Destroyer Escort
USS Wintle DE-25
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USS Wintle, DE-25

A painting of the USS Wintle by crew member Joe Swann (Photograph of the USS Wintle)

Joe Cerniglia will be hosting the USS Wintle reunion in Arizona this year. If you have not gotten informaiton on the reunion by mail yet, please contact Cathy.
Fair winds and following seas for ship mate Albert Norman Gant, who passed away September 2, 2004. Information courtesy of Cathy Adams.

Maurice Strey's son, Jeffrey L. Strey, has emailed me to say that his father has been deceased since March of 1996. He tells us that Maurice's USN discharge indicates he was Radio Man, 2nd Class. He previously served on the USS Curtis, and suffered a foot injury that put him off that ship just prior to some of the crew's reassignment to the ill-fated USS Indianapolis. His subsequent duty was aboard the Wintle, then at the NAS on Guam and Tinian through 1946.

Contents
About the USS Wintle	DE's today
About Jack William Wintle	USS Wintle Reunion info
About Evarts Class Destroyer Escorts	Lecture series about Destroyer Escorts
DE's The Lend-Lease ships	Links
The "other" USS Wintle	Books and videos about Destroyer Escorts
The USS Wintle in action	What's New?
Map of the Travels of the USS Wintle	Persons involved with this page
Collision with the USS Dempsey	About this page / your host
"Sea Stories" from the crew	Future plans for this page
List of the crew (now complete!)	Pictures of the crew
DE Collectibles	Privacy Statement
	Revision History

About the USS Wintle

The USS Wintle, DE-25, was an Evarts class Destroyer Escort that served during WWII. The Destroyer Escorts were a class of small (by military standards), at US$5 million inexpensive (once again, by military standards), maneuverable lightly armed ships, intended primarily for convoy duty. Their forte was anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and to be part of a protective "screen" around the vulnerable, but crucial, often unarmored, supply ships. DE's were sometimes called "little wolves."

Displacement: 1140 tons

Length: 289'5"

Beam: 35'2" (width)

Draft: 11'0" (from the waterline to the keel (bottom of the ship))

Speed: 21.5 knots

Armament: 3 3"/50, 1 quad 1.1", 9 20mm (single) Oerlikons, 1 hedgehog, 2 depth charge racks, 8 "K" gun projectors
Complement: 156
Diesel-electric drive with tandem-motor drive; 6,000 h.p.

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About Jack William Wintle

The USS Wintle was named for Lt. Commander Jack William Wintle who was killed on the Cruiser Scout, USS San Francisco (CA-38) in a melee off Savo Island (also) with the Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima. The "melee" was part of the Battle of Guadalcanal. Jack Wintle's widow, Mary Clyde Newman Wintle, christened the "original" USS Wintle. She died January 11, 1997 at age 85, and attended a few USS Wintle reunions. Their daughters, Jackie, lives in Maryland, and Judy (Reynolds) in Texas. There is a National Geographic video called The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal that tells the story of the Battle of Guadalcanal. It shows pictures of Jack Wintle, and his wife reads the devoted love-letters that he wrote her (which she continued to receive after being notified of his death), while she and her daughter look down at the water where he was killed. They were visiting Guadalcanal for the 50th anniversary of the battle. According to Jackie, no one but her mother had read the remarkable letters prior to the National Geographic special. Mary Wintle never remarried. At least two other DE's, the USS Slater and the USS Dempsey were also named for officers killed at this same melee off Savo Island. (Letter from Jackie Wintle)

Mary C Wintle christens the USS Wintle
(full screen version)

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About the "Evarts Class" Destroyer Escorts

