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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive



Right Ship's patch courtesy of Darryl Baker, remainder from Mike Smolinski

USS Evans (DE 1023)


Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign:
N - J - E - F
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Turning Point"
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: National Defense Service Medal
Second Row: Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal w/ 1 star - Vietnam Service Medal w/ 2 stars - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
"Uletsu-Ya-Sti"
(Bold Warrior, in Cherokee)
Specifications:
Class: Courtney
Type: SCB No. 72 / 1954 - 55
Number in Class: 10
Displacement: 1,314 tons (light), 1,877 tons (full)
Length: 308' (wl), 314' 6" (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 19' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 Foster-Wheeler boilers; 1 De Laval geared turbine; 20,000 shp; 1 shaft
Speed: 26 kts
Range: 6,000 nm @ 12 knots
Complement: 12 / 161
Guns: 4 - 3"/50 (76mm) Mk33 Guns (2x2)
ASW Weapons: 1 Mk 108 ASW rocket launcher, 6 - 12.75" (324mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes (2x3) / Mk 46 torpedos
Radars: AN/SPS-5 (surface), AN/SPS-6C (air)
Sonars: AN/SQS-4
Fire Control Systems: Mk63 Gun FCS, Mk105 Underwater Battery FCS
Evans (DE 1023) Building and Operational Data:
  • 08 April 1955: Keel laid at the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Co., Seattle, Wash.
  • 14 September 1955: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Hugh Hendrickson of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Commander Evans' sister
  • 14 June 1957: Commissioned, Lcdr. H. F. Wiley in command, assigned to San Diego, Cal. as a unit of Escort Squadron 3
  • 01 February 1968: CortRon 3 disestablished, transferred to DesRon 31 (CruDesFlot 9)
  • .. September 1968: Assigned to the Naval Reserve Force (NRF) as a unit of ResDesRon 27 at Seattle, Wash.
  • April 1971: Assignment changed to DesRon 37-NRF at Seattle, Wash.
  • 03 December 1973: Decommissioned after 15 years and 6⅔ months of service
  • 12 December 1973: Struck from the NVR
  • 16 August 1974: Sold for scrapping
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Evans
    0602102301

    Evans

    		 70k Ernest Edwin Evans was born on 13 August 1908 at Pawnee, Oklahoma and graduated from Central H.S. in Muskogee before enlisting in the U.S. Navy on 29 May 1926. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1927, graduating with the class of 1931. He served in USS Colorado, USS Roper, USS Rathburne, USS Pensacola, USS Chaumont, USS Cahokia, and USS Blackhawk. During World War II, he commanded USS Alden (DD 211) and USS Johnston (DD 557).

    During the Battle off Samar, on 25 October 1944, he led USS Johnston and her crew in an attack on a greatly superior Japanese battleship and cruiser force. In this action, which materially contributed to the defeat of the Japanese counter-offensive against the Leyte invasion, Commander Evans and his ship were lost. Ernest E. Evans was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his role in the Battle off Samar.

    USS Evans (DE 1023) (1957-1973) was the first ship named in his honor.

    (U.S. Navy photo #NH 63499 from the Naval History and Heritage Command showing Lcdr. Evans at the commissioning ceremony for USS Johnston)    		 Mike Smolinski
    Clifton, N.J.

    Navsource DE/FF/LCS
    Archive Manager
    Evans
    0602102321    		 177k undated: A nice shot of Evans in San Diego Bay.
    Evans
    0602102302    		 69k 1957: San Diego - shortly after commissioning.

    (These three photos ©Morper Pictures, San Diego, Cal.)    		 Bill Allen
    Evans
    0602102303    		 49k
    Evans
    0602102304    		 62k
    Evans
    0602102305    		 159k September 1957: San Francisco Bay

    (© Allied Photographers, San Francisco, Cal.)    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Evans
    0602102311    		 34k circa 1959 - 1960: USS Lewis (DE 535), USS Currier (DE 700), Evans, and USS Wiseman (DE 667) -
    Evans
    0602102306    		 146k April 1960: at Yokosuka, Japan - Tied up in company with USS Philip (DD 498), USS Renshaw (DD 499), and USS Epperson (DD 719) alongside.

