USS Gustafson ( DE - 182 ) USS " Gustafson " ( DE - 182 ) was a built for the United States Navy during World War II . She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided escort service against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys . She was launched on 3 October 1943 by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co . , Newark , New Jersey ; sponsored by Mrs . Eva Smythe Stevens , widow of Lt . Gustafson ; and commissioned on 1 November 1943 , Comdr . Herman Rich in command . Lt . Arthur Gustafson . Arthur Leonard Gustafson was born on 13 June 1913 in Watertown , South Dakota . He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1932 , serving in the battleships and before reporting to the destroyer on 4 September 1939 . He perished in action against the enemy when " Peary " was sunk by Japanese bombers off Port Darwin , Australia , on 19 February 1942 . World War II Atlantic Ocean operations . Following shakedown training , " Gustafson " escorted coastal convoys in waters ranging from New York to Galveston , Texas . On 20 February 1944 she departed New York in the screen of two escort carriers for duty with Admiral Jonas H . Ingrain ' s U . S . 4th Fleet based at Recife , Brazil . This fleet kept down the German U - boat and raider menace in waters running south from Trinidad to the tip of South America , and across to the coast of Africa . On 14 April 1943 , the destroyer escort put to sea in company with escort carrier to sweep the Atlantic Narrows . On the 23rd , " Gustafson " made an unsuccessful hedgehog attack on a target that was probably . Due south of St . Helena Island , on 15 June 1943 , aircraft launched by " Solomons " sank the . " Gustafson " continued anti - submarine patrol and convoy escort in the South Atlantic . Operating out of Recife and Bahia , Brazil , she helped cover coastal waters from the border of French Guiana down to Rio de Janeiro and across the Atlantic narrows more than halfway to the coast of Africa . Ship collision . On 22 November 1944 , while escorting Navy transport to a mid - way rendezvous in the Atlantic Narrows , she closed alongside cruiser to pass orders and the two ships collided . Both ships suffered damage but were able to complete the mid - ocean rendezvous escort mission . After temporary repairs at Bahia , Brazil , " Gustafson " proceeded north to the New York Navy Yard , arriving on 21 December 1944 . During a swift overhaul she received additional armament and a new Combat Information Center . Sinking of U - Boat " U - 857 " . " Gustafson " departed New York on 22 January 1945 for anti - submarine warfare refresher training out of Key West , Florida . From there she proceeded in the escort of a slow convoy to Trinidad and ports of South America . She returned north in March and was stationed at Casco Bay as apparently moved into the Gulf of Maine . A torpedo attack that damaged the tanker SS Atlantic States just north of Cape Cod on 5 April 1945 alerted the U . S . Navy that a U - boat was operating in American waters ( the attack was later attributed to the U - 857 ) . Units of Escort Division 30 , under the command of Commander Ralph R . Curry , USCG , had been undergoing refresher training at Casco Bay when Allied warships were ordered to form a " hunter - killer " group to search for the U - boat that made the attack on the tanker . The hunter - killer group consisted of the U . S . Coast Guard - manned frigate USS Knoxville , from which Curry flew his pennant , along with another Coast Guard - manned frigate , " Eugene " , and two destroyer escorts , " Gustafson " and . The " Gustafson " located a sonar contact in the waters northeast of Cape Cod in the early morning of 7 April , and she attacked the target with hedgehogs , but these failed to produce an explosion . She then attacked again , and this time at least one charge was heard to explode on contact with a submerged object . " Gustafson " then launched four more hedgehog attacks without achieving any further explosions . Once daylight arrived , Gustafson ' s crew sighted a large oil slick . After the end of World War II , the U . S . Navy reviewed captured German records and compared them with the reports of attacks conducted by Allied warships on possible German submarine contacts . The U - 857 was reported missing by the German U - boat Command in April in the area of the attack by " Gustafson " . The U . S . Navy then gave credit for the sinking of U - 857 to " Gustafson " . This sinking credit was included on this list because the " Gustafson " was part of a task force that was commanded by a U . S . Coast Guard officer . However , the Foreign Documents Section of the Naval Historical Branch of the U . K . Ministry of Defense revoked this credit in April 1994 , surmising that the " Gustafson " attack was " very probably directed against a nonsub target . " Axel Niestlé , in his ' German U - boat Losses During World War II : Details of Destruction ' ( Annapolis : Naval Institute Press , 1998 ) claims that " There is presently no known explanation for U - 857 ' s loss . " Both citations are from Niestlé ' s U - boat Losses , page 238 , note 145 . " Gustafson " trained out of New London , Connecticut , with submarines until 18 May 1945 when she put to sea as a unit of the escort for a convoy bound to Oran , Algeria . She returned to Charleston , South Carolina on 13 June 1945 and thence to Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , for refresher training . Transfer to the U . S . West Coast . " Gustafson " departed Guantanamo Bay on 24 July 1945 and transited the Panama Canal the 27th on her way to San Diego , California . She sailed for Hawaii on 9 August to be refitted with more anti - aircraft guns for Pacific service and was on the high seas when hostilities ceased with Japan on 15 August 1945 . Her base Pearl Harbor , she served as a weather patrol ship north of Hawaii for the remainder of the year , thence via San Diego for return to the Atlantic seaboard . Post - War inactivation and decommissioning . She transited the Panama Canal on 27 January 1946 for inactivation at Green Cove Springs , Florida . She decommissioned there on 26 June 1946 . " Gustafson " remained in reserve until 23 October 1950 when she was transferred to the Netherlands under terms of the Military Defense Program . She served the Netherlands Navy as HNMS " Van Ewijk " ( F - 808 ) . She was returned to the U . S . on 15 December 1967 , and sold in February 1968 , and scrapped . Awards . " Gustafson " received one battle star for World War II service .