The Evarts class was one of six wartime variants of the DE. It was the first, and therefore the smallest, slowest, and most lightly armed class of DE's. Evarts class ships were called the "short-hull" ships, or the GMT (GM Tandem Diesel) class. They had 3" guns as the main armament, as opposed to the 5" guns on many later DE's and did not have torpedo launchers. While these might seem like deficiencies, the DE's were unlikely to have much opportunity to use their "main armament" except for anti-aircraft, and the most critical weapon, the depth charges, were superior to those used on the big destroyers. The DE's had eight K-projectors, while "full destroyers" had only six. The smaller ships also had the critical and very effective hedgehogs that projected 24 contact bombs in front of the ship, another advantage over the larger DD's. All of these weapons made for a much larger and more flexible field of fire to use against a hidden sub. The Destroyer Escorts in general were designed to be easily manufactured by a radical new methodology that used pre-fab components shipped from all over the US. They were half the cost of a full Destroyer, took less than a year to build, yet had superior effectiveness against subs. 563 DE's of all types were launched during WWII, more than any other type of warship. They sank 29 Japanese submarines, and 60 German U-Boats (35 of these by Royal Navy DE's). (list of sunken subs courtesy Bruce Franklin author of The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts)

Recently people, especially DE veterans, have become peeved that the DE was sometimes referred to as "expendable." They were not the only ships to be called that. Escort Carriers, the "baby flat-tops," were designated CVE's and the joke was that they were nick-named after their design: "Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable." CVE's and DE's were regular companions escorting the vulnerable cargo ships. If a ship has a protective screen of warships around it then it's much harder for a Japanese sub to make a sucessful attack on the "prize" in the middle. Of course that makes the screening ships something akin to a human shield. DE's are more useful, however, as a deterrent or distraction than as "linebackers". They had no armor, and a very shallow draught. Torpedoes would often be set to run deeper than the hull of a DE. In fact, I've heard that in one action a torpedo actually passed under the USS Wintle. Torps were known to pass through DE's and CVE's, not detonating due to the thinness of the hulls! So in that respect the DE's were not really "fodder" as much as "smokescreen" (that had the ability to counterattack viciously).

The strategic decision that actually caused the highest loss of DE's during the war, was their use as a "radar picket" in 1944/45. In this capacity they could alert the fleet of incoming Kamikazes. Unfortunately the Kamikazes attacked the picket ships viciously, and DE's were not very good at defending themselves against aircraft. Luckily the USS Wintle was spared the extremely perilous picket duty, due to its long time at sea without liberty. The picket concept was so successful that for decades after WWII many DE's stayed out at sea, specifically to continue this role during the Cold War. It must have been a very dull duty after WWII.

As a techie I am intrigued by a technical detail about the DE's. In particular, the Evarts class ships used four diesel engines, not to drive the screws directly, but to run electric generators. These generators, in turn, drove large electric motors that powered the screws. (hence the term "tandem" diesel) This workaround was due to gear shortages during the war. The Evarts class was also heavily influenced by the fact that these ships were intended to go to the UK. Hence the British Naval tradition of an open bridge! Apparently a canvas tarp was available for rain and to deal with the brutal South Pacific sun. Evarts class ships were supposed to use eight diesels for 12,000 HP, but shortages of the powerplants caused a redesign for only four diesels and a total of 6,000 HP. Later variants (the long-hull DE's) were made to have either eight engines or steam turbines. The twin rudders of the DE made it able to execute extremely tight turns. The Evarts class was notorious for being a rough ride. Later classes of the DE were a little wider, longer and deeper, and often had their ballast extended when used in the rough North Atlantic. (all info courtesy of Bruce Franklin author of The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts)

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DE's The Lend-Lease ships

The Destroyer Escorts were actually one of the first use of the important Lend-Lease program that Congress instituted to help arm the US allies during World War II. Lend-Lease was basically a way to make official the need to give expensive ships and planes away. The first batch of DE's were slated to be given the UK, but when the US entered the war, they executed their option to keep most for themselves. DE's were the most numerous ships given under the Lend-Lease program.
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The "other" USS Wintle

There were actually two ships named the USS Wintle. The original one was the DE-266. It was also an Evarts class short-hull. However less than four months after it was launched it was turned over to the UK and became HMS Capel (k.470), one of 78 "Yankee Frigates". I have heard that renaming a ship is bad luck. Capel supported the Normandy landings and was active in the North Atlantic, but was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel (very near Normandy) on December 26, 1944 by the German U-Boat U-486, along with HMS Affleck (similar to Wintle, formerly DE-71 USS Oswald). The Survivors of HMS Capel were picked up by US MTB's and taken to captured German naval hospital at Cherbourg. (My source was ships.co.uk which is now, sadly, defunct) Note that this battle with U-486, which had just sunk the SS Leopoldville caused a great controversy. Click on the last three links in this paragraph to learn more about this debacle and coverup.
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The USS Wintle back home, just after the Japanese capitulation, courtesy Maynard Brown

