Durgin, Calvin Thornton (1893-1965)

Naval Historical Center #NH 94800

Calvin Durgin commanded aircraft carrier Ranger before being promoted to rear admiral and command of an escort carrier task group. His group participated in the DRAGOON landings in the south of France in August 1944 before being transferred to the western Pacific for the Philippines and Iwo Jima campaigns. The Navy's preeminent escort carrier commander, Durgin noted that

Due to their low speed, lack of protection and light armament, it is considered hazardous to employ a CVE group in operations where there is likely to be an effective enemy opposition. Such a group can, however, be used to advantage, and is capable of inflicting substantial damage to the enemy in assaults where the enemy air and sea opposition is negligible or when it is being contained by other superior forces. When this situation exists, the CVE is well equipped to provide all support until landing strips are established ashore, and it can be effectively employed for bombardment spotting, combat air patrols over beaches and surface forces, for all forms of air reconnaissance missions and for bombing, rocket and strafing attacks.

Service record

References

Naval Historical Center (accessed 2008-2-16)
Pettibone (2006)
Tuohy (2007)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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