Auxiliary Service
As the Allies slowly gained the upper hand in the Battle of the Atlantic, newer and more modern destroyers replaced the aging flush-deckers as front line convoy escorts. Throughout 1944, Upshur operated between Norfolk, Va., and Quonset Point, R.I., serving as plane guard and target vessel during qualification trials for aircraft carriers. During this period, she worked successively with Kasaan Bay, Ranger, Mission Bay, Tulagi, Tripoli, Wake Island, Prince William, and Solomons. Reclassified as a miscellaneous auxiliary, AG-103, on 3 June 1945, Upshur was plane-guarding for Lake Champlain when Japan capitulated on 15 August, ending the war in the Pacific. Decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, on 2 November 1945, Upshur was struck from the Navy list on 11 November; was sold to the Northern Metals Company of Philadelphia on 26 September 1947; and was scrapped by April 1948.
Read more about this topic: USS Upshur (DD-144)
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