Stuff You Should Know
USS Chester T. O’Brien was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort laid down on January 21, 1944 and launched on February 29, the same year. It was commissioned on July 3, 1944 under Lt. Cmdr. R. D. White’s command as DE-421 and served in the US Navy for 3 years until it was decommissioned on February 21, 1959. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 215 people on board and had the main missions in San Diego, Norfolk, Manus, Palau, San Pedro, Newport or Zamboanga. After the decommissioning, the ship was struck from the Navy List on July 1, 1972 and sold for scrapping in 1974.