
USS DeLong, a 1450-ton Rudderow class escort ship built at Quincy, Massachusetts, was commissioned on the last day of 1943. From March 1944 until August 1945 she was employed as a training ship, based at Miami, Florida. Though reclassified as a high speed transport (APD-137) in August 1945, the end of the war with Japan produced a quick cancellation of conversion work. DeLong reverted to the designation DE-684 less than a month later and was soon inactivated at St. John's River, Florida, where she formally went out of commission in April 1947.
The increased Cold War activity that accompanied the Korean War brought DeLong back into commission in February 1951. She served with the Atlantic Fleet for the next seven years, frequently as a sonar school training ship at Key West, Florida. Deployed twice to European waters, once for the huge exercise Operation "Mainbrace" in August-October 1952, and again on a midshipman training cruise in the summer of 1954, she also visited the Atlantic coast of South America in mid-1953.
At the beginning of 1958 DeLong steamed to New York, where she was a Naval Reserve training ship until passing out of service in August 1969. The ship was expended as a target during Operation "Springboard 70" on 19 February 1970.
This page features all the views we have related to USS DeLong (DE-684).
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
|
Photo #: NH 98909 USS DeLong (DE-684) Underway, circa the 1950s or early 1960s. Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Ted Stone Collection. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
![]() |
|
Photo #: USN 1036995 USS Enterprise (CVS-6) Awaiting disposal at the New York Naval Shipyard on 22 June 1958. She was sold for scrapping ten days later, on 2 July. USS Independence (CVA-62) is fitting out on the opposite side of the pier. Ships visible in the left foreground include (from front): USS DeLong (DE-684), USS Coates (DE-685) and USS Hoe (SS-258). Ten other destroyers are also present, as is a "Liberty" type ship. The Schaefer brewery is visible in the center background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph. Online Image: 149KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system as Photo # 428-N-1036995. |
![]() |
|
Photo #: NH 65847-KN (Color) Insignia: USS DeLong (DE-684) This drawing was sent by the ship in about 1960. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 163KB; 595 x 765 pixels |
![]() |
|
Photo #: NH 71588-KN (color) USS DeLong (DE-684) Jacket patch of the ship's insignia used circa the 1960s. Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1970. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 142KB; 660 x 675 pixels |
![]() |
|
Photo #: NH 76297-KN (color) Insignia of Escort Squadron Eight Plaque received in 1964. It features bow-on depictions of the squadron's ships: USS Parle (DE-708), USS Coates (DE-685), USS DeLong (DE-684), USS Loeser (DE-680), USS J. Douglas Blackwood (DE-219), and USS Darby (DE-218). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 93KB; 595 x 765 pixels |
![]() |
In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS DeLong (DE-684). The following list features some of these images:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."
|
USS DeLong (DE-684) underway, circa 1952. Photo was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 5 June 1952. Port broadside surface view, with the ship's crew standing in groups along the rails. USS DeLong (DE-684) underway in the Norfolk, Virginia, area, August 1952. Starboard bow surface view, taken from about the level of the ship's bridge. USS DeLong (DE-684) refueling from USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39), 13 November 1952. Photographed by AN W.H. Smith. Port quarter surface view, with Lake Champlain's starboard side and fuel hoses dominating the left side of the image. DeLong's midships area is heavily shadowed. Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
| If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 16 November 2003