USS Herzog (DE-178)

USS Herzog (DE-178) 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.

Herzog was named in honor of William Ralph Herzog who was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroism in trying to save his shipmates in 1942. The ship was launched by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newark, New Jersey, on 5 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Alice A. Herzog, mother of the namesake; and commissioned on 6 October 1943, Lt. Comdr. J. C. Toft, Jr., in command.

World War II Atlantic Ocean operations
After conducting shakedown operations out of Bermuda, Herzog steamed from New York on 29 November 1943 on her first escort mission, accompanying USS Ariel (AF-22) to the West Indies and back to New York. Arriving on 18 December, she got underway as part of the escort for a merchant convoy. Protecting the ships through the dangerous Caribbean passages, Herzog arrived at the Panama Canal Zone on 27 December. Subsequently she served as escort ship on shorter voyages between Recife, Brazil, and Trinidad. From 14 April until 14 July 1944 Herzog served with Task Group 41.6 on patrol in the South Atlantic. Working with escort carrier USS Solomons (CVE-67) she searched the seas in the never-ending battle against German submarines. On 15 June she was detached to pick up survivors from a German submarine sunk by aircraft, and after returning to the group steamed to Recife, arriving on 23 June. After another brief cruise with the Task Group, she returned to Recife on 16 July. She sailed to the Brazilian Naval Base at Natal, Brazil, on 28 July and was placed out of commission and loaned to the Brazilian Navy under lend-lease on 1 August 1944. The ship served Brazil as Beberibe (D-19) and on 30 June 1953 was transferred outright to that country under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. The ship ran aground in February 1966, and was stricken and scrapped in 1968.