| DE | 387 | Destroyer Escort |
| WDE | 487 | Coast Guard Destroyer Escort |
| DER | 387 | Destroyer Escort Radar Picket |
These pages encompass USS Vance 1943 - 1985
| Vance (DE-387) was laid
down on 30 April 1943 at Houston, Tex., by the Brown
Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 16 July 1943; sponsored by
Mrs. John W. Vance, mother of the late Lt.
(jg) Vance; and commissioned on 1 November
1943, Lt. Comdr. E. A. Anderson, USCG, in command.
Following shakedown off Bermuda, Vance became the flagship for Escort Division (CortDiv) 45--a Coast Guard manned unit--and convoyed a group of oil tankers from Norfolk, Va., to Port Arthur, Tex., and back. Upon her return to Norfolk, she served as a training ship for destroyer escort crews while awaiting the arrival of the rest of her division. In February 1944, the ship conducted local escort operations before joining the New York section of Convoy UGS-33. bounnd for Gibraltar. Her section rendezvoused off Norfolk with the remainder of the convoy and its flagship, Bibb (WPG-31), and set out across the Atlantic. On 7 March, Vance departed Casablanca with GUS-33 for the return voyage and put into the New York Navy Yard on the 23rd for availability. |
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