From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 
(1968) Vol. 3, p.379.


HOWARD D. CROW

DE-252
Displacement:  1,200 t.
Length:  306’
Beam:  36’7”
Draft:  8’7”
Speed:  21 k.
Complement:  186
Armament:  3 3”; 2 40mm; 8 20mm; 3 21” torpedo tubes;
	2 depth charge tracks;
	8 hedge charge projectors;
	1 hedge hog
Class:  EDSALL

	HOWARD D. CROW (DE-252) was launched by Brown 
Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex., 26 April 1943; sponsored by 
Miss Viola Elaine Warner; and commissioned 27 September 
1943, Lt. Comdr. D. T. Adams, USCG, in command.

	Manned by the Coast Guard, HOWARD D. CROW conducted 
shakedown training out of Bermuda during October and 
November, reporting to Norfolk for convoy duty 1 December.  
The destroyer escort sailed with her first convoy 15 
December, saw it safely to Casablanca, and returned to New 
York 24 January 1944.  In the months that followed, HOWARD 
D. CROW made 10 arduous escort voyages to British ports, 
protecting the supplies which sustained the great land 
offensive which was to end the war with Germany.

	The destroyer escort was berthed at New York when 
Germany surrendered 8 May 1945, and after extensive 
refresher training in the Caribbean, sailed from Guantanamo 
Bay for the Pacific War 2 July.  Arriving Pearl Harbor via 
the Panama Canal 25 July, HOWARD D. CROW continued into the 
western Pacific for a tour of vital weather-reporting duty, 
so important to the operation of the great fleets.  She 
sailed from Midway 13 December 1945, and after stopping at 
the Panama Canal and New York, arrived Green Cove Springs, 
Fla., 15 March 1946.  She decommissioned 22 May 1946 and 
entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

	With the Korean conflict came greater demands on the 
far-flung Navy, and HOWARD D. CROW recommissioned 6 July 
1951 with a Navy crew.  After shakedown training she 
reported to Key West as Sonar School training ship, helping 
develop new equipment and tactics in antisubmarine warfare.  
Moving north to Newport in 1952, the ship took part in fleet 
antisubmarine exercises off the coast.  For the next 6 years 
HOWARD D. CROW followed this pattern of 
operations--antisubmarine training, exercises in the 
Atlantic and Caribbean, and periodic overhauls.  In 1957, 
she took part in important NATO exercises with almost 50 
ships from a dozen countries and in 1958 the versatile ship 
acted as communications ship during a successful Jupiter 
nose-cone recovery off Puerto Rico.

	HOWARD D. CROW was assigned to Galveston, Tex., as 
reserve training ship in September 1958.  In this capacity 
she conducted 2-week training cruises for reservists, and at 
the same time maintained the ship in a high state of 
readiness for any emergency.  Her periodic training cruises 
took the escort vessel to Key West and the Caribbean.  In 
August 1961, however, the Berlin situation worsened, and 
HOWARD D. CROW was one of several reserve training ships 
returned to active service to increase the nation's 
readiness.  She conducted refresher training at Guantanamo 
Bay and operated with the fleet in the Atlantic and 
Caribbean until August 1962.

	The ship returned to reserve training duty 1 August 
1962, again based at Galveston.  She continued through 1963 
into 1967 to provide at-sea training for naval reservists so 
vital in keeping America's defenses at the highest possible 
level of training and skill.

	[Stricken from the Navy Register on 23 September 1968, 
HOWARD D. CROW was sold in October 1970.

K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, “Register of Ships of 
the U. S. Navy, 1775-1990,” p.225.]


Transcribed by Michael Hansen
mhansen2@attbi.com