The USS Wintle in action

The second USS Wintle, the one that we celebrate, was originally commissioned as BDE-25 on July 10, 1943. She was intended to be sent to Britain, but was kept for the US instead and DE-266's name was taken. She exemplified Destroyer Escort life, earning three battle stars. She escorted many, many oilers and convoys, fired "star shells" to support a landing, performed search & rescue, one time rescuing 3 survivors of a downed B-29 (two days after the original USS Wintle/HMS Capel was sunk), and engaged in ASW (anti submarine warfare) searches. There were two times that USS Wintle fired her guns in anger. The first was on Christmas, 1944 against Japanese aircraft, the last was on April 2, 1945 when she returned fire against shore batteries that fired on her while she was looking for a Japanese midget submarine. The complete account with dates, locations, etc. can be read online at the transcribed version of the DANFS. You can also buy the entire Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), which is the original source for all WWII ship histories. However, uniquely on this web site is The War Diary of the USS Wintle, a more complete history of the actions of the USS Wintle. This Diary was sent to me by Robert Wintle. Also you can read a chronology sent by PJ "Jake" Jacobs. Other personal stories from veterans of the USS Wintle, as I collect them, can be found at the Sea Stories Page. Photos of the crew can also be found here.
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Map of the travels of the USS Wintle

I've made a map of the tours of the USS Wintle based on the official history from the US Navy. You can read the text that this map is based on in the transcribed version of the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. You can also purchase the DANFS online. The USS Wintle War Dairy is a new resource found only on this web page.
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Collision with USS Dempsey

Probably the most recounted story about the Wintle is her collision with her sister ship, the USS Dempsey, DE-26. After practicing ship-to-ship re-fueling, Dempsey collided with Wintle twice, requiring Wintle's damage control team to throw mattresses overboard to plug the gash, then limp to Pearl Harbor for repairs with them sticking out of the side of her. The Dempsey and the Wintle were actually launched the same day, and are both named for Navy officers killed in the same battle. The widows of the two namesakes christened each.

Mrs Dempsey and Mrs Wintle at the joint christening ceremony
(full screen version)

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DE's today

What was called a Destroyer Escort was later reclassified a frigate after WWII. While most DE's (including Wintle) were scrapped very shortly after the war, many found homes in the navies of other countries, and a few stayed active in the US Navy. The USS Slater, DE-766, is a later model "long-hull" DE that was in the service of the Greek Navy, and remained remarkably intact. You can visit it today in Albany, NY, and she has become a favorite meeting place for other DE crews' reunions.

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Reunion!

The USS Wintle has been having reunions yearly. Cathy Adams and Ann Houston will be hosting the USS Wintle reunion in Americus, GA. The dates are October 3 through October 6 2004. If you have not gotten informaiton on the reunion by mail yet, please contact Cathy.
Previous Reunions:

1991 HESSTON, KA
1992 HILTON HEAD SC
1993 RENO,NV
1994 LA GRANGE,GA
1995 LANCASTER, PA
1996 HESSTON, KA
1997 GRACEMONT, OK
1998 LA GRANGE, GA
1999 NORFOLK, VA
2000 Burlington, Vermont
2001 Savanah, GA
2002
2003 Norfolk, VA
2004 Americus, GA
2005 Arizona

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Lectures

Bruce Franklin, author of The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts and DE specialist, gives a traveling slide-show and lecture on all types of Destroyer Escorts. Please email Bruce for details.

Bruce is working on another DE book. This one is about the diesel-powered DEs. He would like to hear from those who served aboard Evarts, Cannon, and Edsall class DEs.

Here are some recent shows:

September 12 '99 - USS Slater, Albany, NY
October 19 '99 - Washington DC
October 28 '99 - Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia (ph: 757-596-2222)
November 11 '99 (Veteran's Day) 6pm - Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA

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Links

Links on this site:

Map of the travels of the USS Wintle during WWII
War Diary of the USS Wintle. Sent by Bob Wintle, this is a more detailed account of the travels of the USS Wintle.
Chronology of the places visited by USS Wintle.
A list of the ships documented to have had dealings with the USS Wintle.
comparison of destroyers (Fletcher) vs DE's (Evarts).

