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There are three histories on this page.  The first was written by me, the webmaster.  The basic information was taken from DANFS,1963, Vol II.  Other sources include USN documents, including the Ship Log, and private publications.  I wrote this history in 2000, before I had the other documents below.

The second history was obtained May 2003 from the Division of Naval History, Ship's Histories Section, Navy Department, Washington, DC.  The history is dated July 1953.  I have no idea who wrote this history.  It adds a few more details of the service of DE 353.

The third history was written by John P. Ingle, Jr., Commanding Officer of DE 353.  I obtained this document in May 2003.

At the end of WWII, the USN required each commanding officer to submit a history of his ship and this is Ingle's submission.  He submitted this history to The Secretary of the Navy 1 Oct 1945.  See the original letter of submission.   Cmdr. Ingle entitled his history, "In Retrospect - 13 July 1944 - 1 October 1945".  You will note that Cmdr. Ingle wrote another document with this same "In Retrospect" title on the First Anniversary of DE 353.  Obviously, he used this document and simply added additional information to bring it up to date to the war's end.

History I

USS Doyle C. Barnes DE 353 was built by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Ltd., Orange, Texas. The contract price for hull and machinery was $2,043,000.00, excluding the cost of the main propulsion machinery. This was a "cost plus fixed fee" type contract. The contract was signed on 7 August 1942.

She was of the WGT design group of destroyer escorts. DEs of this group were powered by geared turbine engines. Her turbines were manufactured by General Electric Corporation. The WGT design group was also known as the John C. Butler Class destroyer escort.

Her keel was laid 11 January 1944. A short two months later, USS Doyle C. Barnes DE 353 was launched on 4 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. D. C. Barnes, widow of Ensign Barnes. Click here for rare photos of the Christening Ceremony.

The Contract Date of Completion of DE 353 was signed 10 May 1944. 10 July 1944 was the Date of Preliminary Acceptance by the US Navy. This acceptance meant she was approved to be commissioned.

USS Doyle C. Barnes DE 353 was commissioned 13 July 1944, Lieutenant Commander J. P. Ingle, USNR, in command. The ceremony took place on the City Docks, Orange, Texas.

DE 353 departed Orange, Texas 20 July 1944 and arrived the same day at Galveston, Texas where she remained for 10 days. She departed Galveston 30 July and arrived at Bermuda Island 5 August.

After shakedown at Bermuda, 5 August to 5 September, DE 353 sailed to Boston and remained there until 23 September. She departed Boston and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia 25 September. At Norfolk, she served as a school ship for officers destined for escort vessel service. She served in this capacity from 25 September to 21 October 1944.

On 19 October 1944, Doyle C. Barnes was designated Flagship Of Commander Escort Division 82, CDR William Croft Jennings, USNR.  Other ships of this division were the USS Kenneth M. Willett DE-354, USS Jaccard DE-355, USS Lloyd E. Acree DE-356, USS George E. Davis DE-357, and USS Mack DE-358.

Doyle C. Barnes DE 353, along with the other five ships of the Division, sailed from Norfolk on 21 October. She passed through the Panama Canal 27 October and arrived in the Galapagos Islands 31 October. She crossed the equator 1 November, arriving in Bora Bora, Society Islands 12 November and reached her final destination of Hamboldt Bay Hollandia, New Guinea 28 November, 1944.

Doyle C. Barnes DE 353 escorted convoys and patrolled from late 1944 to 25 June 1945 when she departed Leyte for Brunei Bay (Borneo).

From 28 June to 6 October, she took part in the assault and occupation of Borneo, working with the Australian General G. F. Wootten for whom DE 353 served as the US Navy liaison ship.

On 22 July, she was called upon to conduct a shore bombardment of Japanese strongholds in Borneo and was subsequently commended by COMDESPAC in a letter which read in part, "The USS Doyle C. Barnes was confronted with as difficult a gunnery problem as yet faced by ships of this class and the results obtained were excellent."