    (Photo taken by Dr. Samuelson)     		Dr. Erv Samuelson
    Lt., MC, USN
    USS Wexford County
    (LST 1168)
    Evans
    0602102317    		 89k 04 March 1961: San Diego, Cal. - "Enemy Sub Killers" Nestled alongside USS Kearsarge (CVS 33) at San Diego, are three modern destroyer escorts and three destroyers of the ComCruDesPac force. The carrier and her group of 'greyhounds' make up a Navy Hunter-Killer Group now operating in the Pacific. Included are (outboard in) USS Bridget (DE 1024), Evans, USS Hooper (DE 1026) all of CortRon Three; USS Lofberg (DD 759), USS Taussig (DD 746) and USS John A. Bole (DD 755), all of DesDiv 72."

    (Official U.S. Navy Photograph from the Hoyt "Bud" Colburn Collection)    		 Carol Edgemon Hipperson
    www.carolhipperson.com
    Evans
    0602102316    		 279k 1962: Ship portrait taken by a ComCruDesPac photographer off San Diego prior to the yard period mentioned in the photo below.

    (Official U.S. Navy Photograph from the collection of Pearl Harbor Survivor, Hoyt "Bud" Colburn, who was a Chief Yeoman when he served in Evans.)

    NOTE: Carol is the author of Radioman: An Eyewitness Account of Pearl Harbor & World War II in the Pacific (Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martins Press, 2008); ISBN-10 031238694X and ISBN-13 978-0312386948. Check on www.carolhipperson.com for availability.
    Evans
    0602102307    		 119k 1962: Ship portrait taken off Point Loma, shortly after leaving the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. While in the shipyard the after 3" gun mount was removed and the DASH helicopter deck was added without a DASH Hanger. Dick Adams
    DE 1023 (1962-1963)
    Evans
    0602102320    		 156k 1962: San Diego - Evans returning to port. Sometime between now and the 1966 photos below, she'll have been back in the yards to have a DASH hangar constructed aft of her stack. Mike Smolinski
    Clifton, N.J.

    Navsource DE/FF/LCS
    Archive Manager
    Evans
    0602102318    		 97k 20 August 1962: San Diego, Cal. - USS Prairie (AD 15) moored aff San Diego. Alongside are Evans, USS Richard B. Anderson (DD 786), USS Agerholm (DD 826) and USS Shields (DD 596).

    (Official U.S. Navy Photograph from the USS Prairie 1962-1963 Cruise Book)    		 Bob Hurst
    Worksop, Nottinghamshire,
    England, United Kingdom
    Evans
    0602102322    		 302k 19 August 1963: the Atlantic Ocean - USS Evans (DE 1023) underway at sea.

    (U.S. Naval Historical Center photo #NH107513 by PH3 W.S. Frazeur from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Mike Smolinski
    Clifton, N.J.

    Navsource DE/FF/LCS
    Archive Manager
    Evans
    0602102312    		 252k 1966: Subic Bay, Philippine Islands - Moored to USS Piedmont (AD 17), in a nest with USS Hooper (DE 1026), USS Jenkins (DD 447), and USS Samuel N. Moore (DD7 47), all to starboard. Lee Noland
    Evans
    0602102308    		 103k July 1966: Subic Bay, Philippine Islands - Nested with USS Stickell (DD 888) and USS Haverfield (DER 393) alongside USS Klondike (AR 22)

    (Photo © Richard Leonhardt)    		 Richard Leonhardt
    Bethlehem, Pa.
    Evans
    0602102314    		 137k 1967: Western Pacific - DASH operations in the Pacific. Darryl Baker
    PNCM, USNR (ret.)

    Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum
    Evans
    0602102315    		 138k 1967: Western Pacific - Typhoon damage to forward gun tub aboard Evans. The ship was in Yokosuka when this photo was taken. The ship lost this gun tub again off the coast of Oregon in 1968 on her way to Seattle.
    Evans
    0602102323    		 581k late 1960's: the Atlantic Ocean - USS Evans (DE 1023) underway at sea after receiving a helicopter deck in the early 1960s.

