The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

The USS Mason (DE-529): Mostly Black Crew-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Back on January 5 and 9, I wrote about military tugboats constructed in Deland, Florida.  One, the ST-679, was a part of the "Infamous" Convoy NY-119, which encountered a horrendous storm in September 1944.  One of the ships mentioned in the convoy was the USS Mason.

I wasn't sure why this ship's name would be mentioned and others in the convoy were not.  So, of course, I had to do some more research, especially since I had never heard of the ship.

The USS Mason (DE-529) was an Everts-class destroyer escort and one of only two World War II ships manned almost entirely by a black crew.  The other was the USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser.

Ships being manned by black crews was the result of an NCAAP  to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

It was commissioned March 20, 1944, and decommissioned October 12, 1945, weighed 1140 tons and was 289-feet long.

More to Come.  --GreGen

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