USS Fiske, a 1200-ton Edsall (FMR) class escort ship built at Orange, Texas, was commissioned in late August 1943. During the last two months of that year, and the first five months of 1944, she was employed escorting convoys between the U.S. East Coast and the Panama Canal Zone, and across the Atlantic to North Africa. In June she became part of an anti-submarine group centered on the escort aircraft carrier Wake Island (CVE-65), which operated in the central Atlantic. On 2 August 1944, while in action with the German submarine U-804, USS Fiske was torpedoed amidships, broke in two and sank. Thirty of her crew members were lost with her.
USS Fiske was named in honor of Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske (1854-1942).
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Fiske (DE-143).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 53909 USS Fiske (DE-143) Underway in New York Harbor, 20 October 1943. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 615 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-270257 USS Fiske (DE-143) Broken in two and sinking in the Atlantic Ocean on 2 August 1944, after she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-804. Note men abandoning ship by walking down the side of her capsizing bow section. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 149KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-270259 USS Fiske (DE-143) Ship's bow floating in the North Atlantic on 2 August 1944, after she was broken in two by a torpedo from the German submarine U-804. Photographed from an airplane based on USS Wake Island (CVE-65). Note sonar dome on Fiske's keel. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 37KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-270260 USS Fiske (DE-143) Ship's stern floating in the North Atlantic on 2 August 1944, after she was broken in two by a torpedo from the German submarine U-804. This section had to be sunk by gunfire. Photographed from an airplane based on USS Wake Island (CVE-65). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 102966 USS Fiske (DE-143) Ready for launching, at the Consolidated Steel Corporation shipyard, Orange, Texas, on 14 March 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 131KB; 740 x 570 pixels |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 31 August 2005