Narrated by Robert Montgomery, this 1956 U.S. Navy film follows the fleet, and in particular the destroyers escorts of the Naval Reserve, as they make a trip across the Atlantic for a European cruise to Spain and Portugal. The film shows all sorts of activities of the destroyer escort crews, beginning with starting up the boilers on the vessels. Refresher training is seen as well as new recruit training, even Marlinspike seamanship, as the ships get underway for Europe.
The destroyer escort USS McClelland DE-750 is seen at the 6:14 mark, and the USS Cronin DE-107 at 6:30. At 6:35, the ships arrive at Ponta Delgada in the Azores where a liberty is taken. USS Tills DE-748 is seen at 9:18, as the ships arrive at Cadiz. At 11:30 a bullfight is attended by U.S. Naval personnel. Seville is seen at 12:40, and the Alcazar. Anti-submarine warfare training with a Hedgehog is seen at the 14:40 mark. At 16:20, Lisbon is seen along with the training vessel Dom Fernando II E Gloria. USS Earl K Olsen DE-765 is seen at 20:40, during a port of call in Portugal. At 21:30, damage control drills are seen along with gunnery practice. USS Kyne DE-744 is seen at the end of the film at the 23:14 mark.
Robert Montgomery (May 21, 1904 – September 27, 1981) was an American film and television actor, director and producer. After World War II broke out in Europe, Robert Montgomery enlisted in London for American field service and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation. Upon America’ entrance into the war, Montgomery joined the U.S. Navy and served as Naval Attache on British destroyers hunting U-boats. He attended torpedo boat school, became a PT boat commander, and participated in the D-Day invasion on board a Destroyer. Montgomery served five years of active war duty, was awarded a Bronze Star, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with two Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar, and promoted to the rank of Lt. Commander.
Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th century classification for a 20-knot (23 mph) warship designed with endurance to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships. Kaibōkan were designed for a similar role in the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Royal Navy and Commonwealth forces identified such warships as frigates, and that classification was widely accepted when the United States redesignated destroyer escorts as frigates (FF) in 1975. Destroyer escorts, frigates and kaibōkan were mass-produced for World War II as a less expensive anti-submarine warfare alternative to fleet destroyers.
Post-war destroyer escorts and frigates were larger than those produced during wartime, with increased anti-aircraft capability, but remained smaller and slower than post-war destroyers. As Cold War destroyer escorts became as large as wartime destroyers, the United States Navy converted some of their World War II destroyers to escort destroyers (DDE).
USS Kyne (DE-744) was a Cannon-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. She served in the Pacific Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She returned home after the war with a very commendable accumulation of six battle stars.
During 1947 Kyne was designated in service, in reserve, and operated as a reserve training ship out of Fort Schuyler, New York She recommissioned on 21 November 1950, Lt. Comdr. Carl L. Scherrer in command; and was assigned to the 3rd Naval District as a reserve training ship. For the next nine years, Kyne provided the training necessary to maintain a well-drilled reserve, ready to defend the nation during any crisis. Kyne decommissioned on 17 June 1960, at New York and she remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia until she was sold for scrapping on 1 November 1973.
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