Saturday, July 13, 2024

The USS Osmus

 I don't have the decals for this one because I need to figure out how to print my own but the paint scheme is good.

The Defoe Shipbuilding Company was established in 1905 in Bay City, Michigan.  It ceased operations in 1976 as it failed to secure new contracts from the US Navy.  This was mostly since the new Great Lakes builds were 1000 footers, there is no way they could have built one in Bay City.

During the 1940s, Defoe Shipyard was requested to build naval vessels.  They built 145 ships during the war.

The ship is the picture represents the USS Osmus (DE-701).  She is a Buckley class destroyer escort and was named after Ensign Wesley Osmus who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross after his TBD Devastator off the USS Yorktown was shot down by the Japanese at Midway.  He was captured, tortured and killed.

The keel was laid down on August 17, 1943 and the ship was completed on November 4, 1943.  She was commissioned on February 23, 1944.  She was decomissioned in 1947 and finally scrapped in 1973.  She conducted escort missions during the war and received one battle star.  After the war, she served near China until she was berthed at Mare Island.  She stayed until she was scrapped.


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