USS John S. McCain (DL-3)
_underway_in_the_early_1960s.jpg)
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | John S. McCain, Sr. |
| Builder | Bath Iron Works |
| Laid down | 24 October 1949 |
| Launched | 12 July 1952 |
| Acquired | 23 September 1953 |
| Commissioned | 12 October 1953 |
| Decommissioned | 29 April 1978 |
| Reclassified | DDG-36, 15 March 1967 |
| Stricken | 29 April 1978 |
| Motto |
|
| Fate | Sold for scrap, Jan 1980 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Mitscher-class destroyer |
| Displacement | 3,675 tons |
| Length | 493 ft (150.3 m) |
| Beam | 50 ft (15.2 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 10 in (4.2 m) |
| Speed | over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Complement | 403 |
| Armament |
|
USS John S. McCain (DL-3/DDG-36) was the second
guided missile destroyer
and served until 1978. She was sold for scrap in 1979.
Construction and commissioning
The ship was
Boston Naval Shipyard
.
History
USS John S. McCain spent her first year of commissioned service undergoing
Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. One of the Mitscher class of large and fast destroyer leaders, she carried the new guided-missile armament, and she embodied new ideas in hull design and construction. This warship arrived at Norfolk on 19 May 1955 to begin service with the Operational Development Force in testing new equipment and tactics. She operated out of Norfolk until 5 November 1956, when she steamed from Hampton Roads bound for the Panama Canal and San Diego, California. After her arrival on 4 December 1956, she spent five months on maneuvers in the Pacific Ocean off California
.
The destroyer sailed for her first
Formosa
(now called Taiwan) Patrol, helping to deter a military clash between Nationalist and Communist Chinese forces. She returned from this important duty to San Diego on 29 September 1957.
John S. McCain steamed to her new homeport,
Quemoy and Matsu Islands
. She remained in this region until returning to Pearl Harbor on 1 March 1959.
This warship made her third deployment to the Far East in the fall of 1959, departing on 8 September 1957 and moving directly to the coast of
Calcutta, India
, carrying medicines and donating food and money to flood victims. In January 1960, this versatile ship rescued the entire 41-man crew of Japanese freighter Shinwa Maru during a storm in the South China Sea. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 25 February, she began a well-earned period of overhaul and shipboard training.
John S. McCain departed on 7 March 1961 for another deployment with Seventh Fleet, spending six months off Laos and
SEATO nations as well as units of the 7th Fleet. John S. McCain returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 August. She operated in Hawaiian waters until the spring of 1965. The destroyer returned to Pearl Harbor, and then sailed on a six-month deployment in the western Pacific. In the fall, John S. McCain steamed off South Vietnam. On 24 November 1965 she shelled Viet Cong positions. Two days later she sailed to Hong Kong
and ended the year in Japan. After further operations in the Far East early in 1966, John S. McCain returned to the East Coast of the United States.
_underway_in_September_1969.jpg)
On 24 June 1966, John S. McCain was decommissioned and entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for conversion to a guided missile destroyer. She was recommissioned on 6 September 1969 and redesignated DDG-36.
Fate
USS John S. McCain was
decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 29–30 April 1978, and sold for scrap
on 13 December 1979. Her entire class of guided missile destroyers was rather abruptly retired from service because of technical problems with their steam power plants.
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.- This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Destroyer Leader Association: USS John S. McCain, Retrieved 13 Jun 2015