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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive
Ship's name tab courtesy of Al Grazevich

USS Goss (DE 444)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - H - J - B
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 4 stars
Second Row: World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal - Philippine Liberation Ribbon
Specifications:
Class: John C. Butler
Type: WGT (geared-turbine drive, 5" guns)
Displacement: 1350 tons (light), 1745 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 10" (extreme)
Draft: 11' 0" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 "D" Express boilers, 2 geared turbine engines, 12,000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 kts
Range: 6,000 nm @ 12 knots
Armament: 2 - 5"/38 cal. DP guns (2x1), 4 - 40mm AA (2x2), 10 - 20mm AA, 3 - 21" TT, 1 Mk10 Hedgehog, 8 Mk6 Depth Charge Projectors, 2 Mk9 Depth Charge Stern Racks
Complement: 14 / 201
Goss (DE 444) Building and Operational Data:
  • 16 December 1943: Keel laid at the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newark, N. J.
  • 19 March 1944: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Jamie S. Goss, sister-in-law of Marine Gunner Goss
  • 26 August 1944: Commissioned at Berth 10, New York Navy Yard, Lcdr. Claude A. Kirkpatrick in command
  • 15 June 1946: Decommissioned at San Diego, Cal. after 1 year and 10½ months of service having steamed 98,674 miles, Goss was credited with the destruction of two Japanese aircraft, 3 midget submarines
  • 13 December 1946: Inactivation completed at San Diego, Cal., assigned to Submarine Group Two, San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • 27 December 1950: Recommissioned at San Diego, Lcdr. L. R. Hayes, commanding
  • January 1951: Assigned to NRT, 11th Naval District at U.S. Naval Station, Long Beach, Cal.
  • 10 October 1958: Decommissioned at U. S. Naval Station, Tongue Point, Astoria, Ore. after 7 years and 9½ months of service; custody to CO, Columbia River Group, U. S. Pacific Reserve Fleet
  • 01 March 1972: Struck from the NVR with a total of 9 years and 8 months of service
  • 20 November 1972: Sold for scrapping
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Goss
    0644401

    Goss

    		 57k Angus R. Goss was born 08 January 1910 at Tampa, Fla., and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps 12 September 1930. Marine Gunner Goss was awarded the Navy Cross and Britain's Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for extraordinary heroism in combat on Tulagi 10 August 1942. Although severely wounded by a grenade explosion, Goss ignored enemy machine-gun and rifle fire, charging into a cave where the enemy was entrenched and single-handedly destroyed the Japanese with a sub-machine gun.

    USS Goss (DE 444) (1944-1958) was the first ship to be named in his honor.

    (U.S. Marine Corps Photo)    		 Bill Gonyo
    Downey, Cal.

    Assoc. Researcher
    Navsource
    Goss
    0644406    		 196k September 1944: USS Goss (DE 444) underway in the Atlantic. She would depart, leaving Norfolk, for the Pacific on 30 October 1944. Nick Tiberio
    Shelton, Conn.
    Goss
    0644408    		 70k 02 March 1945: USS Goss was conducting routine carrier operations on this date. In the morning she recovered a twenty-five man balsa life raft that was identified as being from USS Bismarck Sea (CVE 95). Bismarck Sea had been sunk by kamikaze aircraft off the island of Iwo Jima on 21 February 1945.

    (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-321521 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.)
    Goss
    0644407    		 205k An undated postwar image of USS Goss lying to off the coast of San Diego. This picture looks like a George Barber Marine Photos ship portrait.
    Goss
    0644409    		 64k 04 February 1955: USS Goss underway at an unknown location.

    (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-1078536 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.)
    Goss
    0644402    		 32k Undated Postwar Image David J. Opdyke
    Great-nephew of
    Angus Goss,
    the ships namesake
    Goss
    0644403    		 103k Undated Postwar Image
    Goss
    0644404    		 87k 1958, San Francisco Bay (© Allied Photographers, San Francisco, Cal.) Robert M. Cieri
    Goss
    0644405    		 383k 23 August 1956: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - USS Goss (DE 444) docked at Vancouver. Stern of USS Weeden (DE 797), is visible at right, being docked forward of Goss.

    (Photograph by Walter E. Frost) (Photo #AM1506-S3-3-: CVA 447-8709 from the City of Vancouver Archives)    		 Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.
    Gilligan
    0650805    		 498k circa early 1958: Pearl Harbor, Hi. - Gilligan (DE 508), Marsh (DE 699), and Goss (DE 444) moored together at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station. USS George Clymer (APA 27) is moored in the background. (My grandfather, RMC Harold Jacobson, took this picture. He served in WWII on active duty then stayed with the reserves until his retirement. He passed away last year and I found a box of his old slide photos and had them put to a CD. I believe it was taken in Pearl Harbor and I suspect the year was 1958 but I don't know for sure. I don't know what ship he was standing on when he took this picture. I would love to find out what ship or class it is.) John Jacobson
    EWC(SW), USN
    Goss
    Memorabilia
    Launch
    Button
    Goss
    Courtesy of
    Tom Kermen
    Goss History
    View the USS Goss (DE 444) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    View the official War History of USS Goss as submitted by the ship at war's end.
    Goss's Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler
    Dates of Command Commanding Officers
    1.)  14 Sep. 1944 – 02 May 1945Lcdr. Claude Siceluff Kirkpatrick, USNR (Comm. CO) (USNA ‘34) Oklahoma City, Okla.)
    2.)  02 May 1945 – 14 Jun. 1945Lt. Robert B. Whitney, USNR (Long Island, N. Y.)
    3.)  14 Jun. 1945 – 26 Nov. 1945Lcdr. William G. Schmidt, USNR
    4.)  26 Nov. 1945 – 05 Jan. 1946Lt. Herbert C. Sumner, USNR
    5.)  05 Jan. 1946 – 16 Feb. 1946Lt. Russell G. Johnson, USNR
    6.)  16 Feb. 1946 – 15 June 1946Lt. Robert A. Webber Jr., USNR (Decomm. CO)
    7.)  27 Dec. 1950 – .. .... ....Lcdr. Lyle Ray Hays (Recomm. CO) (OCS ‘41) (Upland, Cal.)
    9.)  .. Jun. 1954 – 19 Oct. 1956Lcdr. Emile Remy Gemoets Jr., USN (El Paso, Tex.)
    10.) 19 Oct. 1956 – 10 Oct. 1958Lcdr. Roger Jay Koch, USN (Decomm. CO)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Contact Name: Ernest S. Miller
    Address: RR 32 Box 17
    City / State: Terre Haute IN 47803-9802
    Phone: (812) 877-1240
    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.

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    Page Last Updated: 23 January 2023