View source for USS Koiner

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS Koiner (DE 331).jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1968}}
|Ship name=
|Ship namesake=James Duval Koiner
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Consolidated Steel Corporation]], [[Orange, Texas]]
|Ship laid down=26 July 1943
|Ship launched=5 October 1943
|Ship reclassified=DER-331, 28 October 1954
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=27 December 1943
|Ship decommissioned=1968
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=23 September 1968
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Sold for scrapping 3 September 1969
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|coast guard-1953}}
|Ship name=USCGC ''Koiner'' (WDE-431)
|Ship namesake=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 20 June 1951
|Ship decommissioned=14 May 1954
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=
|Ship fate=Returned to USN, 14 May 1954
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Edsall|destroyer escort}}
|Ship displacement=*1,253&nbsp;tons standard
*1,590&nbsp;tons full load
|Ship length=306&nbsp;feet (93.27&nbsp;m)
|Ship beam=36.58&nbsp;feet (11.15&nbsp;m)
|Ship draft=10.42 full load&nbsp;feet (3.18&nbsp;m)
|Ship propulsion=*4&nbsp;[[Fairbanks-Morse|FM]]&nbsp;[[diesel engine]]s,
*4&nbsp;diesel-[[Engine-generator|generator]]s,
*6,000&nbsp;shp (4.5&nbsp;MW),
*2&nbsp;screws
|Ship speed=21&nbsp;[[knot (unit)|knot]]s (39&nbsp;km/h)
|Ship range=*9,100&nbsp;[[nautical mile|nmi.]] at 12&nbsp;knots
*(17,000&nbsp;km at 22&nbsp;km/h)
|Ship complement=8 officers, 201 enlisted
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament= {{Edsall class destroyer escort armament}} 
|Ship armour=
|Ship armor=
|Ship aircraft=
|Ship aircraft facilities=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Koiner'' (DE-331)''' was an {{sclass|Edsall|destroyer escort}} built for the [[U.S. Navy]] during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against [[submarine]] and air attack for Navy vessels and [[convoy]]s. Post-war, she was loaned to the [[U.S. Coast Guard]], and also reclassified as a [[radar picket]] ship.

==Namesake==
James Duval Koiner was born on 16 February 1919, in [[Waynesboro, Virginia]]. He entered the [[United States Naval Reserve]] as [[Ensign (rank)|Ensign]] on 31 December 1940. He reported for active duty 17 March 1941, under instruction at the Supply Corps, Naval Medical Center, Washington, D.C.. He reported to the 3rd Naval District 17 October 1941, for duty on board {{USS|Atlanta|CL-51|6}} upon its commissioning. After serving on the light cruiser during the [[Battle of Midway]] and Solomon Islands campaigns, he was promoted to [[Lieutenant (junior grade)]] on 1 October 1942. He was killed in action 13 November 1942, on board ''Atlanta'', during the [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]].

==Construction and commissioning==
She was laid down 26 July 1943, by [[Consolidated Steel Corporation]], [[Orange, Texas]]; launched 5 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Mae H. Koiner, the mother of Lt. (j.g.) Koiner; and commissioned 27 December 1943.

== World War II North Atlantic operations ==
 
After [[sea trial|shakedown]] off [[Bermuda]], ''Koiner'' cleared [[Charleston, South Carolina]], 28 February 1944, to join a convoy at [[Willemstad|Willemstad, Curaçao, N.W.I.]], and escort tankers to Mediterranean ports. For the next six months, she remained on convoy-escort duty in the Atlantic, making four round trip cruises from [[Curaçao]] to North Africa and [[Naples|Naples, Italy]]. Completing her final Mediterranean cruise 31 August, ''Koiner'' commenced escort duty for United Kingdom-bound ships. From 20 September 1944 to 1 May 1945, the destroyer escort sailed with five convoys to British ports. On 11 February 1945, ''Koiner'' likely helped sink [[U-869]]. Upon cessation of hostilities in Europe she began preparations for Pacific duty.