At 0900 on 10 September 1945, DE 353 weighed anchor in Victoria Harbor, adjacent to Labuan Island, Borneo. Embarked aboard DE 353 were Brigadier T. C. Eastick, Commander Royal Artillery, Ninth Australian Division, recently named to command the Kuching Relief Force, his staff and fifth Australian troops. DE 353 departed Brunei Bay arriving off Tanjong Po where she joined other ships carrying occupation troops and supplies. She anchored at 0800 near the mouth of the Sarawak River, where Brigadier Eastick, his staff, troops and others disembarked. Eastick boarded HMAS Corvette to travel up the river to conduct the Japanese surrender ceremony at Kuching, Borneo. DE 353 remained anchored awaiting the return of Eastick and the others. Following the ceremony, DE 353 returned to Brunei Bay.

Following the cessation of hostilities, DE 353 remained in the Far East, providing service at Okinawa, Manila, Tsingtao and Shanghai. She sailed from Tsingtao 15 April, arriving at San Pedro, CA 11 May 1946. She was towed by ATR-66 to San Diego and placed out of commission in reserve 15 January 1947.

USS Doyle C. Barnes DE 353 was stricken from the US Navy record on 1 December 1972. She was sold on 12 September to National Metal & Steel Corp., Term Island, CA., for $36,227.00 and broken up for scrap. Her name was removed from the US Navy registry 2 October 1973.

DE 353 received one Battle Star for WWII service.

History II

Division of Naval History
Ship's Histories Section
Navy Department

HISTORY OF USS DOYLE C. BARNES (DE 353)

USS DOYLE C. BARNES, flagship of Escort Division 82, rolled up mileage equal to more than twice the distance around the world in fulfilling her duties as an escort and patrol vessel during World War II.  In addition, she convoyed 244 naval and merchant vessels safely through dangerous waters, knocking down one enemy plane and participating in the recapture of Borneo.

The ship, named in honor of Ensign Doyle Clayton Barnes, USN, was built by the Consolidated Steel Corporation of Orange, Texas.  Her keel was laid on 11 January 1944, and by 4 March 1944, she was launched.  Mrs. Margie Barnes, widow of the ship's namesake, christened the destroyer-escort upon her launching.  Lieutenant Commander John P. Ingle, USNR, assumed first command when (DE 353) was placed in commission on 13 July 1944.

Ensign Barnes was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism as a carrier fighter pilot in the Battle of Midway.  Taking off in the midst of a Japanese attack, he shot down two or the on-coming torpedo planes.  He was officially reported missing in action as of 24 August 1942, when the plane he was piloting was lost in the South Pacific.

USS DOYLE C. BARNES, following her fitting out, got underway for her shakedown cruise to Bermuda, where she conducted gunnery practice, torpedo attacks, radar plotting, shore bombardment, damage control drills, and exercises designed to reach her crew to meet any situation which might arise.  She then headed north, for a post-shakedown availability in the Boston Navy Yard.  In mid-October she steamed to Norfolk, where she was to meet the other five destroyer escorts of her division:  KENNETH M. WILLETT, MACK, LLOYD C. ACREE, GEORGE E. DAVIS and JACCARD.

While awaiting the rest of her division, DOYLE C. BARNES was employed as a school ship, training prospective crews of destroyer-escorts still building, and testing special camouflage.  MACK, the last of the six ships to report, entered the harbor on 18 October, and three days later Escort Division 82 was underway for the Pacific.

After transiting the Panama Canal, the Division proceeded to Hollandia, New Guinea, via the Galapagos, Society Islands and Espiritu Santo.  They were soon assigned to the Philippine Sea Frontier, and ordered to Mios Woendi for three days of anti-submarine training.

Pronounced ready for combat, DOYLE C. BARNES, with her Division, began her first convoy voyage to Leyte on 13 December, escorting 48 merchantmen and 12 LCTs to San Pedro Bay.  This was the first of several such convoys which lasted through the middle of March 1945.  There was always danger of an enemy aid raid enroute, or while the ships lay at anchor in San Pedro Bay.  On New Year's Day the destroyer-escort gained an assist in splashing her first enemy plane.

