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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

Ship's patches courtesy of Mike Smolinski

USS Newell (DE 322)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - H - R - Z
Tactical Voice Radio Call: "Red Cloud"
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons




Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
Second Row: American Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 1 star - World War II Victory Medal -
Third Row: National Defense Service Medal w/ 1 star - Korean Service Medal (USCG Service) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Fourth Row: Vietnam Service Medal w/ 4 stars - United Nations Korean Service Medal (USCG Service) - Republic of Vietnam Campaign 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
Newell (DE 322) Building and Operational Data:
  • 05 April 1943: Keel laid by the Consolidated Steel Co., Orange, Tex.
  • 29 June 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Byron B. Newell, wife of Lt. Comdr. Newell
  • 30 October 1943: Commissioned, Lcdr. Russell J. Roberts, USCG, in command
  • 20 November 1945: Decommissioned at Charleston, S.C. after 2 years and ⅔ months of service
  • 20 July 1951: Loaned to U.S. Coast Guard and recommissioned as USCG WDE-422, assigned to Pearl Harbor, Hi.
  • 01 June 1954: Returned to the U.S. Navy and decommissioned at Long Beach, Cal. after 2 years and 10⅓ months of service
  • 01 November 1956: Reclassified and converted to DER 322 at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard
  • 20 August 1957: Recommissioned at Long Beach, Cal., assigned to Pearl Harbor, Hi. as a unit of the Pacific Barrier, the westward extension of the DEW Line
  • 21 September 1968: Decommissioned at Pearl Harbor, Hi. after 11 years and 1 month of service
  • 23 September 1968: Struck from the NVR with a total of 16 years of service
  • 15 December 1971: Sold for scrapping. After her engines were removed, her hulk was used by 20th Century Fox in the making of the movie "Tora, Tora, Tora".
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By And/Or Copyright
    Newell
    0632201    		 82k Byron Bruce Newell, born in Camp Hill, Ala. 29 November 1909. After attending Georgia Tech in Atlanta, he attended and graduated from the Naval Academy on 05 June 1930. During the next decade he completed flight training and served in New Mexico, Saratoga, Decatur, Kanawha, and at the Naval Observatory, Washington. D.C. In August 1939 he reported to cargo ship Gold Star, home ported at Guam, before returning to Newport News for fitting out Hornet (CV 8). Soon after the new carrier commissioned on 20 October 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor plunging the United States into World War II. Newell served in the great flattop throughout her career. As she carried Col. Jimmy Doolittle’s Army B-25 bombers to less than 650 miles from Japan and launched them 18 April 1942 for their historic raid on Tokyo; as she helped rout a powerful Japanese task force in the decisive Battle of Midway. On the morning of 26 October, during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a delayed action bomb exploded on the carrier’s fantail, killing Lt. Comdr. Newell.

    USS Newell (DE322) (1943-1968) was the first ship to be named in his honor.

    Photo from U.S. Naval Academy Yearbook, the Lucky Bag, 1930    		 Bill Gonyo
    Downey, Cal.

    Assoc. Researcher
    Navsource
    Newell
    0632218    		 119k 29 June 1943: Orange, Tex. - Mrs. Eleanor Newell, widow of Lcdr. Byron Newell, christens USS Newell Maj. John W. Newell (USAR)
    grandson of ship's namesake
    Newell
    0632219    		 130k 29 June 1943: Orange, Tex. - launching of USS Newell
    Newell
    0632221    		 65k 02 June 1944: New York - At anchor in New York Harbor, while painted in a modified version of Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D.

    (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official U.S. Navy photo #NH91564, Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.
    Newell
    0632222    		 69k 02 June 1944: New York - As previous photo

    (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official U.S. Navy photo #NH91565, Naval History and Heritage Command)
    Newell
    0632223    		 69k 02 June 1944: New York - As previous photo

    (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official U.S. Navy photo #NH91566, Naval History and Heritage Command)
    Newell
    0632224    		 65k 02 June 1944: New York - As previous photo

    (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official U.S. Navy photo #NH91567, Naval History and Heritage Command)
    Newell
    0632225    		 73k 02 June 1944: New York - As previous photo

    (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official U.S. Navy photo #NH91568, Naval History and Heritage Command)
    Newell
    0632226    		 64 02 June 1944: New York - As previous photo

    (Photographed by the New York Navy Yard, courtesy of A.D. Baker III. Official U.S. Navy photo #NH91569, Naval History and Heritage Command)
    Newell
    0632231    		 90k 01 December 1944: the North Atlantic - USS Newell approaches USS Chiwawa (AO 68) to refuel. Both ships, as units of TF65, were escorting Convoy GUS65 back to the United States. Click here to see Newell's War History page for that date.

    (From the collection of Gus Engle from the USS Chiwawa, AO-68)    		 Dave Schroeder
          and
    John Chiquoine
    West Chester, Pa.
    Newell
    0632232    		 103k
    Newell
    0632202    		 8k undated wartime image Maj. John W. Newell (USAR)
    Lcdr Byron Newell's grandson
    Newell
    0632203    		 106k 20 August 1956: At the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, California - Awaiting conversion to a radar picket ship. She is wearing U.S. Coast Guard markings, used during her service as USCGC Newell (WDE422) in 1951-1954.

