USS Blandy

USS Blandy (DD-943) was a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer, named for Admiral William H. P. Blandy USN (1890–1954),

USS Blandy (DD-943) in 1970
History
United States
Namesake: William H. P. Blandy
Ordered: 23 October 1954
Builder: Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard
Laid down: 29 December 1955
Launched: 19 December 1956
Acquired: 20 November 1957
Commissioned: 26 November 1957
Decommissioned: 5 November 1982
Stricken: 27 July 1990
Motto: Pax per potestatem
Fate:
  • Sold for scrap,
  • 11 December 1992
General characteristics
Class and type: Forrest Sherman-class destroyer
Displacement:
  • 2,800 tons standard.
  • 4,050 tons full load.
Length:
  • 407 ft (124 m) waterline,
  • 418 ft (127 m) overall.
Beam: 45 ft (14 m)
Draft: 22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range:
  • 4,500 nmi. at 20 knots
  •   (8,300 km at 37 km/h)
Complement: 15 officers, 218 enlisted.
Armament:

Blandy was built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, and was launched 19 December 1956, sponsored by Mrs. John M. (Hope "Toni" Blandy) Lee, daughter of Admiral Blandy; and commissioned 26 November 1957, Commander William F. Cafferata in command.

History
The caskets of the Unknown Soldiers of World War II and the Korean War are borne from the Blandy (May 28, 1958).

In 1958, Blandy bore the American Unknown Soldier of World War II's European Theater from Naples to a rendezvous off the Virginia Capes with Boston (CAG-1), which bore the Unknowns of the Pacific Theater and the Korean War, and Canberra (CAG-2). After the selection of the Unknown of World War II was made on board Canberra, the selected casket and the Korean Unknown were transferred to Blandy for transportation to Washington, D.C. Arriving at the U.S. Naval Gun Factory on 28 May, both caskets lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda until 30 May, after which they were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1961, Blandy won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.

On October 30, 1962, Blandy tracked Soviet submarine B-130, dropping small charges and following the submarine in an attempt to bring it to the surface. After seventeen hours, the submarine's commander, Captain Nikolai Shumkov, ordered the submarine - at this point running with reduced diesel power and minimal oxygen - to surface.[1]

In 1968, Blandy was awarded the Arleigh Burke fleet trophy award for all Atlantic Fleet.

On 7 December 1970 BLANDY was transiting the passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, at 2118Z when the nuclear submarine USS JACK SSN 605 took her picture:

Fate

The ship was decommissioned on 5 November 1982 and struck from the Navy List on 27 July 1990.

She was sold for scrap to the Fore River Shipyard and Iron Works on 11 December 1992. When the shipyard went bankrupt in 1993, she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court and scrapped by Wilmington Resources of Wilmington in North Carolina in 1996.

  • On 7 December 1970 BLANDY was transiting the passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, at 2118Z (picture by the nuclear submarine USS JACK SSN 605)
  • Blandy (foreground) at Baltimore prior to scrapping.

See also
  • List of United States Navy destroyers

References
  1. Lisle A. Rose, Power at Sea: A Violent Peace, 1946-2006, University of Missouri Press, 2007. ISBN 0-8262-1703-6
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.