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Named for
Lt. Stanton
M, Amesbury,
a navy pilot
killed
during the
invasion of
North
Africa,
DE-66 was
launched on
6 June 1943
at Bethlehem
Steel’s yard
in Hingham,
Massachusetts.
She was
commissioned
on 31 August
1943, and
following
her
shakedown
training off
Bermuda, she
reported to
Norfolk for
duty as a
destroyer
escort
training
ship. On 20
November she
joined Task
Force 69 for
transatlantic
convoy
escort runs,
during which
she served
as flagship
for Escort
Division 19
on four
round-trip
voyages to
Londonderry
and Lishally,
Ireland, and
one to
Greenock,
Scotland,
through the
spring of
1944.
At
Londonderry
on 1 June
1944, the
AMESBURY
reported for
duty with TF
124, TG
124.7 and,
two days
later,
sailed for
the invasion
of Normandy.
Arriving in
the assault
area on 6
June, she
took up her
assigned
area on a
screen and
fire support
station.
During the
next week on
station, she
took part in
several
antiaircraft
actions
against
attacking
German
planes
bedeviling
the ships
offshore.
Between
fighting off
air attacks
and dodging
drifting
mines, the
work of the
escorts was
brisk. At
2112 on 11
June,
LST-496
struck a
mine en
route to the
assault
area, and
the AMESBURY
sped to her
assistance.
Three
smaller
craft
reached the
disabled
tank landing
ship and
were
picking up
survivors
before the
destroyer
escort
reached the
LST’s side.
As soon as
PC-568
cleared
LST-496, the
DE’s skipper
skillfully
maneuvered
her
alongside to
remove the
remainder of
the LST's
crew and
embarked
troops. She,
then,
summoned a
doctor from
LCI-530 to
treat the
injured men
taken on
board.
Meanwhile,
the tug
ATA-125
arrived on
the scene
and, with
the
assistance
of the
AMESBURY's
sailors on
board
LST-496,
secured a
tow line to
the crippled
ship. A
short time
later,
however, the
LST, which
was barely
underway,
began
listing to
port. The
AMESBURY
promptly cut
her lines
and
maneuvered
to clear.
The sailors
she had put
on board the
doomed ship
were ordered
off, and
they all
managed to
jump to
safety and
were quickly
rescued as
LST-496 went
to the
bottom.
The AMESBURY
returned to
Plymouth,
England, the
next day, 12
June, and
got underway
for New York
on the 13th.
She resumed
her duties
with
Division 19,
making one
round-trip
voyage
between New
York and
Ireland in
July. On 4
August, with
the
dissolution
of CortDiv
19, she
sailed south
to Key West,
where she
was assigned
to the Fleet
Sonar
School,
operating in
the Straits
of Florida,
in
connection
with
training in
antisubmarine
warfare (ASW)
until 20
February
1945.
On 23
February,
the AMESBURY
arrived at
the
Philadelphia
Navy Yard
where she
was
redesignated
APD 46 and
remained
there until
16 May 1945
while
undergoing
conversion
to a high
speed
transport.
She then got
underway for
the West
Coast,
arriving in
San Diego on
17 June. A
brief visit
to Hawaii
was followed
by sonar and
training
exercises
into
mid-August
and the end
of the war.
With 11
officers and
81 enlisted
men of
Underwater
Demolition
Team (UDT)
12 embarked,
the AMESBURY
sailed for
Okinawa on
16 August.
The ship
arrived at
Okinawa on 4
September
and sortied
the next day
as part of
Task Unit
78.1.15
bound for
Jinsen (now
Inchon),
Korea, to
support the
unfolding
occupation
of that
region.
Remaining in
the area
until 15
September,
she acted as
screening
vessel for
the
anchorage
while the
demolition
team
conducted
beach
reconnaissance.
After a
quick return
to Okinawa,
she
proceeded to
Tientsin,
China, on 25
September to
support the
landings
there until
4 October
when she
left Chinese
waters with
a group of
tank landing
ships bound
for Okinawa.
En route,
she
destroyed
three mines
and a
derelict
Chinese junk
and
successfully
rode out a
typhoon.
Sailing for
Guam on 22
October, the
AMESBURY
embarked 37
marines for
passage back
home and,
with the
BALDUCK
(APD-132),
proceeded
via Eniwetok
and Pearl
Harbor, to
the United
States. They
arrived at
San Diego on
7 November.
After taking
on army
passengers,
she got
underway for
the East
Coast on 7
December
1945 and
reached
Norfolk soon
thereafter.
After
disembarking
her
passengers
and
discharging
ammunition
and other
stores, she
proceeded to
Green Cove
Springs,
Florida, for
decommissioning.
The AMESBURY
was
decommissioned
and placed
in reserve
on 3 July
1946, and
never again
saw active
service.
Stricken
from the
U.S. Naval
Vessel
Register on
1 June 1960,
she was sold
to Chet
Alexander
Marine
Salvage of
Key West on
24 October
1962. She
was
subsequently
scrapped. |
