Photos and the story

Key

Class	John C. Butler class
Type	Destroyer escort (DE)
Hull	DE-348
Builder	Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Texas
Launched	1944-02-12
Commissioned	1944-06-05
Fate	Afloat. Her commissioned service ended on 9 July 1946. She went to the breakers later.
Armament (class)	Destroyer escort. Two 5-inch guns and one funnel, on a shorter hull.
Command	Buckley, Franklin Duerr Commanding officer from 5 June 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.

U.S. Navy. USS Key (DE-348) underway at sea, circa in 1944.jpg. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Key, hull DE-348, belonged to the John C. Butler class of destroyer escorts. Consolidated Steel Corporation, at Orange, Texas, laid her down on 14 December 1943 and launched her on 12 February 1944. The Navy commissioned her on 5 June 1944. Her first commanding officer was Lieutenant Commander Franklin Duerr Buckley.

Her Pacific duty took her to Hollandia, New Guinea, Leyte, and Mangarin. She was credited with 1 battle star.

Her commissioned service ended on 9 July 1946. She went to the breakers later.

The pictures on this page are the originals.