Photos and the story

Converse

Class	Fletcher class
Type	Destroyer (DD)
Hull	DD-509
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Launched	1942-08-30
Commissioned	1942-11-20
Fate	Afloat. Survived the war. Transferred to Spain, 1 July 1959
Armament (class)	Five single 5-inch guns, two funnels, and two sets of torpedo tubes.
Command	Hamberger, DeWitt Clinton Ellis Captain, 20 November 1942 – 1 December 1943 Austin, Bernard L. Division flag, not her captain, 25 November 1943 McDowell, Ellis Hole Captain, 1 December 1943 – 20 January 1944 Colwell, John Barr Captain, 20 January 1944 – 27 September 1944 McDowell, Ellis Hole Captain from 27 September 1944

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Converse was named for George Albert Converse, a torpedo specialist who finished his career as chief of the Bureau of Navigation. She was a Fletcher-class destroyer, DD-509. Bath Iron Works laid her down on 23 February 1942, launched her on 30 August 1942, and commissioned her on 20 November 1942. Commander DeWitt Clinton Ellis Hamberger was her captain.

On the night of 1–2 November 1943 she was in the rear destroyer division off Empress Augusta Bay. Commander Bernard L. Austin had that division: Spence, Thatcher, Converse, and Foote. Burke's van, ahead of them, was Charles Ausburne, Dyson, Stanly, and Claxton. The cruisers sank Sendai. That fire is not credited to one ship.

The usual account is that a torpedo from Sendai's spread wrecked Foote's steering. Foote was not sunk. Spence was hit below the waterline and was not sunk. Converse was not sunk. Hatsukaze was finished by American destroyers after Myoko cut off her bow. Converse is not one of the ships named for that fire.

She was decommissioned on 23 April 1946 and transferred to Spain on 1 July 1959.

The pictures on this page are the originals.