The attack began when an undetected Japanese fighter plane dropped two small bombs near DOYLE C. BARNES, in the van of the escorts.  Fully alerted now, the screen took their assigned anti-aircraft stations and called their crews to Battle Stations, as radar indications of three more hostile aircraft appeared.

One of the plane kept coming toward convoy, and at six miles suddenly became visible, as she dropped through the low cloud cover.  As the plane came nearer, the 5-inch guns opened up.  Closing the range inexorably, the plane could be identified as a torpedo bomber, bent on firing her missile at one of the large merchantmen.  The large guns failed to divert her; the 40mm couldn't seem to register, and finally even the 20 mm were unable to bear as the enemy plane flashed by the screen.

Almost upon the freighter, she dropped her torpedo and then, almost atop her, did a wingover and tried to crash into the ship.  A burst of smoke and flame concealed the ship, but just as it seemed that the Japanese could not have missed, the ship emerged from the smoke undamaged as the torpedo went on the explode harmlessly on the other side of the convoy.

In March the Division took up duty as a hunter-killer group, operating against Japanese submarine off the west coast of the Philippines.  Until late in May the six destroyer-escorts continued their anti-submarine patrols and operated with friendly submarines, giving them a chance to prepare for Japanese anti-submarine tactics.

DOYLE C. BARNES' next combat assignment was on the island of Borneo, where 600 Japanese troops had dug in near Miri township, threatening the 13th Australian Infantry Battalion, who where holding the town.  Although the ship was forced to fire from almost maximum range, and had never actually participated in anything buy practice shore bombardments, she was commended for her accurate fire into the bivouacs, bunkers and trenches of the enemy.

The end of the war found DOYLE C. BARNES anchored in Victoria Harbor, Brunei Bay, British North Borneo.  She participated in accepting the surrender of a large Japanese force in the Kuching area, transporting the commander of the Australian Relief Forces, his staff, and a portion of the Australian occupations troops to the area.  On her return voyage she carried the vanguard of released Allied prisoners of war to Labuan Island for hospitalization.  Later another trip was made to transport additional troops.

Following the end of World War II, DOYLE C. BARNES was placed out of commission in reserve on 15 January 1947.  The ship was assigned to the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet.

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Statistics

OVERALL LENGTH  306 feet
DISPLACEMENT 1350 tons
BEAN 37 feet
SPEED 24 knots

************

Compiled: July 1953

History 3

In Retrospect - 13 July 1944 - 1 October 1945

In setting down your ship's history and activities since commissioning on 13 July 1944, I wish to commend you officers and men, individually and collectively as having proven yourselves to be a hard working, loyal, and extremely efficient team in manning your ship.

If you pause to look back on your ship's activities you must agree that it has not been colorless.

Your ship has sucessfully carried out every mission assigned her. She has traveled 58,713 nautical miles, or more than twice the distance around the world, starting at Orange and touching at Sabine, Galveston, and Baytown, Texas; Bermuda, B.W.I.; Boston, Mass; Norfolk and Yorktown, Va.; Cristobal, C.Z.; Galapagos Islands; Bora Bora, Society Islands; Espiritu Santo, New Hebribes; Hollandia, New Guinea; Mios Woendi in Padaido Islands, Dutch New Guinea and the following ports in the Philippine Islands: Tacloban, Leyte; Mangarin Bay, Mindoro; Subic Bay and Manilla, Luzon; Zamboanga, Mindanao; Calicoan, Samar; and the following places in Borneo; Labuan Island, Miri, Kuching. Your ship has sailed the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the following seven seas: Caribbean, Bismarck, Coral, Mindanao, Sibuyan, Sulu, and South China Seas.  She has transited the Panama Canal, crossed the International Data Line, and criss-crossed the equator 10 times (not without appropriate ceremony as you will recall).

