Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Collection: USS HOPPING (DE-155) Records, 1943-1946

(Manuscript Collection #564-010)

Title:	Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Collection: USS HOPPING (DE-155) Records
Repository:	ECU Manuscript Collection
Languages:	English
Abstract:	Records (1943-1946) of the escort ship USS Hopping (DE-155), attached to Escort Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet during World War II and including war diaries, action reports, and miscellaneous material relating to U-Boat attacks, anti-submarine warfare, etc.
Extent:	5.0 items, 1 folder, war diaries, actions reports, commissioning program

Accessions Information

November 18, 1989 5 items; Records (May 1943 - April 1945), including war diaries, action reports, commissioning program, and miscellaneous items. Donor: Mr. Charles J. Buice

Access Restrictions

No restrictions

Copyright Notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Preferred Citation

Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Collection: USS HOPPING (DE-155) Records (#564-010), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Acquisition Information

• Gift of Mr. Charles J. Buice

Processing Information

• Processed by J. Holland; M. Boccaccio; A. Merriman, November 1999

• Encoded by Apex Data Services

The escort ship USS HOPPING (DE 155) was commissioned on May 21, 1943. During World War II, the ship was attached to Escort Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet and was assigned to escort duty between New York and Northern Ireland. The HOPPING was converted (October November 1944) to a high speed transport (APD 51) and served the remainder of the war with the Pacific Fleet. She was decommissioned on May 5, 1947, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. The ships commanding officer was Louis F. Loutrel, Jr. Also, it is currently unknown whether the donor of the papers served aboard the ship himself.

The collection contains war diaries, action reports and miscellaneous materials. The war diaries are in two forms, the official Navy printed version (December 1, 1943 June 30, 1944) by Louis F. Loutrel, Jr., the ships commanding officer, and a handwritten diary (May 8, 1944 April 30, 1946) by W.J. McNulty(?) Early entries concern the ship's escort duty of convoys between Northern Ireland and New York (December 1, 1943 September 30, 1944) and note daily convoy positions, course changes, sonar contacts, speed, dry dock locations, and training exercises.

Further diary entries mention conversion to a high speed transport (October 7-November 18, 1944, p. 73) and the HOPPING's assignment to the Pacific Theatre including tests and training near Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands (November 19-December 19, 1944, pp. 73 78). Specific topics detailed include activities around Okinawa (April 1 June 23, 1945) that include reports of kamikaze attacks (April 6, May 17, and June 22, 1945, pp. 104 105, 111, 116); damage to the HOPPING by shore fire (April 9, 1945, pp. 106 107); and the transport of liberated American prisoners of war from Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippine Islands (September 15 19, 1945, pp. 130, 131). The diary concludes with entries concerning the pre inactivation overhaul of the ship (January 1 April 30, 1946; pp. 145 148).

Official Navy action reports detail an incident involving the escort ship USS DONNELL (DE 56) and damage caused by a German torpedo. An anti submarine action report of the HOPPING notes sea condition, attack times, range, bearing, speed, course, target depth, and the type of attack the HOPPING used against the U boat that fired the torpedo (May 3, 1944). Other action reports note the contact with the U boat and counterattack strategies that included depth charges (May 6 9, 1944). The care and transfer of the DONNELL's wounded is detailed by further action reports from escort ship USS REEVES (DE 156), as is the towing of the DONWELL to Northern Ireland (May 8, 1944).

Other items in the collection include the HOPPING's commissioning program; drawings of the escort ship and two converted high speed transports; and a list of the HOPPING's ports of call throughout its career, including the dates of arrival and departure.

For related collections, sell also the Destroyer Escort Commanding Officers Collection: Louis F. Loutrel, Jr., Papers (#564-008)