Engstrom

Engstrom

Warren Leonard Engstrom, born 5 January 1921 in Superior, Wis., was a member of the Naval Academy class of 1942, which was graduated in December 1941. He reported for duty in Northampton (CA-26) 5 February 1942, and was killed in action 30 November 1942 when his ship was damaged in the Battle of Tassafaronga. Just prior to his death he had been appointed lieutenant (junior grade).

(DE-50: dp. 1,140, 1. 289'5"; b. 35'1"; dr. 8'3", s. 21 k.; epl. 156; a. 3 3", 8 dep., 1 dcp.(hh.), 2 act.; cl. Evarts)

Engstrom(DE-50) was launched 24 July 1942 by Philadelphia Navy Yard as HMS Drury (BDE-50); reallocated to the U.S. Navy, assigned the name Engstrom 4 March 1943; and commissioned 21 June 1943, Lieutenant D. A. Nienstedt, USNR, in command.

Engstrom sailed from Philadelphia 20 August 1943 for Norfolk, where she joined a convoy bound for the Panama Canal Zone and San Diego, arriving on the west coast 9 September. On the 27th, she got underway for Adak and over a year of duty in northern waters. Often fighting weather almost as dangerous as the enemy, she escorted combatant and auxiliary ships, acted as radar picket ship for air operations between Attu and Paramushiro, and screened surveying ships.

The escort vessel returned to Mare Island 19 January 1945 for overhaul, and after training at Pearl Harbor sailed on convoy duty to Eniwetok and Saipan, her base from 31 March through the end of the war for escort assignments to Eniwetok, Ulithi, Guam, and Iwo Jima. The men and supplies, whose movement she guarded, saw action on Okinawa.

Between 12 September and 11 October 1945, when she sailed for home, Engstrom patrolled out of Guam. She reached San Pedro, Calif., 24 October, and was decommissioned 19 December 1945 and sold 26 December 1946.