There have been 227 advancements in rating among enlisted men, and 12 Petty Officers were appointed Chief Petty Officer. Two CPO's were appointed Warrant Officers and were transferred for higher responsibilities. One Petty Officer was admitted to a V-12 course leading to a commission. There have been 8 promotions in rank among the officers.  Our former Executive Officer was transferred to take command of another destroyer escort and four other officers were promoted to Department heads.

One officer and 27 enlisted men are Regular Navy, the vast majority of you being reserves.

All 3 regular Navy men whose enlistment expired, voluntarily reenlisted or extended their enlistments. Nineteen of you who have had three years active naval service became eligible for Good Conduct Medals.

All of you who have served aboard the Doyle C. Barnes since commissioning have become entitled to wear the American Theater Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Medal, and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with one star.

Your ship has convoyed 244 naval and merchant vessels to safety across dangerous waters in spite of bombing and torpedo attack. She has made attacks on potential enemy submarines which were in a position to threaten her convoys. Particularly when operating as member of a hunter-killer group, she has investigated suspicious surface contacts during darkness in hostile waters causing you to leave your bunks innumerable times to man your battle stations in the dead of night.

On your last tour of duty in Borneo during the months of July through September, the Doyle C. Barnes, with your Division Commander acting as SOPA, Brunei Bay, operated as "mother" ship to a group of nine patrol craft. During this period you conducted a shore bombardment south of the Miri-Lutong area to destroy enemy bivouacs and supply dumps. The success of your bombardment was recognized by a commendation from Commander Destroyers, Pacific Fleet.

The end of the war found this ship anchored in Victoria Harbor, Brunei Bay, British North Borneo. You participated in the surrender of a large Japanese force in the Kuching area, aiding in its occupation by transporting to Kuching, the Commander of the Australian Relief Forces, Brigadier Eastick, his staff, and a portion of the Australian troops. Returning from Kuching your ship carried the vanguard of released Allied prisoners of war to Labuan Island for hospitalization. Later another trip was made to transport additional troops.

When assisgned two months at an advanced base to exercise with friendly fleet submarines in their training for war patrols, you were praised by Rear Admiral Fife for having an extremely smart ship. In addition, at Norfolk while awaiting formation of the remainder of our division, almost a thousand officers and enlisted trainees were taken out to learn from you the art of going to sea.

On 19 October 1944, Captain W. C. Jennings, USNR (then Commander), hoisted his CortDiv 82 pennant on this vessel and she became the division flagship. It is traditional that flagships have added burdens of communications, the added responsibility of tautness, and the necessity of being both dependable and smart. You have met these requirements well.

Wartime conditions have made it necessary for you to stand rigorous watches both at sea and in port without lessening the burden of keeping your ship trim and clean. The excellent condition of your ship today is a tribute to how well you have met this problem.

You have never yet permitted your ship's engineering plant to break down and as a consequence the ship has gained a reputation of being "always ready to go". This record has been achieved by your enthusiasm, hard work, and forehandedness, and by extensive self-maintenance programs in all departments.

There has been no serious sickness aboard and out of over 200 men now aboard, more often than not, not a single man is on the sick list.

Perhaps of help to your fine spirits have been our good fortune to have excellent cooks, the 2,950 gallons of ice cream produced and consumed aboard, the 264 entertainment movies shown aboard, AND, most important, the inspiration you gain in your letters from home.

Your sacrifice in taking this period of your life away from your home and loved ones and giving it to the defense of your country is a reward in itself that you can be proud of always. In this year a noticeable change has occurred in you men. First is the vast amount of skill gained in seamanship, engineering, gunnery, and other phases of naval service. Next, the mark gained in your physical fitness, your deep tans and toughened physiques, and the ability to get along with your shipmates. And finally, your more matured outlook on the seriousness of war, your appreciation of those who have given their lives in it, and your constant rededication of purpose and devotion to make this ship worthy of the great name of DOYLE C. BARNES and a credit to the nation whose colors she flies.

(signed)
J. P. INGLE,
Commander, USNR
Commanding Officer

View an encapsulated version of the Ship Log