USS Oswald (DE-767)

USS Oswald (DE-767) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.

She was named in honor of Harvey Emerson Oswald, who was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for his prompt and courageous manning of a .50 caliber PBY airplane machine gun during the Japanese attack on Darwin, Australia, on 19 February 1942.

Oswald was laid down on 1 April 1943 at the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Florida; launched on 25 April 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Zola F. Oswald, mother of Harvey E. Oswald, MM2/c; and commissioned on 12 June 1944, Lt. Edward L. Patton, USNR, in command.

World War II North Atlantic operations
Following a Bermuda shakedown, Oswald sailed north to Boston, Massachusetts, thence to New York where she reported for duty with CortDiv 22 in TG 21.5. On 19 August she sailed with Convoy CU-36 on her first transatlantic convoy escort mission. Off Northern Ireland, on the 30th, she hunted unsuccessfully for an enemy submarine after the loss of the tanker SS Jacksonville. Rejoining the convoy, the escort vessel saw the remainder of her charges into Derry and on 4 September began the voyage back to New York. During the next eight months, she escorted ten additional convoys across the North Atlantic without a loss.

Reassigned to stateside duties
In June 1945, her task group, then designated 61.2, was dissolved and Oswald reported to Quonset Point, Rhode Island, to serve as plane guard during carrier qualification exercises on USS Croatan (CVE-25). Reassigned in August, she proceeded to southern Florida for similar duties with USS Mission Bay (CVE-59).

End-of-War deactivation
In October, she returned to New York, underwent pre-inactivation overhaul, and then sailed south again. Arriving at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 9 November, she decommissioned there on 30 April 1946 and joined Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Transferred to the Reserve Group at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1951, she remained in reserve until she was sold for scrapping on 15 October 1973.