The Claud Jones-class destroyer escorts were four destroyer escorts built for the United States Navy in the late 1950s. These ships were a diesel-powered version of the earlier and were designed with the aim of producing a cheaper ship suitable for rapid production in wartime. These ships also had reduced armament and speed compared to their predecessors. They were not seen as effective anti-submarine warfare vessels by the United States Navy and were sold after only 15 years service to the Indonesian Navy.

Description The class was designed under project SCB 131 as a cost-effective version of an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship that could be built quickly in case of rapid mobilization. The Claud Jones class had a standard displacement of and were at full load. The destroyer escorts were long at the waterline and overall with a beam of and a draft of . The Claud Jones class had an aluminum superstructure, a tripod mast forward and a pole mast further back amidships, with two stacks.

Following the guidelines given to them, the designers chose a single-shaft diesel-powered ship to maximize cost effectiveness. The Claud Jones class were given four Fairbanks Morse 38ND8 diesel engines rated at . The class had a range of at and a maximum speed of .

The ships were initially armed with two /50 caliber guns, one located forward with a closed shield and one located aft with an open shield. For ASW, the destroyer escorts were equipped with two forward-firing hedgehog anti-submarine mortars, two fixed Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes and one depth charge rack placed over the stern. The fixed torpedo tubes were later removed and replaced with two triple tube mounts. In 1961, Charles Berry and McMorris received a Norwegian-designed Terne III ASW rocket-propelled depth-charge system.

The Claud Jones class was initially equipped with variable depth sonar, AN/SPS-10 and AN/SPS-6 search radars and SQS-29/32 hull-mounted sonar. The variable depth sonar was later removed. The vessels had a ship's company of 175 with 15 officers and 160 enlisted personnel. The class was not well-received and the designers were ordered to come back with another design, leading to the successor s.

Indonesian service The four vessels of the class were transferred to the Indonesian Navy in 1973–1974. In Indonesian service, Samadikun (ex-John R. Perry) and Martadinata (ex-Charles Berry) had one of the 3-inch guns removed and given Soviet twin-mounted guns and twin-mounted guns. Monginsidi (ex-Claud Jones) and Ngurah Rai (ex-McMorris) kept their two 3-inch mounts and had twin-mounted 25 mm guns added.

Turkish production The Berk-class frigates were Turkish-built warships based on the design of the Claud Jones-class destroyer escort. Constructed at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard and commissioned in the early 1970s, they were the first major warships produced by the Turkish Republic. While they retained the propulsion characteristics of the Claud Jones-class, utilizing four diesel engines on a single shaft, the Berk-class featured a modified superstructure and distinct armament configurations, including 3-inch/50 caliber guns and Mark 32 torpedo tubes. These vessels served as a critical bridge between foreign-acquired platforms and the development of Türkiye’s domestic shipbuilding industry, remaining in service until their decommissioning in the 1990s.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14751798.2025.2542605

Name Builder Launched Commissioned Fate Robert Gardiner, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, 2nd Revised edition, Conway Maritime Press, London, 1995, , p. 471. Gölcük Naval Shipyard 25 June 1971 12 July 1972 Decommissioned 1995 Gölcük Naval Shipyard 7 June 1972 24 July 1975 Unknown

Ships in class Claud Jones class US name Hull no. Builder Laid down Launched US service Indonesian name Hull no. Indonesian service Commissioned Fate Commissioned Status DE-1033 Avondale Shipyard, Louisiana 1 June 1957 27 May 1958 16 November 1958 Sold 16 December 1974 KRI Monginsidi 343 1974 Retired DE-1034 1 October 1957 29 July 1958 12 January 1959 Sold 20 February 1973 KRI Samadikun 341 1973 Retired DE-1035 3 September 1957 17 March 1959 25 November 1960 Sold 31 January 1974 KRI Martadinata 342 1974 Retired DE-1036 1 October 1957 26 May 1959 4 March 1960 Sold 16 December 1974 KRI Ngurah Rai 344 1974 Retired

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External links Claud Jones-class ocean escorts at Destroyer History Foundation List of Claude Jones class Destroyer Escorts