From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 
(1968) Vol. 3, pp.265-266.


HARVESON

DE-316
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

	HARVESON (DE-316) was laid down by Consolidated Steel 
Corp., Orange, Tex., 9 March 1943; launched 22 May 1943; 
sponsored by Mrs. T. L. Herlong, mother; and commissioned at 
Orange, 12 October 1943, Lt. Comdr. P. L. Stinson, USCG, in 
command.

	Manned entirely by a Coast Guard crew, HARVESON 
completed shakedown out of Bermuda only to be seriously 
damaged in collision with a merchantman 15 December 1943, on 
a foggy night off the Virginia Capes.  Repairs were 
completed at Portsmouth, Va., by February 1944, and the 
destroyer-escort joined Escort Division 22.  Departing New 
York 1 March, HARVESON escorted a convoy to Londonderry, 
Ireland, via Halifax.  In the next 14 months she escorted 
nine more convoys carrying vitally needed supplies for the 
European theater safely across the dangerous North Atlantic.

	When V-E Day came, CortDiv 22 was ordered to the 
Pacific; and HARVESON reached Pearl Harbor via the Panama 
Canal and San Diego 11 July to begin refresher training.  
HARVESON was still engaged in tactical training at Pearl 
Harbor when Japan capitulated, but soon she participated in 
the occupation of the defeated enemy's homeland.  Departing 
Pearl Harbor 3 September, she escorted a convoy of LSTs to 
Japan, where she arrived Sasebo 24 September.  During the 
next few weeks, she operated along the coast of Honshu, 
escorting amphibious force flagship MOUNT McKINLEY (AGC-7) 
and supporting occupation landings at Wakayama, Hiro, and 
Nagoya.  She departed Yokohama for the United States 4 
November and arrived Jacksonville, Fla., in December for 
duty with the Atlantic Fleet.  She decommissioned at Green 
Cove Springs, Fla., 9 May 1947, and entered the Atlantic 
Reserve Fleet.

	HARVESON was towed to the Mare Island Navy Yard in 1950 
for conversion to a radar picket ship.  She recommissioned 
at Vallejo, Calif., 12 February 1951, Lt. Comdr. W. S. 
Slocum III in command; and, as the first of a new class of 
radar picket ships, she was redesignated DER-316.  After 
intensive tests and vigorous tactical training, HARVESON 
joined Escort Squadron 10 at Newport, R.I., 30 May to begin 
duty as a radar picket ship.  While on patrol, the former 
destroyer escort outfitted with the most modern radar and 
early detection warning devices, cruised off the coast of 
the United States to provide adequate early warning of any 
enemy attack.  From her usual station in the North Atlantic, 
HARVESON also sailed to the Caribbean for frequent 
antisubmarine and tactical exercises.

	Departing Newport 15 July 1957, HARVESON reported for 
radar picket duty at Pearl Harbor 18 August.  There she 
joined the Barrier Forces, Pacific Fleet, to strengthen 
America's warning system in the vast and lonely reaches of 
the Pacific.  After almost 3 years of barrier patrols out of 
Hawaii, HARVESON steamed to San Francisco for inactivation.  
She decommissioned 30 June 1960 and joined the Pacific 
Reserve Fleet, Stockton, Calif.  Her name was struck from 
the Navy List 1 December 1966.  She is scheduled to be used 
as a target.

	[HARVESON was sunk as a target off southern California 
on 10 October 1967.

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