The USS Lansing (DE-388) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II. Its keel was laid on May 15, 1943, by Brown Shipbuilding in Houston, Texas, and it was launched on August 2, 1943, with Mrs. Alberta L. Lansing, widow of Aviation Machinist Mate First Class William Henry Lansing, serving as sponsor. The vessel was officially commissioned on November 10, 1943. Designed as a convoy escort, the USS Lansing’s primary role was to protect Allied shipping across the Atlantic. After shakedown, she departed Norfolk, Virginia, on February 13, 1944, on her first transatlantic mission escorting convoy UGS 33 to Casablanca. She completed a total of eight such voyages, safeguarding vital war material during the height of WWII. Notably, during her second convoy, she was present when the ship G. S. Walden was torpedoed by a U-boat on May 12, 1944. In June 1945, Lansing returned to Boston from her final Atlantic mission and was preparing for Pacific operations when the Japanese surrender was announced. She transited the Panama Canal on August 2, 1945, en route to Pearl Harbor, but her deployment was rendered unnecessary by the end of the war. She returned to New York on September 26 and was decommissioned at Green Cove Springs on April 25, 1946, entering the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Reactivated in the 1950s, Lansing was transferred to the Coast Guard in June 1952, then returned to the Navy in 1954. She was converted into a radar picket escort ship and reclassified as DER-388 on October 21, 1955. Recommissioned in December 1956, she served in the Pacific Barrier out of Pearl Harbor, conducting early warning patrols from 1957 to 1965, including participation in atomic tests at Johnston Island. The vessel also cruised to the Far East and participated in search operations, notably for a downed aircraft in 1964. Lansing was decommissioned again on May 21, 1965, at Bremerton, Washington, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Her service highlights include her role in Cold War radar defense and her participation in atomic testing, marking her as a significant vessel in mid-20th-century naval history.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.