Off-page links:
Destroyer Escorts Sailors Association
The most comprehensive history of the USS Wintle that I have found on the web is actually this transcribed passage from the book Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships -- volume 8. You can special-order the book from Amazon® for $68 plus shipping. See below in the books section.
Destroyers Online DE section
NavSource DE section. Note that specs for Evarts details varies by source. A fantastic research resource. Happily back up and running!
Hyperwar A particularly good reference for more obscure ships.
Navy Historical Center The official US Navy history page. The FAQ excellent authorty to go to for the official line on things like the Philadelphia Experiment, whether five brothers are allowed to serve on the same ship, the meaning of obscure terms, etc. I use this page often.
Haze Gray & Underway A fantastic research reference. Home of the authoritative DANFS (Dictionary of Naval Fighting Ships).
A very interesting site about the huge secret Pacific base Ulithi Atoll, that USS Wintle used a number of times. More remembered by the name of its "beer-garden" beach, Mog Mog.
Wonderful online narrative describing The Battle off Samar, part of the Battle of Lyete Gulf. One of the few times in which DE's actually got in a surface fight!
Visit the USS Slater in Albany, DE-766, New York! The only surviving DE in the US, she is of a later class than the USS Wintle. Her namesake, Frank Slater, was killed in the same action as Jack Wintle. This page, however, is probably the most comprehensive place to find information about DE's. Included are excellent explanations of how hedgehogs and depth charges work, and how they were used. Go to the page and join the Destroyer Escort Historical Foundation.
The USS Dempsey (DE-26) was another Evarts class DE. If that's not enough to make her interesting, she was also involved in a collision with the USS Wintle. Because of this accident, the Dempsey people are interested in the USS Wintle. I'm sure they would love to hear from any Wintle sailors about it.
The USS Mason DE-529 -- The only all African American crewed ship that saw combat in WWII. An Evarts-class Destroyer Escort! (record)
U505 - Story of the capture of a German U-Boat by a Destroyer Escort.
The USS Mitchell DE-43 -- Another Evarts site with a lot of pictures.
Action report describing the sinking of the destroyer escort USS Eversole by a Japanese sub.
Nihon Kaigun An amazing and beautiful site dedicated to the Imperial Japanese Navy. Definitely on of the most impressive WWII web pages out there.
The Merchant Marine The USS Wintle spent the war mostly defending the critical supply ships that kept the front moving towards Japan. This lifeline is known as the Merchant Marine and this is their web page.
U-boat.net Definitely the coolest page about U-boats. Completely authoritative, incredibly chock-full of information. (except that the DE section is weak. But hey, it has a DE section! It even has an Evarts section.)
Tokyo Rose - A page about the "infamous" Japanese broadcasts that the crew of the USS Wintle heard.
International Shellback-- A web page dedicated to sailors who have been initiated as Shellbacks by crossing the line.
A very funny and true story about how the destroyer USS William D Porter came to be greeted with "Don't Shoot we're Republicans!" wherever it went.
Iron Wolves -- A terrific fun naval battle game played over the Internet (unfortunately only runs on a PC). The game's Corvette class is the same as a US Destroyer Escort.
Model kit of Evarts class ship. This kit is 350th scale and made of resin. That basicly means it's not a Revell-style model kit for beginners. It's expensive, but it's even got brass parts.
Unlimited Details is a company that does high-quality "cutaways" of ships. They may be persuaded to do one of a DE!
Where are the carriers? You would think the locations of the current US fleet would be secret. Apparently it's not!
There is a comprehensive list of DE links at that terrific USS Slater site.
USS Wasp Account of a War of 1812 battle of the USS Wasp which mentions Frederick Wintle.
Ernie Pyle was an important journalist in WWII. Read about him here.

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silouette of an Evarts class DE

Books & Videos about Destroyer Escorts (many from ):

Any purchases made at Amazon® from links below will help defray my costs. ($4.20 earned so far, so please don't get the idea that I'm running this web site for profit!)

