for exercises with the fleet in the Atlantic and Caribbean, and a cruise to Europe Ship would go out on picket 30 days than 2 weeks in the states (For the married men,) out for 30 days picket than 2 weeks in Europe ended up once in Antwerp Belgium(August–October 1958), Calcaterra continued this duty through 1960. Final decommissioning Calcaterra was struck from the Navy list on 2 July 1973, sold on 14 May 1974, and broken up for scrap. The pickets north of Cuba, Dog Rocks, were 30 days out, two days in Key West or Miami, 30 days out then 28 days in Newport, year after year. On many pickets the ship was used as a halfway point for people escaping from Cuba. They were fed then picked up by the Coast Guard. When the ship hit heavy seas headed south for a picket the forward 3-inch gun was ripped off the deck and thrown up onto the 01 level and the forward spaces were flooded. The gun was lashed down, the deck covered with beams and canvas, the water pumped out and the ship proceeded south. About a month later the ship was repaired at a private yard in Boston. During the years 1965 - 1966 and 1967 - 1968 Calcaterra was assigned to Operation Deep Freeze Task Force 43. Operating out of Dunedin, New Zealand Calcaterra regularly sailed into the Southern Ocean, 60 degrees South, 162 degrees East and performed weather picket duties. Calcaterra circumnavigated the world twice during these deployments. After the Pueblo incident Calcaterra was refitted as a communications ferret and served in that capacity for several years. References External links NavSource Online: Destroyer Escort Photo Archive - USS Calcaterra (DE 390) Edsall-class destroyer escorts World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States Ships built in Houston 1943 ships