Tweedy DE-532

Tweedy

(DE-532: dp. 1,350; 1. 306'; b. 36'10"; dr. 13', s. 24 k.; a. 2 5", 4 40mm., 10 20mm., 2 dct., 8 dcp.; cl.John C. Butler)

Tweedy (DE-532) was laid down on 31 August 1943 by the Boston Navy Yard, launched on 7 October 1943sponsored by Mrs. Albert William Tweedy, mother of Lt. Tweedy, and commissioned on 12 February 1944, Lt. Comdr. Thomas Donald Cunningham in command.

On completion of her fitting out, Tweedy departed Boston on 1 March and steamed for Bermuda where she conducted shakedown exercises through the end of the month. En route from Bermuda to Boston on 30 and 31 March, the destroyer escort conducted an unproductive 13-hour search for a German submarine known to be lurking in the coastal shipping lanes.

She began April moored in Boston, then moved south for firing tests in the Chesapeake Bay before arriving at Miami on the 18th. There, she began the duties which were to occupy her throughout most of World War II. Assigned to the Naval Training Center, Miami she operated off the Florida Keys, conducting indoctrination cruises for student officers and nucleus crews. Occasionally putting in at Charleston for repairs or alterations, she continued in this essential but inconspicuous role, supplying the fleets with trained personnel, into the early months of 1945. In April 1946 she rescued six downed aviators from a Navy flying boat and conducted a submarine search north of San Salvador.

In June 1945, she put in at Charleston to under so availability in preparation for assignment to Destroyer Escort Division 63. From mid-June until late October, she participated in exercises in Casco Bay with that division. On 21 October, she moored at Boston for Navy Day activities. The ship got underway on 8 November bound for Florida, and arrived at Green Cove Springs

on the 11th. There, she prepared for inactivation. On 10 May 1946, she was decommissioned and placed in reserve.

Towed from her Florida berth late in March 1949 she underwent conversion and repairs at Charleston and Bath, Maine, which continued into the autumn of 1950. She arrived at Boston in November 1950 and remained there until she was recommissioned on 2 April 1952. Following exercises out of Guantanamo Bay Cuba, she finished out the year as a training ship for the Fleet Sonar School at Key West.

For the next three years, Tweedy conducted reserve training and midshipman cruises in addition to assignments at the Fleet Sonar School at Key West and participated in the annual Operation "Springboard" in the Caribbean. In 1956, she added submarine hunter-killer exercises in the North Atlantic-during which she tested new antisubmarine warfare equipment-to her activities. Late in the summer of 1957, she was deployed on her first Mediterranean cruise and, before returning to Key West in November, participated in Operation "Deepwater."

In June 1958, the ship became a Naval Reserve training ship. Following refresher training in Cuban waters she assumed duties as flagship for Reserve Escort Squadron 4, training reservists from the 6th Naval District. The ship was placed out of commission, in reserve, on 20 June 1959, but she conducted weekend training cruises out of Pensacola for over two years.

In response to the Berlin Crisis of August 1961, Tweedy was recommissioned on 2 October of that year. Following refresher training, she was assigned the home port of Newport and commenced antisubmarine barrier duties in the Caribbean early in 1962. Throughout the year, she engaged in fleet and type exercises, made goodwill visits, and served as flagship for Escort Squadron 12. On 12 June, as Tweedy steamed from Pensacola to Norfolk, she came upon nine Cuban nationals in distress after two days at sea in an open, 14-foot boat. Tweedy aided the refugees and, later in the day, transferred them to Coast Guard representatives for assistance on their way to Miami.

On 1 August 1962, the destroyer escort was again decommissioned and returned to reserve training ship status. Operating out of Florida ports, she continued in that capacity until late in May 196g when she departed St. Petersburg for the last time. On 29 May, she arrived at Orange, Tex., for inactivation; and, in June, her name was struck from the Navy list. In March 1970, she was assigned to Naval Air Atlantic for destruction as a target.