    (Courtesy of A.D. Baker III, Official U.S. Navy Photograph, Naval Historical Center, photo #NH 91592)
    Newell
    0632204    		 22k undated, as DER 322
    Newell
    0632205    		 10k
    Newell
    0632206    		 18k
    Newell
    0632227    		 151k 04 November 1957: San Diego, Calif. - Newell underway off Point Loma.

    (U.S. Navy photos #NH103235 & NH103236 from the Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Bob Hurst
    Worksop, Nottinghamshire,
    England, United Kingdom
    Newell
    0632228    		 92k
    Newell
    0632207    		 80k 01 June 1964: Underway in Pearl Harbor Channel, Hawaii.

    (Official U.S. Navy photo #NH103237 by PH2 O'Brien, Naval History and Heritage Command)    		 Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.
    Newell
    0632211    		 17k c.1967: Market Time Ops, off coast of South Vietnam, Newell about to start an UNREP. -
    Newell
    0632208    		 95k - -
    Newell
    0632209    		 61k PCF-60 returning to Newell for refueling and change of crews on the DER mothership. -
    Newell
    0632210    		 63k A PCF patrol craft fast alongside Newell. Swift boats used DER's as remote bases, rotating crews, keeping the patrol craft on station for long periods at great distances from its parent base. -
    Newell
    0632212    		 11k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. About to receive swift boat alongside to change crews. Pete Rabey
    Newell
    0632213    		 11k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. About to receive swift boat alongside to change crews.
    Newell
    0632214    		 7k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. Rigged with bumpers, fenders, and tires to bring alongside patrol craft, and to receive and search suspect wooden and steel-hulled vessels. Larry Lawniczak
    Newell
    0632215    		 7k Fall 1967: during Market Time Patrols near Qui Nhon, RVN. Junk along side to be inspected.
    Newell
    0632216    		 12k Fall 1967: searching a junk.
    Newell
    0632217    		 16k Fall 1967: searching a small craft.
    Newell
    0632220    		 19k undated Vietnam era photo Paul M. Lafave
    Newell
    0632229    		 19k February 1968: Hobart, Australia - Newell seen on a port visit to Hobart. Rex Cox
    World Ship Society
    Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
    Newell
    0632201    		 197k 20 June 1968: the Eastern Pacific - An aerial photo of USS Hassayampa (AO 145) off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii with USS Newell coming alongside for fueling.

    (U.S. Navy photo #VC1-35064-6-68 by PH2/AW Robert F. Kinsey from the Fleet Air Photo Lab, NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii)    		 Mike Smolinski
    Clifton, N.J.

    Navsource Archive Manager
    DE / FF / LCS Archive
    Newell
    0632230    		 92k undated Vietnam era photo Tommy Trampp
    Benton City, Wash.
    Newell
    Memorabilia
    Ship's Plaque
    Newell
    Courtesy of
    Nick Tiberio
    Newell History
    View the USS Newell (DE 322) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    View the official War History of USS Newell as submitted by the ship at war's end.
    Newell's Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves
    Dates of Command Commanding Officers
    1.)  30 Oct. 1943 - 01 Dec. 1943Lcdr. Russell Jay Roberts, USCG (Comm. CO) (USCGA '30) (Garrison-on-Hudson, N.Y.)
    2.)  01 Dec. 1943 - 15 Sep. 1945Cmdr. Paul Edward Burhorst, USCG (USCGA '40) (Baltimore, Md.)
    3.)  15 Sep. 1945 - 20 Nov. 1945Lt. Gabriel E. Pehaim, USCG (Decomm. CO) (Rahway, N.J.)
    4.)  20 Jul. 1951 - 17 Oct. 1952Cmdr. Victor Pfeiffer, USCG (WDE-422) (USCGA '39)
    5.)  17 Oct. 1952 - 01 Jun. 1954Lcdr. Lewis W. Tibbits Jr., USCG (WDE-422) (USCGA '43)
    6.)  20 Aug. 1957 - 25 Apr. 1959Lcdr. Ralph Newton Sutton, USN (Recomm. CO)
    7.)  25 Apr. 1959 - 10 Apr. 1960Cmdr. Robert Chauncey Barnhart Jr., USN (USNA'44) (Johnstown, Pa.)
    8.)  10 Apr. 1960 - 07 Aug. 1961Cmdr. Paul Kenneth Clausen, USN
    9.)  07 Aug. 1961 - 29 Jun. 1963Lcdr. William Rice Zimmerman Jr., USN
    11.) 29 Jun. 1963 - 19 Nov. 1965 Cmdr. Richard Frederick Rockwell, USN
    12.) 19 Nov. 1965 - 21 Jul. 1967 Lcdr. Edward (Ted) Humphrey Monroe Jr., USN
    13.) 21 Jul. 1967 - 21 Sep. 1968Cmdr. William Henry Peerenboom, USN (Decomm. CO) (USNA '57) (Columbus, Ohio)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Contact Name: Larry Lawniczak
    Address: 939 Monroe St.
    City/State: Oshkosh WI 54901
    Phone: (920) 231-4755
    E-mail: lplpjl at milwpc.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
    Destroyer Escort Sailors Association
    The Destroyer Escort Historical Museum
    The Destroyer History Foundation
    Tin Can Sailors Shipmate Registry - USS Newell
    To The DE, FF, LCS Photo Index Page
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    This Page Created And Maintained By Mike Smolinski
    All pages copyright Navsource Naval History
    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated: 13 January 2023