    (U.S. Naval Historical Center photo #NH91917 by PH3 W.S. Frazeur from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Mike Smolinski
    Clifton, N.J.

    Navsource DE/FF/LCS
    Archive Manager
    Evans
    0602102319    		 413k 24 January 1970: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - USS Evans (DE 1023) moored at Vancouver.

    (Photograph by Walter E. Frost) (Photo #AM1506-S3-3-: CVA 447-4164 from the City of Vancouver Archives)    		 Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.
    Evans
    0602102309    		 48k 1970: in the Pacific Northwest when she was in reserve status. -
    Evans
    0602102310    		 50k
    Evans
    0602102313    		 110k 1972: Seattle, Wash. - Attached is a scan of a picture that I took of USS Evans tied up in Seattle at Pier 90/91. I was alongside with HMCS Port de la Reine at the time for a weekend port visit and thought that the Evans was a very pretty ship. Michael Harvey
    Lt.(N) Retired
    Canadian Navy
    Evans' Memorabilia
    Wardroom
    Painting
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Darryl L. Baker    		 Ship's
    Plaque
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Ship's
    Plaque
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Sailor of the
    Month Patch
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Darryl L. Baker    		 Navy Times
    "Naval Heroes"
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski
    '50's Perma-Pic
    Ship's Lighter
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Tommy Trampp    		 Ship's
    Lighter
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Ship's
    Ashtray
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Ship's
    Lighter
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski    		 Viet Nam Cruise
    Lighter
    Evans
    Courtesy of
    Mike Smolinski
    Evans History
    View the USS Evans (DE 1023) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    Evans' Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves
    Dates of Command Commanding Officers
    1.)  14 Jun. 1957 - 10 Jul. 1959Lcdr. Howard F. Wiley
    2.)  10 Jul. 1959 - 27 Sep. 1960Lcdr. Edward Lull Cochrane Jr. (USNA '45) (Philadelphia, Pa.)
    3.)  27 Sep. 1960 - 10 May 1962Cdr. John Daniel Owens
    4.)  10 May 1962 - 05 Jun. 1963Lcdr. John J. Shanahan Jr. (prior enl. / V-12 '46) (Buffalo, N..Y.) (ret. as Radm.)
    5.)  05 Jun. 1963 - 13 Mar. 1965Cdr. Lyle Oliver Armel II (USNA '53) (Topeka, Kan. / Washington, D. C.)
    6.)  13 Mar. 1965 - 11 Apr. 1966Lcdr. Roy Frederick Stalder Jr. (OCS '51) (Omaha, Nebr.)
    7.)  11 Apr. 1966 - 11 Jan. 1968Lcdr. Richard Finlay Donnelly (NROTC '54) (Toronto, Can.) (ret. as Radm.)
    8.)  11 Jan. 1968 - 26 Jun. 1969Lcdr. Donald George Loos
    9.)  26 Jun. 1969 - 20 Aug. 1971Lcdr. James J. Roberts
    10.) 20 Aug. 1971 - 20 Jan. 1973Lcdr. Everett Jackson Dennis (OCS) (Montgomery, Ala.)
    11.) 20 Jan. 1973 - 03 Dec. 1973Lcdr. Gerald Mahlon Higbee (Louisville, Ken.)
    Crew Contact And Last Known Reunion Information
    2013 at San Diego, Cal. in conjunction with
    Escort Squadron (CortRon) 3 Association
    Reunion Organizer: Armed Forces Reunions, Inc.
    Phone: (757) 625-6401
    E-mail: www.afr-reg.com/escortsqdn32013
    Or
    Association Contact Name: Stan Virden
    Phone: (H) 251-967-4287 or (C) 251-209-1984
    E-mail: Stan Virden
    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
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    This Page Created And Maintained By Mike Smolinski
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    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated: 13 June 2022