== Transfer to the Pacific Fleet ==
 
''Koiner'' arrived [[Pearl Harbor]] 25 June, commencing training operations with {{USS|Corregidor|CVE-58}} and exercises with [[submarines]]. Departing Pearl Harbor 4 August, she was en route to [[Leyte]] when President [[Harry S. Truman]] announced the end of hostilities with Japan.

== End-of-war activity ==

The destroyer escort remained in the [[Far East]] as part of the occupation forces on escort and patrol duty until 1 April 1946. Clearing [[Hong Kong]], she sailed by way of the [[Indian Ocean]] and Mediterranean, and arrived Charleston, South Carolina, 30 May. ''Koiner'' was decommissioned and joined the [[Atlantic Reserve Fleet]] 4 October 1946 at [[Green Cove Springs, Florida]].

== On loan to the Coast Guard ==
 
From 20 June 1951 to 14 May 1954, ''Koiner'' was on loan to the [[United States Coast Guard]] commissioned as WDE-431. She served as an ocean station vessel out of [[Seattle]], Washington until her return to the Navy in 1954.

== Conversion to radar picket ship ==

She was converted to a radar picket escort vessel and reclassified DER-331 on 28 September 1954. Recommissioned 26 August 1955, ''Koiner'' joined the [[DEW Line|Continental Air Defense System]] in the Pacific Barrier. From 1956 into 1965, ''Koiner'' operated on picket stations off the [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[California]] coast to provide early warning in the event of enemy air attack.

== Vietnam crisis operations ==

On 1 July 1965, ''Koiner'' departed [[Alameda, California]], for her new home port, [[Guam]], arriving 28 July after a stopover at Pearl Harbor. On 6 August, she left for the first of three [[Operation Market Time]] patrols ending in December.
 
''Koiner'' operated in Vietnam territorial waters on the following dates: 
8-Aug-65	thru	7-Sep-65,
22-Sep-65	thru	19-Oct-65,
5-Nov-65,	
11-Nov-65	thru	1-Dec-65,
28-Feb-66	thru	29-Mar-66,
9-Apr-66	thru	10-May-66,
17-May-66	thru	19-May-66,
23-May-66	thru	9-Jul-66,
29-Jul-66	thru	25-Aug-66,
7-Sep-66	thru	25-Sep-66,
27-Jan-67	thru	4-Feb-67,
13-Feb-67	thru	10-Mar-67,
19-Mar-67	thru	18-Apr-67,
27-Apr-67	thru	14-May-67,
8-Jun-67	thru	1-Jul-67,
13-Feb-68	thru	8-Mar-68,
25-Apr-68	thru	31-May-68,
8-Jun-68	thru	22-Jun-68.

The experience ''Koiner'' had gained during her patrols off the West Coast enabled the radar picket escort ship to contribute greatly to the surveillance tactics necessary to prevent the flow of supplies by sea to the [[Viet Cong]].
 
During 1966, ''Koiner'' was again deployed for further "Market Time" operations off [[Vietnam]]. A seven-month WestPac cruise began late in February. Between patrols, the ship visited Hong Kong; [[Bangkok]]; [[Manila]]; and [[Kaoshiung]], [[Taiwan|Formosa]].
 
In late January 1967, ''Koiner'' participated in a gunfire mission after a brief in-port period in Yokosuka, Japan. She then resumed her regular duties.

== Final decommissioning ==

''Koiner'' was decommissioned and struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy List]] 23 September 1968. She was sold for scrapping 3 September 1969.

== References ==
*{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/k/koiner.html}}

==External links==
* [https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs.html Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/331.htm NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive – USS Koiner (DE-331)]

{{Edsall class destroyer escort}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koiner (DE-331)}}
[[Category:Edsall-class destroyer escorts]]
[[Category:Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the United States Coast Guard]]
[[Category:Ships built in Orange, Texas]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships of the United States Coast Guard]]