National Geographic Video - The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal (1993) tells the story of the battle that Jack Wintle was killed in, and interviews his wife and daughter. (You can rent this video from many video stores)
Guadalcanal : Decision at Sea : The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, Nov. 13-15, 1942 This book by Eric M. Hammel is an analysis of the battle that Jack Wintle died during.
The Enemy Below -- A 1957 movie starring Robert Mitchum about a one-on-one duel between a DE and a U-Boat. Excellent shots of a DE in action! The movie itself is a watered down Das Boot, but still fun.
Destroyer Escorts in Action -- You can order this book from Squadron Signal. It's inexpensive ($9) and you can get their cool catalog of models and books. (book is # 8-SS4011) You can also buy it below. This book is thin and has a few errors, but lots of pictures and some nice color artwork (especially the cover). Plus crisp drawings of some of the ships' details.
Blueprints of Evarts class DE's (GMT) from Maryland Silver Company. They're reduced a lot, so the writing is very hard to read. But they are the for-real blueprints.
Men of Poseidon -- Life at Sea Aboard the USS Rall The Rall was hit by a suicide bomber, but survived. She was an Evarts, like the USS Wintle. The book is new and really well written. The ship was in many of the same places as the USS Wintle. A pleasure to read, I recommend it.
Now Hear This by Douglas Edward Leach. This book is out of print. It's the recollections of a DE sailor. I'll write more once I've read it.
Little Ships, Big War by Edward Stafford (Author of The Big E). Another out-of-print book, this one details the USS Abercrombie, DE-343. The book is well-regarded, and I just bid on a copy at eBay.
Floating Drydock sells books, plans, models, and modeling accessories. They sell the Squadron book Destroyer Escorts in Action, as well as their own Destroyer Escorts of World War II. If you want both books, buy them from here. The Drydock book is a nice reference to the different classes, has good line drawings, and lots of pictures. There is an excellent section that details and explains DE camouflage.
The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts While this book is about a slightly different variant of the DE, the ships are still DE's, and discussion includes the Evarts class ships like Wintle. I got some email from the author and he promises that it would be useful for anyone curious about the USS Wintle. (Also available from Papermoon Books for $25 plus $5 shipping (503)239-1984)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships -- Volume 8. Has a nice history of the USS Wintle and other DE's. Most people don't buy this book, they either use it in the library or consult the online transcription.
Pacific Odyssey : History of the USS Steele During WWII A book about DE-8, another Evarts Class DE. I haven't yet gotten this one.
Destroyer Escort Sailors $52.50 plus shipping. Expensive, but it sounds good!
Proudly We Served -- The men of the USS Mason The African-American crewed Evarts class DE.
The Destroyer Escort England (Anatomy of the Ship) This book is out of print. Amazon® may or may not be able to find it. The USS England sank six subs in 12 days!
The Captain-Class Frigates in the Second World War A book just on the 78 DE's sent to the UK (like the original USS Wintle)
Left to Die : The Tragedy of the USS Juneau - Okay this isn't about a DE. It's about the cruiser that my uncle (and the five Sullivan brothers) died on. The Juneau was hit by a torpedo that missed the USS San Francisco, the ship that Jack Wintle was on at the time. It's interesting that two Wintles were in such proximity during this battle. I doubt they knew.
The Fighting Sullivans - Similarly this film made the Sullivan brothers a household name. It's well regarded, but a tear-jerker ala Saving Private Ryan.
S.S. Leopoldville Disaster : December 24, 1944 Story of the Sinking of the SS Leopoldville. Sank by U-486 the day before the original USS Wintle was sunk by her.
A Night Before ChristmasAnother book about the S.S. Leopoldville sinking.
The Sea Hunters Clive Cussler's non-fiction book about his search for many wrecks, including the S.S. Leopoldville. Clive is not well loved amongst other Leopoldville wreck divers. However this book is still very popular and quite inexpensive.

