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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

Right Ship's patch courtesy of Bob Costanzo,
Remainder of Courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Roy O. Hale (DE 336)

Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - H - E - G
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Pocatello"

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Navy Expeditionary Medal - American Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Second Row: WWII Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal

Specifications:
Class: Edsall
Type: FMR (geared diesel, Fairbanks-Morse reverse gear drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1200 tons (light), 1590 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 10" (extreme)
Draft: 20' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 4 Fairbanks-Morse Mod. 38d81/8 geared diesel engines, 4 diesel-generators, 6000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 21 kts
Range: 9,100 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 3 x 3"/50 Mk22 (1x3), 1 twin 40mm Mk1 AA, 8 x 20mm Mk 4 AA, 3 x 21" Mk15 TT (3x1), 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (144 rounds), 8 Mk6 depth charge projectors, 2 Mk9 depth charge tracks
Complement: 8 / 201

Roy O. Hale (DE 336) Building and Operational Data:

13 September 1943: Keel laid at the Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Tex.

20 November 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Roy O. Hale, mother of Lieutenant (junior grade) Hale

03 February 1944: Commissioned, Lcdr. William W. Bowie, USNR, in command

11 July 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. after 2 years and 5¼ months of service

21 October 1955: Reclassified and converted to DER 336 at the Boston Naval Shipyard

29 January 1957: Recommissioned, assigned to Atlantic Barrier Patrol duty based at Newport, R.I.

15 July 1963: Decommissioned after 6 years and 5½ months of service

01 August 1974: Stricken from the NVR with a total of 8 years and 10¾ months of service

01 April 1975: Sold for scrapping to the Union Metals and Alloys Corp., Baltimore, Md

(U.S. Navy National Archives photo #80-G-241613 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)

Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
52k	Roy Orestus Hale, Jr. was born on 10 May 1916 in Monroe, La. He graduated from the Naval Academy and was commissioned ensign on 02 June 1938. After a year at sea, Hale underwent aviation training at Pensacola, Miami, and San Diego and on 21 June 1941, joined Scouting Squadron 2 on board *Lexington* (CV 2). Promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) in October, he remained on board that carrier after the United States entered World War II. He participated in the Pacific raids of February and March 1942 and flew his scout plane in the Battle of the Coral Sea, 7-8 May. Failing to return from that mission, Hale was presumed killed in action and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement in aerial combat and his " ... courageous determination and aggressiveness ... attacking enemy aircraft in spite of fierce fighter opposition." USS *Roy O. Hale* (DE 336) (1944-1963) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Photo from the U.S. Naval Academy Yearbook; The Lucky Bag, Class of 1938.)	Bill Gonyo Downey, Cal. Assoc. Researcher Navsource
356k	Hampton Roads, Va. - USS *Roy O. Hale* (DE 336) photographed from USS *Ticonderoga* (CV 14) on Sunday, 04 June 1944. *Roy O. Hale* had just departed the Norfolk Naval Operating Base in company with *Card* (CVE 11), *Dale W. Peterson* (DE 337) and *Broome* (DD 210) heading for Newport. R.I.	Mike Smolinski Clifton, N.J. Archive Manager DE / FF / LCS Archive Navsource
87k	As DER 336, undated	Robert G. Lacey former RM3
139k	1958: Savannah, Ga. - taken while on a port visit	Lon Finnerty
197k	26 February 1959: at sea - photo caption... WAP-022608-2 2/26/59 Washington: File photo of the U.S.S. Roy Hale, a radar picket vessel equipped with the last anti-submarine and electronics equipment, which has been sent to the North Atlantic "to investigate the interruption of transatlantic cable service." 2/26 The Navy, which had issued the report, had no comment on a radio broadcast saying it was investigating the possibility of recently laid cables having been cut by Russian fishing boats, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL TELEPHOTO FROM DEFENSE DEPT, rtf.	Tommy Trampp Benton City, Wash.
133k	27 February 1959: New York Mirror news clipping - Although primarily employed in the early warning program, *Hale* was called on to invoke an 1884 treaty for the protection of international submarine cables in February 1959. On the 26th, she sent a party aboard the Russian trawler *Novorossisk* to investigate reports from the American Telephone & Telegraph and Western Union companies that breaks had occurred in five transatlantic cables along the track of the trawler. There were no indications of intentions "other than fishing."	Lon Finnerty
153k	early 1960's: Newport, R.I. - *Roy O. Hale* lies tied up in her homeport between USS *Rhodes* (DER 384) and USS *Hissem* (DER 400).
150k	1962: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. - on a port visit

Roy O. Hale Memorabilia
Ship's Lighter Courtesy of Mike Smolinski	Ship's Plaque Courtesy of Lon Finnerty

Roy O. Hale History
View the USS Roy O. Hale (DE 336) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.

Roy O. Hale's Commanding Officers
Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler

Dates of Command	Commanding Officers
1.) 03 Feb. 1944 - 22 Aug. 1944	Lcdr. William Wurts Bowie, USNR (Comm. CO) (New Orleans, La.)
2.) 22 Aug. 1944 - Nov. 1945	Lcdr. Homer Coleman Pogue, USNR (Kansas City, Mo.)
3.) Nov. 1945 - Mar. 1946	Lt. Edmund Roman Mietus, USNR (Milwaukee, Wis.)
4.) Mar. 1946 - 11 Jul. 1946	Lt.(jg) Hyman Verbofsky, USNR (Decomm. CO)
5.) 29 Jan. 1957 - 15 May 1958	Lcdr. Charles Neal (Recomm. CO)
6.) 16 May 1958 - 10 Oct. 1959	Lcdr. Ernest Joseph Korte (Freeport, Minn.)
7.) 10 Oct. 1959 - 07 Sep. 1961	Lcdr. Nicholas Peter Chokas (USNA '46) (Lowell, Mass.)
6.) 07 Sep. 1961 - 10 Jul. 1963	Lcdr. James Wilton Hayes(Decomm. CO) (Milton, Mass.)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Last Known Reunion
23 September 2013 at Charleston, S.C.

Reunion Contact
Contact Name: Simona Robinson
Address: 24 Collins Brook Road
City/State: Meridith NH 03252
Phone: (603) 867-2023
or
USS Roy O. Hale Association
Contact Name: Ervin Stahl (Newsletter Editor)
Address: 1130 Haslett Road
City/State: Haslett MI 48840-9778
E-mail: E. Stahl

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 Military.com - Roy O. Hale page
Tin Can Sailors Shipmate Registry - USS Roy O. Hale

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