View non-flash version
April 2011www.sname.org/sname/mt (founders and leaders) with insufficient industrial capability to produce reduction gears and diesels in suf- cient quantity for the overall war eort. A new shipyard was built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding in Hingham, Massachusetts for DE construction, with as many as 18 ships in various stages of construction at one time. DEs were also constructed at the Bethlehem San Francisco yard. ese ships were preassembled in 13 sections with 7 hull sections of approximately 44 ft. in length. An early example of all-welded construc- tion, they were lightly constructed, with 1/2-in. bottom plating (approximately 12.5 mm), most hull and decks of 1/4-in. plate (approximately 6 mm), and superstructure bulkheads of 3/16-in. plate (less than 5 mm). Construction was fast: USS Reynolds (DE- 91) required only 24½ days from keel laying to commissioning in October 1943, including installation of miles of electric cabling. e Buckley class DEs also had a low cost, approximately $6 mil- lion per ship in 1943 (approximately $77.2 million in 2010 dollars). e destroyer escort became the second- largest class type of naval ships ever built in the United States. Eventually, 466 ships derived from the original DE concept were built in a total of 8 classes (Evarts, Buckley, Canon, Edsall, Rudderow, John C. Butler, Dealey, and Claud Jones). Foreign military sales included transfer of ships to France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. The last class of the series, DE-1033 ? 1036, Claud Jones, was decommissioned in 1974, retted at Subic Bay from 1979-1982, and transferred to the Indonesian Navy where they served as the Samadikun class frigates (FF-341 class) until decommissioning in 2005. Cochranes vision for these adaptable and capable small ships extended over a remarkable 64-year span of operational employment?an achievement matched by only a few classes of warships in modern history. e Royal Navy designated their ships as frigates, although the United States Navy applied a number of dierent designations for this ship type, including as APDs when 95 DEs were converted by adding davits for landing craft and more accommodations. The DE concept was superseded by the frigate concept in 1975, the frigate being a ship with substantially more combatant focus, leading to the Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG-7) class. Today, the DEs legacy of ver- satility can be seen in the Freedom and Independence class littoral combat ships. ese lighter, smaller combatants incorpo- rate many of the persistent littoral presence missions of the DE ships as well as mine warfare missions formerly accomplished by other specialist vessels. Life and career Edward L. Cochrane was born March 18, 1892 at Mare Island, California, the son of Brigadier General Henry Clay Cochrane. He attended the University of Pennsylvania before entering the United States Naval Academy, graduating with distinction in 1914 as second in a class of 154 and earning his commission. He spent several years on sea duty, during which he was assigned to USS Rhode Island , and participated in oper- ations at Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914. In 1916, he undertook post-graduate training with the navys Construction Corps. During WW I, Cochrane served at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and in 1920 he gradu- ated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a master of science in Naval Architecture. In 1924, he was assigned to the Design Division, Submarines of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. From 1929 until 1933, he served at Portsmouth Navy Yard where he supervised submarine construc- tion and repairs. ereafter, he served in a number of positions related to shipbuild- ing, maintenance, and repair, including in the predecessor to the navys Bureau of Ships (BUSHIPS). He was assigned as assis- tant naval attaché to the Royal Navy in 1940, and during the winter blitz of 1940-1941, he surveyed battle damage to British war ships, which had a profound eect on his prelim- inary design for destroyer escorts. He was no doubt moved when he accompanied Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to survey the crippled warships of Pearl Harbor. In January 1941, Cochrane was assigned as the assistant head of the Design Division of BUSHIPS. He accom- panied Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on a July 1941 trip to Germany and England to gage industrial plant and technical capa- bilities before Hitler declared war on the United States in December 1941. As chief of BUSHIPS from November 1942, he directed the efforts of more than 6,000 people in the renement of a wide variety of marine and naval architecture applications, from highly advanced submarines to swimmer propulsors. In 1945, he was selected as a vice admiral, and in 1946 the title of direc- tor of material and procurement was added to his duties. Known at BUSHIPS as the shirtsleeves admiral? due to his commitment to the job, hard work, and involvement in design and engineering, he would often leave his jacket and cover in his oce to personally inspect his designs and engage his engineers. roughout his career he had a hands-on reputation, and his other signicant tech- nical leadership activities include r T F S W J O H B T 6 4 E F M F H B U F U P U I F International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea VADM Edward L. Ned? Cochrane continued Cochranes vision for these adaptable and capable small ships extended over a remarkable 64-year span of operational employment.