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Ship's Store

Okay, so we don't have anything to buy yet. However, I expect that I will be selling hats, shirts, etc someday. In the meantime the USNI has a service where they will print certificates for you if you lost or never received ones you earned. Examples are Plankowner and Shellback certificates. US Naval Institute

DE Collectables

These are the DE items in my "collection" so far. I'm hoping to collect enough of these to open an online store of DE collectibles. Many of these can be purchased from links in the Books and Videos section on this page:

Linberg model of the USS Riley, DE-579 (tiny) (all three models are Rudderow Class)
Linberg model of the USS Daniel A. Joy, DE-585 (12")
Linberg model of the USS Rudderow, DE-224 (tiny)
Maryland Silver Company reduced blueprints of the Evarts Class ships
Squadron Signal Destroyer Escorts in Action book
Floating Drydock Destroyer Escort book
Men of Poseidon -- Life at Sea Aboard the USS Rall book about DE-304.
The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts book
Now Hear This book (USS Elden, DE 264)
Navy Retread book (USS Lamons, DE 743)
Race to Messina -- board game
National Geographic Video - The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal (1993) Video with lots of Jack Wintle info.
The Enemy Below Movie about DE vs. German sub.
Destroyer Operations of WWII -- I just purchased this book. It's an amazing reference written a few years after the war by Theodore Roscoe, and published by the US Naval Institute Press. It details official destroyer strategy of the US Navy, as well as the tools, techniques and history. Each DD or DE engagement of the war is discussed and commented upon, with an especially critical eye. My copy is from the library of the USS Radford (DD-446)!
Fine Scale Modeler magazine with feature on 1/48th scale USS Abercrombie model.

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What's new at the USS Wintle web page?:

Fair winds and following seas for ship mate Elmer "Curly" Whistler. We learned of his passing in December of 2003. Elmer had just reconnected with his shipmates in April, but due to health problems was not able to attend a reunion.

Fair winds and following seas for ship mate Maynard Brown, who died July 31, 2003 out in the yard by his tractor. He and his wife Mary have attended every ships reunion that was had for the USS Wintle.

After a long delay without being able to make changes, I was able to add some names to the crew list, update the reunion info, etc. (13, Jan, 2004)

I've added many new stories from Joe Swann to the Swann Stories page. (29 Mar 2000)
I've updated the page with a new front image painted by Joe Swann. (29 Mar 2000)
Joe Swann sent me a photo of a painting he made of the USS Wintle a few years ago. It's really cool. The best part is the little sailors at their stations. Joe says he's the one in the white cap (#2 gun just forward of the bridge). (25 Mar 2000)
I received the full muster rolls from the Navy. They're on microfilm. Now what do I do with them? I guess I go to the library and try to print them. (24 Mar 2000)
The Sea Stories page now has a table of contents and a link to the terrific stories by Joe Swann. (14 Mar 2000)
I got the Deck Logs! I now have a record of where the ship was (long & lat!), and what it was up to, every day it was in commission. Every sailor who got in trouble is listed, every mechanical problem, every ship it sailed or docked with. The document is enormous. I still don't know how to put any of it up on the web yet, but now I have an authority to check for information. The 1st nugget is the names of the three B-29 aviators rescued by the USS Wintle. Maybe I can track them down. I wonder if they would come to a reunion? (13 March, 2000)
Joe Swann has sent some fantastic stories from his time on the ship. They're not action-packed, but they're very nicely written, and really give you a sense of what it was like to be there. They're just the beginning. I hope he writes a lot more. (9, March, 2000)
I entered the ratings from the records of who was there while USS Wintle was being built (the "plankowners"). You can see the ratings of the original crew now on the crew list (6-Mar-2000).
I finally bit the bullet and ordered the full muster lists ($35) and the Deck Logs ($320) from the Nat'l Archives. Bruce says he's going to DC soon and will search there for more USS Wintle photos as well! (17 Feb 00)
Added a link to the amazing web site U-boat.net. Why didn't I think of that before? (17 Feb 00)
Changed the typeface so that the page is more readable. (17 Feb 00)
Added more stories and renamed the section to "Sea Stories".
Typed in the entire 250+ name list of the crew from David Saunders. Oof! (2 Feb 2000)
Added a few of Arthur Clifton's stories to the stories page. (1 Feb 2000)
Added chronology courtesy of PJ "Jake" Jacobs. (1 Feb 2000)
Added link to Ulithi / Mog-Mog, courtesy CPO Arthur Clifton. (28 Jan 2000)
Updated the broken links for the Battle Off Samar and The USS Slater.(28 Jan 2000)
Conducted a 3.5 hour phone interview with Arthur Clifton. Dr. Clifton is a USS Wintle plankowner, was a CPO who was the Sonar Chief, and has an amazing gift of name recall for exotic Pacific locations. His stories will be added shortly. (7 Jan 2000)
Added two paragraphs about the idea that DE's were considered "expendible." (26 Jan 2000)
Fixed the misspellings! (26 Jan 2000)
Added links and books about the SS Leopoldville, the ship the "original" USS Wintle was escorting. Leopoldville and Capel (nee Wintle) were sunk in this exchange by the German U-Boat U-486 on Christmas, 1944.
Scanned in the six page USS Wintle War Diary, sent by Bob Wintle. (23 Jan, 2000)
Added link to the Save an MSO site. They are trying to keep at least one Mine Sweeper around so people can see what they were like. MSO's were wooden hulled ships. The father of a friend of mine served on one.
Our regular source, Gary Brown, sent me a really nice picture of his dad, Maynard Brown, with crew members, which I've added to the picture page. (19 Jan 1900)
Happy 2000! Apparently the USS Wintle is Y2k compliant.
Late in December Bill O'Mara was so kind as to put up a terrific page of pictures of the USS Wintle crossing the equator. This crossing is a big deal for all sailors. Somehow the retreads were able to handle the thousands of Pollywogs that needed to be initiated. For many veterans, this ceremony was their favorite recollections of WWII. It was a rare moment when an 18 year old could "play" again after his jarring introduction into the surreal version of adulthood that existed in the 1940s. (19 Jan 19100)
I finally scanned in the pictures that PJ "Jake" Jacobs sent of crew members on the USS Wintle. (14 Nov 1999)

