Whitehurst (U.S.S.)

The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver BC) Monday January 18, 1965 page 2 recounted the collision in dense fog between the USS Whitehurst and the Norwegian freighter Hoyanger. One and a half miles west of First Narrows. The Hoyanger was outbound with a pilot (Captain H. George Coles) on board and the Whitehurst inbound with a sister ship after exercises in the Juan de Fuca Strait. Speculation at the time was that the Whitehurst was caught between a back eddy and a fast flowing ebb tide that caused her to be whipped around. The Hoyanger was grounded at the bow while the Whitehurst was grounded along her length and was floated off the next day. The destroyer escort suffered a five-foot gash in her stern above the waterline while the freighter got off with three feet of scraped bow plates. A crowd of about 1,000 spectators gathered to observe the salvage by 9 tugs and the Coast Guard vessels Ready, Moorhen, and Mallard. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 30 April 1957, Whitehurst underwent four weeks of upkeep and repairs before beginning six weeks of duty with 20th Century Fox during the filming of the World War II adventure film The Enemy Below. During that time, this vesselportrayed the fictional destroyer escort "USS Haynes (DE-181)". This vessel was later sunk as a target by Trigger (SS-564) on 28 April 1971.