U.S. NAVY EUROPEAN CRUISE 1956 NAVAL RESERVE DESTROYER ESCORT TRAINING 89994
Narrated by
Robert Montgomery, this
1956 U.S. Navy film follows the fleet, and in particular the destroyers escorts of the
Naval Reserve, as they make a trip across the
Atlantic for a
European cruise to
Spain and Portugal. The film shows all sorts of activities of the destroyer escort crews, beginning with starting up the boilers on the vessels.
Refresher training is seen as well as new recruit training, even
Marlinspike seamanship, as the ships get underway for
Europe.
The destroyer escort
USS McClelland DE-750 is seen at the 6:14 mark, and the
USS Cronin DE-107 at 6:30. At 6:35, the ships arrive at
Ponta Delgada in the Azores where a liberty is taken.
USS Tills
DE-748 is seen at
9:18, as the ships arrive at
Cadiz. At 11:30 a bullfight is attended by
U.S. Naval personnel.
Seville is seen at 12:40, and the
Alcazar.
Anti-submarine warfare training with a
Hedgehog is seen at the 14:40 mark. At 16:20,
Lisbon is seen along with the training vessel
Dom Fernando II E
Gloria. USS
Earl K Olsen
DE-765 is seen at 20:40, during a port of call in
Portugal. At 21:30, damage control drills are seen along with gunnery practice. USS Kyne
DE-744 is seen at the end of the film at the 23:14 mark.
Robert Montgomery (May 21, 1904 –
September 27,
1981) was an
American film and television actor, director and producer. After
World War II broke out in Europe, Robert Montgomery enlisted in
London for
American field service and drove ambulances in
France until the
Dunkirk evacuation. Upon
America’ entrance into the war,
Montgomery joined the U.S. Navy and served as
Naval Attache on
British destroyers hunting U-boats. He attended torpedo boat school, became a PT boat commander, and participated in the
D-Day invasion on board a
Destroyer. Montgomery served five years of active war duty, was awarded a
Bronze Star, the American
Defense Service Ribbon, the
European Theater Ribbon with two
Battle Stars, one
Overseas Service Bar, and promoted to the rank of
Lt. Commander.
Destroyer escort (DE) was the
United States Navy mid-20th century classification for a 20-knot (23 mph) warship designed with endurance to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Kaibōkan were designed for a similar role in the
Imperial Japanese Navy. The Royal Navy and
Commonwealth forces identified such warships as frigates, and that classification was widely accepted when the
United States redesignated destroyer escorts as frigates (FF) in
1975.
Destroyer escorts, frigates and kaibōkan were mass-produced for World War II as a less expensive anti-submarine warfare alternative to fleet destroyers.
Post-war destroyer escorts and frigates were larger than those produced during wartime, with increased anti-aircraft capability, but remained smaller and slower than post-war destroyers. As
Cold War destroyer escorts became as large as wartime destroyers, the United States Navy converted some of their World War II destroyers to escort destroyers (
DDE).
USS Kyne (DE-744) was a
Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in
the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for
Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home after the war with a very commendable accumulation of six battle stars.
During
1947 Kyne was designated in service, in reserve, and operated as a reserve training ship out of
Fort Schuyler, New York She recommissioned on
21 November 1950,
Lt. Comdr. Carl L. Scherrer in command; and was assigned to the
3rd Naval District as a reserve training ship. For the next nine years, Kyne provided the training necessary to maintain a well-drilled reserve, ready to defend the nation during any crisis. Kyne decommissioned on 17 June 1960, at
New York and she remained in the
Atlantic Reserve Fleet at
Philadelphia until she was sold for scrapping on
1 November 1973.
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