Camp

U.S.S. Camp

DER-251

1957

(Spider Navy SN-3-26)

Class: Edsall - 34 converted destroyer escort radar pickets of 1951-58
Displacement: 1,590 tons standard / 1,850 tons full load
Dimensions: 306' (oa) x 36'10" x 11'
Machinery: 4 Fairbanks-Morse Diesels; 2 shafts; 6,000 BHP
Speed: 21 knots
Guns: 2-3"/50 (2x1); 4-20mm (2x2)
ASW weapons: 1 trainable Hedgehog; 2 torpedo rack side launchers; 1 DC rack
Complement: 150

Builder: Brown Shipbuilding Co., Houston, Texas
Keel Laid: 27 Jan 1943
Launched: 16 Apr 1943
Commissioned: 16 Sep 1943 / 31 Jul 1956
Decommissioned: 1 May 1946 / 20 Jul 1970

Notes: During WWII Camp escorted convoys in the Atlantic from Dec 1943 to Jun 1945 under USCG manning. A collision with the tanker Chrysler's Field off the south coast of Ireland on 16 Nov 1944 required a repair period during which Camp received a new bow and acquired 5" guns. Transferred to the Pacific Jul 1945, returned to the Atlantic in Nov 1945 and decommissioned in May 1946.
Camp was reclassified as DER-251 on 21 Oct 1955 and recommissioned in 1956 as one of a large class of destroyer escorts converted during the Cold War to radar picket ships to extend the DEW (Distant Early Warning) line of radar stations guarding against potential Soviet attack. The superstructure was rebuilt with aluminum and a tripod mast added to support ECM and TACAN, with SPS-8 height finder radar on the after deckhouse, along with new 3" guns in shields with radar control. Camp operated between Newport RI and Argentia, Newfoundland from 1957-62, then moved to Greenock, Scotland. In 1964-65 she served off Cuba tracking Russian convoys and rescuing fleeing refugees.
Transferred to Pearl Harbor 1965, then sent to Vietnamese waters for coastal patrol and interdiction as part of Operation Market Time. Assigned to Taiwan patrol duties in 1967, she was badly damaged by Typhoon Carla requiring extensive repairs. Returned to Vietnamese patrols in 1968, she also made a brief cameo appearance in the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!" Camp was transferred to South Vietnam 13 Feb 1971 and renamed Tran Hung Dao. Transferred to the Philippine Navy 5 Apr 1976 as Rajah Lakandulu.