Today's classic warship, USS Fogg (DE-57)
Buckley class escort ship
Displacement: 1,400 t.
Length: 306’
Beam: 37’
Draft: 9’5”
Speed: 24 k.
Complement: 186
Armament: 3 x 3”, 4 x 1.1" AA, 8 x 20 mmAA, 3 21” torpedo tubes, 8 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks, 1 Hedgehog
USS FOGG (DE-57) was launched 20 March 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Shipyard, Hingham, Mass.; sponsored by Mrs. Adelbert W. Fogg, mother of Lieutenant (junior grade) Fogg, and commissioned 7 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander Charles F. Adams, Jr. USNR, in command. She was reclassified DER-57 on 18 March 1949.
FOGG's first cruise on convoy duty began with her departure from New York 13 October 1943. She escorted unladen tankers to Aruba and Curacao in the Netherlands West Indies, crossed to Algiers guarding loaded tankers, then returned by way of Curacao and Trinidad to New York 4 December 1943. Between 26 December 1943 and 20 August 1944, she made six escort voyages from New York to Londonderry and Lisahally, North Ireland, guarding the flow of men and material which made possible the invasion of Europe and the push across the continent which followed.
The escort put to sea once more from New York 12 September 1944, to escort a convoy through the English Channel to Cherbourg, France, then called at Portsmouth, England, before returning to New York 9 October for a brief overhaul. After special training at Charleston, she sailed 6 November to escort a slow towing convoy to England and back. Homeward bound, on 20 December, one of the LSTs in the convoy was torpedoed, and as FOGG began to search for the submarine, she, too, was torpedoed. Four of her men were killed and two wounded, and the ship badly damaged. For two days the crew fought to save their ship, but when on 22 December the stern sheared off, all but a skeleton crew were taken off. These men restored buoyancy, and FOGG reached the Azores in tow the next day. A first attempt to tow her back to the United States failed when bad weather tore away the temporary bulkheads replacing the stern but she at last arrived at Boston for repairs 9 March 1945.
After refresher training, FOGG sailed out of Norfolk between 2 and 30 June 1945, acting as target ship in battle problems with a cruiser, serving as plane guard for a carrier, and training men in combat information center duty. On l July, she entered Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for conversion to a radar picket, which was completed 2 October. Duty along the east coast and in the Caribbean, primarily in antisubmarine warfare development and as combat information center school ship, continued until 26 July 1947, when she arrived at Charleston, S.C. There, FOGG was decommissioned and placed in reserve 27 October 1947.
Stricken April 1 1965, she was sold January 4 1966 and broken up for scrap.
USS Fogg was named for LTJG Carleton Thayer Fogg. Born 19 August 1917 in Lynn, Mass., Carleton Thayer Fogg enlisted in the Naval Reserve 6 October 1937. Appointed Ensign 1 January 1939, Fogg flew with squadrons in aircraft carriers SARATOGA (CV-3) and WASP (CV-7) before joining one in ENTERPRISE (CV-6) in September 1939. Now a regular officer, Lieutenant (junior grade) Fogg was killed in action in the initial attack on Kwajalein, 1 February 1942. He was awarded the Air Medal posthumously for his gallant conduct in the face of heavy enemy opposition.
