Quick DD-490

Quick (DD-490: dp. 2,500 (f.); 1. 348'4", b. 36'1" dr. 12'6", s. 37k.; cpl. 276; a.4 5", 4 40mm., 5 21" tt., 6 dcp. 2 det.; cl. Gleaves) Quick (DD-490) was laid down by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N. J., 3 November 1941; launched 3 May 1942; sponsored by Mrs. William T. Roy, neiee of Sgt. Major Quiek; and commissioned 3 July 1942, Lt. Comdr. R. B. Niekerson in command. Following shakedown off New England and the Maritime Provinees, Quick departed New York, 6 September 1942, for the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Assigned to escort work, she accompanied Army transports and merchantmen a they plied the Gulf and West Indian shipping lanes: lanes which in preceding months had suffered the greatest losses to U-boat activities in the eastern Atlantic. In October, Quick left the Gulf and steamed to Norfolk where she joined TF 34 and, on the 23rd' sailed east. Just before midnight, 7 November, she arrived off Safi, Morocco, and took up station in the transport area for the Southern Attsek Group of operation "Torch" the invasion of North Africa. During the landings the following day, she provided gunfire support, then resumed anti-aircraft and anti-submarine duties. On the 14th she shifted to Caablanea and two days later assisted in sinking U-17.~. On the 17th she got underway for the United States and at the end of the month anchored in New York harbor. see resumed escort work and for the next six months guarded coastal and transAtlantic convoys. On 8 June 1943, Quick departed the east Beast with TF 65, bound for North Africa. Arriving at Mers-el-Kebir on the 22nd, she joined TF 85 and on 5 July sailed for Sicily and operation "Husky". From the 10th through the 13th, she cruised off Seoglitti and along the Camerina plain, providing fire support for the 7th Army's assault troops. She then returned to escort work in the North Atlantic until May 1944, and on Mediterranean runs until the end of the war in Europe. The war in the Pacific raged on, however, and, as Alhed forces pushed closer to the Japanese home islands, their need for minesweepers increased, doubly so with the toll among that type in the Ryukyus. Quick, no longer needed for escort work in the Atlantle, was designated to help fill the need and on 13 June 1945 she entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard where she became a destroyer-minesweeper. Emerging from conversion 2 August as DMS-32 (effcetive 23 June 1945), she sailed for the west coast, arriving at San Diego after the cessation of Pacific hostilities. Toward the end of September, she sailed for Pearl Harbor, thence to Eniwetok for abbreviated operations after which she returned to Hawaii. On 2 December she headed west again, arriving at Sasebo on the 16th for a nine month tour during which she operated off the China coast and off Okinawa in addition to working in Japanese waters. Spending a little over a month on the west coast, she operated in the Mariana between December 1946 and February 1947, then returned to Japanese waters. In April she resumed operations in the Trust Territories and in August returned to the west eoat. The following spring she deployed to the Marshalls and Marianas for another 3 months, returning to San Diego 4 June. Eight months later she wa designated for inactivation and, on 1 March 1949, she reported to Commander, Pacific Reserve Fleet, decommissioning 28 May. Reclassified DD 490 on 15 July 1955, Quick remains with the Pacific Reserve Fleet into 1970. Quick earned four battle stars during World War II.