View source for USS Andres

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Andres (DE-45) at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 25 March 1943 (NH 107305).jpg
|Ship caption=
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{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1945}}
|Ship name='''HMS ''Capel'' (BDE-45)'''
|Ship namesake=[[Eric Theodore Andres]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Philadelphia Navy Yard]]
|Ship laid down=12 February 1942
|Ship launched=24 July 1942
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=15 March 1943
|Ship decommissioned=18 October 1945
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=1 November 1945
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship sponsor=Mary Elizabeth Schumacher
|Ship reclassified=DE-45 25 January 1943
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sold for scrapping 1946
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=[[Evarts class destroyer escort]]
|Ship displacement=1,140 (std), 1,430 tons (full)
|Ship length={{convert|289|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}} (oa), {{convert|283|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}} (wl)
|Ship beam={{convert|35|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft={{convert|11|ft|0|in|m|abbr=on}} (max)
|Ship propulsion=4 [[General Motors|GM]] Model 16-278A [[diesel engines]] with electric drive, 6000 shp, 2 [[Propeller|screws]]
|Ship speed=19 knots
|Ship range=4,150 nm
|Ship complement=15 officers / 183 enlisted
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*3 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on}}]] Mk 22 (1×3),
*1 × [[1.1"/75 caliber gun]] Mk 2 quad AA (4×1),
*9 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20 mm]] Mk 4 AA,
*1 [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog]] Projector,
*Mk 10 (144 rounds),
*8 Mk 6 [[depth charge]] projectors,
*2 Mk 9 depth charge tracks
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship notes=
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|}

'''USS ''Andres'' (DE-45)''' was an [[Evarts class destroyer escort|''Evarts''-class destroyer escort]] constructed for the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]]. Sent off to the dangerous waters of the [[North Atlantic Ocean]] during the [[Battle of the Atlantic]] to protect [[convoy]]s and other ships from [[Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany's]] [[Kriegsmarine]] [[U-boat]]s and fighter [[aircraft]], ''Andres'' performed escort and [[anti-submarine]] operations.

''Andres'' was originally built as '''HMS ''Capel'' (BDE-45)''' for the [[United Kingdom]], allocated to the [[Royal Navy]] under [[Lend-Lease]]. Laid down on 12 February 1942 by the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]]; launched on 24 July 1942; sponsored by Miss Mary Elizabeth Schumacher, the daughter of [[Captain (naval)|Captain]] Theodore L. Schumacher, USN, who was assigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard; reclassified to DE-45 on 25 January 1943 when the ship was reallocated to the [[United States Navy]]; renamed ''Andres'' on 4 March 1943; and commissioned at her builders' yard on 15 March 1943.

==Service history==
After fitting out, undergoing post-commissioning alterations, and completing acceptance trials, ''Andres'' proceeded to [[Bermuda]], whence she carried out her [[shakedown cruise|shakedown]] from 12 April to 3 May. Upon completion of this training, she sailed for [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], on 3 May.

While in the course of her homeward voyage, at 1913 on the 4th, she sighted red signal [[rocket]]s off her port bow. Two minutes later she went to [[general quarters]], changing course toward the direction of the rockets. Soon thereafter, she spotted a [[dinghy]], awash in the sea, containing four men, 1,500 yards off her port bow, and three life rafts lashed together about 1,000 yards beyond. ''Andres'' then steered various courses and speeds, picking up men from the water; these proved to be the 31 survivors (28 merchant seamen and three members of the Navy armed guard detachment) of [[USAT Oneida]], which, after straggling from a coastal [[convoy]] en route from [[New York City|New York]] to [[Guantánamo Bay]], had foundered and sunk in bad weather at 0213 on 4 May, some 70 miles northeast of [[Cape Charles (headland)|Cape Charles]]. The men had drifted nine and a half miles since the sinking. Completing the rescue effort at 1950, and ascertaining from the survivors than no additional boats and [[rafts]] had gotten clear of Oneida before she had gone down, ''Andres'' then resumed her voyage to Philadelphia. She moored at the Navy Yard at 1257 on 5 May, and disembarked the 31 rescued men later the same day.

===World War II===

====North Atlantic====
Following post-shakedown repairs and alterations, ''Andres'' then conducted further training off [[Rockland, Maine]], and put out of [[New London, Connecticut]], before she proceeded to [[Miami]], Florida, arriving there on 10 June 1943 for duty with the Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet. She then operated principally in the [[Florida Straits]] area as a [[school ship]] at the [[Submarine Chaser Training School]] (SCTS), Miami, Florida, indoctrinating student officers and nucleus crews, and interspersed this training with periodic overhauls at the [[Charleston Navy Yard]], [[South Carolina]], (19–29 March, 25 June – 1 July, and 16–26 October 1944).

====North Africa====
Detached from that duty on 28 November 1944, ''Andres'' proceeded to [[New York City|New York]], reaching that port on 1 December 1944, and reported for duty with Escort Division ([[CortDiv]]) 80 the following day. After refresher training out of [[Casco Bay]], [[Maine]], the [[destroyer escort]] then proceeded to [[Norfolk, Virginia]], where she was assigned to [[Task Force]] 64. Over the next five months, ''Andres'' operated with CortDiv 80 and escorted [[convoys]] to [[Gibraltar]] and back. News of the German surrender reached her on 7 May 1945 shortly after she had conducted [[antisubmarine]] warfare exercises off [[Mers-El-Kebir]] in company with {{USS|Edgar G. Chase|DE-16|2}}, {{USS|John M. Bermingham|DE-530|2}}, and {{Ship|French submarine|Doris|P84|2}}, and had concluded a "rescue of survivors drill." ''Andres'' returned to the [[United States]] on 28 May 1945.

====Assignment as a Training Ship====
Following upkeep at [[New York City|New York]], ''Andres'' conducted further training out of [[Casco Bay]] before she proceeded back to [[Miami]], Florida, arriving there on 20 July. She resumed work as a training ship, this time with the [[Naval Training Center, Miami, Florida]]. Word of the Japanese surrender on 14 August 1945 found the ship operating south of the [[Dry Tortugas]].

====Eric Theodore Andres====
''Andres'' was renamed after Eric Theodore Andres in 1943. Eric Andres enlisted in the [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve]] on 25 October 1941 at [[Chicago, Illinois]] and underwent his initial naval training at the Naval Reserve Midshipman's School at [[Northwestern University]]. Promoted to [[Ensign (rank)#United States|ensign]] on 15 May 1942, Ensign Andres was assigned to duty in {{USS|Astoria|CA-34|2}}, and joined his ship soon thereafter.

Ensign Andres was killed on ''Astoria'' during the [[Battle of Savo Island]] on 9 August 1942.

===Post war===
Detached from the Naval Training Center, Miami, on 8 September 1945, ''Andres'' sailed in company with the other ships of CortDiv 80, and reached the [[Charleston Naval Shipyard]] on 9 September 1945 to commence inactivation. Decommissioned there on 18 October 1945, ''Andres'' was struck from the [[Navy list|Naval Vessel Register]] on 1 November 1945. She was scrapped in February 1946.

==Awards==
{|
|-
|[[Image:American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[American Campaign Medal]]
|-
|[[Image:European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal]]
|-
|[[Image:World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg|60px]]
|[[World War II Victory Medal (United States)|World War II Victory Medal]]
|}

{{Commons category|USS Andres (DE-45)}}

==References==
{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/a/andres.html}}

==External links==
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/045.htm NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive - USS Andres (DE-45)]

{{Evarts class destroyer escort}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andres}}
[[Category:World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Evarts-class destroyer escorts]]
[[Category:Ships built in Philadelphia]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]