>Otterstetter DE-244
Otterstetter
(DE-244, dp. 1,200, 1. 306', b. 37', dr. 12'3", s. 21 k., cpl. 216; a. 3 3", 3 21" tt., 8 dcp, 1 dcp (hh.), 2 dct.; cl. Edsall)
Otterstetter was laid down 9 November 1942 by Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Tex., Launched 19 January 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Miles P. Refo, Jr.; commissioned 6 August 1943, Lt. Comdr. W. B. Porter, in command.
Otterstetter sailed on her shakedown cruise along the East Coast of the United States and on 14 November joined a convoy and steamed as escort from Norfolk to Casablanea, French Moroceo. She arrived there on 2 December 1943 and returned to New York on Christmas Day. She made a eonvoyeseort voyage to Casablanea in February 1944.
On 24 May Otterstetter made the first of three voyages to Argentia, Newfoundland, escorting convoys enroute to the United Kingdom.
On 16 July 1945 Otterstetter sailed for Pearl Harbor via Guantanamo Bay, Panama Canal, and San Diego, Calif. After a brief training in Hawaiian waters, she proceeded to Saipan, arriving 29 August. The following day she sailed for Iwo Jima, arriving on 1 September 1945.
Otterstetter remained at Iwo Jima for a short time, then sailed for Empire waters, arriving 3 November. She returned to the Marianas Islands 2 December and sailed for Okinawa 29 December, before steaming on to Tokyo. She arrived at Tokyo on the last day of the year 1945.
On 4 January 1946 Otterstetter got underway for Jinsen, Korea, returning to Okinawa 14 February. Otterstetter arrived at Sasebo, Japan, on 29 March and at Shanghai, China, on 6 April. Two days later she sailed for Pearl Harbor via Okinawa and then on to the Panama Canal. She transited the eanal and arrived at Charleston 15 May.
Otterstetter underwent a pre-inaetivation overhaul and departed for Green Cove Springs, Florida, 10 September. The ship was placed out of commission in reserve 21 September and attached to the Florida Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.
On 1 June 1951, Charleston Naval Shipyard commenced the dual procedure of reactivating Otterstetter and converting her from a destroYer escort to a radar picket destroyer escort.
Reclassified DER-244 in December 1951, 0tterstetter recommissioned at Charleston Naval Shipyard 6 June 1952, Lt. Comdr. John P. Sullivan in command.
On 19 July 1952 Otterstetter reported to Commander Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, as a unit of Escort Squadron Sixteen.
After a shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay she sailed 4 December for her first picket in the contiguous radar coverage of the Atlantic Coast, searching for and reporting airearft in her sectors of responsibility. She continued these duties for the next several years.
Otterstetter was decommissioned 20 June 1960 and into 1970 remains berthed at Philadelphia.