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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Parks (DE 165)

Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - Z - E - U

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 4 stars - World War II Victory Medal

Specifications:
Class: Cannon
Type: DET (diesel-electric tandem motor drive, long hull, 3" guns)
Displacement: 1240 tons (light), 1620 tons (full)
Length: 300' (wl), 306' (oa)
Beam: 36' 10" (extreme)
Draft: 10' 6" (draft limit)
Propulsion: 4 GM Mod. 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, 6000 shp, 2 screws
Speed: 21 kts
Range: 10,800 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 / 201

Parks (DE 165) Building and Operational Data:

11 November 1942: Keel laid by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Port Newark, N.J.

18 April 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Miss Patricia Yoder

23 June 1943: Commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, Lcdr. Milford McQuilkin, USNR, in command

29 November 1945: Reported to the Commander, 16th Fleet (Inactive), at Green Cove Springs, Fla.

March 1946: Decommissioned after 2 years and 8 months of service

01 July 1972: Struck from the NVR

15 October 1973: Sold for scrapping

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By And/Or Copyright
0616501	65k	Charles Wellman Parks, the son of Granville and Elizabeth Augusta (Carter) Parks, was on born 22 March 1863 at Woburn, Mass. After study and graduation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1884, he served as chief engineer of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railway. He then became the head electrical engineer at the Electrical Manufacturing Company in Troy, New York and followed as department head of physics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was commissioned Civil Engineer, U.S. Navy, on 19 July 1897. Moving through the ranks, he was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks with the rank of Rear Admiral on 11 January 1918. He served as Chief until December 1921 when he stepped down due to ill health. He remained on active duty until February 1922. Parks received the Distinguished Service Medal "for exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks." He died on 25 June 1930 at Washington, D.C. and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. USS *Parks* (DE 165) (1943-1946) was the first ship to be named in his honor.	Bill Gonyo Downey, Cal. Assoc. Researcher Navsource
0616410	125k	18 April 1943: Port Newark, N.J. - Left: Miss Patricia Yoder, grand-niece of the ship's namesake and sponsor for USS *Parks* (DE 165); Right: Miss Helen Osterhaus, sponsor of USS *Osterhaus* (DE 164).	Bill Gonyo Downey, Cal. Assoc. Researcher Navsource
0616502	80k	undated wartime image (You have to look hard, but that's Jane's brother, Lcdr E. Reber Casstevens standing on the port bridge extension.)	Jane Casstevens Ferguson
0616503	344k	October 1973: Philadelphia, Pa. - The ex-USS *Parks* (DE 165), on the right, nested in a group of mothballed destroyer escorts at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, U.S. Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia Pa. On *Parks' starboard side are ex-USS Janssen* (DE 396) and ex-USS *Stockdale* (DE 399). (Heilenday photo #III 0425A from the Heilenday Collection)	Mark Heilenday Virginia Beach, Va, Captain, USN (ret.) June 1974 - July 2004

Parks Memorabilia
Launch Invitation Courtesy of S. Dale Hargrave	Launch Cover Courtesy of S. Dale Hargrave	Shellback Certificate Courtesy of Gale Petrecca

Parks History
View the USS Parks (DE 165) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.

Parks' Commanding Officers
Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves

Dates of Command	Commanding Officers
1.) 23 Jun 1943 - 16 Jan 1944	Lcdr. Milford McQuilkin, USNR (Comm. CO) (San Francisco, Cal.)
2.) 16 Jan 1944 - 26 Apr 1945	Lt. Emery Reber Casstevens, USN (USNA '41) (Beecher City, Ill.)
3.) 26 Apr 1945 - 01 Feb 1946	Lcdr. Paul Christian Huelsenbeck, USNR (USNA '37) (Newark, N.J.) (ret. as Radm.)
4.) 01 Mar 1946 - 20 Jul 1946	Lt. Richard J. Camp, USNR (Decomm. CO) (Antwerp, Oh.)

Crew Contact And Reunion Information

None

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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