View source for USS Jack W. Wilke

{{short description|Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2009}}
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|Ship image= USS Jack W. Wilke (DE-800) underway, circa in the early 1950s.jpg
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|Ship country=United States  
|Ship flag=  {{USN flag|1960}}
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|Ship laid down=  18 October 1943
|Ship launched=  18 December 1943
|Ship commissioned=  7 March 1944
|Ship decommissioned=  24 May 1960
|Ship struck=  1 August 1972
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|Ship fate=  Sold for scrap, 4 March 1974
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{{Buckley class DE ship characteristics}}
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'''USS ''Jack W. Wilke'' (DE-800)''' was a [[Buckley class destroyer escort|''Buckley''-class]] [[destroyer escort]] of the [[United States Navy]].

==Namesake==
Jack Winton Wilke was born on 13 June 1919 in [[Covina, California]]. He enlisted in the [[United States Naval Reserve]] on 13 January 1941. After undergoing flight training, he was commissioned [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] on 1 November 1941. Wilke was first assigned to a patrol squadron, but later reported to [[Torpedo Squadron 8]] (VT-8) on board {{USS|Hornet|CV-8|6}} in the Pacific.

In the [[Battle of Midway]], 4 and 5 June 1942, he joined his squadron in attacking the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] invasion force without fighter cover. All the planes and all the flyers but one, Ens. [[George H. Gay]], of the squadron were lost; but their attack had diverted Japanese fighters from dive bombing attacks which might otherwise have prevented the eventual U.S. Navy victory. He was posthumously awarded the [[Navy Cross]].

==Construction and commissioning==
''Jack W. Wilke'' was [[ship naming and launching|launched]] by [[Consolidated Steel Corp.]], [[Orange, Texas]], 18 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Joe H. Wilke, mother of Ens. Wilke; and [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] 7 March 1944.

After a [[shakedown cruise|shakedown]] to the [[West Indies]] and [[antisubmarine warfare]] (ASW) training at [[Bermuda]], ''Jack W. Wilke'' spent six months on [[Atlantic]] [[convoy]] escort duty. The escort covered several convoys from American ports to the [[Mediterranean]] in the summer of 1944, making stops at [[Oran]], [[Algeria]]; [[Bizerte]], [[Tunis]]; [[Palermo]], [[Sicily]]; and [[Naples]], [[Italy]]. Later in the year, the warship escorted a convoy directly to [[Cherbourg]], [[France]]. That last convoy escort mission was particularly nerve-racking owing to the late war [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[U-boat]] offensive in [[United Kingdom|British]] waters. Following intelligence indications that next generation U-boats were planning to return to the western Atlantic, ''Wilke'' operated with a [[Hunter-killer Group|hunter-killer]] group in the [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]–[[Nova Scotia]] area from December 1944 to May 1945. Upon the [[surrender of Germany]], she moved to [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]] to serve as a weather reporting and air-sea rescue vessel.

''Jack W. Wilke'' sailed 4 June 1945 for [[Miami]] and operated as a [[sonar]] training ship there until 18 July. The warship then shifted to [[Philadelphia Navy Yard|Philadelphia]] for an overhaul (and the installation of more anti-aircraft guns and improved sonar gear) in preparation for operations in the [[Pacific]]. With that mission cancelled by the end of the war in August 1945, the escort sailed to [[Port Everglades, Florida]] for three weeks of experimental ASW exercises. 
In September, she underwent a three-month overhaul at [[New York Navy Yard]] in preparation for her new role as an experimental antisubmarine ship.
''Jack W. Wilke'' sailed back to Florida on 7 January 1946 to commence operations out of [[Key West]]. During the years that followed, she carried out experiments in both tactics and sound equipment off Key West and during occasional cruises in the West Indies.

The ship's schedule of experimental operations was interrupted on New Year's Day 1959 by the triumph of [[Fidel Castro]]'s forces in [[Cuba]]; and ''Jack W. Wilke'' steamed to [[Havana]] with other ships to help stabilize the situation and to protect American lives and property. During the remainder of the year, she operated off Key West and Norfolk on training operations, and took part in a special good-will cruise to [[Panama]] in October during a Caribbean training period.

Returning to Key West, the ship decommissioned 24 May 1960, and entered the [[Atlantic Reserve Fleet]] at Philadelphia. The old escort was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy list]] on 1 August 1972 and later sold for scrap to Union Metals & Alloys Corp., [[New York City|New York]], on 4 March 1974.

== References ==
{{DANFS}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/j1/jack_w_wilke.htm  history.navy.mil: USS ''Jack W. Wilke''](revised 3 November 2005) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229115538/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/j1/jack_w_wilke.htm |date=29 December 2007 }}
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/800.htm      navsource.org: USS ''Jack W. Wilke'']
*[http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/escorts/de800.htm   hazegray.org: USS ''Jack W. Wilke'']

{{Buckley class destroyer escort}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack W. Wilke}}
[[Category:Buckley-class destroyer escorts]]
[[Category:Ships built in Orange, Texas]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]