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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Buckley (DE 51)

Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - P - G - J

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - Navy Unit Commendation
Second Row: American Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 3 stars - WWII Victory Medal

Specifications:
Class: Buckley
Type: TE (turbine-electric drive, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1400 tons (light), 1740 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 9" (extreme)
Draft: 10' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 2 "D" Express boilers, G.E. turbines with electric drive, 12000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 24 kts
Range: 6,000 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: 15 / 198

Buckley (DE 51) Building and Operational Data:

29 June 1942: Keel laid by the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Hingham, Mass.

09 January 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. James Buckley, mother of Aviation Ordnanceman John Daniel Buckley

30 April 1943: Commissioned, Lcdr. A. W. Slayden in command

30 June 1945: Commenced conversion to "Picket Ship", at Blair Shipyard, Yonkers, N.Y., reclassified DE(TEP)-51

30 September 1945: Conversion completed, moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard

23 October 1945: Departed the Brooklyn Navy Yard for Jacksonville, Fla.

27 October 1945: Celebrated Navy Day at Jacksonville, Fla. in company with Stribling (DD 867) and Angler (SS 240)

01 November 1945: Arrived at the Inactive Ship Facility, Green Cove Springs, Fla.

03 July 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. after 3 years and 2 months of service

26 April 1949: Reclassified DER 51

29 September 1954: Reclassified DE 51

01 June 1968: Struck from the NVR

10 June 1969: Sold for scrapping

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
0605102	110k	The launch of the USS *Buckley* at the Bethlehem-Hingham yard near Boston. This was one of the first long-hulled DE's, and the start of a most impressive building programme at this yard. [U.S. Navy photo, from the book "Allied Escort Ships of World War II (A Complete Survey)", by Peter Elliott]	Edib Krlicbegovic Bosnia - Hercegovina
0605111	214k	09 January 1943: Hingham, Mass. - The future USS *Buckley* photographed as she slides down the building way for the first time after being christened. (U.S. Navy photo NAID #38330001 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.)	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
0605106	50k	underway, undated (U.S. Navy photo #19-N-44456, NARA II, College Park, Md.)	Tracy White Seattle, Wash.
0605110	830k	24 April 1943: the Atlantic Ocean - *Buckley* photographed off the Boston Navy Yard. (U.S. Navy photo #CP-DE-51 19-N-131015 from the National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.; courtesy of Chris Wright)	Ed Zajkowski Narvon, Pa.
0605104	79k	May 1943	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
0605112	258k	03 July 1943: the Atlantic Ocean - USS *Buckley* (DE 51) circles at twenty knots, during speed trials off Rockland, Maine. The diameter of circles appears to be about 300 metres (1,000 feet). (U.S. Navy Photo #80-G-269442 and 80-G-269441 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)
0605102	247k
0605105	21k	undated wartime image (National Archives #BuShips44457)	Nick Tiberio Shelton, Conn.
0605107	63k	May-June 1944: Boston, Mass. - USS *Buckley* in drydock at the Boston Navy Yard, her bow bent from ramming *U-66. (Photo from* Captain Jerry Mason, USN ret.)	Bill Gonyo Downey, Cal.
0605108	58k	May-June 1944: Boston, Mass. - Lcdr. Brent Abel, USNR, receives the Navy Cross for action as Commanding Officer of USS *Buckley* from Captain George L. Menocal at the Boston Navy Yard where *Buckley* is undergoing repairs. (Photo from Captain Jerry Mason, USN ret.)	Bill Gonyo Downey, Cal.
0605103	174k	10 June 1944: The Atlantic Ocean - USS *Buckley* (DE 51) underway off Boston, Massachusetts (position 42 20'N, 70 50'W). The ship was photographed from a blimp of lighter-than-air squadron ZP-11 based at NAS South Weymouth, Mass. (U.S. Navy Photo #80-G-236608 from the United States National Archives)	Mike Green Port Angeles, Wash.
0605114	309k	10 June 1944: The destroyer escort USS *Buckley* (DE 51) underway in the Atlantic Ocean off Boston, Massachusetts 1944. Photographed from a blimp of squadron ZP-11. (U.S. Navy photo #80-G-236610 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom
0605115	134k	16 September 1944: Two starboard views of *Buckley* at Boston wearing MS32/3D camouflage scheme. The vertical colors are dull black (BK) ocean gray (5-O) and light gray (5-L). In this photo, Buckley has 40mm gun tubs replacing her torpedo tubes. At 0840 she had left South Boston for Massachusetts Bay to conduct sea trials and to calibrate her magnetic compesses and HF/DF equipment. She returned to the South Boston Yard at 1848 and moored to the east side of Pier #1, Berth #1. On 18 September she departed Boston for the Naval Mine Depot at Yorktown, Va. (U.S. Navy Bureau of Shipping Photo #BS 131021 and BS 131022 courtesy of C. Lee Johnson from the United States National Archives)	Mike Green Port Angeles, Wash.
0605116	84k		Mike Green Port Angeles, Wash.
0605109	94k	circa 1945: The destroyer escort *Buckley, following conversion for radar picket service. Note her newly-fitted 5"/38 main battery guns and mainmast. Buckley* was redesignated DER 51 in April 1949. (U.S. Navy Photo #NH 107405 from the Naval History and Heritage Command, obtained from the collection of Bruce H. Franklin, author of "The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts")	Bob Hurst Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom

Buckley History
View the USS Buckley (DE 51) DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway web site. History unavailable on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
View the official War History of USS Buckley as submitted by the ship at war's end.

Buckley's Commanding Officers
Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves

Dates of Command	Commanding Officers
1.) 30 Apr. 1943 - 12 Aug. 1943	Lcdr. Alvin Weems Slayden (Comm. CO) (USNA '32) (Waverly, Tenn.)
2.) 12 Aug. 1943 - 09 Jan. 1945	Lcdr. Brent Maxwell Abel, USNR (NROTC '40) (Scarsdale, N.Y.)
3.) 09 Apr. 1945 - 03 Oct. 1945	Lcdr. Robert Rennolds Crutchfield, USNR (Montrose, Va.) (ret. as Radm.)
4.) 03 Oct. 1945 - 02 Apr. 1946	Lt. Robert Watkins Bartley, USNR (Decomm. CO)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

Contact Name: Nick Corbo
E-mail: nydrummer1@aol.com

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
The Destroyer Escort Historical Museum
The Destroyer History Foundation

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