USS Oliver Mitchell (DE-417) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II.

[3] The ship was propelled by two Westinghouse geared steam turbines powered by two "D" Express boilers, which created 12,000 shaft horsepower (8,900 kW) for a designed maximum speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).

[3] Oliver Mitchell mounted a main battery of two single turret-mounted 5"/38 caliber guns, one forward and one aft of the superstructure, to protect against surface and aerial threats, directed by the Mark 51 Gunnery Fire-Control System.

Equipped with three 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, the ship also carried two depth charge racks, eight K-gun depth-charge throwers and one Hedgehog spigot mortar as anti-submarine weapons.

[5] Laid down by the Brown Shipbuilding Company of Houston, Texas, on 3 January 1944, Oliver Mitchell (DE-417) was launched on 8 February of that year, sponsored by the mother of her namesake, 2nd Lieutenant Oliver Mitchell, a Marine pilot who posthumously received the Silver Star for his attack on a Japanese destroyer during the Guadalcanal campaign.

She sailed for Bermuda on 2 July and undertook a shakedown cruise off the island for most of the month and the first days of August, attached to the Atlantic Fleet.

While mooring alongside Oliver Mitchell on 5 August, her sister ship Gentry collided with her, causing minor damage.

Together with her sister Robert F. Keller, she departed Norfolk on 27 August for the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she met the seaplane tender Currituck.

Lawrence C. Taylor and Melvin R. Nawman sank a Japanese submarine on 18 November,[13] and the task group returned to Ulithi ten days later.

When TG 30.7 and the rest of the Third Fleet ran into Typhoon Cobra on 18 December, she became separated from Anzio for several hours while weathering the storm.

While returning to TG 30.7, a broken shaft disabled her sonar, preventing effective anti-submarine operations and relegating her to providing plane guard duty for Anzio.

While the task unit conducted gunnery practice on a target sleeve on the next day, fragments from a stray 20 mm round fired by another ship wounded seven sailors aboard her.

Oliver Mitchell escorted Wake Island back to Guam for repairs, arriving there four days later having sunk a floating mine by gunfire on 7 April.

Reaching the destination on 17 April, Oliver Mitchell departed as part of the escort for Okinawa-bound Convoy UOK-2, consisting of cargo ships and auxiliaries, three days later.

[34] Oliver Mitchell joined TU 50.7.3, the hunter-killer group centered around the escort carrier Tulagi,[35] on 1 May, replacing her sister William Seiverling, which had departed for repairs.

On 28 May, after Admiral William Halsey took over from Spruance, the group changed its designation to TG 30.6, Tabberer and Robert F. Keller having replaced Goss and Kendall C. Campbell.

[37][38] When Lawrence C. Taylor replaced Ulvert M. Moore in the task group on 1 June, Oliver Mitchell transferred the commander of CortDiv 72 to the former.

Oliver Mitchell departed for Ulithi as part of the screen of TG 30.8, the Third Fleet Logistic Support Group, on 28 June.

During the next four months, Oliver Mitchell escorted forces to Korea for occupation duty and to and along the China coast trying to assuage postwar unrest in that country.