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Navsource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive

USS Weber (DE 675 / APD 75)


Flag Hoist / Radio Call Sign:
N - T - R - C
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: China Service Medal
Second Row: American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 star - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal
Third Row: World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal - Philippine Liberation Ribbon


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
Weber (DE 675) Building and Operational Data:
  • 22 February 1943: Keel laid by the Bethlehem Steel (Fore River Yard) Shipyard, Inc., Quincy, Mass.
  • 01 May 1943: Launched and christened, sponsored by Mrs. Matt R. Walsh of Galesburg, Ill., mother of Lt.(jg) Weber
  • 30 June 1943: Commissioned, Cmdr. Rollo N. Norgaard in command
  • 10 December 1944: Entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for APD conversion (completed mid-March 1945)
  • 15 December 1944: Reclassified APD 75
  • 30 July 1946: Decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Fla. after 3 years and 1 month of service
  • 01 June 1960: Struck from the NVR
  • 15 July 1962: Sunk as a target by an air-launched Bullpup missile
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    Weber

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    8k Frederick Thomas Weber (04 February 1916 - 04 June 1942) was born at Des Moines, Iowa and later attended college at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. before transferring to Drake University in Des Moines in 1935. He graduated during the summer of 1938 and enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 30 August. Seaman 2d Class Weber successfully completed elimination flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Kansas City, Kansas; and, on 27 July 1939, he was appointed an aviation cadet in the Naval Reserve. After 10 months of training at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., Weber was appointed a naval aviator on 10 May 1940. A little over a month later, he concluded his training and, on 12 June 1940, received his commission and orders to Bombing Squadron (VB) 6 attached to the carrier Enterprise (CV 6). This proved to be Ens. Weber's only assignment during his brief naval career. During the remainder of 1940 and for 11 of the 12 months of 1941, he served with his ship and squadron operating out of San Diego, and later out of Pearl Harbor. His duties consisted of training in aerial warfare in preparation for the conflict with Japan expected to erupt at any time.

    At the end of the first week in December 1941, Enterprise was returning from Wake Island. Foiled in their attempt to locate the Japanese striking force on 7 December, the carrier entered Pearl Harbor on the 8th. The following morning, she sortied and began defensive patrols of the area to assure that no enemy invasion force was on its way to Hawaii. In April 1942 Enterprise served as an escort for Hornet (CV 8) during the Halsey-Doolittle bomber raid on Tokyo and returned to Oahu on 25 April. Dispatched too late to join in the Battle of the Coral Sea, his ship returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 May to prepare for what would be an even more important strategic battle-the first real defeat of Japanese naval airpower during the struggle over Midway Island. On 28 May 1942, Enterprise steamed out of Pearl Harbor, accompanied by Hornet and their escorts of Task Force 16, to lie in ambush north of Midway. Swiftly repaired Yorktown (CV 5) followed two days later. On the morning of 4 June, land-based patrol planes from Midway made contact with the advancing Japanese force. While Midway defended itself against enemy air attacks and landbased air unsuccessfully tried to pierce the Japanese defenses, Weber and his comrades in VB-6 took to the air to begin a long gruelling search. By 0730, the entire attack group was aloft and streaking off toward the enemy's reported position. Lt. Comdr. Clarence "Wade" McClusky, the Enterprise air group commander, led the squadron himself as the formation winged on toward Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Carrier Striking Force. (Frederick Weber's biography continued here)

    USS Weber (DE 675) (1943-1947) was the first ship named in his honor.      (U.S. Navy photo from the The Zephyr (of Galesburg, Ill.) )
    Bill Gonyo
    Downey, Cal.

    Assoc. Researcher
    Navsource
    Weber 62k September 1943 before her conversion to a high speed transport

    (U.S. Navy Photo)
    -
    Weber 131k circa 1943 - 1944: USS Weber (DE 675) underway but lying to, probably waiting to enter port. Note the crew in whites and standing at a semblance of quarters.

    (U.S. Naval Historical Center photo #79814, Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974, from the Naval History and Heritage Command)
    Mike Green
    Port Angeles, Wash.

    Weber History
    View the USS Weber (DE 675 / APD 75) DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command web site.
    View the official War History of USS Weber as submitted by the ship at war's end.

    Weber's Commanding Officers
    Thanks to Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves
    Dates of Command Commanding Officers
    1.) 30 Jun. 1943 - 28 Aug. 1943Cmdr. Rollo Neil Norgaard, USN (Comm. CO) (Arlington, Va.) (ret. as Radm.)
    2.) 28 Aug. 1943 - 02 Jun. 1944Lcdr. Robert Henry Stevens, USNR (Detroit, Mich.)
    3.) 02 Jun. 1944 - 23 Oct. 1944Lcdr. Robert Warren Whalen, USNR (New Haven, Conn.)
    4.) 23 Oct. 1944 - 11 Jan. 1946Lcdr. Frederick Faver, USNR (Wilmette, Ill.)
    5.) 11 Jan. 1946 - 19 Nov. 1945Cmdr. Arthur Donald Berliss Jr., USNR (New York, N.Y.)
    6.) 19 Nov. 1945 - .. Mar. 1946Lcdr. Herbert Jonathan Kanter, USNR (Atlanta, Ga.)
    7.) .. Mar. 1946 - 30 Jul. 1946Lt. Marion Spencer Evans (Decomm. CO) (Red Oak, Ia.)

    Crew Contact And Reunion Information

    Contact Name: Joe Retcho
    Address: 180 NE 12 Ave. (Apt 17C)
    Cty/State: Hallandale FL 33009
    Phone: (954) 458-7504
    E-mail: jritalia@msn.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

    Navsource APD Pages, USS Weber (APD 75)
    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 Weber
    To The DE, FF, LCS Photo Index Page
    Back To The Main Photo Index

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    by Paul R. Yarnall, All Rights Reserved.
    Page Last Updated: 13 December 2019