast of Bermuda carrying [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President F. D. Roosevelt]] home from the [[Yalta Conference]]. After brief overhaul at New York, she sailed north to [[Argentia, Newfoundland]], with her [[Hunter-killer armored-vehicle team|hunter-killer]] group to work with similar task organizations in setting up a barrier patrol in the North Atlantic, to prevent German [[submarines]] from approaching the [[United States]] during the last days of the [[Europe]]an war.

== Transfer to the Pacific Ocean ==

''Fessenden'' served at [[New London, Connecticut]], and [[Quonset Point, Rhode Island]], in May and June 1945, aiding in the training of submariners and aviators. On 28 June, she sailed from New York for training at Guantanamo Bay and [[Pearl Harbor]] en route to the [[Marshall Islands]]. On 17 September, her commanding officer became representative of the [[Majuro]] [[Atoll]] Commander for the Japanese Naval Garrison at [[Wotje]], and ''Fessenden'' lay at Wotje to supervise its demilitarization and the evacuation of the Japanese until 4 December. She cleared [[Eniwetok]] 4 January 1946 for [[San Diego, California]], [[New York]], and [[Green Cove Springs, Florida]], where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 24 June 1946.

== Converted to Radar Picket Ship ==

''Fessenden'' was converted for [[radar picket]] duty at [[Boston, Massachusetts]], where she was recommissioned 4 March 1952. After [[antisubmarine]] training out of [[Key West, Florida]], ''Fessenden'' returned to her home port, [[Newport, Rhode Island]], 25 September 1952 to begin duty on the radar picket stations of the North Atlantic. She returned from her sea patrols only for necessary maintenance and refresher training. With her division, she sailed from Newport 15 July 1957 for [[Pearl Harbor]], her home port for Pacific early warning [[radar]] picket duty from 18 August 1957 until 18 March 1960 when she left the [[Hawaii]]ans for [[San Francisco, California]].

== Final Decommissioning ==

On 30 June 1960, she was decommissioned and placed in reserve at [[Stockton, California]]. On 1 September 1966 she was struck from the [[Navy list]].  She was sunk as target off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 20 December 1967.

== Awards ==

''Fessenden'' received two battle stars for World War II service.

== References ==
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/f2/fessenden.htm}}

==See also==

* [[List of United States Navy ships]]
* [[World War II]]
* [[Destroyer escort]]

==External links==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/142.htm NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive - USS FESSENDEN DE-142]

{{Edsall class destroyer escort}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fessenden (DE-142)}}
[[Category:Edsall class destroyer escorts]]
[[Category:World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Texas]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]