USS Finch (DE-328)
1943 Edsall-class destroyer escort
USS Finch (DE-328) was an Edsall-class escort destroyer in the service of the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946 and from 1956 to 1969. From 1951 to 1954, she was loaned to the United States Coast Guard where she served as USCGC Finch (WDE-428). She was scrapped in 1974.
Namesake
Joseph Warren Finch Jr. was born on 8 March 1920 in Chicago, Illinois. He was appointed Ensign in the United States Naval Reserve on 28 May 1941. He was killed in action in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 13 November 1942, when his ship USS Laffey was sunk. Lieutenant (junior grade) Finch shared posthumously in the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the Laffey for its outstanding performance in action against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific from 15 September until its loss.
History
Finch was first launched on 28 August 1943 at Orange, Texas, as DE-328; sponsored by Miss Grace Cushing, fiancée of Lieutenant Finch. She was commissioned three times.
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This entry incorporates text from “USS Finch (DE-328)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.