Hello All,
This is somewhat of a two-part question...
1.) I am trying to find the ship that my grandfather served on in the Pacific during WWII. He told me the name of it once but I forgot it . He is what I remember and maybe some of you experts could help me solve this puzzle. :-). It’s an older ship (even for its time of service), I believe that it was sold to England during WWI, and then bought back for service during WWII. After the war it ran a couple transport missions in China. Its number was 11, or 13, or 15-- I forget the letter so its ?-11, or ?-15. If anybody could help with this, I'd remember the name as soon as I heard it. Is there anyplace on the web where I could search for the ship that my grandfather served on? Any databases?

2.) This relates to question #1..if we can I.D. this ship, and I know its more of an obscure one...I would love to find a model of it or one that I can convert into it because I'd love to give it to him as a present.

Ask me any questions and I'll try to feed you guys as much info as possible. It would mean the world to me, as my grandfather is very sick and currently in the hospital, so help me honor a WWII veteran.

Thanks in advance,
Sean

Sean, Can't you ask him the class, name and or number of the ship? Even just the class would be a big help in solving the riddle.

Shaun

Here the best suggestion I can think of for you Sean. Go to www.hazegray.org
This is the Dictionary of American Fighting Ships. You'll have to go to each type, Battleship, Cruiser, Carrier, etc, and look up the ship numbers, 11, 13, and 15. It will give a brief history of the ship, when it was built and such. If it's your Grandfather’s ship it should mention something about being sold to Britain and then brought back into the USN. It's almost certainly NOT a Battleship, Cruiser, or Carrier as I can't think of any of them that might fit your description. Possibly a Destroyer, like the 50 old ones that we lent to the RN before the war, but even that is unlikely. More likely it was some kind of auxiliary ship so that is where I would start if I were you. You might want to do this if you have access to a high speed internet connection since it's going to take a LOT of time going back and forth.

Good luck in your search.

I would ask him but right now he's not very responsive...he's drugged up too. So I don't know when I could talk with him. I know I'm taking the long way in finding this out #:-)

Well I had a chance to talk with my grandfather and the name of the ship was the U.S.S Gilmer

Sean

Then that would be the four-piper destroyer USS Gilmer DD-233. She served as a destroyer until redesignated APD-11. There’s how you thought her number was something 11. Here is her history on DANFS (Dictionary of Naval Fighting Ships) http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd233txt.htm

An APD is a Fast Transport Destroyer. Gilmer was of the Clemson class. The famous Rueben James was of the same class and I’m pretty sure there is a model of the Reuben James you could use as a basis for a conversion. You’ll have to do some research to find out all the changes that would have been made to the Gilmer for her conversion to APD but I think it’s doable.

Halfyank,
Wow, thans a ton for all the information...I was talking with my grandfather and he described much of what the website described. Thanks for the model tip as well, I'm glad there is at least a base that I can build from, rather totally from scratch.

Thanks again everybody,
Sean

Sean sorry I got on this one late but i found this and hope it helps for your research of your build.
http://www.tincansailors.org/DD-Models/0303053A.jpg
It gives no info on the kit but I hope it gives you a good resource
Paul