Allied Warships

USS J. Douglas Blackwood (DE 219)

Destroyer Escort of the Buckley class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer Escort
Class	Buckley
Pennant	DE 219
Built by	Philadelphia Navy Yard (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)
Ordered	8 Jun 1942
Laid down	22 Feb 1943
Launched	29 May 1943
Commissioned	15 Dec 1943
End service	1 Aug 1962
History	Decommissioned 20 April 1946. Recommissioned 5 February 1951. Decommissioned 1 August 1958. Recommissioned 2 October 1961. Decommissioned 1 August 1962. Stricken 30 January 1970. Sunk as a target 20 July 1970.

Commands listed for USS J. Douglas Blackwood (DE 219)

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and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	Ralph Baker Randolph, USN	15 Dec 1943	5 Aug 1944
2	James Lamont Johnston, USNR	5 Aug 1944	1 Nov 1945

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Notable events involving J. Douglas Blackwood include:

25 Apr 1945
During 25 April 1945, USS Skate (T/Cdr. R.B. Lynch, USN) and USS Pipefish (T/Cdr. W.N. Deragon, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbor with USS Pruitt (Lt. D.B. Harby, USNR), USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR) and USS PC-599 (Lt. J.M Kindt, USNR).

They were then joined for night exercises by USS Cabezon (T/Cdr. G.W. Lautrup, USN), USS Capitaine (T/Lt.Cdr. E.S. Friedrick, USN) and USS Chew (Lt.Cdr. J.J. Mannion, USNR).

Night exercises were then carried out with a group of transports simulating a convoy. The group of transports was made up of the following vessels; USS Carlisle (Lt.Cdr. M.J. Carley, USNR), USS Cleburne (Lt.Cdr. F.T. Callahan, USNR), USS Crenshaw (Cdr. W.B. Studley, USNR), USS Crittenden (T/Capt. P.C. Crosley, USN), USS Cullman (Lt.Cdr. W.B. Dell, USNR), USS Riverside (T/Capt. L.N. Miller, USN), USS Bandera (T/Capt. A.C. Thorington, USN), USS Beckham (T/Capt. A.R. Sodergren, USN), USS Buckingham (T/Capt. H.G. Moran, USN), USS Kingsbury (T/Cdr. J.H. Hughes, USN), USS Lander (T/Capt. J.D. Sweeney, USN), USS Pickaway (T/Capt. H.L. Bixby, USN), USS Rockbridge (T/Capt. W.W. Cone, USN), USS San Saba (T/Capt. E.E. Berthold, USN), USS Waukesha (Lt.Cdr. J.S. Herold, USNR), USS Winston (Lt.Cdr. E.S. Doty, USNR) and USS Prentiss (T/Cdr. G.P. Walker, USN). [A source give that 18 transports were present so perhaps there was one more that is not listed here]. The convoy was escorted by 9 escorts according to the source which also stated that 18 transports had been present. USS Chew was the escort leader and he three escorts that had been exercising with the submarines also joined the convoy. Most of the above transports had already been out for exercises for several days during which they had been escorted by USS PC-486 (Lt. R.B. Whitney, USNR), USS PC-781 (Lt. F. Hopkinson, USNR) and USS PC-1078 (Lt. J.R. Slater, USNR) which were still present. [That leaves two escort vessels still unaccounted for.]

The exercises were completed on the 26th.

27 Apr 1945
USS Skate (T/Cdr. R.B. Lynch, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbor with USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR) and USS PC-599 (Lt. J.M Kindt, USNR).

16 May 1945
USS Carbonero (Cdr. C.L. Murphy, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbor together with USS Whitman (Lt. E.A. Sandor, USNR) and USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR).

8 Jun 1945
USS Searaven (T/Lt.Cdr. T.M. Ustick, USN) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbor with USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR). (1)

13 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbor together with USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR) and USS Coolbaugh (Lt.Cdr. S.E. Zimmerman, USNR).

14 Jul 1945
USS Catfish (Lt.Cdr. W.A. Overton, USNR) conducted exercises off Pearl Harbor together with USS J. Douglas Blackwood (Lt.Cdr. J.L. Johnston, USNR), USS Florikan (Lt. D. Hima, USN) and USS Sargo (Lt.Cdr. J.M. Hingson, USN).