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USS REYBOLD DE-275

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Hull Number: DE-275

Launch Date: 07/08/1943


Class: EVARTS

EVARTS Class

Namesake: JOHN KEANE REYBOLD

JOHN KEANE REYBOLD

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, March 2023

John Keane Reybold, born at Delaware City, Del., 11 January 1903, was appointed midshipman on 13 July 1922 and commissioned ensign on 3 June 1926. Having served in various ships including the battleships Idaho (BB-42) and Utah (BB-31), destroyer Simpson (DD-221) (on the Asiatic Station), and  light cruiserOmaha (CL-4), he assumed command of Cowell (DD-167), on 17 June 1940. Detached on 23 September, he briefly commanded Claxton (DD-140) and on 31 October assumed command of Dickerson (DD-157).

Commissioned lieutenant commander on 1 January 1941, he commanded Dickerson on Neutrality Patrol and, after December 1941, on coastal patrol and Icelandic convoy escort duty until 19 March 1942.

On that date, Dickerson, about eight miles south of Cape Lookout, while en route to Norfolk, Va., after rescuing 14 of the 40-man crew of the tanker E. M. Clark, sunk by U-124  the previous day, was mistakenly fired upon by the unescorted Lykes Lines freighter Liberator that was en route from Galveston, Texas, to New York.

One of Liberator‘s 4-inch shells hit the destroyer’s charthouse, killing Lt. Cmdr. Reybold, CBM Charles W. McMillen, SM3c George F. Kennedy, and Sea2c Elmer C. Kollar, in addition to seriously wounding QM1c Victor M. Merchant, Jr., RM3c Charles E. Dunning, and RM2c Junius J. Freeman. Later that same afternoon, Liberator was torpedoed and sunk by U-332., taking five of her crew to the bottom.


Disposition:

Transferred to the Royal Navy on 4 October 1943 as Goodall. Classified in British service as a “Captain”-class frigate, Goodall served the Royal Navy on escort of convoy duty until very shortly before the end of hostilities with Germany. One hour into the first watch (2100) on 29 April 1945, the German submarine U-968 (Oberleutnant zur See Otto Westphalen, commanding) attacked convoy RA-66, firing Gnats [G7es Type V torpedoes] at the ships escorting the convoy; one Gnat missed Goodall (Lt. Cmdr. James V. Fulton, RNVR). One hour later on 29 April, however, U-268 (Oberleutnant zur See Willi Dietrich) in the entrance to the Kola Inlet (69°25'N, 33°38'E) near Murmansk, fired a Gnat that struck Goodall and detonated her forward magazine, blowing off the forward part of the ship, killing Lt. Cmdr. Fulton and 111 other men; 44 men survived. Frigate HMS Anguilla (K.500) scuttled the irreparably damaged warship with gunfire.


Ship History

USS REYBOLD DE-275 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, March 2023

Reybold (DE-275)—an Evarts-class escort vessel—was laid down at Boston, Mass., on 20 May 1943 by the Boston Navy Yard, but during construction was allocated to the United Kingdom. She was launched as Goodall (K.479) on 8 July 1943 and transferred to the Royal Navy on 4 October 1943.

Classified in British service as a “Captain”-class frigate, Goodall served the Royal Navy on escort of convoy duty until very shortly before the end of hostilities with Germany. One hour into the first watch (2100) on 29 April 1945, the German submarine U-968 (Oberleutnant zur See Otto Westphalen, commanding) attacked convoy RA-66, firing Gnats [G7es Type V torpedoes] at the ships escorting the convoy; one Gnat missed Goodall (Lt. Cmdr. James V. Fulton, RNVR). One hour later on 29 April, however, U-268 (Oberleutnant zur See Willi Dietrich) in the entrance to the Kola Inlet (69°25’N, 33°38’E) near Murmansk, fired a Gnat that struck Goodall and detonated her forward magazine, blowing off the forward part of the ship, killing Lt. Cmdr. Fulton and 111 other men; 44 men survived. Frigate HMS Anguilla (K.500) scuttled the irreparably damaged warship with gunfire.

U-268 did not savor the victory long, however, for Anguilla and the frigates HMS Loch Insh (K.433), and HMS Cotton (K.510) teamed up to sink that U-boat in the Barents Sea very soon thereafter. There were no survivors from the 51 souls on board.