USS Beverly W. Reid (APD-119/LPR-119), was a United States Navy high-speed transport in commission from 1945 to 1947 and from 1967 to 1969.
Namesake
Beverly William Reid was born on 22 April 1917 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended Redemptorist College in New Orleans, before he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 17 June 1935. After completing boot camp, Reid reported on board the aircraft carrier on 28 November 1935, and remained in that ship for over two years. Reporting to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, on 25 March 1938 for flight training as a naval aviation pilot, he received his wings on 29 March 1939. After service with Torpedo Squadron 3, on the aircraft carrier , Reid was transferred to Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 12 August 1941. He was serving there when Japanese planes raided Oahu on 7 December 1941.
Transferred to Fighting Squadron 2 aboard Lexington on 27 December 1941, Aviation Machinist's Mate Second Class Reid was aboard that ship as it patrolled southwest of Oahu between 29 December 1941 and 16 January 1942. Having been advanced to the rate of aviation machinist's mate first class by that point, he was transferred to aircraft carrier on 28 March 1942, along with nine other naval aviation pilots, for temporary duty with Fighting Squadron 6, in time for Enterprises departure with Task Force 16 in support of the Doolittle Raid. On 18 April 1942, the day of the Doolittle Raid, Reid flew with Enterprises third combat air patrol of the day when lookouts spotted two Japanese guard boats. He and the other seven pilots of the combat air patrol then strafed the enemy vessels, sinking one and forcing the other, Nagato Maru, to surrender.
Reid was designated a naval aviator on 5 May 1942. During the Battle of Midway, he flew three combat air patrol missions on 4 June 1942, including one during which his section was vectored over to defend the crippled aircraft carrier . He carried out aggressive attacks on two Japanese torpedo planes and was credited with two confirmed "kills". He also took part in strafing the Japanese destroyers Asashio and Arashio as they assisted the crippled heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma on 6 June 1942. For his attack Japanese torpedo bombers on 4 June 1942 at Midway, Reid received the Navy Cross.
Commissioned an ensign on 23 July 1942, took part in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942. He flew one of the 27 Fighting Squadron 6 fighters scrambled for the combat air patrol over Task Force 17, and, as one of two pilots listed as missing in action, was probably shot down by a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter in the ensuing action. Never seen again, Reid was presumed killed in action.
Construction and commissioning
Beverly W. Reid was laid down as the Rudderow-class destroyer escort USS Beverly W. Reid (DE-722) on 5 January 1944 by the Dravo Corporation at Neville Island, Pennsylvania. She was launched on 4 March 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Eloise Ziegler, the mother of the ships namesake.
Beverly W. Reid was reclassified as a Crosley-class high-speed transport and redesignated APD-119 on 17 July 1944, and was taken down the Ohio River and Mississippi River to Orange, Texas, where the Consolidated Steel Corporation completed her as such. She was commissioned on 25 June 1945.
First period in commission, 1945-1947
After fitting out, Beverly W. Reid departed Galveston, Texas, on 10 July 1945 and arrived at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 13 July 1945. Following shakedown, she departed for Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 August 1945, arriving on 10 August. While she was at Norfolk, World War II ended with the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945.
At Norfolk, she underwent a post-shakedown shipyard availability that lasted well into October 1945. Proceeding thence to New York City, Beverly W. Reid took part in President Harry S Trumans Presidential Review on Navy Day, 27 October 1945. She departed New York City on 30 October 1945 and, after anchoring overnight at the Harbor of Refuge, reached Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the next day.
Scheduled for inactivation, Beverly W. Reid departed Philadelphia on 17 November 1945 and set course via the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal for Norfolk, which she reached on 18 November. Bad weather postponed her departure for Florida until 23 November 1945. Pausing at Jacksonville, Florida, en route, she arrived at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 27 November.