Welcome to the Photo Gallery - USS Eversole DE-404

This is a report about the USS Eversole ( DE-404 ) - a very special ship and crew from World War II.

The first Eversole ( DE-404 ) was launched 3 December 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co. Houston, Texas sponsored by Mrs. Sarah R. Eversole, mother of Lieutenant ( junior grade ) Eversole; and commissioned 21 March 1944, Lieutenant Commander G. E. Marix in command.

Eversole sailed from Boston 20 May 1944 for Pearl Harbor, arriving 19 June. After training with submarines in the Hawaiian Islands, she made an escort voyage to Eniwetok, then sailed to Eniwetok and Manus on escort duty. She returned to Eniwetok for antisubmarine patrols until 9 August, when she put to sea screening carriers for the attack on Morotai. She continued this duty, serving with the escort carriers in the initial assaults in Leyte Gulf 20 October.

During the battle for Leyte Gulf, when a decisive victory was won after great hazard to the escort carriers and their screens, Eversole screened two of the damaged carriers, rescued downed pilots, and took wounded off one of the carriers. In the early morning of 28 October, Eversole made contact by sonar with a submarine, and only half a minute later suffered the first of two torpedo hits. The ship was ordered abandoned, and after the men were all in the water, the submarine surfaced and opened fire, then dived once more. Five minutes later there was a tremendous underwater explosion which killed or wounded all of Eversole's men. Lights from the survivor's flashlights attracted two other destroyer escorts, one of which rescued the 139 wounded survivors, as the other began a series of attacks which sank I-45, presumably the submarine which had torpedoed Eversole.

Eversole received two battle stars for World War II service.

Source: Dictionary of U.S. Naval Fighting Ships.


The following narrative was supplied by Mr. Clarence Martin Jr. - former crew member of USS Whitehurst - 1950 - 1952.

On October 29 - USS Whitehurst ( DE-634 ) received word that on the previous day, Eversole ( DE-404 ) had been torpedoed and sunk by a japanese submarine. While USS Richard S. Bull ( DE-402 ) picked up survivors from the sunken destroyer escort, Whitehurst detached from TU 77.7.1 to conduct a search soon picked up a contact. At general quarters, the destroyer escort conducted three attacks without positive results. When Whitehurst pressed home a fourth depth charge attack, her efforts were crowned with success. In quick succession, five to seven explosions rumbled up from the depths. Another violent underwater burst soon followed, causing a concussion that damaged Whitehurst's detecting gear.

Bull continued the search after Whitehurst, with her damaged sound gear requested her to do so but found nothing except a stretch of disturbed water. As the waves calmed, lookouts in both ships noticed many pieces of wood and other debris bobbing in a widening oil slick. " The Japanese submarine I-45 the one that killed Eversole had been destroyed !" While Bull continued picking up Eversole survivors in the vicinity, Whitehurst returned to TU 77.7.1 and with that task unit headed back to Kossel Roads in the Palaus.

The following comments were made by Mr. Roy E. Graham on July 10, 1997 who was a crew member of the USS Whitehurst at the time of the sinking of the japanese submarine I-45:

We were escorting a convoy out of Leyte Gulf. That is, the Eversole, Bull, and Whitehurst. I believe we had assumed the starboard flank position and as I recall the Eversole might have been at the point position. At 3:30 general quarters was sounded and we heard on the speaker that the Eversole had been torpedoed. The Whitehurst and Bull made way to the Eversole and we transferred medical supplies at the site of the Eversole sinking. We proceeded to chase the submarine and used hedgehogs rather than depth charges as our method of attack. The hedgehog method was one in which we would come up from behind the submarine and shoot off 12 to 24 hedgehogs in a pattern from the bow of the ship. If a hedgehog made contact with the submarine then all the hedgehogs would explode. If no contact was made the hedgehogs would remain undetonated so as not to disturb our ships sonar gear in searching out the submarine. After several runs at the submarine we reported at 12:00 - 12:30 seeing wooden repair plugs bobbing to the surface. This was the type of cone shaped wooden repair plug to insert in a hole in the submarine to stop water leakage. We put a whale boat over the side to see if we could recover any of the items from the submarine. We also saw books and other papers floating to the surface but these quickly returned to deep below the surface of the water and was out of reach. We also saw much oil in the water too. I walked to the stern of the ship about this time and also saw other debris floating in the water that I presume was from the submarine. I would have to say it was doubtful that anyone survived from the submarine. The hedgehogs must have exploded when making contact with the submarine that was deeply submerged. No survivors from the submarine were ever found.

USS Eversole - Starboard Side

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