View source for USS Peiffer

{{Short description|Rudderow-class destroyer escort}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
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|Ship image=USS Peiffer (DE-588) underway at sea, circa in December 1945.jpg
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|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1946}}
|Ship name=USS ''Peiffer''
|Ship namesake=Carl David Peiffer
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|Ship builder=[[Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard]]
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|Ship laid down=21 December 1943
|Ship launched=26 January 1944
|Ship sponsor=Mrs. Frank W. Peiffer, mother of Ensign Peiffer
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|Ship commissioned=15 June 1944
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|Ship decommissioned=1 June 1946
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|Ship struck=1 December 1966
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|Ship honors=One battle star
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|Ship fate=Destroyed as a target, 16 May 1967
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|Ship class=[[Rudderow class destroyer escort|''Rudderow'']]
|Ship type=[[Destroyer escort]]
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|Ship displacement=1,450 tons
|Ship length=306 feet
|Ship beam=36 feet, 10 inches
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|Ship draft=9 feet 8 inches
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|Ship speed=24 knots
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|Ship complement=186
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|Ship armament=*2 × [[5"/38 caliber gun|5 in/38]] [[caliber#Caliber as measurement of length|cal]] (127 mm) (2x1)
*4 × [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40-mm]] (2x2)
*10 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] (10x1)
*3 × [[American 21-inch torpedo|21-inch (533 mm)]] [[torpedo]] tubes (1x3)
*1 [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog]] depth bomb thrower
*8 [[depth charge]] projectors (8x1)
*2 depth charge racks
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'''USS ''Peiffer'' (DE-588)''' was a [[Rudderow class destroyer escort|''Rudderow''-class]] [[destroyer escort]] in service with the [[United States Navy]] from 1944 to 1946. She was sold for scrapping in 1967.

==Namesake==
Carl David Peiffer was born on 18 September 1915 in [[Wilmington, North Carolina]]. He enlisted in the [[United States Naval Reserve]] on 13 December 1940; was appointed Aviation Cadet on 5 March 1941; and was commissioned [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] on 25 September 1941. Following training at [[Naval Air Station Norfolk]], he reported for duty with [[Scouting Squadron 6]] on the {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} on 11 March 1942. He was killed in action during the [[Battle of Midway]] on 4 June 1942. He was posthumously awarded the [[Navy Cross]] "...for extraordinary heroism and courageous devotion to duty..." exhibited as he "...pressed home his attacks in the face of a formidable barrage of anti-aircraft fire and fierce fighter opposition."

== Construction and service ==
''Peiffer'' was laid down 21 December 1943 by the Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., Hingham, Mass.; launched 26 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Frank W. Peiffer, mother of the ship's namesake; and commissioned 15 June 1944.

Following shakedown off [[Bermuda]], ''Peiffer'' trained with [[submarine]]s off southern [[New England]] and on 30 September 1944 got underway, with Escort Division 71, for the [[Panama Canal]]. She arrived [[Seeadler Harbor]], [[Manus Island|Manus]], 7 November. Steaming then to [[Jayapura|Hollandia]], she escorted a convoy to [[Leyte]] and back, and, on 28 December, joined Task Group 78.5 for the invasion of [[Luzon]]. Sailing northwest 30 December, she screened the Blue Beach attack group to the [[San Fabian, Pangasinan|San Fabian]] assault area, then continued to provide anti-submarine arid anti-aircraft protection for the group during the initial landings, 9 January 1945. The following day she retired and on the 13th arrived in [[Leyte Gulf]], whence she escorted [[Landing Ship, Tank|LST]]'s carrying supplies and reinforcements to Luzon.

Detached from the [[7th Amphibious Force]] 20 February, ''Peiffer'' reported for duty with the [[Philippine Sea Frontier]], with which she remained for the final months of World War II. During that time she interrupted inter-island escort of convoy and anti-submarine patrol duties only once, in late July, to escort {{USS|Block Island|CVE-106}} to [[Guam]]. Returning to Leyte 10 August, she remained in the Far East after the [[Surrender of Japan|Japanese surrender]] and during the next few months patrolled in Philippine waters, escorted convoys to [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]], and, prior to sailing for the United States, carried personnel to [[Shanghai]]. On 24 November departed the [[China]] coast, and after a brief return to the Philippines, steamed east.

''Peiffer'' arrived at [[San Pedro, Los Angeles]], 4 January 1946. In March she shifted to [[San Diego]] where she decommissioned, 1 June 1946, and entered the [[Pacific Reserve Fleet]]. She was struck from the [[Navy List]] 1 December 1966 and her hulk was destroyed as a target 16 May 1967.

''Peiffer'' earned one [[battle star]] during World War II.

==References==
*{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/p/peiffer.html}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|USS Peiffer (DE-588)}}
* [https://www.navsource.org/archives/06/588.htm Photo gallery] at navsource.org

{{Rudderow class destroyer escort}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peiffer (De-588)}}
[[Category:Rudderow-class destroyer escorts]]
[[Category:1944 ships]]