USS Jordan World War II

Albert S. Jackson

My grandfather Albert Stanley Jackson was born September 20, 1921 and died May 12, 1980.  He was a World War II Navy veteran who served as an electrician aboard the USS Jordan (DE-204) which was a Buckley Class destroyer escort.

The Jordan was manned by 15 officers and 198 enlisted men and was 306 feet long.  She was named for Julian Bethune Jordan, a 1925 Naval Academy graduate serving as assistant engineering officer.  During the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, Julian B. Jordan perished on board the USS Oklahoma.

On June 5, 1943, the USS Jordan was laid down at the Charleston Navy Yard in Charleston, SC and launched on August 23, 1943.  The building of the USS Jordan broke the Charleston Navy Yard record for building a Destroyer Escort by a full 7 days taking only 52 days to complete.

USS Jordan (DE-204)

On December 17, 1943, the Jordan was commissioned and Lieutenant Commander F.C. Billing was in command.  After its shake down cruise, the USS Jordan arrived in New York in mid March 1944 for duty as an escort.  On April 17, 1944. the Jordan set sail for Gibraltar along with a convoy carrying vital cargo for Mediterranean operations  The Jordan along with the convoy arrived in the Mediterranean on May 1, 1944.  They returned to New York later that month and made one more trip to Europe in June before returning to be used as a training ship.  In July and August, the USS Jordan engaged in training exercises in Quonset Point, RI then arrived at Port Everglades, FL September 17th where she began conducting experimental exercises

In 1945, the USS Jordan spent a period of time at the Charleston Navy Yard before once again resuming radar and sound experiments.  May of 1945 found the Jordan making another trip to the Mediterranean as a convoy escort.  She returned June 20th and began engaging in submarine exercises in New London, CT and training exercises in Cuba.  Because of the experiments the USS Jordan was involved in conducting, new technological breakthroughs in anti-sub warfare were made which ultimately lead to a more powerful Navy and a shorter war.

On September 18, 1944 while on a training mission, the USS Jordan collided with a merchant vessel named the SS John Sherman and required immediate repairs.  She was sent back the the Charleston Navy Yard  and arrived October 4, 1944.  This is where the USS Jordan remained until she was decommissioned December 19, 1945.  Eventually the USS Jordan was sold for scrap July of 1947.

563 Destroyer Escorts protected convoys of men and materials from German U-Boats,  In the Pacific, they protected against Japanese Kamikaze attacks and Japanese submarines.  Today there is only 1 Destroyer Escort still afloat: the USS Slater.

Some say the "Battle of the Atlantic" was won because of the arrival of the Destroyer Escorts.  In the last two years of the war, threats from German U-Boats was nearly completely eliminated.

I'm lucky enough to have a few photos from my grandfather's time aboard the USS Jordan.

My grandmother Albert S Jackson on the far left

On board entertainment: Boxing

Boxing

Hijinx and shenanigans

If anyone knows who any of these other sailors are,

or if you know the areas being photographed

Please contact me!