USS Thomas J Gary DER326

The USS Thomas J. Gary (DE-326/DER-326) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort commissioned by the United States Navy in 1943. During World War II, she served primarily in the Atlantic, escorting convoys and protecting them from German U-boats, earning two battle stars for her wartime service. After the war, she was decommissioned but later recommissioned and converted to a radar picket ship (DER-326) during the Cold War, enhancing America's early warning capabilities. The USS Thomas J. Gary continued in this role until her final decommissioning in 1969, after which she was sunk as a target off Puerto Rico.