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USS Levy (DE-162)
Encyclopedia
USS Levy (DE-162) was a , named in honor of Commodore
Commodore (USN)
Commodore was an early title and later a rank in the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard and a current honorary title in the U.S. Navy with an intricate history. Because the U.S. Congress was originally unwilling to authorize more than four ranks until 1862, considerable importance...
Uriah P. Levy
Uriah P. Levy
Uriah Phillips Levy was the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a major philanthropist. At the time, Commodore was the highest rank obtainable in the U.S. Navy and would be roughly equivalent to the modern-day rank of Admiral...
(1792-1862), a notable figure of the nineteenth-century Navy.
The ship was laid down on 19 October 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1949. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Government's Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Operated by a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corporation, the shipyard was located at...
, Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, launched on 28 March 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Charles Mathoff, niece of Commodore Levy; and commissioned on 13 May 1943, Capt. Frank S. Schmidt in command.
Service history
After shakedown off BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, Levy, one of the Navy's first destroyer escorts, steamed for the South Pacific, arriving at the Society Islands
Society Islands
The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
on 19 August 1943. For the next eight months the ship escorted and screened oilers during various fueling operations in the South and Central Pacific theaters. In support of the Hollandia operation
Operations Reckless and Persecution
Operation Reckless, known as the Landing at Hollandia and Operation Persecution known as the Aitape landing, were Allied amphibious landings which commenced the Western New Guinea campaign. Both operations commenced on 22 April 1944....
and the strikes against Truk, Statwan, and Ponape
Pohnpei
Not to be confused with Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed by Vesuvius in AD 79.Pohnpei "upon a stone altar " is the name of one of the four states in the Federated States of Micronesia , situated among the Senyavin Islands which are part of the larger Caroline Islands group...
from 13 April to 4 May 1944, Levy escorted a convoy of logistic ships to a point north of Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
, arriving on 23 April for a refueling rendezvous with TF 58.
From 12 June to 16 August 1944, Levy screened the oilers which supported the invasion of the Marianas and fueled Admiral Mitscher's
Marc Mitscher
Admiral Marc Andrew "Pete" Mitscher was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific in the latter half of World War II.-Early life and career:...
carriers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea
Battle of the Philippine Sea
The Battle of the Philippine Sea was a decisive naval battle of World War II which effectively eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War...
, in which American carrier-based planes dealt a fatal blow to Japanese naval airpower. For the next four months, she escorted TG 30.8 which refueled and replenished the 3rd Fleet during the conquest of the western Carolines
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
and the liberation of Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
. On 20 November, while escorting a convoy from Ulithi for another rendezvous with Mitscher's flattops, Levy drove off enemy planes which attacked the formation. She sailed from Eniwetok on 24 November for the west coast and arrived San Diego on 8 December for a month-long overhaul.
Early in March 1945 the ship returned to the Pacific war zones and resumed escort and ASW duty. During the last two months of the war, Levy helped blockade and bombard the remaining Japanese-held atolls in the Marshalls
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
and rescued a boatload of natives who had escaped from enemy-held Jaluit
Jaluit Atoll
Jaluit Atoll is a large coral atoll of 91 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an area of . Most of the land area is on largest islet of Jaluit . Jaluit is located...
.
August and September marked a high point of the ship's wartime career. Aboard Levy, Capt. H. D. Grow negotiated and accepted the surrender of Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll
Mili Atoll is a coral atoll of 92 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. It is located approximately southeast of Arno Its total land area is making it the second largest of the Marshall Islands after Kwajalein. It encloses a...
on 22 August. A few days later Levy witnessed the surrender of Jaluit Atoll. On 4 September, Wake Island
Wake Island
Wake Island is a coral atoll having a coastline of in the North Pacific Ocean, located about two-thirds of the way from Honolulu west to Guam east. It is an unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States, administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior...
surrendered to Brig. Gen. L. H. M. Sanderson, USMC, embarked in Levy.
Departing the Pacific theater on 17 September, the ship steamed, via San Francisco, for the east coast. On 15 November she joined the St. John's River Group, 16th Fleet
United States Navy reserve fleets
The United States Navy maintains a number of its ships as part of a reserve fleet, often called the "Mothball Fleet". While the details of the activity have changed several times, the basics are constant: keep the ships afloat and sufficiently working as to be reactivated quickly in an...
, at Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....
, and was placed in commission, in reserve. She was decommissioned on 4 April 1947, and berthed at Norfolk, Virginia, as part of the Atlantic Inactive Fleet.
Finally struck from the Navy List
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 2 August 1973, the ship was sold for scrap to the Boston Metals Co., Baltimore, Maryland, on 17 July 1974.