USS Richard W. Suesens (DE-342) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1947.

The destroyer escort was launched on 11 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. R. W. Suesens, widow of the ship's namesake; and commissioned on 26 April 1944.

Completing shakedown off Bermuda and post-shakedown availability at Boston, Richard W. Suesens sailed for Long Island Sound on 29 June 1944.

A unit of CortDiv 69, she served as escort for ships en route to Mayport, then steamed on through the Panama Canal, reporting to the Pacific Fleet 23 July.

During the early morning hours of 25 October, the Battle of Surigao Strait was fought and daybreak searches were ordered flown to hunt down the retiring Japanese ships.

The escorts remained with the carriers as they continued to rearm returning planes and send them northward into the now visible gunsmoke clouds over Taffy 3.

On the night of 27 – 28 October, Richard W. Suesens resumed screening and plane guard duties and at the end of the month she headed south.

Arriving at Manus 3 November, Richard W. Suesens spent the next 3 weeks undergoing upkeep and maintenance, then reported for duty in TF 79, the force staging for the invasion of Luzon.

USS Kitkun Bay and HMAS Westralia were damaged by kamikazes, but the force continued on to arrive in Lingayen Gulf in the early hours of 9 January.

Anti-aircraft fire apparently killed the pilot, but the plane kept its momentum and, after skimming the after 40 mm gun, crashed into the sea.

Returning to Leyte, she prepared for Operation Iceberg, the invasion of the Ryukyus, and on 21 March sailed with the Western Islands Attack Force.

Employed as a picket ship in the antisubmarine and antiaircraft ring around the Kerama Retto-Okinawa area, she survived the nightly air raids and numerous kamikaze attacks, splashing four planes and assisting in the destruction of two more before retiring to Ulithi on 26 April.

She then returned to Leyte, joined TG 32.1 and between 1 July and 6 August covered minesweeping operations in the East China Sea in support of the blockade of the Japanese home islands.