All items before this date have been moved to the new Revision History page. If you're really curious about how this page grew, and what happened to it, then please check it out.
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Persons involved with this page:

Marc Frega is the owner/operator of the ISP The Jungle, that graciously hosts this site. I cannot properly thank him, so I shant. ;o)
Gary Brown. Gary's father is Maynard Brown, a member of the USS Wintle's crew for its entire existence. They kindly supplied the photo of the USS Wintle that graces this site. He attends yearly reunions and I'm hoping to get information on them from Maynard. He promises to inundate me with email, and I look forward to that. The Browns live in Ohio.
Rick Neuman. Rick's father, Harry, was the Chief Engineering Officer on USS Wintle. He is trying to obtain the muster rolls for the ship for us.
Bob Wintle was actually the impetus for me starting this site. He was a cousin of the USS Wintle's namesake. (I assume I am related to them, but I don't know how closely) Bob lives in Kansas.
Tami Yaches is a webmistress for UPS. She is rebuilding the USS Wintle cruise map to be a dynamic page that shows where each took place.
Pete Lamb is a web designer in Philadelphia. He is making a 3d model of the USS Wintle from diagrams I've given him. If I could get better plans, he could make a much better model (I gave him a 2-view, and he really needs a 3-view).
Dave Saunders in Eureka,CA is one of the first people to collect crew contact info.
David Saunders
3547 Highland Place
Eureka.CA 95503
voice: 707-443-2619
fax: 707-442-1633
email: hdavidhs@netscape.net
Bruce Franklin is an authority on DE's and gives lectures on them. He is the author of the book The Buckley-Class Destroyer Escorts. He sent me a number of useful corrections on the page, and contributed a few sections.
Harold Pulley is the organizer of the 1999 reunion. He's the son of Andrew Pulley, the baker (and #1 loader for the #2 3" gun) from the USS Wintle. Harold has become the focus point for info about the USS Wintle, and is a terrific source!
Barry Schoenborn -- Publisher of Men of Poseidon -- Life at Sea Aboard the USS Rall. We are working together on possible merchandising of DE cutaways.
Richard W. Graves, author of Men of Poseidon -- Life at Sea Aboard the USS Rall. Dick, like so many other DE sailors "who were there" has been wonderfully patient in helping me to understand DE's and how they were used.

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About this page / your host:

My name is Mark Wintle. I am 38 years old, and a computer network administrator for a small ERP software firm catering to the publishing industry. I live in Morris Township, NJ with my wife Jessie, and our kittens Ignazio & Isabeau. My other hobbies include computers, photography, BMW motorcycles, and being a volunteer EMT.

