United States Navy — Destroyer escort

USS Keith (DE-241) — service history

This is the full service history. For the vessel's particulars, photograph and specifications, see the entry.

In the words of the US Navy. The account below is reproduced verbatim from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command — a work of the United States Government, in the public domain, and the only text on this site not written here.

Contents

Before commissioning
Second World War 1939–1945
1942 1
1943 1
1944 3
1945 2
Post-war 1946–1949
1946 1
References 4

Periods, years and the actions beside them are read out of the text — the source is one continuous narrative with no divisions of its own. A period is the calendar, not a claim: a vessel with a 1951 section was not necessarily off Korea.

Before commissioning

(DE-241; dp. 1,200; l. 306'; b. 26'7"; dr. 8'7", s. 21 k.; cpl. 186; a. 3 3", 8 40 mm., 10 20mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp., 3 21" tt.; cl . Edsall )

Ellis Judson Keith, Jr., was born at Houston, Tex., on 30 June 1919 and entered the Navy as a Seaman Second Class on 2 October 1941. He was assigned as a radioman and gunner on a patrol plane that flew on aerial bombardments and strafing attacks on enemy ships in the Aleutian Islands. Killed in action during a mission over Kiska Harbor 11 June 1942, Seaman Keith was awarded the Air Medal posthumously for his courage and fortitude.

Second World War 1939–1945

1942

Keith (DE-241), laid down as Scott and renamed Keith 8 December 1942, was launched 21 December 1942 by Brown Ship Building Co., Houston, Tex.; sponsored by Mrs. Ellis J. Keith, Sr., mother of Seaman Keith; and commissioned 19 July 1943 at Houston, Tex., Lt. D. Cochran in command.

1943

After shakedown and training exercise out of Bermuda, Keith sailed from Norfolk 14 September 1943 on the first of three voyages escorting convoys from East Coast ports to Gibraltar.

1944

The U.S. Navy destroyer escort USS Keith (DE-241) transferring an airman to the escort carrier USS Core (CVE-13) in the Atlantic Ocean on 25 August 1944. At 09:43 on the morning of 25 August, a Grumman TBM Avenger of Composite Squadron 13 (VC-13) crewed by Lt.(jg) Paul M. Rockette, ARM3c Frederick Rettew, and AMM3c Gustav T. Johnson crashed 3000 m off Keith 's bow. At 09:52 the crew was taken aboa U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo 80-G-269147 from Navsource.org — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons

After returning from convoy escort duty 22 February 1944, Keith underwent extensive refresher training and participated in antisubmarine warfare exercises before sailing on 15 March as part of escort carrier Tripoli's newly-formed hunter-killer group. With this group she patrolled the Atlantic from Brazil to Newfoundland in quest of enemy submarines.

In July she joined a similar group operating with escort carrier Core. On 30 August, Core's hunter-killer group contacted an enemy submarine. Keith, assisting in the search, made two hedgehog attacks with inconclusive results.

Keith continued to operate with the hunter-killer group patrolling the vast waters of the Atlantic, escorting convoys from "midocean point" to ports in Brazil, Bermuda, Newfoundland, Cuba, and the United States.

1945

On 23 April 1945, the hunter-killer group, operating as a combined force against a large wolfpack of U-boats, spotted a partially submerged submarine but could not locate it after it dived. While searching the next day, Davis, a destroyer in company, was torpedoed and sunk.

Keith and task group ships headed to the position where Davis had gone down and launched a severe depth charge attack that lasted some 12 hours before U-546 was forced to surface. The destroyer escorts opened fire on the submarine; and Keith made two direct hits before the U-boat sank. After the engagement, Keith rescued four survivors from the submarine.

Post-war 1946–1949

1946

In mid-July, Keith departed Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for duty in the Pacific. Keith found herself in Pearl Harbor at the end of hostilities and got underway for Saipan for escort duty and mop-up operations. Shortly after arriving 31 August, she was assigned an air-sea rescue station between Iwo Jima and Japan. At the end of the year Keith sailed for China, arriving Shanghai on the last day of December. She remained there patrolling and escorting vessels until sailing for home on 10 April 1946 via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal arriving at Charleston, S.C., 15 May 1946. Keith was towed to Green Cove Springs, Fla., where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 20 September 1946. At present she is berthed at Orange, Tex.

References

Every work this entry draws on. There are no numbered markers in the text above: what we hold is the provenance of the page — this history, this article, these photographs.

History Keith (DE-241) Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Naval History and Heritage Command. A work of the United States Government, in the public domain — the only text on this site reproduced verbatim.
Facts USS Keith (DE-241) Structured facts only — dates, dimensions, armament and fate. No wording is taken from it. Harvested 1 August 2026.
Photograph USS Keith (DE-241) anchored in Shanghai, China, on 3 January 1946 U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo [1] from Navsource.org — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
Photograph USS Keith (DE-241) transferring an airman to USS Core (CVE-13) in the Atlantic Ocean on 25 August 1944 (80-G-269147) U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo 80-G-269147 from Navsource.org — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons