USS Chambers

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USS Chambers (DE-391) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. It served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946 and again from 1955 to 1960. From 1952 to 1954 it was loaned to the U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Chambers (WDE-491). It was finally scrapped in 1975.

Namesake
The ship was named after Russell Franklyn Chambers, born June 10, 1914, in La Habra, California. He became an aviation cadet in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1938, was commissioned as an ensign in 1939, and served in the Philippines. He was reported missing in action on December 27, 1941, after an engagement with Japanese aircraft over Jolo and was officially declared dead December 28, 1942.

Construction and specifications
Chambers was built by Brown Shipbuilding in Houston, Texas. It was laid down on May 28, 1943, launched on August 17, 1943, and commissioned on November 22, 1943. The ship was about 306 feet long, 36.6 feet wide, and displaced roughly 1,253 tons (1,590 tons full load). It could reach about 21 knots and had a crew of 8 officers and about 201 enlisted men. Armament included 3-inch guns, anti-aircraft guns, torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

World War II service
In World War II, Chambers trained crews for escort vessels and then made eight convoy crossings to North Africa from Norfolk, Virginia, and New York City in early 1944. The ship’s primary job was to guard merchant ships and troops across the Atlantic. On July 8, 1945, Chambers sailed from New York for Pearl Harbor, arriving August 16 to help transport service members home to San Pedro, California. The ship returned to escort duties on the U.S. East Coast and in April 1946 was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs, Florida.

Coast Guard service and later Navy service
From June 11, 1952, to July 30, 1954, Chambers was loaned to the Coast Guard and redesignated USCGC Chambers (WDE-491). She operated from New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Atlantic weather patrols and made several cruises to Newfoundland, also taking part in iceberg patrols. On July 30, 1954, the Coast Guard decommissioned her and returned her to the Navy. The ship was reclassified as DER-391 on October 28, 1954, and began conversion to a radar picket escort vessel.

The Chambers was recommissioned on June 1, 1955 for radar picket duty out of Newport, Rhode Island. She joined the Atlantic Barrier Patrol in June 1956 and operated there until she was placed out of commission in reserve on June 20, 1960, in Philadelphia.

Fate
On March 1, 1975, Chambers was struck from the Navy list and sold for scrap on September 24, 1975.