I created this page because I stumbled onto the existence of the USS Wintle, and "Wintle" happens to be my surname. That I never knew of the USS Wintle before is actually a little surprising, since I've been a WWII historian as a small hobby since I was 10 years old. Granted I concentrated on aircraft, but I also know a great deal about the Battle of Midway and Leyte Gulf (almost the only all-naval battle of WWII). I have no idea how I never thought to look for a USS Wintle. The wonders of the Internet... I also found that my best friend's last name is a destroyer escort, the USS Kimmel. Small world.

My father was born in 1914, and was stationed in the Philippines during WWII, near the area of operation of the USS Wintle. I wonder if he even knew of its existence? (he died in 1973) I have my uncle's Purple Heart. He died on the USS Juneau along with the five Sullivan Brothers the day after USS Wintle's namesake Jack William Wintle, in the same battle. (pictures, picture, picture)A torpedo that hit the Juneau was supposedly targeted at the USS San Fransisco. Once again, I wonder if they knew they were mere yards from each other.

What web page development program did I use to create this website? None. Well, unless you consider SimpleText and WordPad "HTML Editors." This page was entirely hand-coded. I use a Macintosh iMac (OSX) to work on it at home, and I make small edits when necessary during the day on a Dell P4 PC. Image manipulation was done using the shareware programs Graphic Converter (Mac) and PaintShop Pro (PC). Scans were done using an HP ScanJet 4c.

What about my ISP? The domain name Wintle? The Wintle.com magazine? How do you make your own web page for your favorite ship?

A friend of mine runs an ISP (Internet Service Provider). Incredibly he lets me have this web page gratis! Pretty cool friend, eh? It's hosted on the ISP Jungle.net. The Jungle has a very active community that pre-dates the Internet explosion (it was a "BBS"). I did have to pay to purchase the domain name Wintle.com, and other family members are annoyed that I did it before they did. The online magazine Wintle.com is obviously a little old. I published and edited it for 3 months, but then found it too time consuming. I didn't intentionally derelict it, but there it lies. Fortunately it was the perfect place to become the home of the USS Wintle home page here. If you want to do something similar, don't be intimidated by the technology. Find a local ISP that will charge you about $30 a month for hosting. (Note that many of the "consumer services" like AOL let you do this without extra charge, but then you can's have a short easy domain name.) Then buy a book on web page design, a $99 scanner, and have fun! If it looks good then register a memorable domain name, like USSMYSHIP.com (don't be tempted to put a dash in, or abbreviate it, people will never be able to remember the name) for about $70 a year. You can research most things about ships on the web, and write to the government for others. Some things require in-person visits (I haven't done any of those visits YET). The community of other people on the web doing this is terrific (like the "Slater Fleet" that this page is a member of).
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If you have suggestions or additions for this page please email me!

Future ideas/plans:

I have some nice drawings of maps and weapons I plan to scan in and add.
I have just enough stuff that I may open a small online store.
I'm planning a sub-site on the Juneau that shows my Uncle's Purple Heart (which, somehow, I am the guardian of).
I'm also thinking of a sub-site on my father and his time in the war (Army Air Corps, Phillipines).
I'm thinking of doing a hand-drawing of the deck plans based on the blueprints. Very similar to what the USS Slater site has. My fiend Pete has also offered to do a computer wireframe model based on the blueprints. You could then have a "walkthrough" of the ship using sometime of QTVR tool.

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Mark Wintle
20 Max Dr. Apt 4B
Morristown, NJ 07960

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Destroyer Escort USS Wintle DE-25 Home Page

Contents

About the USS Wintle

About Jack William Wintle

About the "Evarts Class" Destroyer Escorts

DE's The Lend-Lease ships

The "other" USS Wintle

The USS Wintle in action

Map of the travels of the USS Wintle

Collision with USS Dempsey

DE's today

Reunion!

Lectures

Links

Books & Videos about Destroyer Escorts (many from ):

Ship's Store

DE Collectables

What's new at the USS Wintle web page?:

Persons involved with this page:

About this page / your host:

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USS Wintle DE-25
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