USS Mason (DE-529)

USS "Mason" (DE-529), a "Evarts"-class destroyer escort, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named "Mason", though DE-529 was the only one specifically named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason. Her keel was laid down by Boston Navy Yard, in Boston, Massachusetts, on 14 October 1943. She was launched on 17 November 1943 sponsored by Mrs. David Mason, mother of Ensign Mason, and commissioned on 20 March 1944, with Lieutenant Commander William M. Blackford, USNR, in command.

Following shakedown off Bermuda, "Mason", the first Navy ship with a predominantly African American crew, departed Charleston, South Carolina, on 14 June escorting a convoy bound for Europe, arriving Horta Harbor, Azores, on 6 July. She got underway from Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the East Coast 26 July, arriving Boston 2 August for convoy duty off the harbor through August.

On 2 September she arrived New York City to sail 19 September in the screen for convoy NY.119. The escort ship reached Falmouth, Cornwall, with part of the convoy 18 October, and returned to New York from Plymouth and the Azores on 22 November. "Mason" joined TF 64 at Norfolk, Virginia, on 17 December. Two days later she sailed in convoy for Europe, passing by Gibraltar on 4 January 1945 to be relieved of escort duties. Continuing to Algeria, she entered Oran on 5 January for formation of TG 60.11.

The escort ship cleared Oran 7 January. Four days later "Mason" made radar contact with a surface target. She rang up full speed with all battle stations manned to attack the presumptive submarine, rammed, and dropped depth charges. Unable to regain contact, the ship returned to the contact point, where searchlight revealed the target — a wooden derelict about 100 by 50 feet. "Mason" then steamed to Bermuda for repairs, entering St. George's Harbor on 19 January. Five days later she reached New York Navy Yard.

On 12 February "Mason" departed Norfolk in convoy for the Mediterranean Sea, arriving off Gibraltar on 28 February. She cleared Oran 8 March to guard a convoy to Bermuda and Chesapeake Bay before returning to New York 24 March. After sonar exercises off New London, Connecticut, and fighter-director training with naval aircraft from Quonset Point, Rhode Island, she steamed from Norfolk 10 April with another convoy to Europe, leaving the convoy at Gibraltar 28 April. "Mason" was two days out of Oran en route to the East Coast when the end of World War II in Europe was announced 9 May.

"Mason" arrived at New York 23 May for operations along the East Coast into July. From 28 July to 18 August she served as schoolship for the Naval Training Center, Miami, Florida On 20 August she arrived at New London to be outfitted for long-range underwater signal testing in the Bermuda area into September. "Mason" departed Bermuda 8 September for Charleston, arriving there two days later.

"Mason" decommissioned on 12 October, was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 November 1945, and was sold and delivered at Charleston to Mr. Thomas Harris of Barber, New Jersey, on 18 March 1947 for scrapping.

USS "Mason" (DDG-87) was named in honor of the African Americans on DE-529's crew, and the 2004 film "Proud" dramatizes their story. The USS "Mason" was one of two US Navy ships with largely African-American crews in WWII. The other was the USS PC-1264, a submarine chaser.External links

* [http://www.ussmason.org www.ussmason.org]