USS Eversole (DD-789)

USS Eversole (DD-789) was a Gearing-class destroyer of the United States Navy, the second Navy ship named for Lieutenant (junior grade) John T. Eversole (1915–1942), a naval aviator who was killed in the Battle of Midway.

Eversole was launched on 8 January 1946 by Todd-Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Seattle, Washington; sponsored by Mrs. S. R. Eversole, mother of Lt. (j.g.) Eversole; and commissioned on 10 May 1946, Commander B. P. Ross in command.

Service history

Eversole arrived at San Diego, Calif., her home port, on 6 October 1946, and in the years prior to the Korean war, twice sailed to the Far East for duty with the 7th Fleet, patrolling off China and Japan. She sailed from San Diego on 1 May 1950 for another such tour, and thus was in the Orient upon the opening of the war. Until 8 February 1951, when she returned to San Diego, she screened the fast carrier task forces as they launched air strikes against North Korean targets.

During her second tour of duty in the Korean War, from 27 August 1951 to 10 April 1952, Eversole bombarded Hŭngnam, Wonsan, and other points along the east coast of Korea, and served in the Blockading and Escort Force, with ships of the navies of Great Britain, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea. From 17 November 1952 to 29 June 1953, she served a similar tour of duty.

From 1954 through 1961, Eversole made an annual deployment to the Far East, serving on the Taiwan Patrol, exercising off Japan, Okinawa, and in the Philippines, and visiting a wide variety of western Pacific ports. In both 1957 and 1958, she made her outward bound passage by way of Australia, and in all of these tours, made an important contribution to the power for peace of the 7th Fleet. She then entered the Bremerton Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington to undergo a FRAM I upgrade, a modernization program under which Eversole and forty-three other Gearing-class ships received updated radars, sonars and electronic suites and the ASROC and DASH anti-submarine weapons systems. Eversole emerged from the shipyard in February 1963 to be homeported at the Long Beach Naval Station in Long Beach, California.

During her periods of training and preparation for deployment on the west coast, Eversole often visited ports of the Pacific Northwest, and on occasion voyaged to the Hawaiian Islands.

On 8 October 1969 Eversole deployed from Long Beach Naval Station, California, to the western Pacific stopping in Oahu, Hawaii, and Midway Island in transit to Yokosuka, Japan before frequent deployments to the Tonkin Gulf for plane guard assignments with the carrier forces of the 7th fleet and naval gunfire support duties for ground troops. Between combat deployments Subic Bay Naval Station was used as the overseas homeport. Other R&R and maintenance visits were made to Sasebo, Japan and Hong Kong. Eversole returned to Long Beach Naval Station, California, on 8 April 1970.

TCG Gayret (D-352)

On 11 July 1973, Eversole was transferred to Turkey. She served in the Turkish Navy as TCG Gayret (D-352). Gayret was stricken in 1995. She is preserved as a museum ship at İzmit, Turkey.

Eversole received seven battle stars for Korean War service.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Eversole at NavSource Naval History