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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Silhouette of a Benson-class destroyer, of the same general type as USS Laub.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Laub (DD-613), 1942-1975

USS Laub, a 1620-ton Benson class destroyer, was built at San Pedro, California. She was placed in commission in October 1942 and, following shakedown, passed through the Panama Canal in January 1943 to join the Atlantic Fleet. During the next five months she was employed escorting convoys from the U.S. to North Africa. In July 1943 Laub participated in the invasion of Sicily, using her guns to bombard enemy positions ashore and to fight off hostile aircraft. She returned to convoy escort work late in the month, operating during the rest of the year and well into 1944 in the Mediterranean, and in the Atlantic on routes to the United States and to the British Isles. On 6 November 1943 the destroyer's convoy was hit by torpedo planes, and she rescued more than three-hundred survivors of these attacks. She operated off the Anzio beachhead in May 1944 on fire support duty, but had to return to the U.S. for repairs after colliding with the light cruiser Philadelphia on 23 May.

Laub returned to the Mediterranean in December 1944 to resume her escort and fire support missions. In mid-May 1945, with the European war at an end, she steamed back to the U.S. East Coast to prepare for service in the Pacific. Still engaged in training when Japan capitulated in mid-August, she remained in the western Atlantic until decommissioned at Charleston, South Carolina, early in February 1946. USS Laub was part of the "mothball fleet" from then until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register at the beginning of July 1971. She was sold in mid-January 1975.

This page provides information on an image of USS Laub (DD-613) that may be available from the National Archives


Though the Naval Historical Center's photographic collection includes no images of USS Laub (DD-613), the National Archives appears to hold at least one view of her. The following list features this image:

The image listed below is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-237950
    USS Laub (DD-613) underway off the U.S. East Coast, 22 July 1944. Photographed from a blimp of squadron ZP-11
    Starboard bow aerial view. The ship is painted in a horizontal two-tone camouflage scheme, presumably Measure 22.


    Reproductions of this image should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The image listed in this box is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


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    Page made 8 April 2005
    Minor text change made 10 October 2005