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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive

Forrest (DMS-24)



Call sign:
Nan - Uncle - Fox - King

ex-DD-461

Gleaves Class Destroyer/Ellyson Class Highspeed Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 6 January 1941 at Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Mass
  • Launched 14 June 1941
  • Commissioned USS Forrest (DD-461), 13 January 1942
  • Reclassified and converted to Highspeed Minesweeper, DMS-24, 15 November 1944
  • Decommissioned 30 November 1945
  • Struck from the Naval Register 19 December 1945
  • Sold for scrap 20 November 1946.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,630 t.(lt), 2,200 t.(fl)
  • Length 348' 3"
  • Beam 36' 1"
  • Draft 13' 9"
  • Speed 37.4 kts.
  • Complement 272
  • Armament: Three 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts, two quad 40mm mounts, five 20mm mounts, six depth charge projectors, two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Four Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 50,000shp Boston Navy Yard geared turbines, Farrel-Birmingham reduction gears, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Forrest (DD 461)
    Forrest 85k c. 25 April 1942
    Off Boston Navy Yard
    National Archives photo BS 29870    		 Joe Radigan
    USS Forrest (DMS 24)
    Forrest 144k ©John Robert Barrett
    Forrest 117k 27 March 1945
    Seen from LST-888 just prior to the start of the Okinawa landings
    National Archives photo 80-G-335595    		 John Chiquoine
    Forrest 93k c. May 1945
    Kamikaze damage at the waterline
    LT William D. Ryan, XO is on the right    		 Trish Ryan
    Photo added 12 March 2021
    Forrest 93k c. August 1945
    Forward part of the Forrest being repaired in the Boston Navy Yard after returning from the Pacific
    Forrest 164k Photograph of kamikaze damage to Forrest taken upon arrival at Boston Navy Yard on 6 August 1945. Pencil note on reverse indicates view is of port side looking left and up at main deck and long truss anchors supporting first platform
    Boston Navy Yard photographs 3819-45 and 3825-45, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-11147    		 Stephen P. Carlson
    Forrest 199k
    Forrest
    Forrest 148k Forrest being dismantled in a drydock at South Boston Naval Annex, 26 May 1946 John Chiquoine
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Merle Van Metre, USN - USNA Class of 1925
    Awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat V (1945) and two Bronze Stars with Combat V (1944/1945) - Retired
    as Captain    		13 January 1942 - 12 March 1943
    02LCDR Kenneth Pearle Letts, USN - USNA Class of 1932
    Awarded the Silver Star (1944) - Retired as Captain    		12 March 1943 - 11 November 1944
    03LCDR Sanford Elza "Red Dog" Woodard, USN - USNA Class of 1937
    Awarded the Silver Star (1945) and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal (1942) - Retired as Captain    		11 November 1944 - 17 November 1945
    04LCDR Bernard Albert Herman, USNR17 November 1945 - 30 November 1945
    Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Forrest (DMS-24)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Additional Resources and Websites of Interest
    NavSource Destroyer Pages, USS Forrest (DD-461)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Highspeed Minesweeper (DMS) Photo Index
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    This page was created by Gary P. Priolo & maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & David Wright
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