USS Key
Service
- as Key5 June 1944 — 9 July 1946454 days of the war
- Name
- USS Key
- Namesake
- Eugene Morland Key
- Builder
- Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
- Laid down
- 14 December 1943
- Launched
- 12 February 1944
- Commissioned
- 5 June 1944
- Decommissioned
- 9 July 1946
- Struck
- 1 March 1972
- Fate
- Sold for scrapping 19 December 1972 (1972)
- Status
- Scrapped
Specifications
- Displacement, standard
- 1,350 long tons (1,372 t)
- Length
- 93.27 m (306 ft)
- Beam
- 10.97 m (36 ft)
- Draught
- 2.74 m (9 ft)
- Speed
- 24 knots (44.4 km/h, 27.6 mph)
- Range
- 6,000 nmi (11,112 km)
- Complement
- 215
- Main gun
- 127 mm (5 in)
USS Key was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort, operated by the United States Navy. The ship was named after Eugene Morland Key. Her keel was laid at Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas on 14 December 1943. Launched on 12 February 1944, she entered service on 5 June 1944.
She was one of 81 ships of her class. The class followed the Rudderow-class destroyer escort and was succeeded by the Dealey-class destroyer escort.
Displacement was 1,350 long tons. She measured 93.3 m (306 ft) long with a beam of 11.0 m (36 ft). Her designed speed was 24 knots, and she carried a complement of 215.
Her main battery was two 127 mm (5 in) guns.
She was in commission for 454 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 9 July 1946. She was struck from the register on 1 March 1972.
She was broken up for scrap on 19 December 1972.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 2 boilers, 2 geared turbine engines, 12000 shp; 2 propellers
- Armament
- 2 × single 5 in (127 mm) guns
- 2 × twin 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns
- 10 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) AA guns
- 1 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
- 8 × depth charge throwers
- 1 × Hedgehog ASW mortar
- 2 × depth charge racks
Sister ships
- USS Abercrombie
- USS Albert T. Harris
- USS Bivin
- USS Cecil J. Doyle
- USS Charles E. Brannon
- USS Chester T. O’Brien
- USS Conklin
- USS Corbesier (DE-438)
- USS Cross
- USS Dennis
- USS Douglas A. Munro
- USS Doyle C. Barnes
- USS Dufilho
- USS Edmonds
- USS Edward H. Allen
- USS Edwin A. Howard
- USS Eversole (DE-404)
- USS Formoe
- USS French
- USS Gentry
- USS George E. Davis
- USS Gilligan
- USS Goss
- USS Grady
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Key on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo [1] from Navsource.org — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons