USS Pope (DE-134)

USS Pope (DE-134) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys.

She was named after commodore John Pope, born 17 December 1798 in Sandwich, Massachusetts. This ship also commemorated the destroyer USS Pope (DD-225) that had been sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942. She was laid down by Consolidated Steel Co., Orange, Texas, 14 July 1942; launched 12 January 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Rae W. Fabens; and commissioned 25 June 1943, Comdr. Frederick Sherman Hall in command.

World War II North Atlantic operations
After a shakedown cruise off Bermuda, the USS Pope escorted her first convoy eastwards to Casablanca, arriving on 23 September 1943. Subsequently, she escorted two more convoys into to the Mediterranean Sea. She then began work with Task Group TG 22.3, an antisubmarine task group centered on the aircraft carrier USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60). On 9 April 1944, the Pope’s task group sank the U-515 off French Morocco, and on 4 June, she participated in the capture of the German U-boat U-505 west of Cape Blanche. For her part in that action, the USS Pope received the US Presidential Unit Citation. The Pope continued operations with the USS Guadalcanal in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea until the end of the war in the Atlantic and Europe. She assisted in the sinking of the U-boat U-546 on 24 April 1945.

End-of-War and Post-War operations
Shortly after World War II hostilities ceased, the Pope, with the USS Pillsbury (DE-133), escorted the Kriegsmarine U-boat U-858, that had surrendered in the North Atlantic, to Cape May, New Jersey; then the Pope escorted another convoy across the Atlantic. After returning to the U.S., the Pope performed plane guard duties for the aircraft carrier USS Solomons (CVE-67) off Norfolk, Virginia and Mayport, Florida, and then she began withdrawal from service.

Post-War Decommissioning
The USS Pope was decommissioned on 17 May 1946 at Green Cove Springs, Florida, and then she entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet where she remained into 1970, when she was scrapped.

Awards
Pope received three battle stars for World War II service in addition to the Presidential Unit Citation.