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The destroyer escort USS EVANS (DE-1023) was designed as an anti-submarine search and attack vessel with added capabilities of a scouting, convoy, and anti-aircraft defense unit. An all-aluminum superstructure, for both weight reduction and increased speed, along with a very low silhouette to discourage detection, made the ship ideally suited for the tasks she performed. Displacing nearly 2,000 tons. USS EVANS had an over-all length of approximately 314 feet, a beam of 36 feet, and a draft of 18 feet.

With the awarding of a contract for construction to the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, EVANS began an impressive string of "firsts." She was the first of a new class of destroyer escorts to be launched and completed on the West Coast since World War II; the first ship of her type to join Cruiser- Destroyer Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet; and the first of her class to successfully complete a cruise to the Far East. Her keel was laid in April 1955. She was launched in September 1955 and commissioned in May 1957.

While homeported in San Diego. California, EVANS made her first Far East deployment in January 1959, and within a decade successfully completed seven other cruises to the Western Pacific in support of the U.S. Seventh Fleet as a unit of Escort Squadron THREE.

In September 1968 EVANS was assigned to Reserve Destroyer Squadron TWENTY-SEVEN and returned to her original home, Seattle, Washington, tasked with a new role of training Naval Reservists from all parts of the Western U.S. In accomplishing this mission EVANS' cruises/operations extended from Alaska to Mexico and as far west as Hawaii.

In April 1971 USS EVANS was reassigned to Destroyer Squadron THIRTY- SEVEN (NRF), with headquarters in Seattle and comprised of ahips from San Francisco. Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle. Her active duty complement was 10 officers and approximately 100 enlisted personnel. These numbers were supplemented by approximately 60 Selected Reservists from the Seattle area who were assigned to the ship and drilled one weekend each month and two weeks every summer.

USS EVANS was named for Commander Ernest E. EVANS, USN, the first Cherokee Indian graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. CDR EVANS was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions as Commanding Officer, USS JOHNSTON (DD-557), at the Battle of Leyte Gulf during World War II. Hopelessly outgunned by Japanese cruisers and destroyers, USS JOHNSTON led a successful torpedo attack on the cruiser KUMANO. Although sustaining heavy damage, with all torpedoes expended and her operational capabilities greatly impaired, JOHNSTON continued to protect a U.S. carrier force by attacking alone an advancing Japanese destroyer division comprised cf one cruiser and four destroyers. The fury of JOHNSTON's gunfire was such that the impending torpedo attack by the Japanese was launched in haste and consequently proved ineffective. The destroyer division then encircled JOHNSTON, concentrating all their fire-power at her until she sank, taking with her 191 sailors of her 327-man crew. CDR EVANS was never found.

Today USS EVANS (DE-1023) concludes a fine and memorable career; a record of accomplishments and firsts that have spanned a hemisphere and played an important role in improving the overall readiness of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. The account of USS EVANS is one of which her officers and crew are justly proud.

Decomm crew