The Buckley-class destroyer escorts were 102 destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1943–44. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. The lead ship was which was launched on 9 January 1943. The ships had General Electric steam turbo-electric transmission. The ships were prefabricated at various factories in the United States, and the units brought together in the shipyards, where they were welded together on the slipways. The Buckley class was the second class of destroyer escort, succeeding the s. One of the main design differences was that the hull was significantly lengthened on the Buckley class; this long-hull design proved so successful that it was used for all further destroyer escort classes. The class was also known as the TE type, from Turbo Electric drive. The TE was replaced with a diesel-electric plant to yield the design of the successor . A total of 154 were ordered with 6 being completed as high speed transport. A further 37 were later converted after completion while 46 of the Buckleys were delivered to the Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease agreement. These 46 were classed as frigates and named after Royal Navy captains of the Napoleonic Wars, forming part of the along with 32 Lend-Lease ships of the Evarts class. After World War II, most of the surviving units of this class were transferred to Taiwan, South Korea, Chile, Mexico and other countries. The rest were retained by the US Navy's reserve fleet until they were decommissioned.
Armament
The Buckley-class' main armament was three 3"/50 caliber guns in Mk 22 dual purpose open mounts. They fired fixed fire shot and had a range of at 45 degrees, and an anti-aircraft ceiling of With regard to anti-aircraft weaponry, the Buckley-class carried four 1.1 inch/75 gun or two Bofors 40 mm guns fitted in the 'X' position. These were not included in the Captain-Class units. Eight Oerlikon 20 mm cannons were positioned two in front of the bridge behind and above B gun mount, one on each side of the B gun mount in sponsons, and two on each side of the ship in sponsons just abaft the funnel. Some of the ships had an extra one or two Oerlikons fitted on top of the superstructure amidships. The Captain-Class units had additional 20 mm guns fitted in 'X' position, and on the director stand for 'X' position. For anti-submarine weapons, the Buckley-class carried a Hedgehog—a British designed ahead throwing mortar which fired 24 bombs ahead of the ship, situated on the main deck just aft of A gun mount. They also had up to 200 depth charges. Two sets of double rails were mounted on each side of the ship at the stern, each set held 24 charges; eight K-gundepth charge throwers each holding 5 charges were on each side of the ship just forward of the stern rails. On Captain-class ships, just forward of these double sets of ready racks were fitted along each side of the ship extending to midships, each set holding 60 depth charges. They also carried three Mark 15 torpedo| torpedo tubes in a triple mount mounted just aft of the stack.
Film appearance
Most of the film The Enemy Below was filmed on, a Buckley-class DE. The rest of the film is set in the submarine that it is hunting.
