USS Mason ( DE - 529 ) USS " Mason " ( DE - 529 ) , an " Evarts " - class destroyer escort , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named " Mason " , though DE - 529 was the only one specifically named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason . The USS " Mason " was one of two US Navy ships with largely African - American crews in World War II . The other was the USS PC - 1264 , a submarine chaser . These two ships were manned with African Americans as the result of a letter sent to President Roosevelt by the NAACP in mid - December 1941 . Her keel was laid down in the Boston Navy Yard , on 14 October 1943 . She was launched on 17 November 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . David Mason , the mother of Ensign Mason , and commissioned on 20 March 1944 , with Lt . Commander William M . Blackford , USNR , in command . Following a shakedown cruise off Bermuda , the " Mason " departed from Charleston , South Carolina , on 14 June , escorting a convoy bound for Europe , arriving at Horta Harbor , Azores , on 6 July . She got underway from Belfast , Northern Ireland , headed for the East Coast on 26 July , arriving at Boston Harbor on 2 August for convoy duty off the harbor through August . On 2 September , she arrived at New York City to steam on 19 September in the screen for convoy NY . 119 . The " Mason " reached Falmouth , Cornwall , with part of the convoy 18 October , and she returned to New York from Plymouth , England , and the Azores on 22 November . On 18 October , " Mason " supported Convoy NY - 119 in a severe North Atlantic storm . The ship suffered and self - repaired critical structural damage and still rescued ships from the convoy . The crew of " Mason " was not awarded a letter of commendation until 1994 for meritorious service during this action . " Mason " joined TF 64 at Norfolk , Virginia , on 17 December . Two days later she sailed in convoy for Europe , passing by Gibraltar on 4 January 1945 to be relieved of escort duties . Continuing to Algeria , she entered Oran on 5 January for the formation of TG 60 . 11 . The escort ship cleared Oran 7 January . Four days later the " Mason " made radar contact with a surface target . She rang up full speed with all battle stations manned to attack the presumptive submarine , rammed , and dropped depth charges . Unable to regain contact , the ship returned to the contact point , where searchlight revealed the target — a wooden derelict about 100 by 50 feet . The " Mason " then steamed to Bermuda for repairs , entering St . George ' s Harbor on 19 January . Five days later she reached the New York Navy Yard . On 12 February " Mason " departed Norfolk in convoy for the Mediterranean Sea , arriving off Gibraltar on 28 February . She cleared Oran 8 March to guard a convoy to Bermuda and Chesapeake Bay before returning to New York 24 March . After sonar exercises off New London , Connecticut , and fighter - director training with naval aircraft from Quonset Point , Rhode Island , she steamed from Norfolk 10 April with another convoy to Europe , leaving the convoy at Gibraltar 28 April . The " Mason " was two days out of Oran en route to the East Coast when the end of World War II in Europe was announced on the eighth of May . The " Mason " arrived at New York on 23 May for operations along the East Coast into July . From 28 July to 18 August she served as a school ship for the Naval Training Center , Miami , Florida . On 20 August she arrived at New London to be outfitted for long - range underwater signal testing in the Bermuda area into September . The " Mason " departed from Bermuda on 8 September for Charleston , S . C . , arriving there two days later . The " Mason " was decommissioned on 12 October , was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 November 1945 , and was sold and delivered to New Jersey , on 18 March 1947 for scrapping . The USS " Mason " ( DDG - 87 ) was named in honor of the African Americans on DE - 529 ' s crew , and the 2004 film " Proud " dramatizes their story .