(DDE-824: dp. 2426, 1. 390'9"; b. 40'10"; dr. 18'6"; s. 35 k.; cpl. 355; a. 4 5", 4 3", 4 21" TT.; cl. Gearing)

Basilone (DD-824) was launched 21 December 1946 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd., Orange, Tex.; sponsored by Sergeant Lena Mae Basilone, USMCWR, widow of Sergeant Basilone. The vessel was deactivated for a period of time and was then moved from Orange, Tex., to the Quincy Yard of Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass., for conversion to an escort destroyer (reclassified DDE-824, 28 January 1948). Conversion completed, Basilone (DDE-824) was commissioned 26 July 1949, Commander M. E. Dennett in command.

Assigned to Destroyer Force, Atlantic, Basilone has operated out of Norfolk on local operations and competitive exercises; with the Operational Development Force, Surface Anti-Submarine Development Detachment, and as a school ship for the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Fla., and in the Caribbean on anti-submarine and hunter-killer exercises. At frequent intervals between March 1952 and September 1964 she conducted four tours of duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Between 6 June and 4 August 1955 she served as a unit of midshipman cruise Able which visited Spain, England, and Cuba. In 1956, between October and December Basilone made a cruise of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, after which she returned to Norfolk.