Talk:USS Wagner

Launch Date

Hi everyone!

I've been conducting research on Naval Shipyards, and the construction times for warships of various sizes and eras. In that research, I discovered that the commonly listed Launch Date for the USS Wagner (Dec 27, 1944) looks incorrect.

Below is a list of all the John C. Butler frigates built by Boston Navy Yard.

Hull #	Name	Type	Class	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned	Hull Build Time
DE-535	USS Lewis	Frigate	John C. Butler	Boston Navy Yard	Nov 3, 1943	Dec 7, 1943	Sep 5, 1944	1.1 months
DE-536	USS Bivin	Frigate	John C. Butler	Boston Navy Yard	Nov 3, 1943	Dec 7, 1943	Oct 31, 1944	1.1 months
DE-537	USS Rizzi	Frigate	John C. Butler	Boston Navy Yard	Nov 3, 1943	Dec 7, 1943	Jun 26, 1945	1.1 months
DE-538	USS Osberg	Frigate	John C. Butler	Boston Navy Yard	Nov 3, 1943	Dec 7, 1943	Dec 10, 1945	1.1 months
DE-540	USS Vandivier	Frigate	John C. Butler	Boston Navy Yard	Nov 8, 1943	Dec 27, 1943	Oct 11, 1955	1.6 months
DE-539	USS Wagner	Frigate	John C. Butler	Boston Navy Yard	Nov 8, 1943	Dec 27, 1944	Nov 22, 1955	14 months (Very Odd)

So you can see why I noticed this. Obviously the history of the Vandivier and Wagner are unusual, in that construction was halted after the war ended, so the time before their commissioning looks unusual in a table like this. But the Launched date still felt wrong. When I looked around the internet, most sources cited the 1944 date. However, we know that many places on the net use Wiki as its source, or else use the same source as Wiki, and that all human things are fallible. In my first round, I found one source for Dec 27, 1943: . However, that didn't look reputable enough to cite.

At Dual Freq's request, I went to look up further sources supporting my theory, and found a publication from the Boston Navy Yard that lists all the ships they've built over the years. The USS Wagner appears on page 15, and its Launched date is listed as 1943 Dec 27 - the same as its sister ship, the USS Vandivier.

According to the author's note for this publication:

  "The information has been derived not only from standard published sources such as the Naval Historical Center’s multi-volume Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships but also from the Records of the Boston Naval Shipyard and the Charlestown Navy Yard Photograph Collection in the archives of Boston National Historical Park."

So, despite the DANFS-given date of Dec 27, 1944, I submit that the evidence for a Dec 27, 1943 Launch date is pretty compelling.

What do you think? Strong enough evidence to update Wiki?

--Tdaynes (talk) 20:40, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

References