Wilhouite (DER 397) - Naval Cruise Book

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sn-nP's HISTORY uss WILHOITE IDER-3979 is o radar equipped de- stroyer escort designed primarily for P0i 0llinQ and Search' in , During the present World situation, this type ship 9 . . has proved most useful in Operation MARKET TIME off the Coast of Viet Nam and in the Taiwan Patrol. WILHOITE was originally commissioned on December I6, T943 at Houston, Texas, named for an early World War II Naval hero, Ensign Thomas M. WILHOITE, QSNRI who was killed while piloting a Navy fighter plane In the 1942 invasion of Not-in Africa. uss wsu-IOITE CQE-3979 joined the North Atlantic convoys as convoy escort in I944. While on such convoy escort duty, WILHOITE had the distinction of being in the longest single World War ll engagement with an enemy submarine. The submarine was sunk after a 20 day battle, for which the WILHOITE re- ceived a Presidential Unit Citation. At the cessation of the hostilities in the Atlantic, WILHOITE was transferred to Pacific waters for further escort duty. At the close of World War II she was de- commissioned and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. On September 2, I954, WILHOITE was recommissioned as DER-397, having been converted to a radar picket escort. WILHOITE joined Escort Squadron FIVE based in Seattle, Washington. Here she worked as a unit of the Continental Air Defense Command as a coastal radar picket ship. In March l959, WILHOITE was transferred to Pearl Harbor operating as a unit of the Distant Early Warning IDEWS line. She was also a unit attached to Operation DEEP FREEZE in I96I, serving as a Rescue and Navigational Aid ship in the cold waters near the Antarctic Continent. In May I965, with ships no longer needed for Distant Early Warning, WILHOITE was reassigned to general duty with the U. S. SEVENTH FLEET. In June I965, she made her first cruise as a unit of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and com- menced her first MARKET TIME patrol. This first patrol established a schedule which was to hold for three years, the deployment from Pearl Harbor in May and return to Pearl Harbor the following January. During the first two years, duties were confined to patrolling off the coast of Viet'Nam as a unit of MARKET TIME forces, to prevent the infiltration of weapons and ammunition to the Viet COVIQ by Way of the sea. These cruises also included visits to Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Bangkok, Subic Bayp and JCPUW- The home port time in Pearl was utilized in gEIvgfLHQ:IdFfIt'Cggirng, preparing for the next cruise with the In 1967, SEVENTH FLEET operations for the DER WGFG expanded. In addition to the MARKET TIME patrols WILHOITE also enio nl d f ' - ' ' as a unit ofthe TAIWATXI pdfrlolijs Station Ship Hong Kong and

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COMMANDING OFFICER .A -,is-X LCDR D. H. GRIFFIN Lieutenant Commander David Hamlin Griffin, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, U.S.S. WILHOITE, entered the Navy through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program in September l952. He participated in that pro- gram at Brown University, where he was awarded a Bache- lor of Science degree in Chemistry, and was commissioned an Ensign in the regular Navy in June I957.His first duty assignment was on board the USS BROWNSON CDD- 8687 where he served as Damage Control Assistant and Engineering Officer until l96O. From l96O until l96I, Lieu- tenant Commander Griffin served as Executive Officer of the USS ABILITY CMSO-5l9l. Subsequently, he was ordered as Commanding Officer of the USS FRIGATEBIRD CMSC- I9ll where he served until I963. Prior to receipt of orders to WILHOITE, he served successively in the Bureau of Naval Personnel and as Executive Officer, USS STRONG QDD-758l. On 3I December, IQ67 he assumed command of WILHOITE. Lieutenant Commander Griffin is married to the former Gail Schriver of Whitmire, South Carolina. They reside with their three children, a daughter, aged ten and two sons, aged seven and five months, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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