Allied Warships

USS Bowers (DE 637)

Destroyer Escort of the Buckley class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer Escort
Class	Buckley
Pennant	DE 637
Built by	Bethlehem Steel Corp., (San Francisco, California, U.S.A.)
Ordered	7 Aug 1942
Laid down	28 Mar 1943
Launched	31 Oct 1943
Commissioned	27 Jan 1944
End service	18 Dec 1956
History	Converted to High Speed Transport and reclassified as APD- 40 on 25 June 1945. Decommissioned 10 February 1947. Recommissioned 6 February 1951. Decommissioned 18 December 1956. Stricken by the U.S.N. 1 May 1961. Transferred to the Philippines 21 April 1961 being renamed Rajah Soliman. Rajah Soliman was sunk in a Typhoon in June 1962. Raised and stricken in December 1964, broken up for scrap in 1966.

Commands listed for USS Bowers (DE 637)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	T/Lt.Cdr. Frederic William Hawes, USN	27 Jan 1944	6 Dec 1944
2	Charles Frederick Highfield, USNR	6 Dec 1944	16 Apr 1945
3	Truman Boyce Hinkle, USNR	16 Apr 1945	Aug 1945
4	Kenneth Ferguson Williams, USNR	Aug 1945	Dec 1945

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Notable events involving Bowers include:

10 Jun 1944
Around 1430K/10, a convoy departed Langemak Bay (Megum Island anchorage) for Humboldt Bay (Hollandia).

This convoy was made up of the (troop) transports; Charles M. Russell (American, 7176 GRT, built 1943), David C. Shanks (American, 12097 GRT, built 1943), Edward Lander (American, 7176 GRT, built 1944), Esso Pittsburgh (American (tanker), 11236 GRT, built 1943), I.N. van Nuys (American, 7207 GRT, built 1944), James H. Lane (American, 7176 GRT, built 1943), James M. Clements (American, 7176 GRT, built 1943), Lewis L. Dyche (American, 7176 GRT, built 1943), Sea Pike (American, 7949 GRT, built 1943) and Yunnan (British, 2812 GRT, built 1934).

Also the landing craft USS LCI 444 (Lt. F.C. Gebhart, USNR) and USS LCI 446 (Lt.(jg) H.T. Coller, USNR) were with the convoy as were ten PT boats from MTB Squadron 9, these were; USS PT-126, USS PT-154, USS PT-155, USS PT-156, USS PT-157, USS PT-159, USS PT-160, USS PT-161, USS PT-162 and USS PT-187.

The convoy was escorted by the destroyer escorts USS Witter (Cdr. A.C. Davis, USNR, SO of the escort), USS Bowers (T/Lt.Cdr. F.W. Hawes, USN), USS Foreman (Lt.Cdr. C.A. Manston, USNR), destroyer HMAS Vendetta (Lt.Cdr. J.S. Mesley, RAN) and minesweeper HMAS Strahan (Lt.Cdr. L.D. Williams, RANR).

Around 1650K/10, the Yunnan parted company with the convoy to return to Langemak Bay.

Around 1800K/10, the transport Tarakan (Dutch, 8183 GRT, built 1930) joined the convoy.

Around 2210K/10, the transports Jean P. Chouteau (American, 7176 GRT, built 1943) and Hanyang (British, 2865 GRT, built 1940) joined the convoy. They were escorted by the patrol vessel USS PC 1123 (Lt. W.R. Plage, USNR) which also joined the convoy.

Around 0520K/12, the James M. Clements parted company with the convoy to proceed to Aitape escorted by USS PC-1123.

The convoy arrived at Humboldt Bay around noon on the 13th. (1)